Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

²He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

³“Listen! A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.

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

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

⁸Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

⁹And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;

¹²in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

¹⁸And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,

¹⁹but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

²⁰And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

²¹He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?

²²For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

²³Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

²⁵For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

²⁶He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,

²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?

³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

³⁴he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

²Take a census of the Kohathites separate from the other Levites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,

³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who qualify to do work relating to the tent of meeting.

⁴The service of the Kohathites relating to the tent of meeting concerns the most holy things.

⁵When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the screening curtain, and cover the ark of the covenant with it;

⁶then they shall put on it a covering of fine leather, and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put its poles in place.

⁷Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink offering; the regular bread also shall be on it;

⁸then they shall spread over them a crimson cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place.

⁹They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied;

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

¹¹Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place;

¹²and they shall take all the utensils of the service that are used in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying frame.

¹³They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it;

¹⁴and they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the Kohathites shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the Kohathites are to carry.

¹⁶Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its utensils.

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

¹⁸You must not let the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites.

¹⁹This is how you must deal with them in order that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each to a particular task or burden.

²⁰But the Kohathites must not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment; otherwise they will die.

²¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²²Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their ancestral houses and by their clans;

²³from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enroll them, all who qualify to do work in the tent of meeting.

²⁴This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites, in serving and bearing burdens:

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

²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them.

²⁷All the service of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry, and in all that they have to do; and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry.

²⁸This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites relating to the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities are to be under the oversight of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹As for the Merarites, you shall enroll them by their clans and their ancestral houses;

³⁰from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enroll them, everyone who qualifies to do the work of the tent of meeting.

³¹This is what they are charged to carry, as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, with its bars, pillars, and bases,

³²and the pillars of the court all around with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their related service; and you shall assign by name the objects that they are required to carry.

³³This is the service of the clans of the Merarites, the whole of their service relating to the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation enrolled the Kohathites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,

³⁵from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting;

³⁶and their enrollment by clans was two thousand seven hundred fifty.

³⁷This was the enrollment of the clans of the Kohathites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

³⁸The enrollment of the Gershonites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,

³⁹from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting —

⁴⁰their enrollment by their clans and their ancestral houses was two thousand six hundred thirty.

⁴¹This was the enrollment of the clans of the Gershonites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the LORD.

⁴²The enrollment of the clans of the Merarites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,

⁴³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting —

⁴⁴their enrollment by their clans was three thousand two hundred.

⁴⁵This is the enrollment of the clans of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

⁴⁶All those who were enrolled of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel enrolled, by their clans and their ancestral houses,

⁴⁷from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens relating to the tent of meeting,

⁴⁸their enrollment was eight thousand five hundred eighty.

⁴⁹According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses they were appointed to their several tasks of serving or carrying; thus they were enrolled by him, as the LORD commanded Moses.

¹I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

²I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.

⁵I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

⁶I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

⁷Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way.

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

¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about.

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

¹⁴And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.

¹⁶I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool;

¹⁸since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast.

¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves!

²⁰For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face.

²¹To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares to boast of — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast of that.

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

²³Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman — I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.

²⁴Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;

²⁷in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.

²⁸And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie.

³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

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

¹And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names.

²And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.

³One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

⁶It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

⁷Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation,

⁸and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

⁹Let anyone who has an ear listen:

¹⁰If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you kill with the sword, with the sword you must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

¹¹Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.

¹³It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all;

¹⁴and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived;

¹⁵and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

¹I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.

²I slept, but my heart was awake. Listen! my beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”

³I had put off my garment; how could I put it on again? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?

⁴My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him.

⁵I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but did not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer.

⁷Making their rounds in the city the sentinels found me; they beat me, they wounded me, they took away my mantle, those sentinels of the walls.

⁸I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him this: I am faint with love.

⁹What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?

¹⁰My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, bathed in milk, fitly set.

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His arms are rounded gold, set with jewels. His body is ivory work, encrusted with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

¹⁶His speech is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

¹I lift up my eyes to the hills — from where will my help come?

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

³He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

⁴He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.

⁶The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

⁸The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

¹The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

²When a land rebels it has many rulers; but with an intelligent ruler there is lasting order.

³A ruler who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.

⁴Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law struggle against them.

⁵The evil do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely.

⁶Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be crooked in one’s ways even though rich.

⁷Those who keep the law are wise children, but companions of gluttons shame their parents.

⁸One who augments wealth by exorbitant interest gathers it for another who is kind to the poor.

⁹When one will not listen to the law, even one’s prayers are an abomination.

¹⁰Those who mislead the upright into evil ways will fall into pits of their own making, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.

¹¹The rich is wise in self-esteem, but an intelligent poor person sees through the pose.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked prevail, people go into hiding.

¹³No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

¹⁴Happy is the one who is never without fear, but one who is hard-hearted will fall into calamity.

¹⁵Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

¹⁶A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor; but one who hates unjust gain will enjoy a long life.

¹⁷If someone is burdened with the blood of another, let that killer be a fugitive until death; let no one offer assistance.

¹⁸One who walks in integrity will be safe, but whoever follows crooked ways will fall into the Pit.

¹⁹Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread, but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

²⁰The faithful will abound with blessings, but one who is in a hurry to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good — yet for a piece of bread a person may do wrong.

²²The miser is in a hurry to get rich and does not know that loss is sure to come.

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

²⁴Anyone who robs father or mother and says, “That is no crime,” is partner to a thug.

²⁵The greedy person stirs up strife, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be enriched.

²⁶Those who trust in their own wits are fools; but those who walk in wisdom come through safely.

²⁷Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but one who turns a blind eye will get many a curse.

²⁸When the wicked prevail, people go into hiding; but when they perish, the righteous increase.

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

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

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

⁴You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

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

⁶The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi.

⁷But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

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

⁹“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

¹⁰So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”

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

¹²But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

¹³Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.

¹⁴For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.”

¹⁵She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days.

¹⁶The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

¹⁷After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.

¹⁸She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!”

¹⁹But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.

²⁰He cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”

²¹Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

²²The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.

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

²⁴So 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.”

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

²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.

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

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

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,

¹²and he has seen in 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 about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem;

¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;

¹⁶I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized,

¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul Preaches in Damascus For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,

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

²¹All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

²²Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

²³After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,

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

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

²⁶When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him.

³⁰When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²Now as Peter went here and there among all the believers, he came down also to the saints living in Lydda.

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

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

³⁵And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.

³⁷At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.”

³⁹So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.

⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.