Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,

²and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;

³Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

⁴While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:

⁵“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.

⁶Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant.

¹⁰He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “ ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

¹²Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

¹³Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

¹⁴The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

¹⁵But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

¹⁶“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

¹⁷For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

¹⁸Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”

¹⁹Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd.

²⁰Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

²²One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out.

²³As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

²⁴The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.

²⁵“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

²⁶They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.

²⁷When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”

²⁹For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

³¹And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.

³³When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside,

³⁵and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

³⁶Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.

³⁷Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,

³⁹“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.

⁴¹Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house

⁴²because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.

⁴³And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.

⁴⁴She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.

⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

⁵¹When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother.

⁵²Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

⁵³They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!”

⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

⁵⁶Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

¹Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,

²and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

⁴His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.

⁶She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

¹⁰When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

¹²Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

²²Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

²³During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

²⁴God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

²⁵So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

⁵he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,

⁹he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

¹⁰to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

¹¹In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

¹²in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people,

¹⁶I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

¹⁷I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

²²And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

¹The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

²When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.

³And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.

⁴They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

⁵They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.

⁶During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.

⁸Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.

⁹They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.

¹⁰They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

¹¹They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹²The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

¹³The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.

¹⁴It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

¹⁵And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

¹⁶The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

¹⁷The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.

¹⁸A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.

¹⁹The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

²⁰The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.

²¹Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

¹As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

³Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are.

⁴If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler:

⁶Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones.

⁷I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.

⁸Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

⁹Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

¹¹If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee.

¹²Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips.

¹³At the beginning their words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness—

¹⁴and fools multiply words. No one knows what is coming— who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

¹⁵The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town.

¹⁶Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time— for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁸Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything.

²⁰Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

¹For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.” Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

²You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

³You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

⁴You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.

⁶The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at you, saying,

⁷“Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”

⁸But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

⁹For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.

¹In the LORD’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.

²A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart.

³To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

⁶A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.

⁷The violence of the wicked will drag them away, for they refuse to do what is right.

⁸The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁹Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

¹⁰The wicked crave evil; their neighbors get no mercy from them.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.

¹⁴A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.

¹⁵When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

¹⁶Whoever strays from the path of prudence comes to rest in the company of the dead.

¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.

¹⁸The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the unfaithful for the upright.

¹⁹Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.

²⁰The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

²¹Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

²²One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty and pull down the stronghold in which they trust.

²³Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.

²⁴The proud and arrogant person—“Mocker” is his name— behaves with insolent fury.

²⁵The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable— how much more so when brought with evil intent!

²⁸A false witness will perish, but a careful listener will testify successfully.

²⁹The wicked put up a bold front, but the upright give thought to their ways.

³⁰There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.

³¹The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.

¹The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

²One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.

³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was.

⁴Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

⁵And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.

⁹So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

¹²At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end.

¹³For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.

¹⁴Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ”

¹⁵Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

¹⁶but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁷“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.”

¹⁸So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

¹⁹The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD.

²¹The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

¹Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.

²Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.

³For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

⁴For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

⁵“And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the LORD. “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.

⁶Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.

⁹Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD’s house.

¹²But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.

³Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.

⁴But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

⁵“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect

⁶and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.

¹¹You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.

¹³And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,

¹⁵and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

¹⁶So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

¹⁷“After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.

¹⁸I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance.

¹⁹But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin—

²¹unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’ ”

²²Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

²⁴Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.

²⁷When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison.