Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes.

²When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him.

³He lived among the tombs; and no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with a chain,

⁴because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces; and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

⁵Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones.

⁶Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;

⁷and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, “What business do You have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

⁸For He had already been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

¹⁰And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

¹¹Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding nearby on the mountain.

¹²And the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.”

¹³Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened.

¹⁵And then they *came to Jesus and *saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the “legion”; and they became frightened.

¹⁶Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs.

¹⁷And they began to beg Him to leave their region.

¹⁸And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might accompany Him.

¹⁹And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to themwhat great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

²¹When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He stayed by the seashore.

²²And one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, *came, and upon seeing Him, *fell at His feet

²³and *pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.”

²⁴And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

²⁵A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,

²⁶and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse—

²⁷after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.

²⁸For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”

²⁹And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

³⁰And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”

³¹And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

³²And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.

³³But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.

³⁴And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith hasmade you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.”

³⁵While He was still speaking, people *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?”

³⁶But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid, onlybelieve.”

³⁷And He allowed no one to accompany Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.

³⁸They *came to the house of the synagogue official, and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.

³⁹And after entering, He *said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child has not died, but is asleep.”

⁴⁰And they began laughing at Him. But putting them all outside, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was in bed.

⁴¹And taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha, kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).

⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astonished.

⁴³And He gave them strict orders that no one was to know about this, and He told them to have something given her to eat.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a discharge, and everyone who is unclean because of contact with a dead person.

³You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they do not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.”

⁴And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the LORD had spoken to Moses, that is what the sons of Israel did.

⁵Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Speak to the sons of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty,

⁷then he shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it a fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.

⁸But if the person has no redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the LORD for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.

⁹Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his.

¹⁰So every person’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever anyone gives to the priest, it becomes his.’ ”

¹¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

¹³and a man has sexual relations with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she remains undiscovered, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act,

¹⁴if an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself,

¹⁵the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of reminder, a reminder of wrongdoing.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the LORD,

¹⁷and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.

¹⁸The priest shall then have the woman stand before the LORD and let down the hair of the woman’s head, and place the grain offering of reminder in her hands, that is, the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

¹⁹And the priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has had sexual relations with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse;

²⁰if, however, you have gone astray, though under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had sexual intercourse with you”

²¹(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “may the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh shriveled and your belly swollen;

²²and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh shrivel.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

²³‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

²⁴Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness.

²⁵And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar;

²⁶and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then it will come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will shrivel, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be immune and conceive children.

²⁹‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,

³⁰or when an attitude of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all of this law to her.

³¹The man, moreover, will be free of guilt, but that woman shall bear the consequences of her guilt.’ ”

¹Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.

³And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—

⁴was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.

⁵In behalf of such a man I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except regarding my weaknesses.

⁶For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

⁷Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!

⁸Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me.

⁹And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

¹⁰Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, since I was in no respect inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.

¹²The distinguishing marks of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs, wonders, and miracles.

¹³For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I took you in by deceit.

¹⁷Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I?

¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps?

¹⁹All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for building you up, beloved.

²⁰For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, selfishness, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;

²¹I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and indecent behavior which they have practiced.

¹Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.

³And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.

⁴These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from mankind as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

⁵And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

⁶And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people;

⁷and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”

⁸And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

⁹Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,

¹⁰he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

¹²Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

¹⁴Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.

¹⁵And another angel came out of the temple, calling out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

¹⁶Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

¹“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?”

²“My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of balsam, To pasture his flock in the gardens And gather lilies.

³I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, He who pastures his flock among the lilies.”

⁴“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem, As awesome as an army with banners.

⁵Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes That have come up from their watering place, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young.

⁷Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate Behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And young women without number;

⁹But my dove, my perfect one, is unique: She is her mother’s only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who gave birth to her. The young women saw her and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

¹⁰‘Who is this who looks down like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?’

¹¹I went down to the orchard of nut trees To see the plants of the valley, To see whether the vine had grown Or the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people.”

¹³“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, so that we may look at you!” “Why should you look at the Shulammite, As at the dance of the two armies?

¹I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to the house of the LORD.”

²Our feet are standing Within your gates, Jerusalem,

³Jerusalem, that has been built As a city that is firmly joined together;

⁴To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD— An ordinance for Israel— To give thanks to the name of the LORD.

⁵For thrones were set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David.

⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.

⁷May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.”

⁸For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

⁹For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

¹A person often rebuked who becomes obstinate Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, But he who involves himself with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king gives stability to the land by justice, But a person who takes bribes ruins it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.

⁶By wrongdoing an evil person is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; The wicked does not understand such concern.

⁸Arrogant people inflame a city, But wise people turn away anger.

⁹When a wise person has a controversy with a foolish person, The foolish person either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.

¹⁰People of bloodshed hate the blameless person, But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A fool always loses his temper, But a wise person holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

¹³The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and a rebuke give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, wrongdoing increases; But the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

¹⁹A slave will not be instructed by words alone; For though he understands, there will be no response.

²⁰Do you see a person who is hasty with his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹One who pampers his slave from childhood Will in the end find him to be rebellious.

²²An angry person stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered person abounds in wrongdoing.

²³A person’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴One who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, And one who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will provide rain on the face of the earth.”

²So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

³Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly;

⁴for when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)

⁵Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the river valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.”

⁶So they divided the land between them to survey it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, Elijah my master?”

⁸And he said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹But he said, “What sin have I committed, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab, to put me to death?

¹⁰As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my master has not sent word to search for you; and whenever they say, ‘He is not here,’ he makes the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.

¹¹Yet now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here!” ’

¹²And it will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to where I do not know; so when I come and inform Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, though I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.

¹³Has it not been reported to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, that I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?

¹⁴Yet now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here” ’; he will then kill me!”

¹⁵Then Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of armies lives, before whom I stand, I will certainly present myself to him today.”

¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and informed him; then Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, the cause of disaster to Israel?”

¹⁸He said, “I have not brought disaster to Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals.

¹⁹Now then, send orders and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰So Ahab sent orders among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

²¹Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him so much as a word.

²²Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left as a prophet of the LORD, while Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

²³Now have them give us two oxen; and have them choose the one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it.

²⁴Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people replied, “That is a good idea.”

²⁵So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose the one ox for yourselves and prepare it first, since there are many of you, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under the ox.”

²⁶Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped about the altar which they had made.

²⁷And at noon Elijah ridiculed them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, since he is a god; undoubtedly he is attending to business, or is on the way, or is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep, and will awaken.”

²⁸So they cried out with a loud voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out on them.

²⁹When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come forward to me.” So all the people came forward to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down.

³¹Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”

³²And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed.

³³Then he laid out the wood, and he cut the ox in pieces and placed it on the wood.

³⁴And he said, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” so they did it a second time. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” so they did it a third time.

³⁵The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.

³⁶Then at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.

³⁷Answer me, LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that You, LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.”

³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God!”

⁴⁰Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slaughtered them there.

⁴¹Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.”

⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bent down to the earth and put his face between his knees.

⁴³And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, but he said, “There is nothing.” Yet Elijah said, “Go back” seven times.

⁴⁴And when he returned the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a person’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And Elijah said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Harness your chariot horses and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’ ”

⁴⁵Meanwhile the sky became dark with clouds and wind came up, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

⁴⁶Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he belted his cloak around his waist and outran Ahab to Jezreel.

¹Now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort,

²a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and made many charitable contributions to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.

³About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!”

⁴And he looked at him intently and became terrified, and said, “What is it, lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and charitable gifts have ascended as a memorial offering before God.

⁵Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter;

⁶he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷When the angel who *spoke to him left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier from his personal attendants,

⁸and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

¹⁰But he became hungry and wanted to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance;

¹¹and he *saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,

¹²and on it were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky.

¹³A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

¹⁴But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.”

¹⁵Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

¹⁶This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.

¹⁷Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius had asked directions to Simon’s house, and they appeared at the gate;

¹⁸and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there.

¹⁹While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.

²⁰But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.”

²¹Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?”

²²They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.”

²³So he invited them in and gave them lodging. Now on the next day he got ready and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

²⁴On the following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

²⁵When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him.

²⁶But Peter helped him up, saying, “Stand up; I, too, am just a man.”

²⁷As he talked with him, he entered and *found many people assembled.

²⁸And he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner; and yet God has shown me that I am not to call any person unholy or unclean.

²⁹That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask, for what reason did you send for me?”

³⁰Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining clothing,

³¹and he *said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your charitable gifts have been remembered before God.

³²Therefore send some men to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’

³³So I sent men to you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear everything that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

³⁴Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,

³⁵but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.

³⁶The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)—

³⁷you yourselves know the thing that happened throughout Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.

³⁸You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

³⁹We are witnesses of all the things that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.

⁴⁰God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He be revealed,

⁴¹not to all the people, but to witnesses who had been chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

⁴²And He ordered us to preach to the people, and to testify solemnly that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³All the prophets testify of Him, that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.

⁴⁵All the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles.

⁴⁶For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter responded,

⁴⁷“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”

⁴⁸And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.