Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

²In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you.

³If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.

⁴You know the way to where I am going.”

⁵“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

⁷If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works.

¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

¹²“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

¹³Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commands.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

¹⁷He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too.

²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.

²¹The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

²⁴The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

²⁵“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you.

²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

²⁷“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

²⁸You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

²⁹I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe.

³⁰I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.

³¹On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me. “Get up; let’s leave this place.

¹When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has happened to him!”

²Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”

³So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.

⁴He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival to the LORD tomorrow.”

⁶Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.

⁷The LORD spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly.

⁸They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”

⁹The LORD also said to Moses: “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

¹⁰Now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God: “LORD, why does your anger burn against your people you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?

¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.

¹³Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel — you swore to them by yourself and declared, ‘I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it forever.’”

¹⁴So the LORD relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides — inscribed front and back.

¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”

¹⁸But Moses replied: It’s not the sound of a victory cry and not the sound of a cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing!

¹⁹As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain.

²⁰He took the calf they had made, burned it up, and ground it to powder. He scattered the powder over the surface of the water and forced the Israelites to drink the water.

²¹Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?”

²²“Don’t be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil.

²³They said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has happened to him!’

²⁴So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off,’ and they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!”

²⁵Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughingstock to their enemies.

²⁶And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.

²⁷He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

²⁸The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people.

²⁹Afterward Moses said, “Today you have been dedicated to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother. Therefore you have brought a blessing on yourselves today.”

³⁰The following day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.”

³¹So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves.

³²Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.”

³³The LORD replied to Moses: “Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book.

³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.”

³⁵And the LORD inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

²If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God.

³For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

⁴Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

⁶Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

⁹Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰In what way then was it credited — while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

¹²And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified,

¹⁵because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

¹⁶This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants  — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God’s sight, in whom Abraham believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

¹⁸He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.

¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

²¹because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

²²Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.

²³Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,

²⁴but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

¹But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.

²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,

⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.

⁶For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,

⁷always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance,

¹¹along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured — and yet the Lord rescued me from them all.

¹²In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,

¹⁵and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

¹⁷so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset!

³I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply.

⁴Don’t you know that ever since antiquity, from the time a human was placed on earth,

⁵the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds,

⁷he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

⁸He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him.

¹⁰His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹His frame may be full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in dust.

¹²Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

¹³though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him.

¹⁵He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

¹⁹For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape.

²¹Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last.

²²At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him.

²³When he fills his stomach, God will send his burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating.

²⁴If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver. Terrors come over him.

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the wicked person’s lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him.

¹A psalm of Asaph. [1] God stands in the divine assembly; he pronounces judgment among the gods:

²“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

³Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.

⁴Rescue the poor and needy; save them from the power of the wicked.”

⁵They do not know or understand; they wander in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I said, “You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.

⁷However, you will die like humans and fall like any other ruler.”

⁸Rise up, God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.

¹Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.

²A king’s terrible wrath is like the roaring of a lion; anyone who provokes him endangers himself.

³Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.

⁵Counsel in a person’s heart is deep water; but a person of understanding draws it out.

⁶Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person?

⁷A righteous person acts with integrity; his children who come after him will be happy.

⁸A king sitting on a throne to judge separates out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and varying measures  — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions — by whether his behavior is pure and upright.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD made them both.

¹³Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.

¹⁴“It’s worthless, it’s worthless!” the buyer says, but after he is on his way, he gloats.

¹⁵There is gold and a multitude of jewels, but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Finalize plans with counsel, and wage war with sound guidance.

¹⁹The one who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid someone with a big mouth.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother —  his lamp will go out in deep darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained prematurely will not be blessed ultimately.

²²Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and he will rescue you.

²³Differing weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are unfair.

²⁴Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly and later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life, searching the innermost parts.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness guard a king; through loyalty he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.

³⁰Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

¹Some time later, David inquired of the LORD: “Should I go to one of the towns of Judah?” The LORD answered him, “Go.” Then David asked, “Where should I go?” “To Hebron,” the LORD replied.

²So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

³In addition, David brought the men who were with him, each one with his family, and they settled in the towns near Hebron.

⁴Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David: “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

⁵David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “The LORD bless you, because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him.

⁶Now, may the LORD show kindness and faithfulness to you, and I will also show the same goodness to you because you have done this deed.

⁷Therefore, be strong and valiant, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and moved him to Mahanaim.

⁹He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin — over all Israel.

¹⁰Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel; he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

¹¹The length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

¹²Abner son of Ner and soldiers of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

¹³So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.

¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have the young men get up and compete in front of us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied.

¹⁵So they got up and were counted off — twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s soldiers.

¹⁶Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is named Field of Blades.

¹⁷The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers.

¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.

¹⁹He chased Abner and did not turn to the right or the left in his pursuit of him.

²⁰Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “Yes it is,” Asahel replied.

²¹Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or left, seize one of the young soldiers, and take whatever you can get from him.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.

²²Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?”

²³But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. As they all came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped,

²⁴but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵The Benjaminites rallied to Abner; they formed a unit and took their stand on top of a hill.

²⁶Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

²⁷“As God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning.”

²⁸Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.

²⁹So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning, and arrived at Mahanaim.

³⁰When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing,

³¹but they had killed 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men.

³²Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.

³For this is what the LORD says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:

⁴They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the soil’s surface. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

⁵“For this is what the LORD says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed my peace from these people as well as my faithful love and compassion.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁶“Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

⁷Food won’t be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A consoling drink won’t be given him for the loss of his father or mother.

⁸Do not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.

⁹For this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride.

¹⁰“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the LORD declared all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹Then you will answer them, ‘Because your fathers abandoned me  — this is the LORD’s declaration — and followed other gods, served them, and bowed in worship to them. Indeed, they abandoned me and did not keep my instruction.

¹²You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me.

¹³So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.’

¹⁴“However, look, the days are coming”  — the LORD’s declaration — “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’

¹⁵but rather, ‘As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.

¹⁶“I am about to send for many fishermen”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

¹⁷for my gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight.

¹⁸I will first repay them double for their iniquity and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols.”

¹⁹LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

²⁰Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

²¹“Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know my power and my might; then they will know that my name is the LORD.”

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”