Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

²He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say, Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come.

³Give us each day our daily bread.

⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”

⁵He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

⁶because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’

⁷Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’

⁸I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

¹⁴Now he was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶And others, as a test, were demanding of him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

²⁰If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure.

²²But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes from him all his weapons he trusted in, and divides up his plunder.

²³Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴“When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’

²⁵Returning, it finds the house swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.”

²⁷As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!”

²⁸He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

²⁹As the crowds were increasing, he began saying: “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look — something greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and look — something greater than Jonah is here.

³³“No one lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness.

³⁵Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

³⁷As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing before dinner.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.

⁴⁰Fools! Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too?

⁴¹But give from what is within to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass justice and love for God. These things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³“Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴“Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves; the people who walk over them don’t know it.”

⁴⁵One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too.”

⁴⁶Then he said: “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷“Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸Therefore, you are witnesses that you approve the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.

⁴⁹Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

⁵⁰so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world — 

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. “Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.

⁵²“Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn’t go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were trying to go in.”

⁵³When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to cross-examine him about many things;

⁵⁴they were lying in wait for him to trap him in something he said.

¹The daughters of Zelophehad approached; Zelophehad was the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh from the clans of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

²They stood before Moses, the priest Eleazar, the leaders, and the entire community at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

³“Our father died in the wilderness, but he was not among Korah’s followers, who gathered together against the LORD. Instead, he died because of his own sin, and he had no sons.

⁴Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan? Since he had no son, give us property among our father’s brothers.”

⁵Moses brought their case before the LORD,

⁶and the LORD answered him,

⁷“What Zelophehad’s daughters say is correct. You are to give them hereditary property among their father’s brothers and transfer their father’s inheritance to them.

⁸Tell the Israelites: When a man dies without having a son, transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

⁹If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.

¹⁰If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.

¹¹If his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative of his clan, and he will take possession of it. This is to be a statutory ordinance for the Israelites as the LORD commanded Moses.”

¹²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.

¹³After you have seen it, you will also be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was.

¹⁴When the community quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against my command to demonstrate my holiness in their sight at the waters.” Those were the Waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.

¹⁵So Moses appealed to the LORD,

¹⁶“May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all, appoint a man over the community

¹⁷who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the LORD’s community won’t be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸The LORD replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.

¹⁹Have him stand before the priest Eleazar and the whole community, and commission him in their sight.

²⁰Confer some of your authority on him so that the entire Israelite community will obey him.

²¹He will stand before the priest Eleazar who will consult the LORD for him with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, even the entire community, will go out and come back in at his command.”

²²Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua, had him stand before the priest Eleazar and the entire community,

²³laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

¹Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

²In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

⁴So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?

⁶Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God’s angels worship him.

⁷And about the angels he says: He makes his angels winds, and his servants a fiery flame,

⁸but to the Son: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions.

¹⁰And: In the beginning, Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands;

¹¹they will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like clothing;

¹²you will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like clothing. But you are the same, and your years will never end.

¹³Now to which of the angels has he ever said: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?

¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?

¹All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed.

²Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things.

³If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness,

⁴he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions,

⁵and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

⁸If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

¹¹But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you

¹⁴to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords,

¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

¹⁸Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share,

¹⁹storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge.

²¹By professing it, some people have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset!

³I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply.

⁴Don’t you know that ever since antiquity, from the time a human was placed on earth,

⁵the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds,

⁷he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

⁸He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him.

¹⁰His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹His frame may be full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in dust.

¹²Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

¹³though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him.

¹⁵He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

¹⁹For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape.

²¹Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last.

²²At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him.

²³When he fills his stomach, God will send his burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating.

²⁴If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver. Terrors come over him.

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the wicked person’s lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him.

¹Of David. [1] Blessed be the LORD, my rock who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for warfare.

²He is my faithful love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him; he subdues my people under me.

³LORD, what is a human that you care for him, a son of man that you think of him?

⁴A human is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

⁵LORD, part your heavens and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

⁶Flash your lightning and scatter the foe; shoot your arrows and rout them.

⁷Reach down from on high; rescue me from deep water, and set me free from the grasp of foreigners

⁸whose mouths speak lies, whose right hands are deceptive.

⁹God, I will sing a new song to you; I will play on a ten-stringed harp for you  —

¹⁰the one who gives victory to kings, who frees his servant David from the deadly sword.

¹¹Set me free and rescue me from foreigners whose mouths speak lies, whose right hands are deceptive.

¹²Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters, like corner pillars that are carved in the palace style.

¹³Our storehouses will be full, supplying all kinds of produce; our flocks will increase by thousands and tens of thousands in our open fields.

¹⁴Our cattle will be well fed. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our public squares.

¹⁵Happy are the people with such blessings. Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

¹Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.

²A king’s terrible wrath is like the roaring of a lion; anyone who provokes him endangers himself.

³Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.

⁵Counsel in a person’s heart is deep water; but a person of understanding draws it out.

⁶Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person?

⁷A righteous person acts with integrity; his children who come after him will be happy.

⁸A king sitting on a throne to judge separates out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and varying measures  — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions — by whether his behavior is pure and upright.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD made them both.

¹³Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.

¹⁴“It’s worthless, it’s worthless!” the buyer says, but after he is on his way, he gloats.

¹⁵There is gold and a multitude of jewels, but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Finalize plans with counsel, and wage war with sound guidance.

¹⁹The one who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid someone with a big mouth.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother —  his lamp will go out in deep darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained prematurely will not be blessed ultimately.

²²Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and he will rescue you.

²³Differing weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are unfair.

²⁴Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly and later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life, searching the innermost parts.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness guard a king; through loyalty he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.

³⁰Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

¹In the third year of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.

²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.

³He did what was right in the LORD’s sight just as his ancestor David had done.

⁴He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for until then the Israelites were burning incense to it. It was called Nehushtan.

⁵Hezekiah relied on the LORD God of Israel; not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

⁶He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following him but kept the commands the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁷The LORD was with him, and wherever he went he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

⁸He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Assyria’s King Shalmaneser marched against Samaria and besieged it.

¹⁰The Assyrians captured it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Israel’s King Hoshea, Samaria was captured.

¹¹The king of Assyria deported the Israelites to Assyria and put them in Halah, along the Habor (Gozan’s river), and in the cities of the Medes,

¹²because they did not listen to the LORD their God but violated his covenant — all he had commanded Moses the servant of the LORD. They did not listen, and they did not obey.

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Assyria’s King Sennacherib attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

¹⁴So King Hezekiah of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you demand from me, I will pay.” The king of Assyria demanded eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold from King Hezekiah of Judah.

¹⁵So Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the LORD’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s sanctuary and from the doorposts he had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent the field marshal, the chief of staff, and his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced and came to Jerusalem, and they took their position by the aqueduct of the upper pool, by the road to the Launderer’s Field.

¹⁸They called for the king, but Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebnah the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to them.

¹⁹Then the royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: ‘What are you relying on?

²⁰You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on so that you have rebelled against me?

²¹Now look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.

²²Suppose you say to me, “We rely on the LORD our God.” Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem”?’

²³“So now, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!

²⁴How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

²⁵Now, have I attacked this place to destroy it without the LORD’s approval? The LORD said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak with us in Hebrew within earshot of the people on the wall.”

²⁷But the royal spokesman said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you? Hasn’t he also sent me to the men who sit on the wall, destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸The royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

²⁹This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; he can’t rescue you from my power.

³⁰Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD by saying, “Certainly the LORD will rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”’

³¹“Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and each may drink water from his own cistern

³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land — a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey  — so that you may live and not die. But don’t listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The LORD will rescue us.”

³³Has any of the gods of the nations ever rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?

³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?

³⁵Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued his land from my power? So will the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”

³⁶But the people kept silent; they did not answer him at all, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.

¹The word of the LORD came to me again:

²“Son of man, face Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel,

³and say to it, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

⁴Since I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will therefore come out of its sheath against all people from the south to the north.

⁵So all people will know that I, the LORD, have taken my sword from its sheath — it will not be sheathed again.’

⁶“But you, son of man, groan! Groan bitterly with a broken heart right before their eyes.

⁷And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning? ’ then say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will become weak. Every spirit will be discouraged, and all knees will run with urine. Yes, it is coming and it will happen. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.’”

⁸The word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“Son of man, prophesy, ‘This is what the Lord says! ’ You are to proclaim, ‘A sword! A sword is sharpened and also polished.

¹⁰It is sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice? The scepter of my son, the sword despises every tree.

¹¹The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened, and it is polished, to be put in the hand of the slayer.’

¹²“Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel! They are given over to the sword with my people. Therefore strike your thigh in grief.

¹³Surely it will be a trial! And what if the sword despises even the scepter? The scepter will not continue.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

¹⁴“So you, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands together: Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword for massacre, a sword for great massacre — it surrounds them!

¹⁵I have appointed a sword for slaughter at all their gates, so that their hearts may melt and many may stumble. Yes! It is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

¹⁶Slash to the right; turn to the left — wherever your blade is directed.

¹⁷I also will clap my hands together, and I will satisfy my wrath. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

¹⁸The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁹“Now you, son of man, mark out two roads that the sword of Babylon’s king can take. Both of them should originate from the same land. And make a signpost at the fork in the road to each city.

²⁰Mark out a road that the sword can take to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

²¹For the king of Babylon stands at the split in the road, at the fork of the two roads, to practice divination: he shakes the arrows, consults the idols, and observes the liver.

²²The answer marked Jerusalem appears in his right hand, indicating that he should set up battering rams, give the order to slaughter, raise a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, build a ramp, and construct a siege wall.

²³It will seem like false divination to those who have sworn an oath to the Babylonians, but it will draw attention to their guilt so that they will be captured.

²⁴“Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your actions — since you have done this, you will be captured by them.

²⁵And you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your punishment.

²⁶“This is what the Lord GOD says: Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are; exalt the lowly and bring down the exalted.

²⁷A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin! Yet this will not happen until he comes; I have given the judgment to him.

²⁸“Now you, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt.’ You are to proclaim, ‘A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.

²⁹While they offer false visions and lying divinations about you, the time has come to put you to the necks of the profane wicked ones; the day has come for final punishment.

³⁰“‘Return it to its sheath! “‘I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your origin.

³¹I will pour out my indignation on you; I will blow the fire of my fury on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, skilled at destruction.

³²You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will be spilled within the land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

¹While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,

²because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

³So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem

⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family.

⁷After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

⁸Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders:

⁹If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed,

¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing here before you healthy.

¹¹This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

¹³When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵After they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves,

¹⁶saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.”

¹⁸So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide;

²⁰for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done.

²²For this sign of healing had been performed on a man over forty years old.

²³After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.

²⁵You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things?

²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah.

²⁷“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

²⁸to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place.

²⁹And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.

³²Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.

³³With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.

³⁴For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold,

³⁵and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.

³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement),

³⁷sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.