Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

²In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

⁴And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

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

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

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

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

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

¹¹Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

¹²“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

¹³And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

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

¹⁵“If you love Me, keep My commandments.

¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

¹⁷the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

¹⁹“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

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

²¹He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

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

²⁴He who does not love Me does not keep 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 being present with you.

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

²⁷Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

²⁸You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

²⁹“And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.

³⁰I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

³¹But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

¹Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

²And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

³So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

⁴And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.”

⁶Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

⁷And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

⁸They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ”

⁹And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!

¹⁰Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

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

¹²Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.

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

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

¹⁵And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.

¹⁶Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.

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

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

¹⁹So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

²⁰Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.

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

²²So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

²³For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

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

²⁵Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies),

²⁶then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

²⁷And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ”

²⁸So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

²⁹Then Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”

³⁰Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

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

³²Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”

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

³⁴Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”

³⁵So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.

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

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 accounted to him for righteousness.”

⁴Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

⁵But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

⁶just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰How then was it accounted? 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 still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,

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

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

¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,

¹⁵because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, 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—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

¹⁹And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

²²And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,

²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,

²⁵who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

¹But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

³unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

⁴traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

⁶For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

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

⁸Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;

⁹but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

¹⁰But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,

¹¹persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.

¹²Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

¹³But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

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

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me.

³I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴“Do you not know this of old, Since man was placed on earth,

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

⁶Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, And his head reaches to the clouds,

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

⁸He will fly away like a dream, and not be found; Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, Nor will his place behold him anymore.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor, And his hands will restore his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust.

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

¹³Though he spares it and does not forsake it, But still keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue will slay him.

¹⁷He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰“Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires.

²¹Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last.

²²In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and comes out of the body; Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him;

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

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

²⁸The increase of his house will depart, And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

²⁹This is the portion from God for a wicked man, The heritage appointed to him by God.”

¹A Psalm of Asaph. [1] God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.

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

³Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

⁴Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.

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

⁷But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.”

⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations.

¹Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

²The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life.

³It is honorable for a man to stop striving, Since any fool can start a quarrel.

⁴The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, But a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?

⁷The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment Scatters all evil with his eyes.

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

¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.

¹¹Even a child is known by his deeds, Whether what he does is pure and right.

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

¹³Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴“It is good for nothing,” cries the buyer; But when he has gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold and a multitude of rubies, But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who is surety for a stranger, And hold it as a pledge when it is for a seductress.

¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by counsel; By wise counsel wage war.

¹⁹He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, His lamp will be put out in deep darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning Will not be blessed at the end.

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

²³Diverse weights are an abomination to the LORD, And dishonest scales are not good.

²⁴A man’s steps are of the LORD; How then can a man understand his own way?

²⁵It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, And afterward to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.

²⁸Mercy and truth preserve the king, And by lovingkindness he upholds his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, And the splendor of old men is their gray head.

³⁰Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.

¹It happened after this that David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” 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 the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt 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, “The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.”

⁵So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the LORD, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him.

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

⁷Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul 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, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim;

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

¹⁰Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah 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, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

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

¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men now arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.”

¹⁵So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

¹⁶And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon.

¹⁷So there was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

¹⁸Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as fleet of foot as a wild gazelle.

¹⁹So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.

²⁰Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Are you Asahel?” He answered, “I am.”

²¹And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

²²So Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab?”

²³However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.

²⁴Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill.

²⁶Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”

²⁷And Joab said, “As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.”

²⁸So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore.

²⁹Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.

³⁰So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.

³¹But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died.

³²Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.

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

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

³For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land:

⁴“They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

⁵For thus says the LORD: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the LORD, “lovingkindness and mercies.

⁶Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.

⁷Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother.

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

⁹For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.

¹²And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.

¹³Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’

¹⁴“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

¹⁵but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

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

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

¹⁹O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”

²⁰Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?

²¹“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself:

²“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews,

³especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

⁵They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.

⁷To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

⁸Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?

⁹“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

¹³at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

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

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

¹⁶But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.

¹⁷I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

¹⁸to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

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

²²Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—

²³that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

²⁵But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.

²⁶For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.

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

²⁸Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

²⁹And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them;

³¹and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

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