Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he told his disciples,

²“You know that the Passover takes place after two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas,

⁴and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill him.

⁵“Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.”

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

⁷a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked.

⁹“This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me.

¹¹You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

¹²By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial.

¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.

¹⁶And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

¹⁷On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸“Go into the city to a certain man,” he said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover at your place with my disciples.’”

¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, he was reclining at the table with the Twelve.

²¹While they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

²²Deeply distressed, each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?”

²³He replied, “The one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl — he will betray me.

²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵Judas, his betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” “You have said it,” he told him.

²⁶As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you.

²⁸For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹But I tell you, I will not drink from 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, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

³³Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

³⁵“Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.

³⁶Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

³⁸He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with me one hour?

⁴¹Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

⁴³And he came again and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴⁶Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. A large mob with swords and clubs was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸His betrayer had given them a sign: “The one I kiss, he’s the one; arrest him.”

⁴⁹So immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

⁵⁰“Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come?” Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him.

⁵¹At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.

⁵²Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.

⁵³Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?

⁵⁴How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me.

⁵⁶But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened.

⁵⁸Peter was following him at a distance right to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and was sitting with the servants to see the outcome.

⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death,

⁶⁰but they could not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two who came forward

⁶¹stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?”

⁶³But Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴“You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? See, now you’ve heard the blasphemy.

⁶⁶What is your decision?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷Then they spat in his face and beat him; others slapped him

⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who was it that hit you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl approached him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”

⁷⁰But he denied it in front of everyone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

⁷¹When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene!”

⁷²And again he denied it with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³After a little while those standing there approached and said to Peter, “You really are one of them, since even your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he started to curse and to swear with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed,

⁷⁵and Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

³You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years.

⁴But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year, a Sabbath to the LORD: you are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land.

⁶Whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year can be food for you — for yourself, your male or female slave, and the hired worker or alien who resides with you.

⁷All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.

⁸“You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine.

⁹Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement.

¹⁰You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.

¹¹The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines.

¹²It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field.

¹³“In this Year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property.

¹⁴If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another.

¹⁵You are to make the purchase from your neighbor based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. He is to sell to you based on the number of remaining harvest years.

¹⁶You are to increase its price in proportion to a greater amount of years, and decrease its price in proportion to a lesser amount of years, because what he is selling to you is a number of harvests.

¹⁷You are not to cheat one another, but fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸“You are to keep my statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land.

¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat, be satisfied, and live securely in the land.

²⁰If you wonder: ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’

²¹I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.

²²When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest. You will be eating this until the ninth year when its harvest comes in.

²³“The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine, and you are only aliens and temporary residents on my land.

²⁴You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

²⁵If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

²⁶If a man has no family redeemer, but he prospers and obtains enough to redeem his land,

²⁷he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man he sold it to, and return to his property.

²⁸But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the Year of Jubilee. It is to be released at the Jubilee, so that he may return to his property.

²⁹“If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his right of redemption will last until a year has passed after its sale; his right of redemption will last a year.

³⁰If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee.

³¹But houses in settlements that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem such houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

³²“Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.

³³Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem  — a house sold in a city they possess — is to be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

³⁴The open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.

³⁵“If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you, you are to support him as an alien or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not profit or take interest from him, but fear your God and let your brother live among you.

³⁷You are not to lend him your silver with interest or sell him your food for 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“If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor.

⁴⁰Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he may work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹Then he and his children are to be released from you, and he may return to his clan and his ancestral property.

⁴²They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are my servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt.

⁴³You are not to rule over them harshly but fear your God.

⁴⁴Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you; you may purchase male and female slaves.

⁴⁵You may also purchase them from the aliens residing with you, or from their families living among you — those born in your land. These may become your property.

⁴⁶You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.

⁴⁷“If an alien or temporary resident living among you prospers, but your brother living near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the alien living among you, or to a member of the resident alien’s clan,

⁴⁸he has the right of redemption after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him.

⁴⁹His uncle or cousin may redeem him, or any of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him. If he prospers, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰The one who purchased him is to calculate the time from the year he sold himself to him until the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years. It will be set for him like the daily wages of a hired worker.

⁵¹If many years are still left, he must pay his redemption price in proportion to them based on his purchase price.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he will calculate and pay the price of his redemption in proportion to his remaining years.

⁵³He will stay with him like a man hired year by year. A resident alien is not to rule over him harshly in your sight.

⁵⁴If he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released at the Year of Jubilee.

⁵⁵For the Israelites are my servants. They are my servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

¹For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.

²Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling,

³since, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked.

⁴Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

⁶So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart.

¹³For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died.

¹⁵And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

¹⁸Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

¹⁹That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

²¹He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

²Then I saw another angel rising up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were allowed to harm the earth and the sea:

³“Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

⁴And I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

⁵12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

⁶12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

⁷12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

⁸12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁹After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!

¹¹All the angels stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four living creatures they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God,

¹²saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. The one seated on the throne will shelter them:

¹⁶They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

¹Send your bread on the surface of the water, for after many days you may find it.

²Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.

³If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

⁴One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵Just as you don’t know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don’t know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good.

⁷Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸Indeed, if someone lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile.

⁹Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

¹⁰Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

¹Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your faithful love, because of your truth.

²Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

³Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases.

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.

⁵They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.

⁶They have ears but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.

⁷They have hands but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throats.

⁸Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.

⁹Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield.

¹⁰House of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield.

¹¹You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield.

¹²The LORD remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;

¹³he will bless those who fear the LORD  — small and great alike.

¹⁴May the LORD add to your numbers, both yours and your children’s.

¹⁵May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹⁶The heavens are the LORD’s, but the earth he has given to the human race.

¹⁷It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any of those descending into the silence of death.

¹⁸But we will bless the LORD, both now and forever. Hallelujah!

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women

²from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love.

³He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away.

⁴When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

⁵Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.

⁶Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the LORD.

⁷At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.

⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

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

¹⁰He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the LORD had commanded.

¹¹Then the LORD said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

¹²However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand.

¹³Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”

¹⁴So the LORD raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom.

¹⁵Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.

¹⁶For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

¹⁷Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy.

¹⁸Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he be given food, and gave him land.

¹⁹Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes.

²⁰Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.

²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”

²²But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”

²³God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah

²⁴and gathered men to himself. He became leader of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus.

²⁵Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He reigned over Aram and loathed Israel.

²⁶Now Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,

²⁷and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David.

²⁸Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

³⁰Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into twelve pieces,

³¹and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes,

³²but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.

³⁴“‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom from him but will let him be ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and my statutes.

³⁵I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you.

³⁶I will give one tribe to his son, so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.

³⁷I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel.

³⁸“‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.

³⁹I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.’”

⁴⁰Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death.

⁴¹The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events.

⁴²The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled forty years.

⁴³Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.

¹About the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: Does Israel have no sons? Is he without an heir? Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad and his people settled in their cities?

²Therefore look, the days are coming  — this is the LORD’s declaration — when I will make the shout of battle heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its surrounding villages will be set on fire. Israel will dispossess their dispossessors, says the LORD.

³Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament; run back and forth within your walls, because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

⁴Why do you boast about your valleys, your flowing valley, you faithless daughter — you who trust in your treasures and say, “Who can attack me?”

⁵Look, I am about to bring terror on you  — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies — from all those around you. You will be banished, each person headlong, with no one to gather up the fugitives.

⁶But after that, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁷About Edom, this is what the LORD of Armies says: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom rotted away?

⁸Run! Turn back! Lie low, residents of Dedan, for I will bring Esau’s calamity on him at the time I punish him.

⁹If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, they would destroy only what they wanted.

¹⁰But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his secret places. He will try to hide, but he will be unable. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors. He will exist no longer.

¹¹Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them; let your widows trust in me.

¹²For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too.

¹³For by myself I have sworn”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and an example for cursing, and all its surrounding cities will become ruins forever.”

¹⁴I have heard an envoy from the LORD; a messenger has been sent among the nations: Assemble yourselves to come against her. Rise up for war!

¹⁵I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations, despised among humanity.

¹⁶As to the terror you cause, your arrogant heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagles, even from there I will bring you down. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁷“Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be appalled and scoff because of all her wounds.

¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will live there; no human being will stay in it even temporarily.

¹⁹“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?”

²⁰Therefore, hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Edom and the strategies he has devised against the people of Teman: The flock’s little lambs will certainly be dragged away, and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

²¹At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.

²²Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

²³About Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report and are agitated, like the anxious sea that cannot be calmed.

²⁴Damascus has become weak; she has turned to run; panic has gripped her. Distress and labor pains have seized her like a woman in labor.

²⁵How can the city of praise not be abandoned, the town that brings me joy?

²⁶Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will perish in that day. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

²⁷I will set fire to the wall of Damascus; it will consume Ben-hadad’s citadels.

²⁸About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: Rise up, attack Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!

²⁹They will take their tents and their flocks along with their tent curtains and all their equipment. They will take their camels for themselves. They will call out to them, “Terror is on every side!”

³⁰Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, residents of Hazor — this is the LORD’s declaration — for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.

³¹Rise up, attack a nation at ease, one living in security. This is the LORD’s declaration. They have no doors, not even a gate bar; they live alone.

³²Their camels will become plunder, and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil. I will scatter them to the wind in every direction, those who clip the hair on their temples; I will bring calamity on them across all their borders. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³³Hazor will become a jackals’ den, a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will stay in it even temporarily.

³⁴This is the word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.

³⁵This is what the LORD of Armies says: I am about to shatter Elam’s bow, the source of their might.

³⁶I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam’s banished ones will not go.

³⁷I will devastate Elam before their enemies, before those who intend to take their lives. I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will send the sword after them until I finish them off.

³⁸I will set my throne in Elam, and I will destroy the king and officials from there. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁹Yet, in the last days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

²A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

³When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.

⁴Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”

⁵So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

⁷Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

⁸So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹²When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

¹⁴You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.

¹⁵You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

¹⁶By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

¹⁷“And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets — that his Messiah would suffer.

¹⁹Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,

²⁰that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

²¹Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

²²Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and sisters. You must listen to everything he tells you.

²³And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

²⁴“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.

²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.

²⁶God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”