Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.

²Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.

³Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.

⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

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

⁷But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God;

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

¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say;

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

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

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

¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.

¹⁷And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’

¹⁸Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

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

²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

²²He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

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

²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

²⁸But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you — you of little faith!

²⁹And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.

³⁰For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing 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 dressed for action and have your lamps lit;

³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.

³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.

³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

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

⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”

⁴²And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.

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

⁴⁵But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating.

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

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

⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to 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;

⁵³they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and 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, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens.

⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens.

⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

⁵⁷“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God also spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘The LORD’ I did not make myself known to them.

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

⁵I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶Say therefore to the Israelites, ‘I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

⁷I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.

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

⁹Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

¹⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses,

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

¹²But Moses spoke to the LORD, “The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?”

¹³Thus the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

¹⁴The following are the heads of their ancestral houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

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

¹⁶The following are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years.

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

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred thirty-three years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their genealogies.

²⁰Amram married Jochebed his father’s sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred thirty-seven 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, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families 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 ancestral houses of the Levites by their families.

²⁶It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.”

²⁷It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, the same Moses and Aaron.

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

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

³⁰But Moses said in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

²and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.

⁴Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.

⁵Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient.

⁷Therefore do not be associated with them.

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

⁹for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

¹⁰Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.

¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

¹²For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly;

¹³but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,

¹⁴for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,

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

¹⁷So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

¹⁸Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit,

¹⁹as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,

²⁰giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

²²Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.

²³For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.

²⁴Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

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

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

²⁷so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind — yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.

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

²⁹For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

³⁰because we are members of his body.

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

³²This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.

³³Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

¹And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names.

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

³One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

⁶It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

⁷Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation,

⁸and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

⁹Let anyone who has an ear listen:

¹⁰If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you kill with the sword, with the sword you must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

¹¹Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.

¹³It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all;

¹⁴and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived;

¹⁵and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

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

²As a lily among brambles, so is my love among maidens.

³As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love.

⁶O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!

⁷I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the wild does: do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!

⁸The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;

¹¹for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

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

¹⁵Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards — for our vineyards are in blossom.”

¹⁶My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains.

¹Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me;

²my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High,

³when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

⁴In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid; what can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they seek to injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps. As they hoped to have my life,

⁷so repay them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?

⁹Then my enemies will retreat in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

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

¹¹in God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?

¹²My vows to you I must perform, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.

¹³For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.

¹These are other proverbs of Solomon that the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah copied.

²It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

³Like the heavens for height, like the earth for depth, so the mind of kings is unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel;

⁵take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great;

⁷for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen

⁸do not hastily bring into court; for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?

⁹Argue your case with your neighbor directly, and do not disclose another’s secret;

¹⁰or else someone who hears you will bring shame upon you, and your ill repute will have no end.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

¹²Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise rebuke to a listening ear.

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest are faithful messengers to those who send them; they refresh the spirit of their masters.

¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of a gift never given.

¹⁵With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break bones.

¹⁶If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, or else, having too much, you will vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, otherwise the neighbor will become weary of you and hate you.

¹⁸Like a war club, a sword, or a sharp arrow is one who bears false witness against a neighbor.

¹⁹Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is trust in a faithless person in time of trouble.

²⁰Like vinegar on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. Like a moth in clothing or a worm in wood, sorrow gnaws at the human heart.

²¹If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;

²²for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.

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

²⁴It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain are the righteous who give way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey, or to seek honor on top of honor.

²⁸Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control.

¹And the people of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD, and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. They consecrated his son, Eleazar, to have charge of the ark of the LORD.

²From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

³Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the LORD, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the LORD only.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.”

⁶So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD. They fasted that day, and said, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷When the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸The people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, and pray that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁹So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD; Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.

¹⁰As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel; but the LORD thundered with a mighty voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion; and they were routed before Israel.

¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as beyond Beth-car.

¹²Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

¹³So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel; the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴The towns that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all these places.

¹⁷Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel, and built there an altar to the LORD.

¹Thus says the LORD: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.

²Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.

³Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,

⁵I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant —

⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

⁸Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

⁹All you wild animals, all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!

¹⁰Israel’s sentinels are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs that cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all.

¹²“Come,” they say, “let us get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow will be like today, great beyond measure.”

¹After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

²The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us around it.

³Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

⁸It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him.

⁹After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.

¹⁰They bestowed many honors on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

¹¹Three months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.

¹²We put in at Syracuse and stayed there for three days;

¹³then we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day there a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found believers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The believers from there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

¹⁷Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

¹⁸When they had examined me, the Romans wanted to release me, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to the emperor — even though I had no charge to bring against my nation.

²⁰For this reason therefore I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

²¹They replied, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken anything evil about you.

²²But we would like to hear from you what you think, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

²³After they had set a day to meet with him, they came to him at his lodgings in great numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

²⁴Some were convinced by what he had said, while others refused to believe.

²⁵So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah,

²⁶‘Go to this people and say, You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

²⁷For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.’

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

²⁹

³⁰He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him,

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