Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

²And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.

³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,

⁶but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹⁰Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

¹¹And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

¹² For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

¹³This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

¹⁴Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

¹⁵For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

¹⁷ For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower:

¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,

²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

²⁴He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,

²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.

²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

²⁷And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’

²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’

²⁹But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

³¹He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

³²It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

³⁴All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.

³⁵This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

³⁷He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,

⁴² and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,

⁴⁶who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

⁴⁸When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.

⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous

⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.”

⁵²And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

⁵³And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,

⁵⁴and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

⁵⁶And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

¹So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

²Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

³And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

⁴to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD.

⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,

⁶so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together,

⁷and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

⁸Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.

⁹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.

¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,

¹⁵for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.

¹⁶I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

⁴for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

⁷Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

¹²The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹³Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

¹Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers,

²older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

³Honor widows who are truly widows.

⁴But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

⁵She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,

⁶but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

⁷Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.

⁸But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,

¹⁰and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

¹¹But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry

¹²and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.

¹³Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

¹⁴So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.

¹⁵For some have already strayed after Satan.

¹⁶If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.

¹⁷Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

¹⁹Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

²⁰As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

²¹In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

²²Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

²³(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)

²⁴The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.

²⁵So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

¹“Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.

⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.

⁵Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God?

⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?

¹⁵Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.

¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

¹⁷Keep listening to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.

¹⁹Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me.

²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.

²⁸Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

²How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

⁴lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

⁶I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

¹A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.

³Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

¹⁰By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

¹Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.

²This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites

³(from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim,

⁴in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites,

⁵and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath,

⁶all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.

⁷Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

⁸With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the LORD gave them:

⁹from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon;

¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites;

¹¹and Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah;

¹²all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); these Moses had struck and driven out.

¹³Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

¹⁴To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the LORD God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.

¹⁵And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the people of Reuben according to their clans.

¹⁶So their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by Medeba;

¹⁷with Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the tableland; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon,

¹⁸and Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath,

¹⁹and Kiriathaim, and Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley,

²⁰and Beth-peor, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth,

²¹that is, all the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land.

²²Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain.

²³And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary. This was the inheritance of the people of Reuben, according to their clans with their cities and villages.

²⁴Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of Gad, to the people of Gad, according to their clans.

²⁵Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aroer, which is east of Rabbah,

²⁶and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir,

²⁷and in the valley Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, having the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth, eastward beyond the Jordan.

²⁸This is the inheritance of the people of Gad according to their clans, with their cities and villages.

²⁹And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It was allotted to the half-tribe of the people of Manasseh according to their clans.

³⁰Their region extended from Mahanaim, through all Bashan, the whole kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities,

³¹and half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. These were allotted to the people of Machir the son of Manasseh for the half of the people of Machir according to their clans.

³²These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.

³³But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the LORD God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.

¹The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

²On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.

³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.

⁴The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.

⁵They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.

⁸They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.

⁹Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

¹⁰For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.

¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.

¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

²⁰It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

²¹But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance.

²²Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.

¹Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

¹⁰and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

¹⁸And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

²⁰All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

²³Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

²⁴Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

²⁸And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

²⁹And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead,

³¹and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

³³this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

³⁴And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,

³⁷but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴¹“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

⁴²As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

⁴³And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

⁴⁶And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

⁵¹But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.