Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

³In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

⁴For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

⁵Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

⁶When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

⁹And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

¹⁰The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

¹¹He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”

¹²Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

¹³But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

¹⁴Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

¹⁵The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

¹⁷But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

¹⁸Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

²⁰For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

²¹For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

²²For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

²³that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

²⁵Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

²⁶For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

²⁷and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

²⁸Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice

²⁹and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

³⁰I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

³¹“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.

³²There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.

³³You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

³⁴Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

³⁵He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

³⁶But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

³⁸But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.

³⁹You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

⁴⁰But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

⁴¹“I do not receive honor from men.

⁴²But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.

⁴³I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

⁴⁴How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.

⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

⁴⁷But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

¹“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

²You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.

³You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.

⁴“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

⁵If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

⁶“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.

⁷Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.

⁸And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

⁹“Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,

¹¹but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹²Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³“And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

¹⁴“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:

¹⁵You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);

¹⁶and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

¹⁷“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

¹⁸“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning.

¹⁹The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²⁰“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

²¹Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.

²²But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

²⁴You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

²⁵“So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

²⁶No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

²⁸And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.

²⁹I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

³⁰Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

³¹And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

³²You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

³³They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

¹Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

²a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

³For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.

⁴For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;

⁵who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

⁶But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

⁸Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

⁹not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

¹¹None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

¹³In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated?

³Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you?

⁴For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.’

⁵But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you,

⁶That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves.

⁷“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are higher than heaven— what can you do? Deeper than Sheol— what can you know?

⁹Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.

¹⁰“If He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, Then who can hinder Him?

¹¹For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it?

¹²For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.

¹³“If you would prepare your heart, And stretch out your hands toward Him;

¹⁴If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents;

¹⁵Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear;

¹⁶Because you would forget your misery, And remember it as waters that have passed away,

¹⁷And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning.

¹⁸And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And they shall not escape, And their hope—loss of life!”

¹A Psalm of Asaph. [1] Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped.

³For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment.

⁷Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish.

⁸They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them.

¹¹And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches.

¹³Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.

¹⁶When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me—

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.

¹⁸Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.

¹⁹Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.

²¹Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.

²²I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.

²⁶My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.

²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.

²When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.

⁷When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes.

⁸The righteous is delivered from trouble, And it comes to the wicked instead.

⁹The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²He who is devoid of wisdom despises his neighbor, But a man of understanding holds his peace.

¹³A talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

¹⁴Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, But one who hates being surety is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman retains honor, But ruthless men retain riches.

¹⁷The merciful man does good for his own soul, But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

¹⁸The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.

¹⁹As righteousness leads to life, So he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

²⁰Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their ways are His delight.

²¹Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.

²²As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

²⁴There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.

²⁵The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.

²⁶The people will curse him who withholds grain, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.

²⁸He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage.

²⁹He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind, And the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.

³¹If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, How much more the ungodly and the sinner.

¹Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.”

²Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

³So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. ( David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

⁴Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe.

⁶And he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.”

⁷So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

⁸David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down.

⁹And David said to Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’?

¹⁰Look, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’

¹¹Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it.

¹²Let the LORD judge between you and me, and let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.

¹³As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand shall not be against you.

¹⁴After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?

¹⁵Therefore let the LORD be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.”

¹⁶So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

¹⁷Then he said to David: “You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil.

¹⁸And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

²⁰And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

²¹Therefore swear now to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”

²²So David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

²“Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’ ”

³Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

⁴Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.’

⁵“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor,

⁶if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt,

⁷then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.

⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,

¹⁰and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?

¹¹Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.

¹²“But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

¹³And now, because you have done all these works,” says the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,

¹⁴therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

¹⁵And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren— the whole posterity of Ephraim.

¹⁶“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.

¹⁷Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.

¹⁹Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the LORD. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”

²⁰Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.

²²For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

²³But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

²⁴Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

²⁵Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

²⁶Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

²⁷“Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

²⁸“So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

²⁹Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’

³⁰For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.

³¹And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

³²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.

³³The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away.

³⁴Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.

¹Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

⁴And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

⁵But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

⁷Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”

⁸And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

⁹So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

¹⁰Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.

¹⁵So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

¹⁶Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

¹⁷Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?

²⁰For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

²²Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

²³for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

²⁴“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

²⁵Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

²⁶And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁷so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³²And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

³³So Paul departed from among them.

³⁴However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.