Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again He began to teach by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

²And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,

³“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

⁴as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

⁶And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

⁸Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

⁹And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear,let him hear.”

¹⁰As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables.

¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those who are outside, everything comes in parables,

¹²so that WHILE SEEING THEY MAY SEE, AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR, AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND IT WOULD BE FORGIVEN THEM.”

¹³And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

¹⁶And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

¹⁷and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately theyfall away.

¹⁸And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,

¹⁹but the worries of theworld, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and itbecomes unfruitful.

²⁰And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under abasket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?

²²For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.

²³If anyone has ears to hear,let him hear.”

²⁴And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to.By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.

²⁵For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

²⁶And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

²⁷and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.

²⁸The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

²⁹Now when the crop permits, he immediatelyputs in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰And He was saying, “How shall wepicture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil,

³²yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that THE BIRDS OF THE SKY can NEST UNDER its shade.”

³³And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to understand it;

³⁴and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

³⁵On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.”

³⁶After dismissing the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.

³⁷And a fierce gale of wind *developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water.

³⁸And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

⁴⁰And He said to them, “Why are youafraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²“Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households,

³from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, everyone who can enter the service of ministry to do work in the tent of meeting.

⁴This is the work of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵“When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the curtain, and cover the ark of the testimony with it;

⁶and they shall place a covering of fine leather on it, and spread over it a cloth of pure violet, and insert its carrying poles.

⁷Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of violet and put on it the dishes, the pans, the sacrificial bowls, and the jugs for the drink offering; and the continual bread shall be on it.

⁸And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles.

⁹Then they shall take a violet cloth and cover the lampstand for the light, along with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil containers, by which they attend to it;

¹⁰and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying bars.

¹¹Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles;

¹²and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying bars.

¹³Then they shall clean away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.

¹⁴They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks, shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of fine leather over it and insert its carrying poles.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. These are the things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“Now the responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual grain offering, and the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the tabernacle and everything that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be eliminated from among the Levites.

¹⁹Rather, do this for them so that they will live and not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load;

²⁰but they shall not come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

²¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²²“Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ households, by their families;

²³from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall count them: all who can enter to perform service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying:

²⁵they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of fine leather that is on top of it, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

²⁶and the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes and all the equipment for their service; and everything that is to be done by them, they shall perform.

²⁷All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, that is, all their loads and all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads.

²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ households;

³⁰from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who can enter the service to do the work of the tent of meeting.

³¹Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases,

³²and the pillars around the courtyard and their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by names of the men the items that each is to carry.

³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁵from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting.

³⁶Their numbered men by their families were 2,750.

³⁷These were the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

³⁸And the numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁹from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁰their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630.

⁴¹These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

⁴²And the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households,

⁴³from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁴their numbered men by their families were 3,200.

⁴⁵These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

⁴⁶All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households,

⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting—

⁴⁸their numbered men were 8,580.

⁴⁹According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they were counted, everyone by his serving or carrying; so these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.

²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate very well!

⁵For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.

⁶But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

⁷Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;

⁹and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brothers came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

¹²But what I am doing I will also continue to do, so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

¹⁶Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.

¹⁹For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.

²⁰For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, if anyone devours you, if anyone takes advantage of you, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone hits you in the face.

²¹To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I am speaking in foolishness—I too am bold.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea.

²⁶I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;

²⁷I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

³⁰If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

³²In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,

³³and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

¹And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

²And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.

³I saw one of his heads as if it had been fatally wounded, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

⁴they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

⁵A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

⁶And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

⁷It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

⁸All who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slaughtered.

⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

¹⁰If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.

¹²He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

¹³He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people.

¹⁴And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

¹⁵And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,

¹⁷and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

¹“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and drink deeply, lovers.”

²“I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the dew drops of the night.’

³I have taken off my dress, How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, How can I dirty them again?

⁴My beloved extended his hand through the opening, And my feelings were stirred for him.

⁵I arose to open to my beloved; And my hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with drops of myrrh, On the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and had gone! My heart went out to him as he spoke. I searched for him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me.

⁷The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me, They struck me and wounded me; The guards of the walls took my shawl away from me.

⁸Swear to me, you daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, As to what you will tell him: For I am lovesick.”

⁹“What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, That you make us swear in this way?”

¹⁰“My beloved is dazzling and reddish, Outstanding among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is like gold, pure gold; His locks are like clusters of dates And black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves Beside streams of water, Bathed in milk, And perched in their setting.

¹³His cheeks are like a bed of balsam, Banks of herbal spices; His lips are lilies Dripping with drops of myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are rods of gold Set with topaz; His abdomen is panels of ivory Covered with sapphires.

¹⁵His thighs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon, Choice as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, You daughters of Jerusalem.”

¹I will raise my eyes to the mountains; From where will my help come?

²My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

³He will not allow your foot to slip; He who watches over you will not slumber.

⁴Behold, He who watches over Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The LORD is your protector; The LORD is your shade on your right hand.

⁶The sun will not beat down on you by day, Nor the moon by night.

⁷The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.

⁸The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time and forever.

¹The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, But the righteous are bold as a lion.

²Due to a wrongdoing of a land its leaders are many, But by a person of understanding and knowledge, so it endures.

³A poor man who oppresses the helpless Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

⁴Those who abandon the Law praise the wicked, But those who keep the Law strive against them.

⁵Evil people do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand everything.

⁶Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity, Than a person who is crooked, though he is rich.

⁷He who keeps the Law is a discerning son, But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.

⁸One who increases his wealth by interest of any kind, Collects it for one who is gracious to the poor.

⁹One who turns his ear away from listening to the Law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰One who leads the upright astray in an evil way Will himself fall into his own pit, But the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich person is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding sees through him.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, But when the wicked rise, people hide themselves.

¹³One who conceals his wrongdoings will not prosper, But one who confesses and abandons them will find compassion.

¹⁴How blessed is the person who fears always, But one who hardens his heart will fall into disaster.

¹⁵Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear Is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

¹⁶A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, But a person who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.

¹⁷A person who is burdened with the guilt of human blood Will be a fugitive until death; no one is to support him!

¹⁸One who walks blamelessly will receive help, But one who is crooked will fall all at once.

¹⁹One who works his land will have plenty of food, But one who follows empty pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

²⁰A faithful person will abound with blessings, But one who hurries to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good, Because for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.

²²A person with an evil eye hurries after wealth And does not know that poverty will come upon him.

²³One who rebukes a person will afterward find more favor Than one who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴He who robs his father or his mother And says, “There is no wrong done,” Is the companion of a person who destroys.

²⁵An arrogant person stirs up strife, But one who trusts in the LORD will prosper.

²⁶One who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But one who walks wisely will flee to safety.

²⁷One who gives to the poor will never lack anything, But one who shuts his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked rise, people hide themselves; But when they perish, the righteous increase.

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.”

²Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

³“Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

⁴And it shall be that you will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there.”

⁵So he went and did everything according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

⁶And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.

⁷But it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

⁹“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you.”

¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”

¹¹As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”

¹²But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no food, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”

¹³However, Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said. Just make me a little bread loaf from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.

¹⁴For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘The bowl of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil become empty, until the day that the LORD provides rain on the face of the earth.’ ”

¹⁵So she went and did everything in accordance with the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.

¹⁶The bowl of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.

¹⁷Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his condition became very grave, until at the end he was no longer breathing.

¹⁸So she said to Elijah, “Why is my business any of yours, you man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!”

¹⁹But he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her arms and carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.

²⁰And he called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?”

²¹Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, please, let this boy’s life return to him.”

²²And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the boy returned to him and he revived.

²³Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.”

²⁴Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”

¹Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

⁴and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

⁶but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”

⁷The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.

⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

¹²and he has seenin a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem;

¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choseninstrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.”

¹⁷So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

¹⁹and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus,

²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

²²But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

²³When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were also closely watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;

²⁵but his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried repeatedly to associate with the disciples; and yet they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.

³⁰Now when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

³²Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he also came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your own bed.” Immediately he got up.

³⁵And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

³⁷But it happened at that time that she became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”

³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the room upstairs; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.

⁴⁰But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a tanner named Simon.