Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

³Give us each day our daily bread.

⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;

⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’

⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’

⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?

¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give 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 casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

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

¹⁶Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house.

¹⁸If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? — for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁰But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe.

²²But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder.

²³Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

²⁵When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

²⁷While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”

²⁸But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

²⁹When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for 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 the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!

³²The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!

³³“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”

³⁷While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table.

³⁸The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner.

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

⁴⁰You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”

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

⁴⁶And he said, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

⁵⁰so that this generation may be charged with 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, it will be charged against this generation.

⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things,

⁵⁴lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

¹Then the daughters of Zelophehad came forward. Zelophehad was son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph, a member of the Manassite clans. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

²They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and they said,

³“Our father died in the wilderness; he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin; and he had no sons.

⁴Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

⁵Moses brought their case before the LORD.

⁶And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

⁷The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them.

⁸You shall also say to the Israelites, “If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter.

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

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

¹¹And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. It shall be for the Israelites a statute and ordinance, as the LORD commanded Moses.”

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

¹³When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was,

¹⁴because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵Moses spoke to the LORD, saying,

¹⁶“Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation

¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him;

¹⁹have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.

²⁰You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey.

²¹But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim before the LORD; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.”

²²So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation;

²³he laid his hands on him and commissioned him — as the LORD had directed through Moses.

¹Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,

²but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.

³He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?

⁶And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.”

⁸But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

¹⁰And, “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

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

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

¹³But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

¹Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed.

²Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. False Teaching and True Riches Teach and urge these duties.

³Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness,

⁴is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,

⁵and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;

⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it;

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

⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

¹¹But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you

¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time — he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share,

¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge;

²¹by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me.

³I hear censure that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.

⁴Do you not know this from of old, ever since mortals were placed on earth,

⁵that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?

⁶Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds,

⁷they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, ‘Where are they?’

⁸They will fly away like a dream, and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.

¹⁰Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth.

¹¹Their bodies, once full of youth, will lie down in the dust with them.

¹²“Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues,

¹³though they are loath to let it go, and hold it in their mouths,

¹⁴yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.

¹⁵They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them.

¹⁷They will not look on the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build.

²⁰“They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.

²¹There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure.

²²In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.

²³To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them, and rain it upon them as their food.

²⁴They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through.

²⁵It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them.

²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed.

²⁷The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them.

²⁸The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God.”

¹Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;

²my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me.

³O LORD, what are human beings that you regard them, or mortals that you think of them?

⁴They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow.

⁵Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke.

⁶Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them.

⁷Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of aliens,

⁸whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false.

⁹I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,

¹⁰the one who gives victory to kings, who rescues his servant David.

¹¹Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false.

¹²May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the building of a palace.

¹³May our barns be filled, with produce of every kind; may our sheep increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields,

¹⁴and may our cattle be heavy with young. May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and no cry of distress in our streets.

¹⁵Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

²The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion; anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.

³It is honorable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴The lazy person does not plow in season; harvest comes, and there is nothing to be found.

⁵The purposes in the human mind are like deep water, but the intelligent will draw them out.

⁶Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?

⁷The righteous walk in integrity — happy are the children who follow them!

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.

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

¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹¹Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right.

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

¹³Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, then goes away and boasts.

¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by taking advice; wage war by following wise guidance.

¹⁹A gossip reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler.

²⁰If you curse father or mother, your lamp will go out in utter darkness.

²¹An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will help you.

²³Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.

²⁴All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

²⁵It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,” and begin to reflect only after making a vow.

²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them.

²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD, searching every inmost part.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by righteousness.

²⁹The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.

³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts.

¹In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah began to reign.

²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.

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

⁴He removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole. He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan.

⁵He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him.

⁶For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.

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

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

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it,

¹⁰and at the end of three years, took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken.

¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

¹²because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant — all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

¹⁴King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

¹⁵Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.

¹⁸When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours?

²⁰Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me?

²¹See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

²²But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the LORD our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

²³Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

²⁴How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

²⁵Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!

²⁹Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

³⁰Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern,

³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us.

³³Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered its land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

³⁵Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²Mortal, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries; prophesy against the land of Israel

³and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD: I am coming against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked.

⁴Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north;

⁵and all flesh shall know that I the LORD have drawn my sword out of its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.

⁶Moan therefore, mortal; moan with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes.

⁷And when they say to you, “Why do you moan?” you shall say, “Because of the news that has come. Every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will turn to water. See, it comes and it will be fulfilled,” says the Lord GOD.

⁸And the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹Mortal, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord; Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened, it is also polished;

¹⁰it is sharpened for slaughter, honed to flash like lightning! How can we make merry? You have despised the rod, and all discipline.

¹¹The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand; it is sharpened, the sword is polished, to be placed in the slayer’s hand.

¹²Cry and wail, O mortal, for it is against my people; it is against all Israel’s princes; they are thrown to the sword, together with my people. Ah! Strike the thigh!

¹³For consider: What! If you despise the rod, will it not happen? says the Lord GOD.

¹⁴And you, mortal, prophesy; strike hand to hand. Let the sword fall twice, thrice; it is a sword for killing. A sword for great slaughter — it surrounds them;

¹⁵therefore hearts melt and many stumble. At all their gates I have set the point of the sword. Ah! It is made for flashing, it is polished for slaughter.

¹⁶Attack to the right! Engage to the left! — wherever your edge is directed.

¹⁷I too will strike hand to hand, I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken.

¹⁸The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁹Mortal, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them shall issue from the same land. And make a signpost, make it for a fork in the road leading to a city;

²⁰mark out the road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites or to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified.

²¹For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the fork in the two roads, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he inspects the liver.

²²Into his right hand comes the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to call out for slaughter, for raising the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build siege towers.

²³But to them it will seem like a false divination; they have sworn solemn oaths; but he brings their guilt to remembrance, bringing about their capture.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have brought your guilt to remembrance, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear — because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

²⁵As for you, vile, wicked prince of Israel, you whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

²⁶thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban, take off the crown; things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, abase that which is high.

²⁷A ruin, a ruin, a ruin — I will make it! (Such has never occurred.) Until he comes whose right it is; to him I will give it.

²⁸As for you, mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; say: A sword, a sword! Drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.

²⁹Offering false visions for you, divining lies for you, they place you over the necks of the vile, wicked ones — those whose day has come, the time of final punishment.

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

³¹I will pour out my indignation upon you, with the fire of my wrath I will blow upon you. I will deliver you into brutish hands, those skillful to destroy.

³²You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall enter the earth; you shall be remembered no more, for I the LORD have spoken.

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them,

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

³So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

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

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

⁷When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

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

⁹if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,

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

¹¹This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’

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

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.

¹⁴When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another.

¹⁶They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

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

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;

²⁰for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened.

²²For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

²³After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them,

²⁵it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?

²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

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

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

²⁹And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,

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

³¹When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).

³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.