Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

²But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

³He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:

⁴how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

⁵Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

⁶I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

⁷And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

⁸For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹He went on from there and entered their synagogue.

¹⁰And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — so that they might accuse him.

¹¹He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

¹² Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

¹⁵Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all

¹⁶and ordered them not to make him known.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

²⁰a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;

²¹and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

²²Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.

²³And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

²⁵Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

²⁶And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

²⁷And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁸But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

³⁰ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

³²And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³ “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴ You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵ The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

³⁶I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,

³⁷for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

³⁹But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

⁴² The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.

⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.

⁴⁵Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

⁴⁶While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.

⁴⁷

⁴⁸But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

⁴⁹And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them,

²“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.

³Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

⁴Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

⁵And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

⁶And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

⁷And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.

⁸You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

⁹“These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.

¹⁰But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you.

¹¹You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.

¹²Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

¹³“And these you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

¹⁴the kite, the falcon of any kind,

¹⁵every raven of any kind,

¹⁶the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind,

¹⁷the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,

¹⁸the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture,

¹⁹the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰“All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you.

²¹Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground.

²²Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind.

²³But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

²⁴“And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,

²⁵and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

²⁶Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.

²⁷And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,

²⁸and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

²⁹“And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind,

³⁰the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

³¹These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.

³²And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean.

³³And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.

³⁴Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean.

³⁵And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you.

³⁶Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean.

³⁷And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean,

³⁸but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

³⁹“And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening,

⁴⁰and whoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

⁴¹“Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten.

⁴²Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable.

⁴³You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them.

⁴⁴For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.

⁴⁵For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

⁴⁶This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground,

⁴⁷to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

¹Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

²But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

³The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

⁴For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.

⁷I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.

⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband

¹¹(but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

¹³If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

¹⁶For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.

¹⁹For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

²⁰Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.

²¹Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)

²²For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.

²³You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

²⁴So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

²⁵Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.

²⁶I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.

²⁹This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,

³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,

³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

³²I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.

³³But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,

³⁴and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.

³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry — it is no sin.

³⁷But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.

³⁸So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

³⁹A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

⁴⁰Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life —

²the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us —

³that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

⁶If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

¹“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?

²Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,

³when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?

⁴Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

⁵“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

⁸He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?

¹⁰Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?

¹²Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,

¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

¹⁷because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.

¹⁸When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.

²¹He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.

²²He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.

²³Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.

²⁴With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?

²⁸On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.

²⁹From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.

³⁰His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

¹I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music.

²I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;

³I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

⁴A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.

⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.

⁶I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.

⁷No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.

⁸Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

¹Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:

⁴“To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.

⁵O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.

⁶Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right,

⁷for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

⁹They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,

¹¹for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

¹⁴I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;

¹⁶by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice,

²¹granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.

²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,

²⁶before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

³²“And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.

³⁴Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,

³⁶but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

¹Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

³And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?”

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”

⁵They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,

⁶let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.

¹¹When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

¹³And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

¹⁵There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary.

¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.

¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.

¹⁹And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

²⁰And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.

²¹And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down.

²²These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

²“Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.”

³So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites.

⁴I brought them to the house of the LORD into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold.

⁵Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.

⁷You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’

⁸We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,

⁹and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed,

¹⁰but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

¹¹But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.’ So we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

¹³“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the LORD.

¹⁴The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.

¹⁵I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.

¹⁶The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me.

¹⁷Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered.”

¹⁸But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you,

¹⁹therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me.”

¹Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

⁴And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

⁵But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

⁶And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

⁷and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

⁸And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

⁹And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

¹⁰The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

¹²Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

¹⁴Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.

¹⁵Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

²⁰For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

²²So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

²³For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

²⁶And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

²⁷that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

²⁸for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

²⁹Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

³⁰The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

³²Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

³³So Paul went out from their midst.

³⁴But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.