Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.

³Give us each day the food we need,

⁴and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation. ”

⁵Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,

⁶‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’

⁷And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’

⁸But I tell you this — though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

⁹“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

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

¹¹“You fathers — if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?

¹²Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!

¹³So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

¹⁴One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed,

¹⁵but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.”

¹⁶Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

¹⁷He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart.

¹⁸You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive?

¹⁹And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said.

²⁰But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.

²¹For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe —

²²until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

²³“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

²⁴“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’

²⁵So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.

²⁶Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

²⁷As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother — the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

²⁸Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

²⁹As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah.

³⁰What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.

³¹“The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here — but you refuse to listen.

³²The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here — but you refuse to repent.

³³“No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.

³⁴“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness.

³⁵Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness.

³⁶If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”

³⁷As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.

³⁸His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.

³⁹Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy — full of greed and wickedness!

⁴⁰Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside?

⁴¹So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

⁴²“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

⁴³“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

⁴⁵“Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

⁴⁶“Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.

⁴⁷What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago.

⁴⁸But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments!

⁴⁹This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’

⁵⁰“As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world —

⁵¹from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.

⁵²“What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

⁵³As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions.

⁵⁴They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.

¹One day a petition was presented by the daughters of Zelophehad — Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Their father, Zelophehad, was a descendant of Hepher son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph.

²These women stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the tribal leaders, and the entire community at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

³“Our father died in the wilderness,” they said. “He was not among Korah’s followers, who rebelled against the LORD; he died because of his own sin. But he had no sons.

⁴Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan just because he had no sons? Give us property along with the rest of our relatives.”

⁵So Moses brought their case before the LORD.

⁶And the LORD replied to Moses,

⁷“The claim of the daughters of Zelophehad is legitimate. You must give them a grant of land along with their father’s relatives. Assign them the property that would have been given to their father.

⁸“And give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If a man dies and has no son, then give his inheritance to his daughters.

⁹And if he has no daughter either, transfer his inheritance to his brothers.

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

¹¹But if his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan. This is a legal requirement for the people of Israel, just as the LORD commanded Moses.”

¹²One day the LORD said to Moses, “Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel.

¹³After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron,

¹⁴for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you failed to demonstrate my holiness to them at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵Then Moses said to the LORD,

¹⁶“O LORD, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community.

¹⁷Give them someone who will guide them wherever they go and will lead them into battle, so the community of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

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

¹⁹Present him to Eleazar the priest before the whole community, and publicly commission him to lead the people.

²⁰Transfer some of your authority to him so the whole community of Israel will obey him.

²¹When direction from the LORD is needed, Joshua will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will use the Urim — one of the sacred lots cast before the LORD — to determine his will. This is how Joshua and the rest of the community of Israel will determine everything they should do.”

²²So Moses did as the LORD commanded. He presented Joshua to Eleazar the priest and the whole community.

²³Moses laid his hands on him and commissioned him to lead the people, just as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

¹Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

²And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

³The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

⁴This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

⁵For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ” God also said, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”

⁶And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”

⁷Regarding the angels, he says, “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire.”

⁸But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice.

⁹You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”

¹⁰He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing.

¹²You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever.”

¹³And God never said to any of the angels, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

¹⁴Therefore, angels are only servants — spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

¹All slaves should show full respect for their masters so they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching.

²If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved. False Teaching and True Riches Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them.

³Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life.

⁴Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.

⁵These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

⁶Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

⁷After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.

⁸So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

⁹But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹¹But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.

¹³And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate,

¹⁴that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵For, At just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

¹⁶He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

¹⁷Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

¹⁸Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

¹⁹By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.

²¹Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God’s grace be with you all.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²“I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.

³I’ve had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.

⁴“Don’t you realize that from the beginning of time, ever since people were first placed on the earth,

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been short lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?

⁶Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds,

⁷yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, ‘Where are they?’

⁸They will fade like a dream and not be found. They will vanish like a vision in the night.

⁹Those who once saw them will see them no more. Their families will never see them again.

¹⁰Their children will beg from the poor, for they must give back their stolen riches.

¹¹Though they are young, their bones will lie in the dust.

¹²“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness, letting it melt under their tongue.

¹³They savored it, holding it long in their mouths.

¹⁴But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.

¹⁵They will vomit the wealth they swallowed. God won’t let them keep it down.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of cobras. The viper will kill them.

¹⁷They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.

¹⁸They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy.

¹⁹For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes.

²⁰They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about.

²¹Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.

²²“In the midst of plenty, they will run into trouble and be overcome by misery.

²³May God give them a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon them.

²⁴When they try to escape an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.

²⁵The arrow is pulled from their back, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon them.

²⁶Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour their goods, consuming all they have left.

²⁷The heavens will reveal their guilt, and the earth will testify against them.

²⁸A flood will sweep away their house. God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.

²⁹This is the reward that God gives the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God.”

¹Praise the LORD, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.

²He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my rescuer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him. He makes the nations submit to me.

³O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them?

⁴For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.

⁵Open the heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.

⁶Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies! Shoot your arrows and confuse them!

⁷Reach down from heaven and rescue me; rescue me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies.

⁸Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

⁹I will sing a new song to you, O God! I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.

¹⁰For you grant victory to kings! You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.

¹¹Save me! Rescue me from the power of my enemies. Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

¹²May our sons flourish in their youth like well-nurtured plants. May our daughters be like graceful pillars, carved to beautify a palace.

¹³May our barns be filled with crops of every kind. May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands, even tens of thousands,

¹⁴and may our oxen be loaded down with produce. May there be no enemy breaking through our walls, no going into captivity, no cries of alarm in our town squares.

¹⁵Yes, joyful are those who live like this! Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD.

¹Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

²The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar; to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

³Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.

⁴Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

⁵Though good advice lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?

⁷The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.

⁸When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence, distinguishing the bad from the good.

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

¹⁰False weights and unequal measures — the LORD detests double standards of every kind.

¹¹Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²Ears to hear and eyes to see — both are gifts from the LORD.

¹³If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

¹⁴The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,” then brags about getting a bargain!

¹⁵Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.

¹⁶Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

¹⁷Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth.

¹⁸Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.

¹⁹A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers.

²⁰If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.

²¹An inheritance obtained too early in life is not a blessing in the end.

²²Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the LORD to handle the matter.

²³The LORD detests double standards; he is not pleased by dishonest scales.

²⁴The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

²⁵Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

²⁶A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat, then runs his threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.

²⁸Unfailing love and faithfulness protect the king; his throne is made secure through love.

²⁹The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

³⁰Physical punishment cleanses away evil; such discipline purifies the heart.

¹Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel.

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

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

⁴He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.

⁵Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.

⁶He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.

⁷So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

⁸He also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to their largest walled city.

⁹During the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked the city of Samaria and began a siege against it.

¹⁰Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah’s reign and the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Samaria fell.

¹¹At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

¹²For they refused to listen to the LORD their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant — all the laws that Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded them to obey.

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

¹⁴King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.

¹⁵To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.

¹⁶Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.

¹⁷Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.

¹⁸They summoned King Hezekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.

¹⁹Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

²⁰Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?

²¹On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

²²“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

²³“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!

²⁴With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?

²⁵What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”

²⁷But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

²⁸Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!

²⁹This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power.

³⁰Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’

³¹“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me — open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.

³²Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one — a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death! “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’

³³Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?

³⁴What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?

³⁵What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?”

³⁶But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

²“Son of man, turn and face Jerusalem and prophesy against Israel and her sanctuaries.

³Tell her, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am your enemy, O Israel, and I am about to unsheath my sword to destroy your people — the righteous and the wicked alike.

⁴Yes, I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked! I will draw my sword against everyone in the land from south to north.

⁵Everyone in the world will know that I am the LORD. My sword is in my hand, and it will not return to its sheath until its work is finished.’

⁶“Son of man, groan before the people! Groan before them with bitter anguish and a broken heart.

⁷When they ask why you are groaning, tell them, ‘I groan because of the terrifying news I have heard. When it comes true, the boldest heart will melt with fear; all strength will disappear. Every spirit will faint; strong knees will become as weak as water. And the Sovereign LORD says: It is coming! It’s on its way!’”

⁸Then the LORD said to me,

⁹“Son of man, give the people this message from the Lord: “A sword, a sword is being sharpened and polished.

¹⁰It is sharpened for terrible slaughter and polished to flash like lightning! Now will you laugh? Those far stronger than you have fallen beneath its power!

¹¹Yes, the sword is now being sharpened and polished; it is being prepared for the executioner.

¹²“Son of man, cry out and wail; pound your thighs in anguish, for that sword will slaughter my people and their leaders — everyone will die!

¹³It will put them all to the test. What chance do they have? says the Sovereign LORD.

¹⁴“Son of man, prophesy to them and clap your hands. Then take the sword and brandish it twice, even three times, to symbolize the great massacre, the great massacre facing them on every side.

¹⁵Let their hearts melt with terror, for the sword glitters at every gate. It flashes like lightning and is polished for slaughter!

¹⁶O sword, slash to the right, then slash to the left, wherever you will, wherever you want.

¹⁷I, too, will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹⁸Then this message came to me from the LORD:

¹⁹“Son of man, make a map and trace two routes on it for the sword of Babylon’s king to follow. Put a signpost on the road that comes out of Babylon where the road forks into two —

²⁰one road going to Ammon and its capital, Rabbah, and the other to Judah and fortified Jerusalem.

²¹The king of Babylon now stands at the fork, uncertain whether to attack Jerusalem or Rabbah. He calls his magicians to look for omens. They cast lots by shaking arrows from the quiver. They inspect the livers of animal sacrifices.

²²The omen in his right hand says, ‘Jerusalem!’ With battering rams his soldiers will go against the gates, shouting for the kill. They will put up siege towers and build ramps against the walls.

²³The people of Jerusalem will think it is a false omen, because of their treaty with the Babylonians. But the king of Babylon will remind the people of their rebellion. Then he will attack and capture them.

²⁴“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Again and again you remind me of your sin and your guilt. You don’t even try to hide it! In everything you do, your sins are obvious for all to see. So now the time of your punishment has come!

²⁵“O you corrupt and wicked prince of Israel, your final day of reckoning is here!

²⁶This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Take off your jeweled crown, for the old order changes. Now the lowly will be exalted, and the mighty will be brought down.

²⁷Destruction! Destruction! I will surely destroy the kingdom. And it will not be restored until the one appears who has the right to judge it. Then I will hand it over to him.

²⁸“And now, son of man, prophesy concerning the Ammonites and their mockery. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: “A sword, a sword is drawn for your slaughter. It is polished to destroy, flashing like lightning!

²⁹Your prophets have given false visions, and your fortune-tellers have told lies. The sword will fall on the necks of the wicked for whom the day of final reckoning has come.

³⁰“Now return the sword to its sheath, for in your own country, the land of your birth, I will pass judgment upon you.

³¹I will pour out my fury on you and blow on you with the fire of my anger. I will hand you over to cruel men who are skilled in destruction.

³²You will be fuel for the fire, and your blood will be spilled in your own land. You will be utterly wiped out, your memory lost to history, for I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.

²These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.

³They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.

⁴But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

⁵The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.

⁶Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.

⁷They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”

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

⁹are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?

¹⁰Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’

¹²There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

¹³The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

¹⁵So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.

¹⁶“What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.

¹⁷But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”

¹⁸So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?

²⁰We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

²¹The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God

²²for this miraculous sign — the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.

²³As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.

²⁴When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them —

²⁵you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

²⁶The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah.’

²⁷“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.

²⁸But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.

²⁹And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

³⁰Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

³²All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.

³³The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.

³⁴There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them

³⁵and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

³⁶For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.

³⁷He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.