Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

²Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.

³So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.

⁴For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

⁵For not even his brothers believed in him.

⁶Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

⁸You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”

⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”

¹²And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”

¹³Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

¹⁴About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.

¹⁵The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

¹⁶So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

¹⁷ If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

¹⁸The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

²⁰The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

²¹Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.

²² Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

²³If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

²⁶And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

²⁷But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

²⁸So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

²⁹ I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

³¹Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

³³Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.

³⁴ You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

³⁶What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

³⁷On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

³⁹Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”

⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

⁴²Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”

⁴³So there was a division among the people over him.

⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”

⁴⁶The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

⁴⁷The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?

⁴⁸Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?

⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,

⁵¹“Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”

⁵²They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

⁵³[52] [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] The Woman Caught in Adultery [[They went each to his own house,

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.

³And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,

⁴blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair,

⁵tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood,

⁶oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,

⁷onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

⁸And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

⁹Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

¹⁰“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

¹¹You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.

¹²You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

¹³You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

¹⁴And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.

¹⁵The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

¹⁶And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

¹⁷“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

¹⁸And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.

¹⁹Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

²⁰The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

²¹And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.

²²There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

²³“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

²⁴You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.

²⁵And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim.

²⁶And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs.

²⁷Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table.

²⁸You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these.

²⁹And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.

³⁰And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

³¹“You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

³²And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it;

³³three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch — so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.

³⁴And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers,

³⁵and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.

³⁶Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold.

³⁷You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.

³⁸Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold.

³⁹It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold.

⁴⁰And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

¹For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

⁸When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

⁹then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

¹⁰And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

¹³waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”

¹⁷then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

²⁶For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

²⁷but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

²⁸Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

³³sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

³⁴For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

³⁵Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

³⁶For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

³⁷For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;

³⁸but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

¹First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

²for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

³This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

⁴who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

⁷For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

⁸I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

⁹likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

¹⁰but with what is proper for women who profess godliness — with good works.

¹¹Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

¹²I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve;

¹⁴and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

¹⁵Yet she will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

¹“Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.

⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.

⁵Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God?

⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?

¹⁵Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.

¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

¹⁷Keep listening to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.

¹⁹Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me.

²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.

²⁸Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

²“At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.

³When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah

⁴I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;

⁵do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”

⁶For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

⁷but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

⁸For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

¹A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.

³Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

¹⁰By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

¹Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?”

²So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

³And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness,

⁴David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come.

⁵Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him.

⁶Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

⁷So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him.

⁸Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD's anointed and be guiltless?”

¹⁰And David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.

¹¹The LORD forbid that I should put out my hand against the LORD's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”

¹²So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.

¹³Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them.

¹⁴And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”

¹⁵And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.

¹⁶This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”

¹⁷Saul recognized David's voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.”

¹⁸And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands?

¹⁹Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

²⁰Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.”

²²And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it.

²³The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD's anointed.

²⁴Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”

²⁵Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

¹Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

²Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.

³They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the LORD.

⁴Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

⁵Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.

⁶Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.

⁷Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.

¹¹I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

¹²Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

¹³And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it,

¹⁴but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

¹⁷Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;

¹⁸let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.

¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.

²¹For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.

²²Speak: “Thus declares the LORD, ‘The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them.’”

²³Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,

²⁴but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh —

²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”

¹And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

²And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”

⁴And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

¹⁸Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.

²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel.

³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

³¹And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?

³⁶Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.