Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished this discourse, He said to His disciples,

²"You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion."

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the [elegant home of the Jewish] high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

⁴and plotted together to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

⁵But they said, "It must not be during the festival (Passover), otherwise there might be a riot among the people."

⁶Now when Jesus was [back] in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper,

⁷a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume and she poured it on Jesus' head as He reclined at the table.

⁸But when the disciples saw it they were indignant and angry, saying, "Why all this waste [of money]?

⁹For this perfume might have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

¹⁰But Jesus, aware [of the malice] of this [remark], said to them, "Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a good thing to Me.

¹¹For you always have the poor with you; but you will not always have Me.

¹²When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.

¹³I assure you and most solemnly say to you, wherever this gospel [of salvation] is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her [for her act of love and devotion]."

¹⁴Then one of the twelve [disciples], who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand Jesus over to you?" And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver.

¹⁶And from that moment Judas began looking for an opportune time to betray Jesus.

¹⁷Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread (Passover Week) the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"

¹⁸He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time [to suffer and atone for sin] is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'"

¹⁹[Accordingly] the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples.

²¹And as they were eating, He said, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you that one of you will betray Me."

²²Being deeply grieved and extremely distressed, each one of them began to say to Him, "Surely not I, Lord?"

²³Jesus answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the bowl with Me [as apretense of friendship] will betray Me.

²⁴The Son of Man is to go [to the cross], just as it is written [in Scripture] of Him; but woe (judgment is coming) to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."

²⁵And Judas, the betrayer, said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" Jesus said to him, " You have said it yourself."

²⁶Now as they were eating Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

²⁷And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you;

²⁸for this is My blood of the [new and better] covenant, which [ratifies the agreement and] is being poured out for many [as asubstitutionary atonement] for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

³⁰After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night [disillusioned about Me, confused, and some even ashamed of Me], for it is written [in the Scriptures], 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

³²But after I am raised [to life], I will go ahead of you [leading the way] to Galilee."

³³Peter replied to Him, "Though they all fall away because of You [and doubt and disown You], I will never fall away!"

³⁴Jesus said to him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, this night, before a rooster crows, you will [completely] deny Me three times."

³⁵Peter said to Jesus, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And all the disciples said the same thing.

³⁶Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane (olive-press), and He told His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

³⁷And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], He began to be grieved and greatly distressed.

³⁸Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and stay awake and keep watch with Me."

³⁹And after going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible [that is, consistent with Your will], let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

⁴⁰And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?

⁴¹Keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done."

⁴³Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

⁴⁴So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words once more.

⁴⁵Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Listen, the hour [of My sacrifice] is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners [whose way and nature is to oppose God].

⁴⁶Get up, let us go. Look, My betrayer is near!"

⁴⁷As Jesus was still speaking, Judas [Iscariot], one of the twelve [disciples], came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, [who came as representatives] from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him."

⁴⁹Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, "Greetings (rejoice), Rabbi!" And he kissed Him [in a deliberate act of betrayal].

⁵⁰Jesus said to Judas, "Friend, do what you came for." Then they came and seized Jesus and arrested Him.

⁵¹And one of those who were with Jesus reached out and drew his sword, and struck [Malchus] the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁵²Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place; for all those who habitually draw the sword will die by the sword.

⁵³Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will immediately provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

⁵⁴How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?"

⁵⁵At that moment Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Day after day I used to sit in the porches and courts of the temple teaching, and you did not arrest Me.

⁵⁶But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) had gathered [ illegally] together.

⁵⁸But Peter followed Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the [elegant home of the Jewish] high priest, and went inside, and sat with the guards to see the outcome.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) tried to get false witnesses to testify against Jesus, so that they might [have a reason to] put Him to death.

⁶⁰They found none, even though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward,

⁶¹and testified, "This man said, ' I am able to tear down the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Have You no answer to give? What is it that these men are testifying against You?"

⁶³But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I call on You to swear a binding oath by the living God, that you tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God."

⁶⁴Jesus said to him, "You have [in fact] said it; but more than that I tell you [regardless of what you do with Me now], in the future you will see [Me revealed as] the Son of Man seated at theright hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes [in mock horror] and exclaimed, "He has blasphemed [by making Himself God's equal]! What further need have we of witnesses or evidence? See, you have now heard the blasphemy.

⁶⁶What do you think?" They answered, " He deserves to be put to death."

⁶⁷Then they spat in His face and struck Him with their fists; and some slapped Him,

⁶⁸saying, " Prophesy to us, You Christ (Messiah, Anointed); who was it that struck You?"

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came up to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilean."

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about."

⁷¹And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene."

⁷²And again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man."

⁷³After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them too; for even your [Galilean] accent gives you away."

⁷⁴Then he began to curse [that is, to invoke God's judgment on himself] and swear [an oath], "I do not know the man!" And at that moment a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵And Peter remembered the [prophetic] words of Jesus, when He had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly [in repentance].

¹The LORD spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I am giving you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD.

³For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop.

⁴But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow [seed in] your field nor prune your vineyard.

⁵Whatever reseeds itself (uncultivated) in your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you gather the grapes from your uncultivated vine, it shall be a year of sabbatical rest for the land.

⁶And all of you shall have for food whatever the [untilled] land produces during its Sabbath year; yourself, and your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the foreigners who reside among you,

⁷even your domestic animals and the [wild] animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.

⁸'You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.

⁹Then you shall sound the ram's horn everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month (almost October); on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout your land.

¹⁰And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom [for the slaves] throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee (year of remission) for you, and each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property [that was sold to another because of poverty], and each of you shall return to his family [from whom he was separated by bondage].

¹¹That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you; you shall not sow [seed], nor reap what reseeds itself, nor gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines.

¹²For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its crops out of the field.

¹³'In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property.

¹⁴If you sell anything to your friend or buy from your friend, you shall not wrong one another.

¹⁵According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your friend. And he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops [which may be harvested before you must restore the property to him].

¹⁶If the years [until the next Jubilee] are many, you shall increase the price, but if the years remaining are few, you shall reduce the price, because it is the number of crops that he is selling to you.

¹⁷You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; for I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸'Therefore you shall carry out My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them, so that you may live securely on the land.

¹⁹Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it.

²⁰And if you say, "What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow [seed] or gather in our crops?"

²¹then [this is My answer:] I will order My [special] blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce [sufficient] crops for three years.

²²When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crops, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.

²³'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; you are [only] foreigners and temporary residents with Me.

²⁴So in all the country that you possess, you are to provide for the redemption of the land [in the Year of Jubilee].

²⁵'If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell some of his property, then his nearest relative is to come and buy back (redeem) what his relative has sold.

²⁶Or in case a man has no relative [to redeem his property], but he has become more prosperous and has enough to buy it back,

²⁷then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his [ancestral] property.

²⁸But if he is unable to redeem it, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of the purchaser until the Year of Jubilee; but at the Jubilee it shall revert, and he may return to his property.

²⁹'If a man sells a house in a walled city, then his right of redemption remains valid for a full year after its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year.

³⁰But if it is not redeemed for him within a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently and irrevocably to the purchaser throughout his generations. It does not revert back in the Year of Jubilee.

³¹The houses of the villages that have no surrounding walls, however, shall be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and revert in the Year of Jubilee.

³²As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses in the cities which they possess.

³³Therefore, what is [purchased] from the Levites may be redeemed [by a Levite], and the house that was sold in the city they possess reverts in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their [ancestral] property among the Israelites.

³⁴But the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for that is their permanent possession.

³⁵'Now if your fellow countryman becomes poor and his hand falters with you [that is, he has trouble repaying you for something], then you are to help and sustain him, [with courtesy and consideration] like [you would] a stranger or a temporary resident [without property], so that he may live among you.

³⁶Do not charge him usurious interest, but fear your God [with profound reverence], so your countryman may [continue to] live among you.

³⁷You shall not give him your money at interest, nor your food at a profit.

³⁸I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹'And if your fellow countryman becomes so poor [in his dealings] with you that he sells himself to you [as payment for a debt], you shall not let him do the work of a slave [who is ineligible for redemption],

⁴⁰but he is to be with you as a hired man, as if he were a temporary resident; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee,

⁴¹and then he shall leave you, he and his children with him, and shall go back to his own family and return to the property of his fathers.

⁴²For the Israelites are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in a slave sale.

⁴³You shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression), but you are to fear your God [with profound reverence].

⁴⁴As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.

⁴⁵Moreover, from the children of the strangers who live as aliens among you, from them you may buy slaves and from their families who are with you, whom they have produced in your land; they may become your possession.

⁴⁶You may even bequeath them as an inheritance to your children after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your fellow countrymen, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with harshness (severity, oppression).

⁴⁷'Now if the financial means of a stranger or temporary resident among you become sufficient, and your fellow countryman becomes poor in comparison to him and sells himself to the stranger who is living among you or to the descendants of the stranger's family,

⁴⁸then after he is sold he shall have the right of redemption. One of his relatives may redeem him:

⁴⁹either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰Then he [or his redeemer] shall calculate with his purchaser from the year when he sold himself to the purchaser to the Year of Jubilee, and the [original] price of his sale shall be adjusted according to the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be considered as that of a hired man.

⁵¹If there are still many years [before the Year of Jubilee], in proportion to them he must refund [to the purchaser] part of the price of his sale for his redemption and release.

⁵²And if only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he shall so calculate it with him. He is to refund the proportionate amount for his release.

⁵³Like a man hired year by year he shall deal with him; he shall not rule over him with harshness in your sight.

⁵⁴Even if he is not redeemed during these years and under these provisions, then he shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.

⁵⁵For the children of Israel are My servants; My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

¹For we know that if the earthly tent [our physical body] which is our house is torn down [through death], we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our [immortal, eternal] celestial dwelling,

³so that by putting it on we will not be found naked.

⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened [often weighed down, oppressed], not that we want to be unclothed [separated by death from the body], but to be clothed, so that what is mortal [the body] will be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection].

⁵Now He who has made us and prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the [Holy] Spirit as a pledge [a guarantee, a down payment on the fulfillment of His promise].

⁶So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—

⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God's promises]—

⁸we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth] or away from home [and with Him], it is our [constant] ambition to be pleasing to Him.

¹⁰For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad [that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities].

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment].

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an occasion to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances [the virtues they pretend to have] rather than what is [actually] in heart.

¹³If we are out of our mind [just unstable fanatics as some critics say], it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

¹⁸But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him],

¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ's representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

²¹He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].

¹After this I saw four angels stationed at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

²Then I saw another angel coming up from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and with a loud voice he called out to the four angels to whom it was granted [to have authority and power] to harm the earth and the sea,

³saying, "Do not harm the earth nor the sea nor the trees until we seal (mark) the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."

⁴And I heard how many were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand; [twelve thousand] sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

⁵Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad,

⁶twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh,

⁷twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar,

⁸twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed (marked, redeemed, protected).

⁹After these things I looked, and this is what I saw: a vast multitude which no one could count, [gathered] from every nation and from all the tribes and peoples and languages [of the earth], standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Christ), dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands;

¹⁰and in a loud voice they cried out, saying, "Salvation [belongs] to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb [our salvation is the Trinity's to give, and to God the Trinity we owe our deliverance]."

¹¹And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the [twenty-four] elders and the four living creatures; and they fell to their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

¹²saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and majesty and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen."

¹³Then one of the elders responded, saying to me, "These who are dressed in the long white robes—who are they, and from where did they come?"

¹⁴I said to him, "My lord, you know [the answer]." And he said to me, "These are the people who come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb [because of His atoning sacrifice].

¹⁵For this reason, they are [standing] before the throne of God; and they serve Him [in worship] day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them and shelter and protect them [with His presence].

¹⁶They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any [scorching] heat;

¹⁷for the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes [giving them eternal comfort]."

¹Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, [be diligently active, make thoughtful decisions], for you will find it after many days.

²Give a portion to seven, or even [divide it] to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.

³If the clouds are full [of rain], they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it lies.

⁴He who watches the wind [waiting for all conditions to be perfect] will not sow [seed], and he who looks at the clouds will not reap [a harvest].

⁵Just as you do not know the way and path of the wind or how the bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

⁶Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle with your hands in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening planting will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

⁷The light is sweet and pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸Yes, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is to come will be futility.

⁹Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

¹⁰Therefore, remove sorrow and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, for childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

¹Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth and faithfulness.

²Why should the nations say, "Where, now, is their God?"

³But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.

⁴The idols [of the nations] are silver and gold, The work of man's hands.

⁵They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;

⁶They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell;

⁷They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; Nor can they make a sound with their throats.

⁸Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.

⁹O Israel, trust and take refuge in the LORD! [Be confident in Him, cling to Him, rely on His word!] He is their help and their shield.

¹⁰O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.

¹¹You who [reverently] fear the LORD, trust in LORD; He is their help and their shield.

¹²The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless, He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron.

¹³He will bless those who fear and worship the LORD [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder], Both the small and the great.

¹⁴May the LORD give you [great] increase, You and your children.

¹⁵May you be blessed of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

¹⁶The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, But the earth He has given to the children of men.

¹⁷The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor do any who go down into silence;

¹⁸But as for us, we will bless and affectionately and gratefully praise the LORD From this time forth and forever. Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)

¹A good name [earned by honorable behavior, godly wisdom, moral courage, and personal integrity] is more desirable than great riches; And favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and poor have a common bond; The LORD is the Maker of them all.

³A prudent and far-sighted person sees the evil [of sin] and hides himself [from it], But the naive continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].

⁴The reward of humility [that is, having a realistic view of one's importance] and the [reverent, worshipful] fear of the LORD Is riches, honor, and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the obstinate [for their lack of honor and their wrong-doing traps them]; He who guards himself [with godly wisdom] will be far from them and avoid the consequences they suffer.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God's wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows injustice will reap [a harvest of] trouble, And the rod of his wrath [with which he oppresses others] will fail.

⁹He who is generous will be blessed, For he gives some of his food to the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go away; Even strife and dishonor will cease.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend.

¹²The eyes of the LORD keep guard over knowledge and the one who has it, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The lazy one [manufactures excuses and] says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets [if I go out to work]!"

¹⁴The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit [deep and inescapable]; He who is cursed by the LORD [because of his adulterous sin] will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline [correction administered with godly wisdom and lovingkindness] will remove it far from him.

¹⁶He who oppresses or exploits the poor to get more for himself Or who gives to the rich [to gain influence and favor], will only come to poverty.

¹⁷Listen carefully and hear the words of the wise, And apply your mind to my knowledge;

¹⁸For it will be pleasant if you keep them in mind [incorporating them as guiding principles]; Let them be ready on your lips [to guide and strengthen yourself and others].

¹⁹So that your trust and reliance and confidence may be in the LORD, I have taught these things to you today, even to you.

²⁰Have I not written to you excellent things In counsels and knowledge,

²¹To let you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may give a correct answer to him who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor because he is poor [and defenseless], Nor crush the afflicted [by legal proceedings] at the gate [where the city court is held],

²³For the LORD will plead their case And take the life of those who rob them.

²⁴Do not even associate with a man given to angry outbursts; Or go [along] with a hot-tempered man,

²⁵Or you will learn his [undisciplined] ways And get yourself trapped [in a situation from which it is hard to escape].

²⁶Do not be among those who give pledges [involving themselves in others' finances], Or among those who become guarantors for others' debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay [another's debt when he defaults], Why should his creditor take your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient landmark [at the boundary of the property] Which your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man skillful and experienced in his work? He will stand [in honor] before kings; He will not stand before obscure men.

¹Now king Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

²from the very nations of whom the LORD said to the Israelites, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for the result will be that they will turn away your hearts to follow their gods." Yet Solomon clung to these in love.

³He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [from God].

⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not completely devoted to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.

⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the [fertility] goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the horror (detestable idol) of the Ammonites.

⁶Solomon did evil [things] in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as his father David had done.

⁷Then Solomon built a high place for [worshiping] Chemosh the horror (detestable idol) of Moab, on the hill which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the horror (detestable idol) of the sons of Ammon.

⁸And he did the same for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹So the LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe (remember, obey) what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

¹²However, I will not do it in your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son (Rehoboam).

¹³However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe (Judah) to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."

¹⁴Then the LORD stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of royal descent in Edom.

¹⁵For it came about, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed [in battle] and had struck down every male in Edom

¹⁶(for Joab and all [the army of] Israel stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom),

¹⁷that Hadad escaped to Egypt, he and some Edomites from his father's servants with him, while Hadad was [still] a little boy.

¹⁸They set out from Midian [south of Edom] and came to Paran, and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave [young] Hadad a house and ordered food and provisions for him and gave him land.

¹⁹Hadad found great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave Hadad in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

²⁰The sister of Tahpenes gave birth to Genubath, Hadad's son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household among the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so that I may go to my own country."

²²Then Pharaoh said to him, "But what have you lacked with me that now you ask to go to your own country?" He replied, "Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go."

²³God also stirred up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴Rezon gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, after David killed those in Zobah. They went to Damascus and stayed there and they reigned in Damascus.

²⁵So Rezon was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the evil that Hadad inflicted. Rezon hated Israel and reigned over Aram (Syria).

²⁶Jeroboam, Solomon's servant, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zeredah whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.

²⁷Now this is the reason why he rebelled against the king: Solomon built the Millo (fortification) and he repaired and closed the breach of the city of his father David.

²⁸The man Jeroboam was a brave warrior and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

²⁹It came about at that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Now Ahijah had covered himself with a new cloak; and the two of them were alone in the field.

³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹He said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am going to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes—

³²but he [and his descendants] shall have one tribe (Benjamin was annexed to Judah), for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel—

³³because they have abandoned Me and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways and followed My commandments, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances as did his father David.

³⁴However, I will not take the entire kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you: ten tribes.

³⁶Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put My Name and Presence.

³⁷I will take you [Jeroboam], and you shall reign over whatever your soul desires; and you shall be king over Israel (the ten northern tribes).

³⁸Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, keeping and observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹And in this way I will afflict the descendants of David for this (their sin), but not forever.'"

⁴⁰So Solomon attempted to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam set out and escaped to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

⁴¹The rest of the acts of Solomon—and all that he did, and his wisdom—are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

⁴²The time Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

⁴³And Solomon slept [in death] with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

¹Concerning the sons (descendants) of Ammon. Thus says the LORD: "Does Israel have no sons [to reclaim Gad from the Ammonites]? Has he no heir? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad And [why do] his people live in the cities [of Gad]?

²"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "When I will cause an alarm of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the Ammonites; And it [along with the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap, And its villages will be set on fire. Then will Israel take possession of his possessors," Says the LORD.

³"Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief), And rush back and forth inside the enclosures; For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

⁴"Why do you boast of your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, [O Ammon] rebellious and faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'

⁵"Behold, I am going to bring terror on you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts, "From all who are around you; And each of you will be driven out headlong, And there will be no one to gather the fugitives together.

⁶"But afterward I will reverse The captivity of the children of Ammon and restore their fortunes," Says the LORD.

⁷Concerning Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has good counsel vanished from the intelligent and prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸"Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths [of the desert to escape the judgment of Edom], O inhabitants of Dedan, For I will bring the destruction of Esau (Edom) upon him When I inspect and punish him.

⁹"If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some ungleaned grapes [on the vines]? If thieves came by night, Would they not destroy [only] what is enough [for them]?

¹⁰"But I have stripped Esau (Edom) bare; I have uncovered his hiding places And he cannot hide himself. His descendants have been destroyed along with his brothers (relatives) and his neighbors; And he is no more.

¹¹"Leave your orphans behind; I will [do what is needed to] keep them alive. And let [those who are] your widows trust and confide in Me."

¹²For thus says the LORD, "Behold, those (Israel) who were not sentenced to drink the cup [of wrath] shall certainly drink it, and are you to remain unpunished? You will not be acquitted and go unpunished, but you will certainly drink [from the cup of wrath and judgment].

¹³For I have sworn [an oath] by Myself," says the LORD, "that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins."

¹⁴I have heard a report from the LORD, And a messenger has been sent to the nations, saying, "Gather together and come against her, And rise up for the battle."

¹⁵"For behold, [Edom] I have made you small among the nations And despised among men.

¹⁶"As for Your terror, The pride and arrogance of your heart have deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock (Sela also called Petra), Who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

¹⁷"Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and shall hiss [scornfully] at all its plagues and disasters.

¹⁸As [it was] in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with their neighboring cities," says the LORD, "no man will live there, nor will a son of man dwell in it.

¹⁹See, one will come like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan against the enduring habitation [of Edom] and its watered pastures; for in an instant I will make him (Edom) run from his land. I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me [into court] and prosecute Me [for this]? Who is the [earthly] shepherd who can stand [defiantly] before Me?"

²⁰Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has devised against Edom, and [hear] what He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate because of them.

²¹The earth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The sound of its noise has been heard at the Red Sea.

²²Behold, He will mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread His wings against [the city of] Bozrah; and in that day the heart of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

²³Concerning Damascus [in Syria]. "Hamath and Arpad are perplexed and shamed, For they have heard bad news; They are disheartened; Troubled and anxious like a [storm-tossed] sea Which cannot be calmed.

²⁴"Damascus has become helpless; She has turned away to flee, Terror (panic) has seized her; Anguish and distress have gripped her Like a woman in childbirth.

²⁵"Why has the renowned city not been deserted, The city of My joy!

²⁶"Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets, And all her men of war will be destroyed in that day," says the LORD of hosts.

²⁷"I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, And it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad."

²⁸Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the LORD, "Arise, go up against Kedar And destroy the men of the east.

²⁹"They (the Babylonians) will take away their tents and their flocks; They will carry off for themselves Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels, And they will call out to one another, 'Terror on every side!'

³⁰"Flee, run far away! Dwell in the depths [of the desert], O inhabitants of Hazor," says the LORD, "For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has planned a course of action against you And devised a scheme against you.

³¹"Arise [Nebuchadnezzar], go up against a nation which is at ease, Which lives securely," says the LORD, "A nation which has neither gates nor bars; They dwell apart and alone.

³²"Their camels will become plunder, And their herds of cattle a spoil; And I will scatter to all the [four] winds those who cut the corners of their hair [as evidence of their idolatry], And I will bring their disaster from every side," says the LORD.

³³"Hazor will become a haunt and dwelling place of jackals, A desolation forever; No one will live there, Nor will a son of man reside in it."

³⁴The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

³⁵"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold (listen carefully), I am going to break the bow of Elam, The finest [weapon] of their strength.

³⁶'And I will bring upon Elam the four winds From the four corners of heaven; And I will scatter them toward all those winds, And there will be no nation To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

³⁷'So I will cause Elam to be shattered (dismayed) before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring disaster on them, Even My fierce anger,' says the LORD. 'And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

³⁸'Then I will set My throne [of judgment] in Elam And I will destroy from there the king and princes,' Says the LORD.

³⁹'But it will be in the last days (the end of days) That I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam,'" Says the LORD.

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.),

²and a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, so that he could beg alms from those entering the temple.

³So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking [them] for coins.

⁴But Peter, along with John, stared at him intently and said, "Look at us!"

⁵And the man began to pay attention to them, eagerly expecting to receive something from them.

⁶But Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have I give to you: In the name (authority, power) of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—[begin now to] walk and go on walking!"

⁷Then he seized the man's right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. And at once his feet and ankles became strong and steady,

⁸and with a leap he stood up and began to walk; and he went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God;

¹⁰and they recognized him as the very man who usually sat begging for coins at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement and were mystified at what had happened to him.

¹¹Now while he was still holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly amazed, ran together and crowded around them at the covered porch called Solomon's portico.

¹²And Peter, seeing this, said to the people, "You men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why are you staring at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant and Son Jesus [doing Him this honor], the One whom you handed over and disowned and rejected before Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

¹⁴But you disowned and denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for [the pardon of] a murderer to be granted to you.

¹⁵But you killed the Prince (Author, Originator, Source) of life, whom God raised [bodily] from the dead. To this [fact] we are witnesses [for we have seen the risen Christ].

¹⁶And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health and complete wholeness in your presence.

¹⁷"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance [not fully aware of what you were doing], just as your rulers did also.

¹⁸And so God has fulfilled what He foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ (Messiah, Anointed) would suffer.

¹⁹So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day];

²⁰and that He may send [to you] Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you,

²¹whom heaven must keep until the time for the [complete] restoration of all things about which God promised through the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

²²Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophetlike me from your countrymen; you shall listen to Him and obey everything He tells you.

²³And it will be that every person that does not listen to and heed that Prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.'

²⁴Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also announced these days.

²⁵You are the sons (descendants) of the prophets and [heirs] of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed (descendant) all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'

²⁶It was for you first of all that God raised up His Servant and Son [Jesus], and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."