Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

²In My Father’s house are manyrooms; if that were not so,I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.

³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.

⁴And you know the way where I am going.”

⁵Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?”

⁶Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

⁷If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

⁸Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

⁹Jesus *said to him, “Have I been withyou for so long a time, and yetyou have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains 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.

¹²Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father.

¹³And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, 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 commandments.

¹⁶I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever;

¹⁷the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you 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.

¹⁹After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live.

²⁰On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you.

²¹The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.

²⁴The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you.

²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.

²⁷Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you.Do not let your hearts be troubled, norfearful.

²⁸You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoicedbecause I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

²⁹And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

³⁰I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he hasnothing in regard to Me,

³¹but so that the world may know that I love the Father,I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let’s go from here.

¹Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.”

²Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

³So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

⁴Then he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a cast metal calf; and they said, “This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

⁵Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

⁶So the next day they got up early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to engage in lewd behavior.

⁷Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have behaved corruptly.

⁸They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ”

⁹Then the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.

¹⁰So now leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

¹¹Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

¹²Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people.

¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

¹⁴So the LORD relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other.

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

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

¹⁸But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of victory, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But I hear the sound of singing.”

¹⁹And it came about, as soon as Moses approached the camp, that he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

²⁰Then he took the calf which they had made and completely burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

²¹Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”

²²And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.

²³For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’

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

²⁵Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among their enemies—

²⁶Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him.

²⁷And he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ”

²⁸So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

²⁹Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰And on the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves!

³²But now, if You will forgive their sin, very well; but if not, please wipe me out from Your book which You have written!”

³³However, the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will wipe him out of My book.

³⁴But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless on the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵Then the LORD struck the people with a plague, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

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

²For if 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 AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

⁴Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

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

⁷“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.

⁸BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”

⁹Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

¹⁰How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;

¹¹and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,

¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴For if those who are of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified;

¹⁵for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

¹⁶For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

¹⁷(as it is written: “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist.

¹⁸In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”

¹⁹Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

²⁰yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,

²¹and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

²²Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

²³Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,

²⁴but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

²⁵He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification.

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

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

³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

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

⁵holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.

⁶For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

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

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

¹¹persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

¹²Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;

¹⁷so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite responded,

²“Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation.

³I listened to the reprimand which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

⁴Do you know this from ancient times, From the establishment of mankind on earth,

⁵That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,

⁷He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Like a vision of the night he is chased away.

⁹The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him.

¹⁰His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful strength, But it lies down with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue,

¹³Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.

¹⁵He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly.

¹⁶He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue kills him.

¹⁷He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He returns the product of his labor And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and neglected the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built.

²⁰“Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.

²¹Nothing remains for him to devour, Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

²²In the fullness of his excess he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

²³When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him And rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵It is drawn and comes out of his back, Even the flashing point from his gallbladder; Terrors come upon him,

²⁶Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his guilt, And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will disappear; His possessions will flow away on the day of His anger.

²⁹This is a wicked person’s portion from God, The inheritance decreed to him by God.”

¹God takes His position in His assembly; He judges in the midst of the gods.

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

³Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

⁴Rescue the weak and needy; Save them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵They do not know nor do they understand; They walk around in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

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

⁷Nevertheless you will die like men, And fall like one of the princes.”

⁸Arise, God, judge the earth! For You possess all the nations.

¹Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion; One who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³Avoiding strife is an honor for a person, But any fool will quarrel.

⁴The lazy one does not plow after the autumn, So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.

⁵A plan in the heart of a person is like 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 who walks in his integrity— How blessed are his sons after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of justice Disperses all evil with his eyes.

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

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures, Both of them are abominable to the LORD.

¹¹It is by his deeds that a boy distinguishes himself, If his conduct is pure and right.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them.

¹³Do not love sleep, or you will become poor; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.

¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, But when he goes his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold, and an abundance of jewels; But lips of knowledge are a more precious thing.

¹⁶Take his garment when he becomes guarantor for a stranger; And for foreigners, seize a pledge from him.

¹⁷Bread obtained by a lie is sweet to a person, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

¹⁸Prepare plans by consultation, And make war by wise guidance.

¹⁹One who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets; Therefore do not associate with a gossip.

²⁰He who curses his father or his mother, His lamp will go out in time of darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained in a hurry at the beginning Will not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

²³Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, And a false scale is not good.

²⁴A man’s steps are ordained by the LORD; How then can a person understand his way?

²⁵It is a trap for a person to say carelessly, “It is holy!” And after the vows to make inquiry.

²⁶A wise king scatters the wicked, And drives a threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of a person is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.

²⁸Loyalty and truth watch over the king, And he upholds his throne by loyalty.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, And the honor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰Bruising wounds clean away evil, And blows cleanse the innermost parts.

¹Then it came about afterward that David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” So David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “To Hebron.”

²So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

³And David brought up his men who were with him, each with his household; and they settled in the cities of Hebron.

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

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

⁶And now may the LORD show kindness and truth to you; and I also will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing.

⁷Now then, let your hands be strong and be valiant, since Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

⁹And he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel.

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

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

¹²Now Abner the son of Ner, went from Mahanaim to Gibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul.

¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, Abner’s men on the one side of the pool and Joab’s men on the other side of the pool.

¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Now have the young men arise and hold a martial skills match in our presence.” And Joab said, “Have them arise!”

¹⁵So they got up and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

¹⁶And each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.

¹⁷That day the battle was very severe, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David.

¹⁸Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as swift-footed as one of the gazelles that is in the field.

¹⁹Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.

²⁰Then Abner looked behind himself and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he said, “It is I!”

²¹So Abner said to him, “Turn aside for your own good to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his equipment.” But Asahel was unwilling to turn aside from following him.

²²Then Abner repeated again to Asahel, “Turn aside for your own good from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I show my face to your brother Joab?”

²³However, he refused to turn aside; so Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it happened that all who came thereafter to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah by way of the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵And the sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one troop, and they stood on the top of a hill.

²⁶Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Should the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that it will be bitter in the end? So how long will you refrain from telling the people to turn back from pursuing their kinsmen?”

²⁷Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, then the people of Judah certainly would have withdrawn in the morning, each from pursuing his brother.”

²⁸So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people halted and no longer pursued Israel, nor did they continue to fight anymore.

²⁹Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to Mahanaim.

³⁰Then Joab returned from pursuing Abner; but he gathered all the people together, and nineteen of David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel.

³¹However, the servants of David had struck and killed many of Benjamin and Abner’s men; 360 men were dead.

³²And they carried Asahel away and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men traveled all night until the day dawned at Hebron.

¹The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

²“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.”

³For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who give birth to them, and their fathers who father them in this land:

⁴“They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be mourned or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁵For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the LORD, “and My favor and compassion.

⁶Both great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone make cuts on himself or have his head shaved for them.

⁷People will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother.

⁸Moreover, you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.”

⁹For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.

¹²You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.

¹³So I will hurl you off this land to the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

¹⁴“Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’

¹⁵but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

¹⁷For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.

¹⁸I will first repay them double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and their abominations.”

¹⁹LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility, and things of no benefit.”

²⁰Can a person make gods for himself? But they are not gods!

²¹“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they will know that My name is the LORD.”

¹Now Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul extended his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

²“Regarding all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

³especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“So then, all Jews know my way of life since my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and in Jerusalem,

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

⁶And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;

⁷the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. For this hope, O king, I am being accused by Jews.

⁸Why is it considered incredible among you people if God raises the dead?

⁹“So I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, after receiving authority from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being put to death.

¹¹And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was extremely enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

¹²“While so engaged, as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,

¹³at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who were journeying with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a servant and a witness not only to the things in which you have seen Me, but also to the things in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from thepower of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹“For that reason, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but continually proclaimed to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem, and then all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they are to repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.

²¹For these reasons some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me.

²²So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place,

²³as to whether the Christ was to suffer, and whether, as first from the resurrection of the dead, He would proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴While Paul was stating these things in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵But Paul *said, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; on the contrary, I am speaking out with truthful and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I also speak to him with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you are going to persuade me to make a Christian of myself.”

²⁹And Paul said, “I would wish to God that even in a short or long time not only you, but also all who hear me this day would become such as I myself am, except for these chains.”

³⁰The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,

³¹and when they had gone out, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.”

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