Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.

³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.

¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”

¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”

¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus began to weep.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.

⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done.

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.

⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!

⁵⁰You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation,

⁵²and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

⁵³So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?”

⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

¹Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,

²and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour.

³You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams.

⁴You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.

⁵Then you shall take the vestments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the decorated band of the ephod;

⁶and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban.

⁷You shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him.

⁸Then you shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them,

⁹and you shall gird them with sashes and tie headdresses on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual ordinance. You shall then ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰You shall bring the bull in front of the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull,

¹¹and you shall slaughter the bull before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting,

¹²and shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.

¹³You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and turn them into smoke on the altar.

¹⁴But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,

¹⁶and you shall slaughter the ram, and shall take its blood and dash it against all sides of the altar.

¹⁷Then you shall cut the ram into its parts, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its parts and its head,

¹⁸and turn the whole ram into smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the LORD.

¹⁹You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,

²⁰and you shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet, and dash the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar.

²¹Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and his sons’ vestments with him; then he and his vestments shall be holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ vestments.

²²You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination),

²³and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD;

²⁴and you shall place all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and raise them as an elevation offering before the LORD.

²⁵Then you shall take them from their hands, and turn them into smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering of pleasing odor before the LORD; it is an offering by fire to the LORD.

²⁶You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and raise it as an elevation offering before the LORD; and it shall be your portion.

²⁷You shall consecrate the breast that was raised as an elevation offering and the thigh that was raised as an elevation offering from the ram of ordination, from that which belonged to Aaron and his sons.

²⁸These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering; and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from their sacrifice of offerings of well-being, their offering to the LORD.

²⁹The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.

³⁰The son who is priest in his place shall wear them seven days, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

³¹You shall take the ram of ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place;

³²and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

³³They themselves shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of them, because they are holy.

³⁴If any of the flesh for the ordination, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

³⁵Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, just as I have commanded you; through seven days you shall ordain them.

³⁶Also every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it, to consecrate it.

³⁷Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

³⁸Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day.

³⁹One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening;

⁴⁰and with the first lamb one-tenth of a measure of choice flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

⁴¹And the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the LORD.

⁴²It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.

⁴³I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory;

⁴⁴I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests.

⁴⁵I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.

⁴⁶And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

³the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh

⁴and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name,

⁶including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.

⁹For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers,

¹⁰asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.

¹¹For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you —

¹²or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

¹³I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.

¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish

¹⁵— hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.

¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;

²¹for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.

²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools;

²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves,

²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural,

²⁷and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done.

²⁹They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips,

³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,

³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

³²They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die — yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

¹Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed.

²Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. False Teaching and True Riches Teach and urge these duties.

³Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness,

⁴is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,

⁵and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;

⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it;

⁸but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

¹¹But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you

¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time — he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share,

¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge;

²¹by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you.

¹My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

³“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there that will give surety for me?

⁴Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵Those who denounce friends for reward — the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit.

⁷My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow.

⁸The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.

⁹Yet the righteous hold to their way, and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But you, come back now, all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person among you.

¹¹My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.

¹²They make night into day; ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’

¹³If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,

¹⁴if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

¹O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

²They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.

³They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

⁴We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

⁵How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?

⁶Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

⁷For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

⁸Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.

¹⁰Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.

¹¹Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.

¹²Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!

¹³Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

¹Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

³The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their parents.

⁷Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a ruler.

⁸A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of those who give it; wherever they turn they prosper.

⁹One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend.

¹⁰A rebuke strikes deeper into a discerning person than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹Evil people seek only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against them.

¹²Better to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly.

¹³Evil will not depart from the house of one who returns evil for good.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so stop before the quarrel breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why should fools have a price in hand to buy wisdom, when they have no mind to learn?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.

¹⁸It is senseless to give a pledge, to become surety for a neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves transgression loves strife; one who builds a high threshold invites broken bones.

²⁰The crooked of mind do not prosper, and the perverse of tongue fall into calamity.

²¹The one who begets a fool gets trouble; the parent of a fool has no joy.

²²A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.

²³The wicked accept a concealed bribe to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴The discerning person looks to wisdom, but the eyes of a fool to the ends of the earth.

²⁵Foolish children are a grief to their father and bitterness to her who bore them.

²⁶To impose a fine on the innocent is not right, or to flog the noble for their integrity.

²⁷One who spares words is knowledgeable; one who is cool in spirit has understanding.

²⁸Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.

¹Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down,

²and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them, but carried them off, and went their way.

³When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

⁴Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep.

⁵David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

⁶David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

⁷David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

⁸David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue; for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”

⁹So David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Wadi Besor, where those stayed who were left behind.

¹⁰But David went on with the pursuit, he and four hundred men; two hundred stayed behind, too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor.

¹¹In the open country they found an Egyptian, and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate; they gave him water to drink;

¹²they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.

¹³Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.

¹⁴We had made a raid on the Negeb of the Cherethites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negeb of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag down.”

¹⁵David said to him, “Will you take me down to this raiding party?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”

¹⁶When he had taken him down, they were spread out all over the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great amount of spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.

¹⁸David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything.

²⁰David also captured all the flocks and herds, which were driven ahead of the other cattle; people said, “This is David’s spoil.”

²¹Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. When David drew near to the people he saluted them.

²²Then all the corrupt and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children, and leave.”

²³But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us; he has preserved us and handed over to us the raiding party that attacked us.

²⁴Who would listen to you in this matter? For the share of the one who goes down into the battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.”

²⁵From that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel; it continues to the present day.

²⁶When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD”;

²⁷it was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir,

²⁸in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa,

²⁹in Racal, in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, in the towns of the Kenites,

³⁰in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach,

³¹in Hebron, all the places where David and his men had roamed.

¹Thus said the LORD to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth, and put it on your loins, but do not dip it in water.”

²So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.

³And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

⁴“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

⁵So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

⁶And after many days the LORD said to me, “Go now to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹Thus says the LORD: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

¹¹For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.

¹²You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Every wine-jar should be filled with wine. And they will say to you, “Do you think we do not know that every wine-jar should be filled with wine?”

¹³Then you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD: I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land — the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem — with drunkenness.

¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, parents and children together, says the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion when I destroy them.

¹⁵Hear and give ear; do not be haughty, for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight; while you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.”

¹⁹The towns of the Negeb are shut up with no one to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.

²⁰Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

²¹What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you have trained to be your allies? Will not pangs take hold of you, like those of a woman in labor?

²²And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?” it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you are violated.

²³Can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.

²⁵This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, says the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

²⁶I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

²⁷I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your shameless prostitutions on the hills of the countryside. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?

¹While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”

²Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

³At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”

⁴Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’”

⁶When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

⁷When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)

⁹Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”

¹²In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who joined in this conspiracy.

¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”

¹⁶Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush; so he went and gained entrance to the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The tribune took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.

²¹But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him. They are ready now and are waiting for your consent.”

²²So the tribune dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of this.”

²³Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.

²⁴Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.”

²⁵He wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him.

²⁸Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council.

²⁹I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

³⁰When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris.

³²The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks.

³³When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.

³⁴On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.