Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days.

²Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.

³Crowds of sick people — blind, lame, or paralyzed — lay on the porches.

⁴

⁵One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.

⁶When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

⁷“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

⁸Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

⁹Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,

¹⁰so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

¹¹But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹²“Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

¹³The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.

¹⁴But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”

¹⁵Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

¹⁶So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.

¹⁷But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”

¹⁸So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

¹⁹So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.

²¹For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.

²²In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge,

²³so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

²⁴“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

²⁵“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice — the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.

²⁶The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.

²⁷And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son,

²⁹and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

³⁰I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.

³¹“If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.

³²But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true.

³³In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true.

³⁴Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved.

³⁵John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.

³⁶But I have a greater witness than John — my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.

³⁷And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face,

³⁸and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me — the one he sent to you.

³⁹“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

⁴⁰Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

⁴¹“Your approval means nothing to me,

⁴²because I know you don’t have God’s love within you.

⁴³For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them.

⁴⁴No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.

⁴⁵“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.

⁴⁶If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

⁴⁷But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

¹“You must not pass along false rumors. You must not cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand.

²“You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice.

³And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.

⁴“If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner.

⁵If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.

⁶“In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.

⁷“Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent.

⁸“Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.

⁹“You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰“Plant and harvest your crops for six years,

¹¹but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.

¹²“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed.

¹³“Pay close attention to all my instructions. You must not call on the name of any other gods. Do not even speak their names.

¹⁴“Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor.

¹⁵First, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib, for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. No one may appear before me without an offering.

¹⁶“Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest, when you bring me the first crops of your harvest. “Finally, celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season, when you have harvested all the crops from your fields.

¹⁷At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the LORD.

¹⁸“You must not offer the blood of my sacrificial offerings together with any baked goods containing yeast. And do not leave the fat from the festival offerings until the next morning.

¹⁹“As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²⁰“See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you.

²¹Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion.

²²But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you.

²³For my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely.

²⁴You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.

²⁵“You must serve only the LORD your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness.

²⁶There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.

²⁷“I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

²⁸I will send terror ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites.

²⁹But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply and threaten you.

³⁰I will drive them out a little at a time until your population has increased enough to take possession of the land.

³¹And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

³²“Make no treaties with them or their gods.

³³They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry.”

¹Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.

²There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

³And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.

⁴If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.

⁵They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”

⁶But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.

⁸But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

⁹This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.

¹⁰But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹¹And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.

¹²And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

¹³When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied to Job:

²“Shouldn’t someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent just by a lot of talking?

³Should I remain silent while you babble on? When you mock God, shouldn’t someone make you ashamed?

⁴You claim, ‘My beliefs are pure,’ and ‘I am clean in the sight of God.’

⁵If only God would speak; if only he would tell you what he thinks!

⁶If only he would tell you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom is not a simple matter. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!

⁷“Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?

⁸Such knowledge is higher than the heavens — and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld — what do you know?

⁹It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea.

¹⁰If God comes and puts a person in prison or calls the court to order, who can stop him?

¹¹For he knows those who are false, and he takes note of all their sins.

¹²An empty-headed person won’t become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child.

¹³“If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!

¹⁴Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you.

¹⁵Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear.

¹⁶You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning.

¹⁸Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help.

²⁰But the wicked will be blinded. They will have no escape. Their only hope is death.”

¹Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure.

²But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

³For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

⁴They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.

⁵They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.

⁶They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.

⁷These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!

⁸They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.

⁹They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth.

¹⁰And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.

¹¹“What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”

¹²Look at these wicked people — enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

¹³Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

¹⁴I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.

¹⁵If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to your people.

¹⁶So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!

¹⁷Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.

¹⁸Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

¹⁹In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.

²⁰When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

²¹Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.

²²I was so foolish and ignorant — I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

²³Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.

²⁴You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

²⁶My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

²⁷Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.

²⁸But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

¹The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

²Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

³Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.

⁴Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.

⁵The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.

⁶The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them.

⁷When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.

⁸The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead.

⁹With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

¹⁰The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the wicked die.

¹¹Upright citizens are good for a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.

¹²It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet.

¹³A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

¹⁴Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers.

¹⁵There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt; it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

¹⁶A gracious woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

¹⁷Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.

¹⁸Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.

¹⁹Godly people find life; evil people find death.

²⁰The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity.

²¹Evil people will surely be punished, but the children of the godly will go free.

²²A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³The godly can look forward to a reward, while the wicked can expect only judgment.

²⁴Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.

²⁵The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

²⁶People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need.

²⁷If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

²⁸Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

²⁹Those who bring trouble on their families inherit the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise.

³⁰The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends.

³¹If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, what will happen to wicked sinners?

¹After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi.

²So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.

³At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!

⁴“Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the LORD is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.

⁵But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe.

⁶He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the LORD’s anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him.”

⁷So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way,

⁸David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.

⁹Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you?

¹⁰This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the LORD placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king — he is the LORD’s anointed one.’

¹¹Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.

¹²“May the LORD judge between us. Perhaps the LORD will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.

¹³As that old proverb says, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ So you can be sure I will never harm you.

¹⁴Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a single flea?

¹⁵May the LORD therefore judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate, and he will rescue me from your power!”

¹⁶When David had finished speaking, Saul called back, “Is that really you, my son David?” Then he began to cry.

¹⁷And he said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil.

¹⁸Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the LORD put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it.

¹⁹Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the LORD reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today.

²⁰And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule.

²¹Now swear to me by the LORD that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”

²²So David promised this to Saul with an oath. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their stronghold.

¹The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²“Go to the entrance of the LORD’s Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the LORD! Listen to it, all of you who worship here!

³This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land.

⁴But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’s Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’s Temple is here! The LORD’s Temple is here!”

⁵But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice;

⁶only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols.

⁷Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

⁸“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie!

⁹Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours,

¹⁰and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!” — only to go right back to all those evils again?

¹¹Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹²“‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites.

¹³While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer.

¹⁴So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

¹⁵And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel. ’

¹⁶“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods!

¹⁹Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the LORD. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”

²⁰So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”

²¹This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves!

²²When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them.

²³This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’

²⁴“But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.

²⁵From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets — day in and day out.

²⁶But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful — even worse than their ancestors.

²⁷“Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond.

²⁸Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips.

²⁹Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’

³⁰“The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the LORD. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it.

³¹They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!

³²So beware, for the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them.

³³The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away.

³⁴I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.

¹Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

²As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.

³He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”

⁴Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.

⁵But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd.

⁶Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.

⁷And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus.”

⁸The people of the city, as well as the city council, were thrown into turmoil by these reports.

⁹So the officials forced Jason and the other believers to post bond, and then they released them.

¹⁰That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

¹²As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.

¹³But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble.

¹⁴The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind.

¹⁵Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens; then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.

¹⁷He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.

¹⁸He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”

¹⁹Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said.

²⁰“You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.”

²¹(It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)

²²So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way,

²³for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

²⁴“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples,

²⁵and human hands can’t serve his needs — for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

²⁶From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

²⁷“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him — though he is not far from any one of us.

²⁸For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

²⁹And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

³⁰“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.

³¹For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

³²When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.”

³³That ended Paul’s discussion with them,

³⁴but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.