Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.

²For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.

³This is because they have never known the Father or me.

⁴Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.

⁵“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.

⁶Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.

⁷But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

⁸And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

⁹The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

¹⁰Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.

¹¹Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

¹²“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.

¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

¹⁴He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

¹⁶“In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.”

¹⁷Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?

¹⁸And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

¹⁹Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.

²⁰I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.

²¹It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

²²So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

²³At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.

²⁴You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

²⁵“I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father.

²⁶Then you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf,

²⁷for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God.

²⁸Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.”

²⁹Then his disciples said, “At last you are speaking plainly and not figuratively.

³⁰Now we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.”

³¹Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe?

³²But the time is coming — indeed it’s here now — when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.

³³I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

¹Then the LORD told Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.

²Be ready in the morning to climb up Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain.

³No one else may come with you. In fact, no one is to appear anywhere on the mountain. Do not even let the flocks or herds graze near the mountain.”

⁴So Moses chiseled out two tablets of stone like the first ones. Early in the morning he climbed Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.

⁵Then the LORD came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh.

⁶The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

⁷I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected — even children in the third and fourth generations.”

⁸Moses immediately threw himself to the ground and worshiped.

⁹And he said, “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favor with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession.”

¹⁰The LORD replied, “Listen, I am making a covenant with you in the presence of all your people. I will perform miracles that have never been performed anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the LORD — the awesome power I will display for you.

¹¹But listen carefully to everything I command you today. Then I will go ahead of you and drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

¹²“Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped.

¹³Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.

¹⁴You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

¹⁵“You must not make a treaty of any kind with the people living in the land. They lust after their gods, offering sacrifices to them. They will invite you to join them in their sacrificial meals, and you will go with them.

¹⁶Then you will accept their daughters, who sacrifice to other gods, as wives for your sons. And they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods.

¹⁷You must not make any gods of molten metal for yourselves.

¹⁸“You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib, for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.

¹⁹“The firstborn of every animal belongs to me, including the firstborn males from your herds of cattle and your flocks of sheep and goats.

²⁰A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the LORD by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son. “No one may appear before me without an offering.

²¹“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.

²²“You must celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season.

²³Three times each year every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the LORD, the God of Israel.

²⁴I will drive out the other nations ahead of you and expand your territory, so no one will covet and conquer your land while you appear before the LORD your God three times each year.

²⁵“You must not offer the blood of my sacrificial offerings together with any baked goods containing yeast. And none of the meat of the Passover sacrifice may be kept over until the next morning.

²⁶“As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel.”

²⁸Moses remained there on the mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the LORD wrote the terms of the covenant — the Ten Commandments — on the stone tablets.

²⁹When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the LORD.

³⁰So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him.

³¹But Moses called out to them and asked Aaron and all the leaders of the community to come over, and he talked with them.

³²Then all the people of Israel approached him, and Moses gave them all the instructions the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.

³³When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil.

³⁴But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the LORD had given him,

³⁵and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the LORD.

¹Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

²Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

³Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?

⁴For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

⁵Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.

⁶We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

⁷For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

⁸And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

⁹We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

¹⁰When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

¹¹So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

¹²Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

¹³Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

¹⁴Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

¹⁵Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

¹⁶Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

¹⁷Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.

¹⁸Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

¹⁹Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.

²¹And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

²²But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to proclaim faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives.

²This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God — who does not lie — promised them before the world began.

³And now at just the right time he has revealed this message, which we announce to everyone. It is by the command of God our Savior that I have been entrusted with this work for him.

⁴I am writing to Titus, my true son in the faith that we share. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.

⁵I left you on the island of Crete so you could complete our work there and appoint elders in each town as I instructed you.

⁶An elder must live a blameless life. He must be faithful to his wife, and his children must be believers who don’t have a reputation for being wild or rebellious.

⁷A church leader is a manager of God’s household, so he must live a blameless life. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered; he must not be a heavy drinker, violent, or dishonest with money.

⁸Rather, he must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must love what is good. He must live wisely and be just. He must live a devout and disciplined life.

⁹He must have a strong belief in the trustworthy message he was taught; then he will be able to encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong.

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people who engage in useless talk and deceive others. This is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation.

¹¹They must be silenced, because they are turning whole families away from the truth by their false teaching. And they do it only for money.

¹²Even one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, “The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons.”

¹³This is true. So reprimand them sternly to make them strong in the faith.

¹⁴They must stop listening to Jewish myths and the commands of people who have turned away from the truth.

¹⁵Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.

¹⁶Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?

³Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?

⁴Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?

⁵No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins.

⁶“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.

⁷You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.

⁸You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!

⁹You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.

¹⁰That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.

¹¹That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.

¹²“God is so great — higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.

¹³But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.

¹⁷For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

¹⁹“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt.

²⁰They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’

²¹“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.

²²Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored — so clean up your life.

²⁴If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,

²⁵the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!

²⁶“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.

²⁸You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.

²⁹If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.

³⁰Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”

¹How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

²I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!

⁴What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. Interlude

⁵What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

⁶When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

⁷They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

⁸O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude

⁹O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! Show favor to the one you have anointed.

¹⁰A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

¹¹For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.

¹²O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.

¹Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and poor have this in common: The LORD made them both.

³A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

⁴True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life.

⁵Corrupt people walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will avoid it.

⁶Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

⁷Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸Those who plant injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will come to an end.

⁹Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.

¹⁰Throw out the mocker, and fighting goes, too. Quarrels and insults will disappear.

¹¹Whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech will have the king as a friend.

¹²The LORD preserves those with knowledge, but he ruins the plans of the treacherous.

¹³The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there! If I go outside, I might be killed!”

¹⁴The mouth of an immoral woman is a dangerous trap; those who make the LORD angry will fall into it.

¹⁵A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness, but physical discipline will drive it far away.

¹⁶A person who gets ahead by oppressing the poor or by showering gifts on the rich will end in poverty.

¹⁷Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction.

¹⁸For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips.

¹⁹I am teaching you today — yes, you — so you will trust in the LORD.

²⁰I have written thirty sayings for you, filled with advice and knowledge.

²¹In this way, you may know the truth and take an accurate report to those who sent you.

²²Don’t rob the poor just because you can, or exploit the needy in court.

²³For the LORD is their defender. He will ruin anyone who ruins them.

²⁴Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people,

²⁵or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.

²⁶Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for someone else.

²⁷If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.

²⁸Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by previous generations.

²⁹Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people.

¹When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear.

²Now there were two brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth is now part of Benjamin’s territory

³because the original people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim, where they still live as foreigners.

⁴(Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped him, and he became crippled.)

⁵One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest.

⁶The doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep. So Recab and Baanah slipped past her.

⁷They went into the house and found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan Valley through the night.

⁸When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth’s head to David. “Look!” they exclaimed to the king. “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the LORD has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!”

⁹But David said to Recab and Baanah, “The LORD, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness.

¹⁰Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news!

¹¹How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?”

¹²So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

¹The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”

³So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.

⁴But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

⁵Then the LORD gave me this message:

⁶“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

⁷If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,

⁸but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.

⁹And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,

¹⁰but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.

¹¹“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”

¹²But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”

¹³So this is what the LORD says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible!

¹⁴Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?

¹⁵But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.

¹⁶Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.

¹⁷I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.”

¹⁸Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”

¹⁹LORD, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying.

²⁰Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger.

²¹So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle!

²²Let screaming be heard from their homes as warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me and have hidden traps along my path.

²³LORD, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger.

¹Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.

²The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.

⁴The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”

⁵But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.

⁶The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

⁷Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days.

⁸As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.

¹⁰As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

¹¹It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island — an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

¹²Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.

¹³From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷Three days after Paul’s arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors.

¹⁸The Romans tried me and wanted to release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence.

¹⁹But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people.

²⁰I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel — the Messiah — has already come.”

²¹They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here.

²²But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”

²³So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.

²⁴Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,

²⁶‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

²⁷For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes — so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

²⁸So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”

²⁹

³⁰For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,

³¹boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.