Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”

²After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them,

³and his clothes became dazzling — extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.

⁴Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let us set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —

⁶because he did not know what to say, since they were terrified.

⁷A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!”

⁸Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰They kept this word to themselves, questioning what “rising from the dead” meant.

¹¹Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written about him.”

¹⁴When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.

¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.

¹⁶He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”

¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.

¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”

¹⁹He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.

²²“And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.”

²⁷But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

²⁸After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

³⁰Then they left that place and made their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it.

³¹For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.”

³²But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.

³³They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”

³⁴But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.

³⁵Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”

³⁶He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷“Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.”

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”

³⁹“Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me.

⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us.

⁴¹And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ — truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

⁴²“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away  — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³“And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

⁴⁸wheretheir worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the LORD told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:

²“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.

³You must observe it at its appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; you are to observe it according to all its statutes and ordinances.”

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover,

⁵and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day

⁷and said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the LORD’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”

⁸Moses replied to them, “Wait here until I hear what the LORD commands for you.”

⁹Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.

¹¹Such people are to observe it in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight. They are to eat the animal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

¹²they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.

¹³“But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴“If an alien resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do it according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the resident alien and the native of the land.”

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

¹⁶It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, appearing like fire at night.

¹⁷Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.

¹⁸At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

¹⁹Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the LORD’s requirement and did not set out.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the LORD’s command and set out at the LORD’s command.

²¹Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted.

²²Whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out.

²³They camped at the LORD’s command, and they set out at the LORD’s command. They carried out the LORD’s requirement according to his command through Moses.

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

²I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

³Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?

⁴Did you experience so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing?

⁵So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —

⁶just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

⁷You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.

⁸Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

⁹Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.

¹¹Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

¹²But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

¹⁴The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

¹⁷My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one.

²¹Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

²²But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

²⁴The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

²⁵But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

²⁶for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

²⁸There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

¹After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

²He called out in a mighty voice: It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast.

³For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.

⁵For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

⁶Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion for her.

⁷As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.”

⁸For this reason her plagues will come in just one day — death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

⁹The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

¹⁰They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come.

¹¹The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer —

¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble;

¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves — human lives.

¹⁴The fruit you craved has left you. All your splendid and glamorous things are gone; they will never find them again.

¹⁵The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

¹⁶saying, Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;

¹⁷for in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off

¹⁸as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out: “Who was like the great city?”

¹⁹They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning, Woe, woe, the great city, where all those who have ships on the sea became rich from her wealth; for in a single hour she was destroyed.

²⁰Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!

²¹Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.

²²The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;

²³the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

²⁴In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth.

¹One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the LORD.

²The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the LORD. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

⁵But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite — heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

¹A song of ascents. [1] When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

²Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

³The LORD had done great things for us; we were joyful.

⁴Restore our fortunes, LORD, like watercourses in the Negev.

⁵Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.

⁶Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

²listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;

³furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure,

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity

⁸so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity — every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will rescue you from the way of evil — from anyone who says perverse things,

¹³from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness,

¹⁴from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion,

¹⁵whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.

¹⁶It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,

¹⁷who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.

¹⁹None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.

²⁰So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it.

¹There was a lull of three years without war between Aram and Israel.

²However, in the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit the king of Israel.

³The king of Israel had said to his servants, “Don’t you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we’re doing nothing to take it from the king of Aram?”

⁴So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

⁵But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “First, please ask what the LORD’s will is.”

⁶So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go against Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain?” They replied, “March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

⁷But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD here anymore? Let’s ask him.”

⁸The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man who can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king shouldn’t say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁹So the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah!”

¹⁰Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

¹¹Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.’”

¹²And all the prophets were prophesying the same: “March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the LORD will hand it over to the king.”

¹³The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, “Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”

¹⁴But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will say whatever the LORD says to me.”

¹⁵So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?” Micaiah told him, “March up and succeed. The LORD will hand it over to the king.”

¹⁶But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”

¹⁷So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, “They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.”

¹⁸So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?”

¹⁹Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and the whole heavenly army was standing by him at his right hand and at his left hand.

²⁰And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? ’ So one was saying this and another was saying that.

²¹“Then a spirit came forward, stood in the LORD’s presence, and said, ‘I will entice him.’

²²“The LORD asked him, ‘How?’ “He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “Then he said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’

²³“You see, the LORD has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah on the cheek, and demanded, “Did the Spirit of the LORD leave me to speak to you?”

²⁵Micaiah replied, “You will soon see when you go to hide in an inner chamber on that day.”

²⁶Then the king of Israel ordered, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son,

²⁷and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only a little bread and water until I come back safely.’”

²⁸But Micaiah said, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you people!”

²⁹Then the king of Israel and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead.

³⁰But the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel.”

³²When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, “He must be the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.

³³When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³⁴But a man drew his bow without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

³⁵The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening, and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.

³⁶Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring: Each man to his own city, and each man to his own land!

³⁷So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria.

³⁸Then someone washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken.

³⁹The rest of the events of Ahab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, including the ivory palace he built, and all the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

⁴⁰Ahab rested with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

⁴¹Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab.

⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the LORD’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴⁴Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

⁴⁶He eradicated from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa.

⁴⁷There was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.

⁴⁸Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

⁴⁹At that time, Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.

⁵⁰Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoram became king in his place.

⁵¹Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, and he reigned over Israel two years.

⁵²He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He walked in the ways of his father, in the ways of his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.

⁵³He served Baal and bowed in worship to him. He angered the LORD God of Israel just as his father had done.

¹He said to me: “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

²So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll.

³“Son of man,” he said to me, “feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴Then he said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

⁵For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or a difficult language but to the house of Israel —

⁶not to the many peoples of unintelligible speech or a difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. No doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

⁷But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted.

⁸Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

⁹I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, though they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰Next he said to me: “Son of man, listen carefully to all my words that I speak to you and take them to heart.

¹¹Go to your people, the exiles, and speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

¹²The Spirit then lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me — bless the glory of the LORD in his place! —

¹³with the sound of the living creatures’ wings brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.

¹⁴The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I left in bitterness and in an angry spirit, and the LORD’s hand was on me powerfully.

¹⁵I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were living by the Chebar Canal, and I sat there among them stunned for seven days.

¹⁶Now at the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁷“Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me.

¹⁸If I say to the wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him — you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life — that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

¹⁹But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself.

²⁰Now if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and acts unjustly, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die because of his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

²¹But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued yourself.”

²²The hand of the LORD was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak with you there.”

²³So I got up and went out to the plain. The LORD’s glory was present there, like the glory I had seen by the Chebar Canal, and I fell facedown.

²⁴The Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.

²⁵As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so you cannot go out among them.

²⁶I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute and unable to be a mediator for them, for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Let the one who listens, listen, and let the one who refuses, refuse — for they are a rebellious house.

¹In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

⁶they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside.

⁷There they continued preaching the gospel.

⁸In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

⁹He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And he jumped up and began to walk around.

¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

¹⁵“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way,

¹⁷although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.