Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began

²just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way.

³He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for him!’ ”

⁴This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.

⁵All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

⁶His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am — so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals.

⁸I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

⁹One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River.

¹⁰As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove.

¹¹And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

¹²The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness,

¹³where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.

¹⁴Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News.

¹⁵“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

¹⁶One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

¹⁷Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

¹⁸And they left their nets at once and followed him.

¹⁹A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets.

²⁰He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

²¹Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

²²The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority — quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

²³Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out,

²⁴“Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”

²⁵But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered.

²⁶At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

²⁷Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!”

²⁸The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

²⁹After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home.

³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away.

³¹So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them.

³²That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus.

³³The whole town gathered at the door to watch.

³⁴So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

³⁵Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

³⁶Later Simon and the others went out to find him.

³⁷When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

³⁸But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”

³⁹So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

⁴⁰A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”

⁴²Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.

⁴³Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning:

⁴⁴“Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

⁴⁵But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.

¹A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai. On the first day of the second month of that year he said,

²“From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men

³twenty years old or older who are able to go to war. You and Aaron must register the troops,

⁴and you will be assisted by one family leader from each tribe.

⁵“These are the tribes and the names of the leaders who will assist you: Tribe — Leader Reuben — Elizur son of Shedeur

⁶Simeon — Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai

⁷Judah — Nahshon son of Amminadab

⁸Issachar — Nethanel son of Zuar

⁹Zebulun — Eliab son of Helon

¹⁰Ephraim son of Joseph — Elishama son of Ammihud Manasseh son of Joseph — Gamaliel son of Pedahzur

¹¹Benjamin — Abidan son of Gideoni

¹²Dan — Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai

¹³Asher — Pagiel son of Ocran

¹⁴Gad — Eliasaph son of Deuel

¹⁵Naphtali — Ahira son of Enan

¹⁶These are the chosen leaders of the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.”

¹⁷So Moses and Aaron called together these chosen leaders,

¹⁸and they assembled the whole community of Israel on that very day. All the people were registered according to their ancestry by their clans and families. The men of Israel who were twenty years old or older were listed one by one,

¹⁹just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses recorded their names in the wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰[20-21] This is the number of men twenty years old or older who were able to go to war, as their names were listed in the records of their clans and families : Tribe — Number Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son) — 46,500

²¹

²²[22-23] Simeon — 59,300

²³

²⁴[24-25] Gad — 45,650

²⁵

²⁶[26-27] Judah — 74,600

²⁷

²⁸[28-29] Issachar — 54,400

²⁹

³⁰[30-31] Zebulun — 57,400

³¹

³²[32-33] Ephraim son of Joseph — 40,500

³³

³⁴[34-35] Manasseh son of Joseph — 32,200

³⁵

³⁶[36-37] Benjamin — 35,400

³⁷

³⁸[38-39] Dan — 62,700

³⁹

⁴⁰[40-41] Asher — 41,500

⁴¹

⁴²[42-43] Naphtali — 53,400

⁴³

⁴⁴These were the men registered by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, all listed according to their ancestral descent.

⁴⁵They were registered by families — all the men of Israel who were twenty years old or older and able to go to war.

⁴⁶The total number was 603,550.

⁴⁷But this total did not include the Levites.

⁴⁸For the LORD had said to Moses,

⁴⁹“Do not include the tribe of Levi in the registration; do not count them with the rest of the Israelites.

⁵⁰Put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with all its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings as you travel, and they must take care of it and camp around it.

⁵¹Whenever it is time for the Tabernacle to move, the Levites will take it down. And when it is time to stop, they will set it up again. But any unauthorized person who goes too near the Tabernacle must be put to death.

⁵²Each tribe of Israel will camp in a designated area with its own family banner.

⁵³But the Levites will camp around the Tabernacle of the Covenant to protect the community of Israel from the LORD’s anger. The Levites are responsible to stand guard around the Tabernacle.”

⁵⁴So the Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia.

²They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

³For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

⁴They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.

⁵They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

⁶So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving.

⁷Since you excel in so many ways — in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us — I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.

⁸I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.

⁹You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

¹⁰Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it.

¹¹Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have.

¹²Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

¹³Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

¹⁴Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal.

¹⁵As the Scriptures say, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.”

¹⁶But thank God! He has given Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have.

¹⁷Titus welcomed our request that he visit you again. In fact, he himself was very eager to go and see you.

¹⁸We are also sending another brother with Titus. All the churches praise him as a preacher of the Good News.

¹⁹He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem — a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help.

²⁰We are traveling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift.

²¹We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honorable.

²²We are also sending with them another of our brothers who has proven himself many times and has shown on many occasions how eager he is. He is now even more enthusiastic because of his great confidence in you.

²³If anyone asks about Titus, say that he is my partner who works with me to help you. And the brothers with him have been sent by the churches, and they bring honor to Christ.

²⁴So show them your love, and prove to all the churches that our boasting about you is justified.

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.

²And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

³And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.

⁴When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”

⁵Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven.

⁶He swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay.

⁷When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.”

⁸Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!”

¹⁰So I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach.

¹¹Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

¹I am the spring crocus blooming on the Sharon Plain, the lily of the valley.

²Like a lily among thistles is my darling among young women.

³Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit.

⁴He escorts me to the banquet hall; it’s obvious how much he loves me.

⁵Strengthen me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am weak with love.

⁶His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

⁷Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.

⁸Ah, I hear my lover coming! He is leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹My lover is like a swift gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he is behind the wall, looking through the window, peering into the room.

¹⁰My lover said to me, “Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!

¹¹Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone.

¹²The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.

¹³The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!”

¹⁴My dove is hiding behind the rocks, behind an outcrop on the cliff. Let me see your face; let me hear your voice. For your voice is pleasant, and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming!

¹⁶My lover is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.

¹⁷Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee, return to me, my love, like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

²Let all Israel repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.”

³Let Aaron’s descendants, the priests, repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.”

⁴Let all who fear the LORD repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.”

⁵In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free.

⁶The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?

⁷Yes, the LORD is for me; he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me.

⁸It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people.

⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

¹⁰Though hostile nations surrounded me, I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

¹¹Yes, they surrounded and attacked me, but I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

¹²They swarmed around me like bees; they blazed against me like a crackling fire. But I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

¹³My enemies did their best to kill me, but the LORD rescued me.

¹⁴The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.

¹⁵Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly. The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!

¹⁶The strong right arm of the LORD is raised in triumph. The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!

¹⁷I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the LORD has done.

¹⁸The LORD has punished me severely, but he did not let me die.

¹⁹Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the LORD.

²⁰These gates lead to the presence of the LORD, and the godly enter there.

²¹I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory!

²²The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.

²³This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.

²⁴This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success.

²⁶Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD.

²⁷The LORD is God, shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you!

²⁹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

¹These are more proverbs of Solomon, collected by the advisers of King Hezekiah of Judah.

²It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

³No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth, or all that goes on in the king’s mind!

⁴Remove the impurities from silver, and the sterling will be ready for the silversmith.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s court, and his reign will be made secure by justice.

⁶Don’t demand an audience with the king or push for a place among the great.

⁷It’s better to wait for an invitation to the head table than to be sent away in public disgrace. Just because you’ve seen something,

⁸don’t be in a hurry to go to court. For what will you do in the end if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat?

⁹When arguing with your neighbor, don’t betray another person’s secret.

¹⁰Others may accuse you of gossip, and you will never regain your good reputation.

¹¹Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.

¹²To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry.

¹³Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer.

¹⁴A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.

¹⁵Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones.

¹⁶Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

¹⁷Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

¹⁸Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

²⁰Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound.

²¹If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.

²²You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.

²³As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

²⁴It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

²⁵Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.

²⁶If the godly give in to the wicked, it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.

²⁷It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

²⁸A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

¹At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick.

²So Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as my wife. Then go to the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh — the man who told me I would become king.

³Take him a gift of ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and ask him what will happen to the boy.”

⁴So Jeroboam’s wife went to Ahijah’s home at Shiloh. He was an old man now and could no longer see.

⁵But the LORD had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife will come here, pretending to be someone else. She will ask you about her son, for he is very sick. Give her the answer I give you.”

⁶So when Ahijah heard her footsteps at the door, he called out, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else?” Then he told her, “I have bad news for you.

⁷Give your husband, Jeroboam, this message from the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘I promoted you from the ranks of the common people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

⁸I ripped the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart and always did whatever I wanted.

⁹You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods for yourself and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have turned your back on me,

¹⁰I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone.

¹¹The members of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures. I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

¹²Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife, “Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die.

¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing that the LORD, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam.

¹⁴“In addition, the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now!

¹⁵Then the LORD will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD with the Asherah poles they have set up for worship.

¹⁶He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made Israel sin along with him.”

¹⁷So Jeroboam’s wife returned to Tirzah, and the child died just as she walked through the door of her home.

¹⁸And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, as the LORD had promised through the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹The rest of the events in Jeroboam’s reign, including all his wars and how he ruled, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

²⁰Jeroboam reigned in Israel twenty-two years. When Jeroboam died, his son Nadab became the next king.

²¹Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.

²²During Rehoboam’s reign, the people of Judah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, provoking his anger with their sin, for it was even worse than that of their ancestors.

²³For they also built for themselves pagan shrines and set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

²⁴There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

²⁵In the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem.

²⁶He ransacked the treasuries of the LORD’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.

²⁷King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

²⁸Whenever the king went to the Temple of the LORD, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom.

²⁹The rest of the events in Rehoboam’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.

³⁰There was constant war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

³¹When Rehoboam died, he was buried among his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. Then his son Abijam became the next king.

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

²But Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.

³These things happened because of the LORD’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.

⁵Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

⁶By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

⁷Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.

⁸But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.

⁹They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

¹⁰The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah.

¹¹Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.

¹²On August 17 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.

¹³He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.

¹⁴Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

¹⁶But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.

¹⁷The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

¹⁸They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.

¹⁹The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.

²⁰The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD’s Temple in the days of King Solomon.

²¹Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.

²²The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1⁄2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.

²³There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top.

²⁴Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.

²⁵And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.

²⁶Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²⁷And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.

²⁸The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023.

²⁹Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year he took 832 more.

³⁰In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more — a total of 4,600 captives in all.

³¹In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.

³²He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.

³³He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

³⁴So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.

¹But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

²So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.

³And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.

⁴Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

⁵Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith).

⁶These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

⁷So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

⁸Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.

⁹But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.

¹⁰None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

¹¹So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.”

¹²This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.

¹³The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.

¹⁴We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.