Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed.

²So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

⁴“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

⁵So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

⁶The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

⁷So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.

⁸That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

⁹Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel,

¹⁰and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

¹³Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”

¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

¹⁶At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

¹⁸For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered.

²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.

²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,

²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.

³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.

³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.

³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).

³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.

³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.

³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁸Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads

⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”

⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.

⁴²“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.

⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

⁴⁴In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

⁴⁵From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.

⁴⁶About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.

⁴⁹The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split

⁵²and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

⁵³They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.

⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.

⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.

⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

¹“ ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.

²“ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

³“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,

⁴I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.

⁵Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

⁶“ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.

⁷You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.

⁸Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

⁹“ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

¹⁰You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.

¹¹I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you.

¹²I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

¹³I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

¹⁴“ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,

¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,

¹⁶then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

¹⁷I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

¹⁸“ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.

¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.

²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.

²¹“ ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve.

²²I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.

²³“ ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,

²⁴I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.

²⁵And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.

²⁶When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷“ ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,

²⁸then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.

²⁹You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.

³¹I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.

³²I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.

³³I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.

³⁴Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶“ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.

³⁷They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.

³⁸You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.

³⁹Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.

⁴⁰“ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me,

⁴¹which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,

⁴²I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

⁴³For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.

⁴⁴Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.

⁴⁵But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ ”

⁴⁶These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

¹As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

²For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

³We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;

⁵in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;

⁶in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

⁸through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;

⁹known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;

¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.

¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

¹⁴Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

¹⁷Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹⁸And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

²And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.

⁴The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.

⁵Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

⁶Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

⁷The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

⁸The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,

⁹a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—

¹¹the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

¹²The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

¹³As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

¹Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

²before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;

³when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;

⁴when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;

⁵when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

⁶Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,

⁷and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”

⁹Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

¹⁰The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.

¹²Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

¹I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.

²Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

³The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

⁴Then I called on the name of the LORD: “LORD, save me!”

⁵The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

⁶The LORD protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.

⁷Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

⁸For you, LORD, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,

⁹that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

¹⁰I trusted in the LORD when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”;

¹¹in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.”

¹²What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?

¹³I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

¹⁴I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.

¹⁶Truly I am your servant, LORD; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.

¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹in the courts of the house of the LORD— in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

¹When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

³Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.

⁵Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

⁶Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;

⁷for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.

⁹Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.

¹⁴Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed;

¹⁶my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.

¹⁸There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path:

²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,

²¹for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

²²Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well.

²⁴The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.

²⁵May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!

²⁶My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,

²⁷for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

²⁸Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

³¹Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

³²In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

³⁴You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

³⁵“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt.

³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:

⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.

⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.

¹¹My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”

¹³The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders,

¹⁴he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home.

¹⁷But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.

²¹When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

²²But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:

²³“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,

²⁴‘This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’ ” So they obeyed the word of the LORD and went home again, as the LORD had ordered.

²⁵Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.

²⁶Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David.

²⁷If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

²⁹One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.

³⁰And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.

³¹Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.

³²He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

³³On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

¹This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:

²“Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, ‘Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’

³A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away.

⁴“In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.

⁵They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.

⁷Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their verdant pasture, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’

⁸“Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock.

⁹For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.

¹⁰So Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the LORD.

¹¹“Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions,

¹²your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least of the nations— a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.

¹³Because of the LORD’s anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be appalled; they will scoff because of all her wounds.

¹⁴“Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵Shout against her on every side! She surrenders, her towers fall, her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD, take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done to others.

¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the reaper with his sickle at harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor let everyone return to their own people, let everyone flee to their own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

²¹“Attack the land of Merathaim and those who live in Pekod. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,” declares the LORD. “Do everything I have commanded you.

²²The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!

²³How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!

²⁴I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.

²⁵The LORD has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.

²⁶Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

²⁷Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished.

²⁸Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the LORD our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

²⁹“Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD.

³¹“See, I am against you, you arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, “for your day has come, the time for you to be punished.

³²The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”

³³This is what the LORD Almighty says: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go.

³⁴Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.

³⁵“A sword against the Babylonians!” declares the LORD— “against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men!

³⁶A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror.

³⁷A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered.

³⁸A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.

³⁹“So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the LORD, “so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.

⁴¹“Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

⁴²They are armed with bows and spears; they are cruel and without mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Babylon.

⁴³The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.

⁴⁴Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”

⁴⁵Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Babylon, what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians: The young of the flock will be dragged away; their pasture will be appalled at their fate.

⁴⁶At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble; its cry will resound among the nations.

¹The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.

²They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

³They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.

⁴But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

⁵The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.

⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family.

⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!

⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed,

¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

¹¹Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

¹²Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

¹³When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

¹⁵So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.

¹⁶“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!

²⁰As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

²²For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

²³On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “ ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’

²⁷Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.

²⁸They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

²⁹Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all

³⁴that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales

³⁵and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”),

³⁷sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.