Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

²Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³“What did Moses command you?” he replied.

⁴They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

⁵“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.

⁶“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’

⁷‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.

¹¹He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.

¹²And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²²At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

³²They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

³³“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,

³⁴who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

³⁹“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,

⁴⁰but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

⁴²Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

⁴⁶Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”

⁵⁰Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵²“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

¹The LORD said to Moses:

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

³When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁴If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you.

⁵When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out.

⁶At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.

⁷To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.

⁸“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come.

⁹When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies.

¹⁰Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law.

¹²Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.

¹³They set out, this first time, at the LORD’s command through Moses.

¹⁴The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command.

¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar,

¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.

¹⁷Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.

¹⁸The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.

¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon,

²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad.

²¹Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.

²²The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command.

²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh,

²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.

²⁶Pagiel son of Okran was over the division of the tribe of Asher,

²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.

²⁸This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.

²⁹Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

³¹But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

³²If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.”

³³So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

³⁴The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.”

³⁶Whenever it came to rest, he said, “Return, LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel.”

¹What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.

²The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

³So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.

⁴But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

⁶Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

⁷So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

⁹But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

¹⁰You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

¹¹I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

¹²I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.

¹³As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you,

¹⁴and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

¹⁵Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.

¹⁸It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.

¹⁹My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

²⁰how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

²³His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

²⁴These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.

²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

²⁷For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

²⁸Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁹At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.

³⁰But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

³¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

¹After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

²for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

⁴The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!”

⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!”

⁶Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

⁸Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

⁹Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁰At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

¹¹I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.

¹²His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.

¹³He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.

¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

¹⁷And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,

¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.

²⁰But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²¹The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²He said:

³“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’

⁴That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.

⁵May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

⁶That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

⁷May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

⁸May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,

¹⁰for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

¹⁵with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.

²⁰“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²⁴For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.

²⁵What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

¹A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

²In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

³Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.

⁴Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.

⁵Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

¹My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,

²for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

³Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.

⁸This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,

¹²because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

¹³Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.

¹⁹By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;

²⁰by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion;

²²they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

²³Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

²⁶for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.

²⁹Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you.

³⁰Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways.

³²For the LORD detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence.

³³The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

³⁴He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

³⁵The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame.

¹After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.

²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”

³But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’

⁴Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’ ” So Elijah went.

⁵When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶“A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” ’ ”

⁷The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”

⁸They replied, “He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’ ”

¹⁰Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

¹¹At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’ ”

¹²“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants!

¹⁴See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”

¹⁵The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶He told the king, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”

¹⁷So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

¹⁸As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

¹“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.

²Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.

³Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

⁴“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.

⁵I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.

⁶“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.

⁷Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her.

⁸I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.

⁹“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.

¹⁰Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.

¹¹Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.

¹²Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.”

¹³The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

¹⁴Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”

¹⁵“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

¹⁶He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,

¹⁷for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.

¹Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

³The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.

⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

⁸God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.

⁹He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

¹¹No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

¹³When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.

¹⁴Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.

¹⁵The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,

¹⁷that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—

¹⁸things known from long ago.

¹⁹“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

²⁰Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

²¹For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers.

²³With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.

²⁵So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul—

²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.

²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:

²⁹You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

³⁰So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.

³¹The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them,

³⁸but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.