Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

²And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

³Give us each day our daily bread.

⁴And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation.’ ”

⁵And He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,

⁶because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’;

⁷and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my childrenand I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’

⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of hisshamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

¹¹Nowwhich one of you fathers will his son ask for afish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake?

¹²Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion?

¹³So if you, despite beingevil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more willyour heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

¹⁴And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided againstitself falls.

¹⁸And if Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdomstand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹Yet if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

²⁰But if I cast out the demons bythe finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹Whena strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions aresecure.

²²But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.

²³The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴“When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

²⁵And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!”

²⁸But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it.”

²⁹Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it demands asign, and so nosign will be given to it except thesign of Jonah.

³⁰For just as Jonah became asign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³“No one lights a lamp and puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye isclear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it isbad, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵So watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”

³⁷Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also?

⁴¹But give that which is within as a charitable gift, andthen all things are clean for you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are likeunseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵One of the lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”

⁴⁶But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you load people with burdens that are hard to bear,while you yourselves will not eventouch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build thetombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build theirtombs.

⁴⁹For this reason also, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they willpersecute,

⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be chargedagainst this generation,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be chargedagainst this generation.’

⁵²Woe to youlawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects,

⁵⁴plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

¹And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Let My people go so that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

²But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will strike us with plague or with the sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you let the people neglect their work? Get back to your labors!”

⁵Again Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!”

⁶So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,

⁷“You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as previously; have them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But you shall impose on them the quota of bricks which they were making before; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, for that reason they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

¹⁰So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not going to give you any straw.

¹¹You go, get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.’ ”

¹²So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.”

¹⁴Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not completed your required task of making bricks either yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?

¹⁶There is no straw given to your servants, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are being beaten; but it is the fault of your own people.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are lazy, very lazy; for that reason you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸So go now and work; for you will be given no straw, but you must deliver the quota of bricks.”

¹⁹The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, since they were told, “You must not reduce your daily amount of bricks.”

²⁰When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them.

²¹And they said to them, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you, because you have made us repulsive in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²²Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?

²³Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all.”

¹Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

⁸Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE the captives, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.”

⁹(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

¹¹And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers,

¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;

¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

¹⁵but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,

¹⁶from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

¹⁷So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,

¹⁸being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

¹⁹and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

²⁰But you did not learn Christ in this way,

²¹if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

²²that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

²³and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

²⁴and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.

²⁶BE ANGRY, AND yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

²⁷and do not give the devil an opportunity.

²⁸The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.

²⁹Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

³⁰Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

³¹All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.

³²Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

¹A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

²and she was pregnant and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

³Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns.

⁴And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

⁵And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

⁷And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

⁸and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

¹²For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

¹⁴But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.

¹⁵And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.

¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

¹The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

²“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is sweeter than wine.

³Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like purified oil; Therefore the young women love you.

⁴Draw me after you and let’s run together! The king has brought me into his chambers.” “We will rejoice in you and be joyful; We will praise your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.”

⁵“I am black and beautiful, You daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark, For the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me caretaker of the vineyards, But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock, Where do you have it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself Beside the flocks of your companions?”

⁸“If you yourself do not know, Most beautiful among women, Go out on the trail of the flock, And pasture your young goats By the tents of the shepherds.

⁹“To me, my darling, you are like My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

¹⁰Your cheeks are delightful with jewelry, Your neck with strings of beads.”

¹¹“We will make for you jewelry of gold With beads of silver.”

¹²“While the king was at his table, My perfume gave forth its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh Which lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms In the vineyards of Engedi.”

¹⁵“How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves.”

¹⁶“How handsome you are, my beloved, And so delightful! Indeed, our bed is luxuriant!

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars, Our rafters, junipers.

¹Listen to my prayer, God; And do not hide Yourself from my pleading.

²Give Your attention to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and severely distracted,

³Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me And in anger they hold a grudge against me.

⁴My heart is in anguish within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

⁵Fear and trembling come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.

⁷Behold, I would flee far away, I would spend my nights in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hurry to my place of refuge From the stormy wind and heavy gale.”

⁹Confuse them, Lord, divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around her upon her walls, And evil and harm are in her midst.

¹¹Destruction is in her midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.

¹²For it is not an enemy who taunts me, Then I could endure it; Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, Then I could hide myself from him.

¹³But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my confidant;

¹⁴We who had sweet fellowship together, Walked in the house of God among the commotion.

¹⁵May death come deceitfully upon them; May they go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

¹⁶As for me, I shall call upon God, And the LORD will save me.

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and moan, And He will hear my voice.

¹⁸He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, For they are many who are aggressive toward me.

¹⁹God will hear and humiliate them— Even the one who sits enthroned from ancient times— Selah With whom there is no change, And who do not fear God.

²⁰He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant.

²¹His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.

²²Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

²³But You, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

¹Do not be envious of evil people, Nor desire to be with them;

²For their minds plot violence, And their lips talk of trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established;

⁴And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵A wise man is strong, And a person of knowledge increases power.

⁶For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in an abundance of counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth at the gate.

⁸One who plans to do evil, People will call a schemer.

⁹The devising of foolishness is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to humanity.

¹⁰If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meager.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh hold them back!

¹²If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He who weighs the hearts not consider it? And does He who watches over your soul not know it? And will He not repay a person according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good; Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴Know that wisdom is the same for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in ambush, you wicked person, against the home of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸Otherwise, the LORD will see and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.

¹⁹Do not get upset because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked;

²⁰For there will be no future for the evil person; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not get involved with those of high rank,

²²For their disaster will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁴One who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Peoples will curse him, nations will scold him;

²⁵But for those who rebuke the wicked there will be delight, And a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶One who gives a right answer Kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside, And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterward, then, build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor for no reason, And do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I shall do the same to him as he has done to me; I will repay the person according to his work.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a lazy one, And by the vineyard of a person lacking sense,

³¹And behold, it was completely overgrown with weeds; Its surface was covered with weeds, And its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction.

³³“A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,”

³⁴Then your poverty will come like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

¹Now the ark of the LORD had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months.

²And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What are we to do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we may send it to its place.”

³And they said, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel away, do not send it empty; but you shall certainly return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be revealed to you why His hand does not leave you.”

⁴Then they said, “What is to be the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice corresponding to the number of the governors of the Philistines, since one plague was on all of you and on your governors.

⁵So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, your gods, and your land.

⁶Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not let the people go, and they left?

⁷Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them.

⁸Then take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you return to Him as a guilt offering in a saddlebag by its side. Then send it away that it may go.

⁹But watch: if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done this great evil to us. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰Then the men did so: they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut in their calves at home.

¹¹And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the saddlebag with the gold mice and the likenesses of their tumors.

¹²Now the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh; they went on the same road, bellowing as they went, and did not turn off to the right or to the left. And the governors of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth-shemesh were gathering in their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced at seeing it.

¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stopped there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

¹⁵And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the saddlebag that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the LORD.

¹⁶When the five governors of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.

¹⁷Now these are the gold tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron;

¹⁸and the gold mice, corresponding to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five governors, both of fortified cities and of country villages. The large stone on which they placed the ark of the LORD is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

¹⁹Now He fatally struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.

²⁰And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom will He go up from us?”

²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up to yourselves.”

¹“You there! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.

²Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.

³Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

⁴Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples.

⁵Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which does not know you will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked abandon his way, And the unrighteous person his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it produce and sprout, And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

¹¹So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.

¹²For you will go out with joy And be led in peace; The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thorn bush, the juniper will come up, And instead of the stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up; And it will be a memorial to the LORD, An everlasting sign which will not be eliminated.”

¹Now when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to turn Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan cohort, named Julius.

²And we boarded an Adramyttian ship that was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, and put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

³The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.

⁴From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

⁵When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

⁷When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone;

⁸and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul started admonishing them,

¹⁰saying to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

¹¹But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.

¹²The harbor was not suitable for wintering, so the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

¹³When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, closer to shore.

¹⁴But before very long a violent wind, called Euraquilo, rushed down from the land;

¹⁵and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind.

¹⁶Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s boat under control only with difficulty.

¹⁷After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way.

¹⁸The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo;

¹⁹and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.

²⁰Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.

²¹When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this damage and loss.

²²And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me,

²⁴saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you all those who are sailing with you.’

²⁵Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.

²⁶But we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land.

²⁸And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms.

²⁹Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.”

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing.

³⁴Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.”

³⁵Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶All of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.

³⁷We were 276 people on the ship in all.

³⁸When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by throwing the wheat out into the sea.

³⁹Now when day came, they could not recognize the land; but they did notice a bay with a beach, and they resolved to run the ship onto it if they could.

⁴⁰And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and were heading for the beach.

⁴¹But they struck a reef where two seas met and ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck firmly and remained immovable, while the stern started to break up due to the force of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape;

⁴³but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from accomplishing their intention, and commanded that those who could swim were to jump overboard first and get to land,

⁴⁴and the rest were to follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.