Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²“As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³At that same time the leading priests and elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest,

⁴plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.

⁵“But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

⁶Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy.

⁷While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.

⁸The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said.

⁹“It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me?

¹¹You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.

¹²She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.

¹³I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

¹⁴Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests

¹⁵and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.

¹⁶From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

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

¹⁸“As you go into the city,” he told them, “you will see a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’”

¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there.

²⁰When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve.

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

²²Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”

²³He replied, “One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me.

²⁴For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

²⁵Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”

²⁶As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”

²⁷And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it,

²⁸for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.

²⁹Mark my words — I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

³⁰Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³²But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

³³Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”

³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter — this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

³⁵“No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”

³⁷He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.

³⁸He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

⁴⁰Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?

⁴¹Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

⁴²Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

⁴³When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look — the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴⁶Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

⁴⁷And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.”

⁴⁹So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.

⁵⁰Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.” Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him.

⁵¹But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.

⁵²“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.

⁵³Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?

⁵⁴But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”

⁵⁵Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day.

⁵⁶But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered.

⁵⁸Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end.

⁵⁹Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death.

⁶⁰But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward

⁶¹who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?”

⁶³But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God — tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy.

⁶⁶What is your verdict?” “Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”

⁶⁷Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him,

⁶⁸jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?”

⁶⁹Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”

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

⁷¹Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. ”

⁷²Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.

⁷³A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”

⁷⁴Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying — I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.

⁷⁵Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.

¹While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD said to him,

²“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the LORD every seventh year.

³For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops,

⁴but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the LORD’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year.

⁵And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

⁶But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you.

⁷Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.

⁸“In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all.

⁹Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land.

¹⁰Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan.

¹¹This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines.

¹²It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own.

¹³In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors.

¹⁴“When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other.

¹⁵When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee.

¹⁶The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests.

¹⁷Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD your God.

¹⁸“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations.

¹⁹Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.

²⁰But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’

²¹Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years.

²²When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.

²³“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.

²⁴“With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back.

²⁵If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him.

²⁶If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back,

²⁷he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land.

²⁸But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.

²⁹“Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back.

³⁰But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

³¹But a house in a village — a settlement without fortified walls — will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

³²“The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them.

³³And any property that is sold by the Levites — all houses within the Levitical towns — must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.

³⁴The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.

³⁵“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you.

³⁶Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative.

³⁷Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him.

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 one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave.

⁴⁰Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors.

⁴²The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves.

⁴³Show your fear of God by not treating them harshly.

⁴⁴“However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you.

⁴⁵You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property,

⁴⁶passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way.

⁴⁷“Suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Israelites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family,

⁴⁸they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother,

⁴⁹an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back. They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered.

⁵⁰They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next Year of Jubilee — whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time.

⁵¹If many years still remain until the jubilee, they will repay the proper proportion of what they received when they sold themselves.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption.

⁵³The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly.

⁵⁴If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time.

⁵⁵For the people of Israel belong to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

¹For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

²We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.

³For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.

⁴While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.

⁵God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

⁶So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.

⁷For we live by believing and not by seeing.

⁸Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

⁹So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.

¹⁰For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

¹¹Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.

¹²Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart.

¹³If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.

¹⁴Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.

¹⁵He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

¹⁶So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!

¹⁷This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

¹⁸And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

¹⁹For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

²⁰So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

²¹For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

¹Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree.

²And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea,

³“Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.”

⁴And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God — 144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:

⁵from Judah — 12,000 from Reuben — 12,000 from Gad — 12,000

⁶from Asher — 12,000 from Naphtali — 12,000 from Manasseh — 12,000

⁷from Simeon — 12,000 from Levi — 12,000 from Issachar — 12,000

⁸from Zebulun — 12,000 from Joseph — 12,000 from Benjamin — 12,000

⁹After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

¹⁰And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

¹¹And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God.

¹²They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

¹⁴And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

¹⁵“That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter.

¹⁶They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.

¹⁷For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

¹Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.

²But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.

³When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.

⁴Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.

⁵Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

⁶Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another — or maybe both.

⁷Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.

⁸When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless.

⁹Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.

¹⁰So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless.

¹Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.

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

³Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.

⁴Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.

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

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

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

⁸And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.

⁹O Israel, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield.

¹⁰O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield.

¹¹All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield.

¹²The LORD remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹³He will bless those who fear the LORD, both great and lowly.

¹⁴May the LORD richly bless both you and your children.

¹⁵May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

¹⁶The heavens belong to the LORD, but he has given the earth to all humanity.

¹⁷The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD, for they have gone into the silence of the grave.

¹⁸But we can praise the LORD both now and forever! Praise the LORD!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites.

²The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.

³He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD.

⁴In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been.

⁵Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁶In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done.

⁷On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁸Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

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

¹⁰He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the LORD’s command.

¹¹So now the LORD said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

¹²But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son.

¹³And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”

¹⁴Then the LORD raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary.

¹⁵Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom.

¹⁶Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.

¹⁷But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.)

¹⁸They set out from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land.

¹⁹Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him his wife’s sister in marriage — the sister of Queen Tahpenes.

²⁰She bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons.

²¹When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my own country.”

²²“Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?” “Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.”

²³God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as Solomon’s adversary. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah,

²⁴and had become the leader of a gang of rebels. After David conquered Hadadezer, Rezon and his men fled to Damascus, where he became king.

²⁵Rezon was Israel’s bitter adversary for the rest of Solomon’s reign, and he made trouble, just as Hadad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and continued to reign in Aram.

²⁶Another rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim, and his mother was Zeruah, a widow.

²⁷This is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city of his father, David.

²⁸Jeroboam was a very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.

²⁹One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field,

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

³¹Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you!

³²But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

³³For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did.

³⁴“‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life.

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

³⁶His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name.

³⁷And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires.

³⁸If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.

³⁹Because of Solomon’s sin I will punish the descendants of David — though not forever.’”

⁴⁰Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

⁴¹The rest of the events in Solomon’s reign, including all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in The Book of the Acts of Solomon.

⁴²Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

⁴³When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.

¹This message was given concerning the Ammonites. This is what the LORD says: “Are there no descendants of Israel to inherit the land of Gad? Why are you, who worship Molech, living in its towns?

²In the days to come,” says the LORD, “I will sound the battle cry against your city of Rabbah. It will become a desolate heap of ruins, and the neighboring towns will be burned. Then Israel will take back the land you took from her,” says the LORD.

³“Cry out, O Heshbon, for the town of Ai is destroyed. Weep, O people of Rabbah! Put on your clothes of mourning. Weep and wail, hiding in the hedges, for your god Molech, with his priests and officials, will be hauled off to distant lands.

⁴You are proud of your fertile valleys, but they will soon be ruined. You trusted in your wealth, you rebellious daughter, and thought no one could ever harm you.

⁵But look! I will bring terror upon you,” says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Your neighbors will chase you from your land, and no one will help your exiles as they flee.

⁶But I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites in days to come. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

⁷This message was given concerning Edom. This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Is there no wisdom in Teman? Is no one left to give wise counsel?

⁸Turn and flee! Hide in deep caves, you people of Dedan! For when I bring disaster on Edom, I will punish you, too!

⁹Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. If thieves came at night, they would not take everything.

¹⁰But I will strip bare the land of Edom, and there will be no place left to hide. Its children, its brothers, and its neighbors will all be destroyed, and Edom itself will be no more.

¹¹But I will protect the orphans who remain among you. Your widows, too, can depend on me for help.”

¹²And this is what the LORD says: “If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You will not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!

¹³For I have sworn by my own name,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror and a heap of ruins; it will be mocked and cursed. All its towns and villages will be desolate forever.”

¹⁴I have heard a message from the LORD that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say, “Form a coalition against Edom, and prepare for battle!”

¹⁵The LORD says to Edom, “I will cut you down to size among the nations. You will be despised by all.

¹⁶You have been deceived by the fear you inspire in others and by your own pride. You live in a rock fortress and control the mountain heights. But even if you make your nest among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you crashing down,” says the LORD.

¹⁷“Edom will be an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will gasp at the destruction they see there.

¹⁸It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD. “No one will live there; no one will inhabit it.

¹⁹I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan, leaping on the sheep in the pasture. I will chase Edom from its land, and I will appoint the leader of my choice. For who is like me, and who can challenge me? What ruler can oppose my will?”

²⁰Listen to the LORD’s plans against Edom and the people of Teman. Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep, and their homes will be destroyed.

²¹The earth will shake with the noise of Edom’s fall, and its cry of despair will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.

²²Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle, spreading his wings over Bozrah. Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

²³This message was given concerning Damascus. This is what the LORD says: “The towns of Hamath and Arpad are struck with fear, for they have heard the news of their destruction. Their hearts are troubled like a wild sea in a raging storm.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble, and all her people turn to flee. Fear, anguish, and pain have gripped her as they grip a woman in labor.

²⁵That famous city, a city of joy, will be forsaken!

²⁶Her young men will fall in the streets and die. Her soldiers will all be killed,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

²⁷“And I will set fire to the walls of Damascus that will burn up the palaces of Ben-hadad.”

²⁸This message was given concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which were attacked by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This is what the LORD says: “Advance against Kedar! Destroy the warriors from the East!

²⁹Their flocks and tents will be captured, and their household goods and camels will be taken away. Everywhere shouts of panic will be heard: ‘We are terrorized at every turn!’

³⁰Run for your lives,” says the LORD. “Hide yourselves in deep caves, you people of Hazor, for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has plotted against you and is preparing to destroy you.

³¹“Go up and attack that complacent nation,” says the LORD. “Its people live alone in the desert without walls or gates.

³²Their camels and other livestock will all be yours. I will scatter to the winds these people who live in remote places. I will bring calamity upon them from every direction,” says the LORD.

³³“Hazor will be inhabited by jackals, and it will be desolate forever. No one will live there; no one will inhabit it.”

³⁴This message concerning Elam came to the prophet Jeremiah from the LORD at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.

³⁵This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will destroy the archers of Elam — the best of their forces.

³⁶I will bring enemies from all directions, and I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds. They will be exiled to countries around the world.

³⁷I myself will go with Elam’s enemies to shatter it. In my fierce anger, I will bring great disaster upon the people of Elam,” says the LORD. “Their enemies will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.

³⁸I will set my throne in Elam,” says the LORD, “and I will destroy its king and officials.

³⁹But I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.

²As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple.

³When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.

⁴Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!”

⁵The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money.

⁶But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

⁷Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened.

⁸He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.

⁹All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.

¹⁰When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded!

¹¹They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John.

¹²Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

¹³For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of all our ancestors — who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him.

¹⁴You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer.

¹⁵You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!

¹⁶“Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed — and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.

¹⁷“Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.

¹⁸But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah — that he must suffer these things.

¹⁹Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

²⁰Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.

²¹For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.

²²Moses said, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’

²³Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.’

²⁴“Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today.

²⁵You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed.’

²⁶When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.”