Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.

²Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near.

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

⁴for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

⁵(For 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 against it that its works are evil.

⁸Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.”

⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret.

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

¹²And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”

¹³Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.

¹⁵The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?”

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

¹⁷Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.

¹⁸Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

¹⁹“Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”

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

²¹Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished.

²²Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.

²³If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?

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

²⁵Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill?

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

²⁷Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.

²⁹I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.

³¹Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.

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

³⁴You will search for me, but you will not find me; and 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 search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

³⁷On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,

³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

³⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.”

⁴¹Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?

⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him.

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

⁴⁵Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”

⁴⁶The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?

⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?

⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law — they are accursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked,

⁵¹“Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”

⁵²They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

⁵³[52] [[Then each of them went home,

¹The LORD said to Moses:

²Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me.

³This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,

⁴blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats’ hair,

⁵tanned rams’ skins, fine leather, acacia wood,

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

⁷onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece.

⁸And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.

⁹In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

¹⁰They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.

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

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.

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, by which to carry the ark.

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

¹⁶You shall put into the ark the covenant that I shall give you.

¹⁷Then 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 width.

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

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

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

²¹You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant 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 covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites.

²³You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.

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

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

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

²⁷The rings that hold the poles used for carrying the table shall be close to the rim.

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

²⁹You 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 always.

³¹You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The base and the shaft of the lampstand shall be made of hammered work; its cups, its calyxes, and its petals 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 shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the other branch — so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.

³⁴On the lampstand itself there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyxes and petals.

³⁵There shall be a calyx of one piece with it under the first pair of branches, a calyx of one piece with it under the next pair of branches, and a calyx of one piece with it under the last pair of branches — so for the six branches that go out of the lampstand.

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

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

³⁸Its snuffers and trays shall be of pure gold.

³⁹It, and all these utensils, shall be made from a talent of pure gold.

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

¹Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.

²Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?

³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after 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 you have prepared for me;

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

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

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, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.

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

¹¹And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that 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,”

¹³and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”

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

¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

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

¹⁷he also 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, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary 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 approach 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 to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,

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

²⁶For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

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

²⁸Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

²⁹How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know the one 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 those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

³³sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

³⁴For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.

³⁵Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward.

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

³⁷For yet “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay;

³⁸but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”

³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

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

²for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

³This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

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

⁵For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,

⁶who gave himself a ransom for all — this was attested at the right time.

⁷For this I was appointed a herald 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 up holy hands without anger or argument;

⁹also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes,

¹⁰but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God.

¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.

¹²I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.

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, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.

¹“Look, 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; all of you are worthless physicians.

⁵If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my reasoning, 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 person deceives another?

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.

¹⁴I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.

¹⁵See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.

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

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated.

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

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

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let 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 windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?

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

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

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

¹We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near. People tell of your wondrous deeds.

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

³When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady. 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 insolent 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; he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will rejoice 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 exalted.

¹A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.

³Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.

⁴The appetite of the lazy craves, and gets nothing, while the appetite of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.

⁶Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.

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

¹³Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.

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

¹⁶The clever do all things intelligently, but the fool displays folly.

¹⁷A bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy, healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace are for the one who ignores instruction, but one who heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire realized 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 suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty.

¹Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “David is in hiding on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon.”

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

³Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon beside the road. But David remained in the wilderness. When he learned that Saul had come after him into the wilderness,

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

⁵Then David set out and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner 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 son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

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

⁸Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand today; now therefore let me pin him to the ground with one stroke of the spear; I will not strike him twice.”

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

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

¹¹The LORD forbid that I should raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed; but now take the spear that is at his head, and the water jar, and let us go.”

¹²So David took the spear that was at Saul’s head and the water jar, and they went away. No one saw it, or knew it, nor did anyone 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 on top of a hill far away, with a great distance between them.

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

¹⁵David 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 your lord the king.

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. See now, where is the king’s spear, or the water jar that was at his head?”

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

¹⁸And he added, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What guilt 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 mortals, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out today from my share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

²⁰Now therefore, do not let my blood fall to the ground, 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 done wrong; come back, my son David, for I will never harm you again, because my life was precious in your sight today; I have been a fool, and have made a great mistake.”

²²David replied, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and get it.

²³The LORD rewards everyone for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD gave you into my hand today, but I would not raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed.

²⁴As your life was precious today in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he rescue me from 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.

¹O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

²O that I had in the desert a traveler’s lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors.

³They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD.

⁴Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.

⁵They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.

⁶Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the LORD.

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

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit through the mouth. They all speak friendly words to their neighbors, but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

¹⁰Take 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 animals have fled and are gone.

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

¹²Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, so that they 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 accordance with it,

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

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors 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 skilled women to come;

¹⁸let them quickly raise a dirge over us, so 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 ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament.

²¹“Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.”

²²Speak! Thus says the LORD: “Human corpses shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, and no one shall gather them.”

²³Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth;

²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD.

²⁵The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin:

²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

¹While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”

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

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

⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied —

⁷altogether there were about twelve of them.

⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

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

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

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

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use 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 said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

¹⁷When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

¹⁸Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.

¹⁹A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.

²⁰So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”

²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.

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

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business.

²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by 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 will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

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

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.

³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him;

³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Meanwhile, some were shouting 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 gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?

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

³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

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

³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly.

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

⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.