Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

²So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

³Give us day by day our daily bread.

⁴And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

⁵And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;

⁶for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

⁷and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?

⁸I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many 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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

¹¹If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

¹³If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

¹⁴And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.

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

¹⁶Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.

¹⁸If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.

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

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

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.

²²But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.

²³He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

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

²⁶Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

²⁷And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

²⁹And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

³⁰For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

³³“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

³⁷And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.

³⁸When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

³⁹Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”

⁴⁵Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”

⁴⁶And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

⁵⁰that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

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

⁵³And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,

⁵⁴lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

¹Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

²And Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.”

³So they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

⁴Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.”

⁵And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!”

⁶So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,

⁷“You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

¹⁰And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw.

¹¹Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ ”

¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.

¹³And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.”

¹⁴Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why are you dealing thus with your servants?

¹⁶There is no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick!’ And indeed your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸Therefore go now and work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks.”

¹⁹And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble after it was said, “You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota.”

²⁰Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them.

²¹And they said to them, “Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²²So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me?

²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”

¹I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

²with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,

³endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

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

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

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

⁸Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”

⁹(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

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

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

¹⁷This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

¹⁸having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

¹⁹who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

²⁰But you have not so learned Christ,

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

²²that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

²³and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

²⁴and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

²⁶“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

²⁷nor give place to the devil.

²⁸Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

²⁹Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

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

³¹Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

³²And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

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

²Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

³And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

⁴His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

⁵She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

⁷And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,

⁸but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

⁹So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

¹¹And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

¹²Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

¹³Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

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

¹⁵So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

¹⁷And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

¹The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— For your love is better than wine.

³Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you.

⁴Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept.

⁷Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with chains of gold.

¹¹We will make you ornaments of gold With studs of silver.

¹²While the king is at his table, My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.

¹³A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, That lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms In the vineyards of En Gedi.

¹⁵Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.

¹⁶Behold, you are handsome, my beloved! Yes, pleasant! Also our bed is green.

¹⁷The beams of our houses are cedar, And our rafters of fir.

¹To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Contemplation of David. [1] Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.

²Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,

³Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in wrath they hate me.

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

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

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

⁷Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest.”

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

¹⁰Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.

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

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

¹³But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance.

¹⁴We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng.

¹⁵Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.

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

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.

¹⁸He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, For there were many against me.

¹⁹God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old. Selah Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God.

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

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

²²Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

²³But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in You.

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

²For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of troublemaking.

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

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

⁵A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;

⁶For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

⁷Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate.

⁸He who plots to do evil Will be called a schemer.

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

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.

¹¹Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

¹³My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not plunder his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

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

¹⁸Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the wicked;

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

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those given to change;

²²For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

²³These things also belong to the wise: It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

²⁴He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Him the people will curse; Nations will abhor him.

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

²⁶He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, For would you deceive with your lips?

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”

³⁰I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;

³¹And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

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

³⁴So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹Now the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

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

³So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return it to Him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”

⁴Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords.

⁵Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.

⁶Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart?

⁷Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them.

⁸Then take the ark of the LORD and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go.

⁹And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is 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 up their calves at home.

¹¹And they set the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors.

¹²Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

¹⁵The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD.

¹⁶So when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;

¹⁸and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the LORD, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.

²⁰And the men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?”

²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up with you.”

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

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 let your soul delight itself in abundance.

³Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.

⁴Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.

⁵Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And 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 forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy 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,” says 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.

¹⁰“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,

¹¹So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²“For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

¹And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment.

²So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.

³And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care.

⁴When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

⁵And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.

⁷When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone.

⁸Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,

¹⁰saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.”

¹¹Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.

¹²And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.

¹³When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete.

¹⁴But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon.

¹⁵So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive.

¹⁶And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty.

¹⁷When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven.

¹⁸And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship.

¹⁹On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands.

²⁰Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.

²¹But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.

²²And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,

²⁴saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’

²⁵Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.

²⁶However, we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land.

²⁸And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms.

²⁹Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come.

³⁰And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow,

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

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.

³³And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing.

³⁴Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.”

³⁵And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.

³⁶Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.

³⁷And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on the ship.

³⁸So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.

³⁹When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible.

⁴⁰And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore.

⁴¹But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.

⁴²And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape.

⁴³But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land,

⁴⁴and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.