Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

²And they were watching Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

³He *said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!”

⁴And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

⁵After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

⁷Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea,

⁸and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him.

⁹And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the masses, so that they would not crowd Him;

¹⁰for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had diseases pushed in around Him in order to touch Him.

¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”

¹²And He strongly warned them not to reveal who He was.

¹³And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

¹⁴And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons.

¹⁶And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),

¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”);

¹⁸and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot;

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

²⁰And He *came home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

²¹And when His own people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

²²The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

²³And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?

²⁴And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, buthe is finished!

²⁷But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit;

²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him.

³²And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”

³³Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

³⁴And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

³⁵For whoever does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

¹Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

²These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests.

⁴But Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi forward and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

⁷They shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

⁸They shall also take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

⁹So you shall assign the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are exclusively assigned to him from the sons of Israel.

¹⁰So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the firstborn of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

¹³For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from the human firstborn to animals. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD.”

¹⁴Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

¹⁵“Count the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall count.”

¹⁶So Moses counted them according to the word of the LORD, just as he had been commanded.

¹⁷These, then, are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei;

¹⁹and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel;

²⁰and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites.

²²Their numbered men, in the counting of every male from a month old and upward, their numbered men were 7,500.

²³The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward,

²⁴and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites: Eliasaph the son of Lael.

²⁵Now the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting included the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

²⁶and the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the courtyard which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its ropes, according to all the service concerning them.

²⁷Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites.

²⁸In the counting of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, performing the duties of the sanctuary.

²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle,

³⁰and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families: Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

³¹Now their duties included the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, the curtain, and all the service concerning them;

³²and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the head of the leaders of Levi, and he had the supervision of those who performed the duties of the sanctuary.

³³Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari.

³⁴Their numbered men in the counting of every male from a month old and upward: 6,200.

³⁵And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to camp on the northward side of the tabernacle.

³⁶Now the appointment of duties of the sons of Merari included the framework of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and all the service concerning them,

³⁷and the pillars around the courtyard with their bases, their pegs, and their ropes.

³⁸Now those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle eastward, in front of the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the layman coming near was to be put to death.

³⁹All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the command of the LORD by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

⁴⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, “Count every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names.

⁴¹And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.”

⁴²So Moses counted all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded him;

⁴³and all the firstborn males, by the number of names from a month old and upward for their numbered men, were 22,273.

⁴⁴Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵“Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the LORD.

⁴⁶And as a redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess of the number of the Levites,

⁴⁷you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs),

⁴⁸and you shall give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.”

⁴⁹So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of the number of those redeemed by the Levites;

⁵⁰from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365.

⁵¹Then Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, at the command of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

²I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I intend to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh,

⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

⁵We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

⁶and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

⁷You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, have him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so too are we.

⁸For if I boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,

⁹for I do not want to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.

¹⁰For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

¹¹Have such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

¹²For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding.

¹³But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the domain which God assigned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.

¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;

¹⁵not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other people’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our domain, enlarged even more by you,

¹⁶so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the domain of another.

¹⁷But THE ONE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.

¹⁸For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

¹A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

²and she was pregnant and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

³Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns.

⁴And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

⁵And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

⁷And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

⁸and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

¹²For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

¹⁴But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.

¹⁵And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.

¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

¹“How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Mount Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep Which have come up from their watering place, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young.

³Your lips are like a scarlet thread, And your mouth is beautiful. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate Behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, Built with layers of stones On which are hung a thousand shields, All the round shields of the warriors.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle That graze among the lilies.

⁶Until the cool of the day When the shadows flee, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense.

⁷“You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish on you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, You shall come with me from Lebanon. You shall come down from the summit of Amana, From the summit of Senir and Hermon, From the dens of lions, From the mountains of leopards.

⁹You have enchanted my heart, my sister, my bride; You have enchanted my heart with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much sweeter is your love than wine, And the fragrance of your oils Than that of all kinds of balsam oils!

¹¹Your lips drip honey, my bride; Honey and milk are under your tongue, And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹²A locked garden is my sister, my bride, A locked spring, a sealed fountain.

¹³Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates With delicious fruits, henna with nard plants,

¹⁴Nard and saffron, spice reed and cinnamon, With all the trees of frankincense, Myrrh, and aloes, along with all the finest balsam oils.

¹⁵You are a garden spring, A well of fresh water, And flowing streams from Lebanon.”

¹⁶“Awake, north wind, And come, wind of the south; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, May its balsam oils flow. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its delicious fruits!”

¹I cried to the LORD in my trouble, And He answered me.

²Rescue my soul, LORD, from lying lips, From a deceitful tongue.

³What will He give to you, and what more will He do to you, You deceitful tongue?

⁴Sharp arrows of the warrior, With the burning coals of the broom tree!

⁵Woe to me, for I reside in Meshech, For I have settled among the tents of Kedar!

⁶Too long has my soul had its dwelling With those who hate peace.

⁷I am for peace, but when I speak, They are for war.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.

⁴Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷A satisfied person despises honey, But to a hungry person any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that wanders from its nest, So is a person who wanders from his home.

⁹Oil and perfume make the heart glad, And a person’s advice is sweet to his friend.

¹⁰Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your disaster; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, So that I may reply to one who taunts me.

¹²A prudent person sees evil and hides himself; But the naive proceed, and pay the penalty.

¹³Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger; And for a foreign woman seize a pledge from him.

¹⁴One who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be considered a curse to him.

¹⁵A constant dripping on a day of steady rain And a contentious woman are alike;

¹⁶He who would restrain her restrains the wind, And grasps oil with his right hand.

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, So one person sharpens another.

¹⁸One who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, And one who cares for his master will be honored.

¹⁹As in water a face reflects the face, So the heart of a person reflects the person.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, Nor are the eyes of a person ever satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, And each is tested by the praise accorded him.

²²Though you pound the fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, His foolishness still will not leave him.

²³Know well the condition of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds;

²⁴For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.

²⁵When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

²⁶The lambs will be for your clothing, And the goats will bring the price of a field,

²⁷And there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, For the food of your household, And sustenance for your attendants.

¹Now the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

²“Since I exalted you from the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have misled My people Israel into sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins,

³behold, I am going to burn Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

⁴Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and anyone belonging to him who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”

⁵Now as for the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁶And Baasha lay down with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king in his place.

⁷Moreover, the word of the LORD through the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came against Baasha and his household, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, by being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck it.

⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel at Tirzah, and reigned for two years.

⁹And his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now Elah was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the household in Tirzah.

¹⁰Then Zimri came in and struck him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he became king in his place.

¹¹And when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave a single male alive, either of his relatives or of his friends.

¹²So Zimri eliminated all the household of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,

¹³for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of his son Elah, which they committed and into which they misled Israel, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

¹⁴Now as for the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹⁵In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned for seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

¹⁶And the people who were camped heard it being said, “Zimri has conspired and has also struck and killed the king!” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.

¹⁷Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.

¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over himself with fire, and died,

¹⁹because of his sins which he committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, misleading Israel into sin.

²⁰Now as for the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he carried out, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

²¹Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; the other half followed Omri.

²²But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri became king.

²³In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned for twelve years; he reigned for six years at Tirzah.

²⁴And he purchased the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵Now Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.

²⁶For he walked entirely in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins into which he misled Israel, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

²⁷Now as for the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and his might which he displayed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

²⁸And Omri lay down with his fathers and was buried in Samaria; and his son Ahab became king in his place.

²⁹Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.

³⁰Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him.

³¹And as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.

³²So he erected an altar for Baal at the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.

³³Ahab also made the Asherah. So Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

³⁴In his days Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

¹Now Saul approved of putting Stephen to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

²Some devout men buried Stephen, and mourned loudly for him.

³But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would drag away men and women and put them in prison.

⁴Therefore, those who had been scattered went through places preaching the word.

⁵Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them.

⁶The crowds were paying attention with one mind to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

⁷For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed or limped on crutches were healed.

⁸So there was much rejoicing in that city.

⁹Now a man named Simon had previously been practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great;

¹⁰and all the people, from small to great, were paying attention to him, saying, “This man is the Power of God that is called Great.”

¹¹And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic arts.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were being baptized.

¹³Now even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was repeatedly amazed.

¹⁴Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,

¹⁵who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶(For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

¹⁷Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

²²Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you.

²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness.”

²⁴But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

²⁵So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get ready and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)

²⁷So he got ready and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading Isaiah the prophet.

²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”

³⁰Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED LIKE A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND LIKE A LAMB THAT IS SILENT BEFORE ITS SHEARER, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

³³IN HUMILIATION HIS JUSTICE WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL DESCRIBE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS TAKEN AWAY FROM THE EARTH.”

³⁴The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

³⁶As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸And he ordered that the chariot stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.