Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

²And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

³Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

⁵For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

⁶And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

¹⁰And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

¹¹Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

¹²And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

¹³But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

¹⁶“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

¹⁷Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

¹⁸And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

¹⁹But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

²⁰And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

²¹For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

²²And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

²³“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

²⁵See, I have told you beforehand.

²⁶“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.

²⁷For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

²⁸For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

²⁹“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³²“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

³³So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!

³⁴Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

³⁶“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

³⁷But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

³⁸For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

³⁹and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

⁴²Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

⁴³But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁴Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

⁴⁵“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

⁴⁶Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

⁴⁷Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.

⁴⁸But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’

⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,

⁵⁰the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,

⁵¹and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

³‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

⁴‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

⁵On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.

⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

⁷On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.

⁸But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ ”

⁹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

¹¹He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

¹²And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD.

¹³Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.

¹⁴You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

¹⁵‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

¹⁶Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.

¹⁷You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.

¹⁸And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD.

¹⁹Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.

²⁰The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

²¹And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²²‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’ ”

²³Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

²⁵You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’ ”

²⁶And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²⁷“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.

²⁸And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.

²⁹For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people.

³⁰And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.

³¹You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

³²It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”

³³Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁴“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD.

³⁵On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.

³⁶For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

³⁷‘These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—

³⁸besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD.

³⁹‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.

⁴⁰And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

⁴¹You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

⁴²You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths,

⁴³that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.’ ”

⁴⁴So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

¹Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?

²You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

³clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

⁴And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

¹⁰For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.

¹¹For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

¹²Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—

¹³unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.

¹⁴But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

¹⁵But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

¹⁶Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

¹And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

²Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”

³And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

⁴So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.

⁵But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

⁶And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

⁷Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

⁸Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

¹⁰And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

¹²saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

¹³And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

¹⁴Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

¹For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.

²All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.

⁸Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil.

⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

¹¹I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.

¹²For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them.

¹³This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:

¹⁴There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard.

¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good.”

¹Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD!

²Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forevermore!

³From the rising of the sun to its going down The LORD’s name is to be praised.

⁴The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.

⁵Who is like the LORD our God, Who dwells on high,

⁶Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

⁷He raises the poor out of the dust, And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,

⁸That He may seat him with princes— With the princes of His people.

⁹He grants the barren woman a home, Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do,

²that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

⁴Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,

⁵then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁶But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

⁸And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’

⁹Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

¹⁰Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house

¹¹(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

¹²Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.

¹³So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day.

¹⁴Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

¹⁵And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.)

¹⁷And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon,

¹⁸Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

¹⁹all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel—

²¹that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely— from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.

²²But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

²³Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

²⁴But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

²⁵Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the temple.

²⁶King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

²⁷Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

²Thus says the LORD: “Behold, waters rise out of the north, And shall be an overflowing flood; They shall overflow the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell within; Then the men shall cry, And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.

³At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, At the rushing of his chariots, At the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers will not look back for their children, Lacking courage,

⁴Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; For the LORD shall plunder the Philistines, The remnant of the country of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is cut off With the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself?

⁶“O you sword of the LORD, How long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, Rest and be still!

⁷How can it be quiet, Seeing the LORD has given it a charge Against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it.”

¹The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

²until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,

³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

⁴And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

⁵for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

⁸But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

⁹Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

¹⁰And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,

¹¹who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.

¹³And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said,

¹⁶“Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;

¹⁷for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’

²¹“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

²³And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen

²⁵to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.