Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

²There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

³When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

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

⁵“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

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

⁷If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

⁹Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?

¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.

¹¹Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

¹²“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

¹³You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.

¹⁴Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

¹⁵“If you love me, obey my commandments.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.

¹⁷He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

¹⁸No, I will not abandon you as orphans — I will come to you.

¹⁹Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.

²⁰When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

²¹Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

²²Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”

²³Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.

²⁴Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.

²⁵I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.

²⁶But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative — that is, the Holy Spirit — he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

²⁷“I am leaving you with a gift — peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

²⁸Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am.

²⁹I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.

³⁰“I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me,

³¹but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.

¹When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

²So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

³All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.

⁴Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD!”

⁶The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.

⁷The LORD told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

⁸How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹Then the LORD said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.

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

¹¹But Moses tried to pacify the LORD his God. “O LORD!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand?

¹²Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people!

¹³Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”

¹⁴So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.

¹⁶These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!”

¹⁸But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.”

¹⁹When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.

²⁰He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.

²¹Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”

²²“Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are.

²³They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’

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

²⁵Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies.

²⁶So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the LORD’s side, come here and join me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.

²⁷Moses told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone — even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.”

²⁸The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day.

²⁹Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.”

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin, but I will go back up to the LORD on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for your sin.”

³¹So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves.

³²But now, if you will only forgive their sin — but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!”

³³But the LORD replied to Moses, “No, I will erase the name of everyone who has sinned against me.

³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Look! My angel will lead the way before you. And when I come to call the people to account, I will certainly hold them responsible for their sins.”

³⁵Then the LORD sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.

¹Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God?

²If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.

³For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

⁴When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.

⁵But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

⁶David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

⁷“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

⁸Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”

⁹Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith.

¹⁰But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!

¹¹Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous — even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.

¹²And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

¹⁴If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.

¹⁵For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

¹⁶So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

¹⁷That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

¹⁸Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping — believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

¹⁹And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead — and so was Sarah’s womb.

²⁰Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.

²¹He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

²²And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.

²³And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded

²⁴for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

¹You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.

²For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.

³They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.

⁴They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.

⁵They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

⁶They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires.

⁷(Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.)

⁸These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith.

⁹But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.

¹¹You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra — but the Lord rescued me from all of it.

¹²Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

¹³But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.

¹⁴But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.

¹⁵You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

¹⁷God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²“I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.

³I’ve had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.

⁴“Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time, ever since people were first placed on the earth,

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been short lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?

⁶Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds,

⁷yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, ‘Where are they?’

⁸They will fade like a dream and not be found. They will vanish like a vision in the night.

⁹Those who once saw them will see them no more. Their families will never see them again.

¹⁰Their children will beg from the poor, for they must give back their stolen riches.

¹¹Though they are young, their bones will lie in the dust.

¹²“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness, letting it melt under their tongue.

¹³They savored it, holding it long in their mouths.

¹⁴But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.

¹⁵They will vomit the wealth they swallowed. God won’t let them keep it down.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of cobras. The viper will kill them.

¹⁷They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.

¹⁸They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy.

¹⁹For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes.

²⁰They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.

²¹Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.

²²“In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble and be overcome by misery.

²³May God give them a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon them.

²⁴When they try to escape an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.

²⁵The arrow is pulled from their back, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon them.

²⁶Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour their goods, consuming all they have left.

²⁷The heavens will reveal their guilt, and the earth will testify against them.

²⁸A flood will sweep away their house. God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.

²⁹This is the reward that God gives the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God.”

¹God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:

²“How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Interlude

³“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.

⁴Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

⁵But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.

⁶I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High.

⁷But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’”

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

¹Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

²The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar; to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

³Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.

⁴Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

⁵Though good advice lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?

⁷The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.

⁸When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence, distinguishing the bad from the good.

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

¹⁰False weights and unequal measures — the LORD detests double standards of every kind.

¹¹Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²Ears to hear and eyes to see — both are gifts from the LORD.

¹³If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

¹⁴The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,” then brags about getting a bargain!

¹⁵Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.

¹⁶Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

¹⁷Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth.

¹⁸Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.

¹⁹A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers.

²⁰If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.

²¹An inheritance obtained too early in life is not a blessing in the end.

²²Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the LORD to handle the matter.

²³The LORD detests double standards; he is not pleased by dishonest scales.

²⁴The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

²⁵Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

²⁶A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat, then runs his threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.

²⁸Unfailing love and faithfulness protect the king; his throne is made secure through love.

²⁹The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

³⁰Physical punishment cleanses away evil; such discipline purifies the heart.

¹After this, David asked the LORD, “Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah?” “Yes,” the LORD replied. Then David asked, “Which town should I go to?” “To Hebron,” the LORD answered.

²David’s two wives were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel. So David and his wives

³and his men and their families all moved to Judah, and they settled in the villages near Hebron.

⁴Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah. When David heard that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul,

⁵he sent them this message: “May the LORD bless you for being so loyal to your master Saul and giving him a decent burial.

⁶May the LORD be loyal to you in return and reward you with his unfailing love! And I, too, will reward you for what you have done.

⁷Now that Saul is dead, I ask you to be my strong and loyal subjects like the people of Judah, who have anointed me as their new king.”

⁸But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth.

⁹There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel.

¹⁰Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king, and he ruled from Mahanaim for two years. Meanwhile, the people of Judah remained loyal to David.

¹¹David made Hebron his capital, and he ruled as king of Judah for seven and a half years.

¹²One day Abner led Ishbosheth’s troops from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

¹³About the same time, Joab son of Zeruiah led David’s troops out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. The two groups sat down there, facing each other from opposite sides of the pool.

¹⁴Then Abner suggested to Joab, “Let’s have a few of our warriors fight hand to hand here in front of us.” “All right,” Joab agreed.

¹⁵So twelve men were chosen to fight from each side — twelve men of Benjamin representing Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve representing David.

¹⁶Each one grabbed his opponent by the hair and thrust his sword into the other’s side so that all of them died. So this place at Gibeon has been known ever since as the Field of Swords.

¹⁷A fierce battle followed that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by the forces of David.

¹⁸Joab, Abishai, and Asahel — the three sons of Zeruiah — were among David’s forces that day. Asahel could run like a gazelle,

¹⁹and he began chasing Abner. He pursued him relentlessly, not stopping for anything.

²⁰When Abner looked back and saw him coming, he called out, “Is that you, Asahel?” “Yes, it is,” he replied.

²¹“Go fight someone else!” Abner warned. “Take on one of the younger men, and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel kept right on chasing Abner.

²²Again Abner shouted to him, “Get away from here! I don’t want to kill you. How could I ever face your brother Joab again?”

²³But Asahel refused to turn back, so Abner thrust the butt end of his spear through Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He stumbled to the ground and died there. And everyone who came by that spot stopped and stood still when they saw Asahel lying there.

²⁴When Joab and Abishai found out what had happened, they set out after Abner. The sun was just going down as they arrived at the hill of Ammah near Giah, along the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵Abner’s troops from the tribe of Benjamin regrouped there at the top of the hill to take a stand.

²⁶Abner shouted down to Joab, “Must we always be killing each other? Don’t you realize that bitterness is the only result? When will you call off your men from chasing their Israelite brothers?”

²⁷Then Joab said, “God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken, for we would have chased you all night if necessary.”

²⁸So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.

²⁹All that night Abner and his men retreated through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, traveling all through the morning, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Mahanaim.

³⁰Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel.

³¹But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin.

³²Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him there in his father’s tomb. Then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.

¹The LORD gave me another message. He said,

²“Do not get married or have children in this place.

³For this is what the LORD says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers:

⁴They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”

⁵This is what the LORD says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.

⁶Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.

⁷No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead — not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.

⁸“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all.

⁹For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.

¹⁰“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the LORD our God?’

¹¹“Then you will give them the LORD’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word.

¹²And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.

¹³So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night — and I will grant you no favors!’

¹⁴“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’

¹⁵Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.

¹⁶“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the LORD. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.

¹⁷I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me.

¹⁸I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.”

¹⁹LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols.

²⁰Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!”

²¹The LORD says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD.

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak in your defense.” So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense:

²“I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders,

³for I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!

⁴“As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.

⁶Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors.

⁷In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me for having this hope!

⁸Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?

⁹“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.

¹⁰Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.

¹¹Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.

¹²“One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.

¹³About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.

¹⁴We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. ’

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

¹⁶Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.

¹⁷And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles

¹⁸to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

¹⁹“And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.

²⁰I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God — and prove they have changed by the good things they do.

²¹Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me.

²²But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen —

²³that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”

²⁴Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth.

²⁶And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner!

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

²⁸Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?”

²⁹Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left.

³¹As they went out, they talked it over and agreed, “This man hasn’t done anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, “He could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”