Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Meanwhile, a crowd of many thousands came together, so that they were trampling on one another. He began to say to his disciples first, “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known.

³Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴“I say to you, my friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.

⁵But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear!

⁶Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.

⁷Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

⁸“And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,

⁹but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say.

¹²For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

¹³Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴“Friend,” he said to him, “who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.”

¹⁶Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive.

¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops?

¹⁸I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there.

¹⁹Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared — whose will they be?’

²¹“That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²²Then he said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear.

²³For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds?

²⁵Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying?

²⁶If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?

²⁷“Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.

²⁸If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you — you of little faith?

²⁹Don’t strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious.

³⁰For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you.

³²Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Be ready for service and have your lamps lit.

³⁶You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.

³⁷Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.

³⁸If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants.

³⁹But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

⁴¹“Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?”

⁴²The Lord said: “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten.

⁴⁸But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.

⁴⁹“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished!

⁵¹Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

⁵²From now on, five in one household will be divided: three against two, and two against three.

⁵³ They will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it does.

⁵⁵And when the south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is.

⁵⁶Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this present time?

⁵⁷“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won’t drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last cent.”

¹But the LORD replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”

²Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the LORD.’

⁴I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.

⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶“Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.

⁷I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.”

⁹Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.

¹⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses,

¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.”

¹²But Moses said in the LORD’s presence: “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?”

¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them commands concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ families: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their family records; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their family records.

²⁰Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

²¹The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon. She bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.

²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses whom the LORD told, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions.”

²⁷Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

²⁸On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

³⁰But Moses replied in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

¹Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children,

²and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

³But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.

⁴Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.

⁵For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.

⁷Therefore, do not become their partners.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light  —

⁹for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth  —

¹⁰testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

¹¹Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

¹²For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.

¹³Everything exposed by the light is made visible,

¹⁴for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

¹⁵Pay careful attention, then, to how you live — not as unwise people but as wise —

¹⁶making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

¹⁸And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,

²⁰giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

²¹submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,

²³because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

²⁷He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.

²⁸In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

³⁰since we are members of his body.

³¹For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

³²This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

³³To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

¹And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names.

²The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.

³One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

⁶It began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling — those who dwell in heaven.

⁷And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

⁸All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.

⁹If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.

¹⁰If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword he will be killed. This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints.

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

¹³It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.

¹⁴It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

¹⁵It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶And it makes everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,

¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

¹I am a wildflower of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

²Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the young women.

³Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banquet hall, and he looked on me with love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apricots, for I am lovesick.

⁶May his left hand be under my head, and his right arm embrace me.

⁷Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and the wild does of the field, do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.

⁸Listen! My love is approaching. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹My love is like a gazelle or a young stag. See, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

¹⁰My love calls to me: Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

¹¹For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away.

¹²The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

¹⁴My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch the foxes for us  — the little foxes that ruin the vineyards — for our vineyards are in bloom.

¹⁶My love is mine and I am his; he feeds among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn around, my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the divided mountains.

¹For the choir director: according to “A Silent Dove Far Away.” A of David. When the Philistines seized him in Gath. [1] Be gracious to me, God, for a man is trampling me; he fights and oppresses me all day long.

²My adversaries trample me all day, for many arrogantly fight against me.

³When I am afraid, I will trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

⁵They twist my words all day long; all their thoughts against me are evil.

⁶They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

⁷Will they escape in spite of such sin? God, bring down the nations in wrath.

⁸You yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

⁹Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me.

¹⁰In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,

¹¹in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere humans do to me?

¹²I am obligated by vows to you, God; I will make my thank offerings to you.

¹³For you rescued me from death, even my feet from stumbling, to walk before God in the light of life.

¹These too are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of King Hezekiah of Judah, copied.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

³As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings cannot be investigated.

⁴Remove impurities from silver, and material will be produced for a silversmith.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Don’t boast about yourself before the king, and don’t stand in the place of the great;

⁷for it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here!” than to demote you in plain view of a noble.

⁸Don’t take a matter to court hastily. Otherwise, what will you do afterward if your opponent humiliates you?

⁹Make your case with your opponent without revealing another’s secret;

¹⁰otherwise, the one who hears will disgrace you, and you’ll never live it down.

¹¹A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings.

¹²A wise correction to a receptive ear is like a gold ring or an ornament of gold.

¹³To those who send him, a trustworthy envoy is like the coolness of snow on a harvest day; he refreshes the life of his masters.

¹⁴The one who boasts about a gift that does not exist is like clouds and wind without rain.

¹⁵A ruler can be persuaded through patience, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

¹⁶If you find honey, eat only what you need; otherwise, you’ll get sick from it and vomit.

¹⁷Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house; otherwise, he’ll get sick of you and hate you.

¹⁸A person giving false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Trusting an unreliable person in a difficult time is like a rotten tooth or a faltering foot.

²⁰Singing songs to a troubled heart is like taking off clothing on a cold day or like pouring vinegar on soda.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

²²for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

²³The north wind produces rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

²⁴Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

²⁵Good news from a distant land is like cold water to a parched throat.

²⁶A righteous person who yields to the wicked is like a muddied spring or a polluted well.

²⁷It is not good to eat too much honey or to seek glory after glory.

²⁸A person who does not control his temper is like a city whose wall is broken down.

¹So the people of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and took it to Abinadab’s house on the hill. They consecrated his son Eleazar to take care of it.

²Time went by until twenty years had passed since the ark had been taken to Kiriath-jearim. Then the whole house of Israel longed for the LORD.

³Samuel told them, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, dedicate yourselves to the LORD, and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

⁴So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths and only worshiped the LORD.

⁵Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD on your behalf.”

⁶When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that day, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

⁷When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers marched up toward Israel. When the Israelites heard about it, they were afraid because of the Philistines.

⁸The Israelites said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, so that he will save us from the Philistines.”

⁹Then Samuel took a young lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

¹⁰Samuel was offering the burnt offering as the Philistines approached to fight against Israel. The LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.

¹¹Then the men of Israel charged out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines striking them down all the way to a place below Beth-car.

¹²Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The LORD has helped us to this point.”

¹³So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israel’s territory again. The LORD’s hand was against the Philistines all of Samuel’s life.

¹⁴The cities from Ekron to Gath, which they had taken from Israel, were restored; Israel even rescued their surrounding territories from Philistine control. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵Samuel judged Israel throughout his life.

¹⁶Every year he would go on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and would judge Israel at all these locations.

¹⁷Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, he judged Israel there, and he built an altar to the LORD there.

¹This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness will be revealed.

²Happy is the person who does this, the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

³No foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD should say, “The LORD will exclude me from his people,” and the eunuch should not say, “Look, I am a dried-up tree.”

⁴For the LORD says this: “For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases me, and hold firmly to my covenant,

⁵I will give them, in my house and within my walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off.

⁶As for the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to become his servants — all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to my covenant —

⁷I will bring them to my holy mountain and let them rejoice in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

⁸This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”

⁹All you animals of the field and forest, come and eat!

¹⁰Israel’s watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep.

¹¹These dogs have fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own profit.

¹²“Come, let me get some wine, let’s guzzle some beer; and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

¹Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

³As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

¹⁰So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

¹²Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.

¹³From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found brothers and sisters and were invited to stay a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

¹⁷After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

¹⁸After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; even though I had no charge to bring against my people.

²⁰For this reason I’ve asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”

²¹Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we want to hear what your views are, since we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

²⁴Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah

²⁶when he said, Go to these people and say: You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving.

²⁷For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

²⁸Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

²⁹

³⁰Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,

³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.