Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²And he responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things?

³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.

⁴Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed — do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”

⁶And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’

⁸“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

⁹Perhaps it will produce fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰As he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,

¹¹a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.”

¹³Then he laid his hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God.

¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water?

¹⁶Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years — shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷When he had said these things, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing.

¹⁸He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like, and what can I compare it to?

¹⁹It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

²⁰Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to?

²¹It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.” 

²²He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem.

²³“Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,

²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able

²⁵once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us! ’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’

²⁶Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷But he will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from me, all you evildoers!’

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out.

²⁹They will come from east and west, from north and south, to share the banquet in the kingdom of God.

³⁰Note this: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

³¹At that time some Pharisees came and told him, “Go, get out of here. Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’

³³Yet it is necessary that I travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

³⁵See, your house is abandoned to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,’ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!”

¹“You are to hold a sacred assembly in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, and you are not to do any daily work. This will be a day of trumpet blasts for you.

²Offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

³with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with the bull, four quarts with the ram,

⁴and two quarts with each of the seven male lambs.

⁵Also offer one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for yourselves.

⁶These are in addition to the monthly and regular burnt offerings with their prescribed grain offerings and drink offerings. They are a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to the LORD.

⁷“You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this seventh month and practice self-denial; do not do any work.

⁸Present a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. All your animals are to be unblemished.

⁹Their grain offering is to be of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with the bull, four quarts with the ram,

¹⁰and two quarts with each of the seven lambs.

¹¹Offer one male goat for a sin offering. The regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings are in addition to the sin offering of atonement.

¹²“You are to hold a sacred assembly on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; you do not do any daily work. You are to celebrate a seven-day festival for the LORD.

¹³Present a burnt offering, a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old. They are to be unblemished.

¹⁴Their grain offering is to be of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with each of the thirteen bulls, four quarts with each of the two rams,

¹⁵and two quarts with each of the fourteen lambs.

¹⁶Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

¹⁷“On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

¹⁸with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

¹⁹Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink and their drink offerings.

²⁰“On the third day present eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

²¹with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

²²Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

²³“On the fourth day present ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

²⁴with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

²⁵Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

²⁶“On the fifth day present nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

²⁷with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

²⁸Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

²⁹“On the sixth day present eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

³⁰with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

³¹Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

³²“On the seventh day present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

³³with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

³⁴Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

³⁵“On the eighth day you are to hold a solemn assembly; you are not to do any daily work.

³⁶Present a burnt offering, a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old — all unblemished —

³⁷with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

³⁸Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

³⁹“Offer these to the LORD at your appointed times in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt, grain, drink, or fellowship offerings.”

⁴⁰So Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him.

¹Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household.

³For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.

⁴Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

⁶But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works

¹⁰for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.”

¹¹So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”

¹²Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

¹³But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

¹⁴For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

¹⁵As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

¹⁶For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

¹⁷With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed?

¹⁹So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

¹You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

²What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

³Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.

⁵Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

⁶The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.

⁷Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, according to my gospel,

⁹for which I suffer to the point of being bound like a criminal. But the word of God is not bound.

¹⁰This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹This saying is trustworthy: For if we died with him, we will also live with him;

¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;

¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

¹⁴Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to fight about words. This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen.

¹⁵Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

¹⁶Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness,

¹⁷and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them.

¹⁸They have departed from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and are ruining the faith of some.

¹⁹Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.

²⁰Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some for honorable use and some for dishonorable.

²¹So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

²²Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

²³But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels.

²⁴The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient,

²⁵instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.

²⁶Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to him?

³Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does he profit if you perfect your behavior?

⁴Does he correct you and take you to court because of your piety?

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,

⁸while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹²Isn’t God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars — how lofty they are!

¹³Yet you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through total darkness?

¹⁴Clouds veil him so that he cannot see, as he walks on the circle of the sky.”

¹⁵Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were washed away by a river.

¹⁷They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!” and “What can the Almighty do to us?”

¹⁸But it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind.”

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and place his sayings in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir to the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,” God will save the humble.

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.

¹Hallelujah! My soul, praise the LORD.

²I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live.

³Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save.

⁴When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die.

⁵Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁶the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever,

⁷executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The LORD frees prisoners.

⁸The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD raises up those who are oppressed. The LORD loves the righteous.

⁹The LORD protects resident aliens and helps the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

¹⁰The LORD reigns forever; Zion, your God reigns for all generations. Hallelujah!

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

³“Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the LORD came to him:

⁵“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the LORD’s temple.

⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the LORD’s temple on the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.”

¹¹So the prophet Isaiah called out to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

¹²At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick.

¹³Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil — and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:

¹⁷‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.

¹⁸‘Some of your descendants — who come from you, whom you father — will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

²⁰The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool and the tunnel and brought water into the city, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

²¹Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

¹The word of the LORD came to me again:

²“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,

³who acted like prostitutes in Egypt, behaving promiscuously in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin nipples caressed.

⁴The older one was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah represents Samaria and Oholibah represents Jerusalem.

⁵“Oholah acted like a prostitute even though she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians: warriors

⁶dressed in blue, governors and prefects, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on steeds.

⁷She offered her sexual favors to them; all of them were the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all those she lusted after and with all their idols.

⁸She didn’t give up her promiscuity that began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin nipples, and poured out their lust on her.

⁹Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians she lusted for.

¹⁰They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. Since they executed judgment against her, she became notorious among women.

¹¹“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was even more depraved in her lust than Oholah, and made her promiscuous acts worse than those of her sister.

¹²She lusted after the Assyrians: governors and prefects, warriors splendidly dressed, horsemen riding on steeds, all of them desirable young men.

¹³And I saw that she had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

¹⁴But she increased her promiscuity when she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in bright red,

¹⁵wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers, a depiction of the Babylonians in Chaldea, their native land.

¹⁶At the sight of them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. But after she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

¹⁸When she flaunted her promiscuity and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust just as I turned away from her sister.

¹⁹Yet she multiplied her acts of promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth when she acted like a prostitute in the land of Egypt

²⁰and lusted after their lovers, whose sexual members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

²¹So you revisited the depravity of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your nipples to enjoy your youthful breasts.

²²“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to incite your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust. I will bring them against you from every side:

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans; Pekod, Shoa, and Koa; and all the Assyrians with them — desirable young men, all of them governors and prefects, officers and administrators, all of them riding on steeds.

²⁴They will come against you with an assembly of peoples and with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will set themselves against you on every side with large and small shields and helmets. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will judge you by their own standards.

²⁵When I vent my jealous rage on you, they will deal with you in wrath. They will cut off your nose and ears, and the rest of you will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and the rest of you will be consumed by fire.

²⁶They will strip off your clothes and take your beautiful jewelry.

²⁷So I will put an end to your depravity and sexual immorality, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not look longingly at them or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸“For this is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust.

²⁹They will treat you with hatred, take all you have worked for, and leave you stark naked, so that the shame of your debauchery will be exposed, both your depravity and promiscuity.

³⁰These things will be done to you because you acted like a prostitute with the nations, defiling yourself with their idols.

³¹You have followed the path of your sister, so I will put her cup in your hand.”

³²This is what the Lord GOD says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, which is deep and wide. You will be an object of ridicule and scorn, for it holds so much.

³³You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You will drink it and drain it; then you will gnaw its broken pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

³⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and promiscuity.”

³⁶Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare their detestable practices to them.

³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they have committed adultery with their idols. And the children they bore to me they have sacrificed in the fire as food for the idols.

³⁸They also did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that same day and profaned my Sabbaths.

³⁹On the same day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary to profane it. Yes, that is what they did inside my house.

⁴⁰“In addition, they sent for men who came from far away when a messenger was dispatched to them. And look how they came! You bathed, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry for them.

⁴¹You sat on a luxurious couch with a table spread before it, on which you had set my incense and oil.

⁴²The sound of a carefree crowd was there. Drunkards from the desert were brought in, along with common men. They put bracelets on the women’s hands and beautiful tiaras on their heads.

⁴³Then I said concerning this woman worn out by adultery: Will they now have illicit sex with her, even her?

⁴⁴Yet they had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. This is how they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those depraved women.

⁴⁵But righteous men will judge them the way adulteresses and those who shed blood are judged, for they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

⁴⁶“This is what the Lord GOD says: Summon an assembly against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

⁴⁷The assembly will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses.

⁴⁸So I will put an end to depravity in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your depraved behavior.

⁴⁹They will punish you for your depravity, and you will bear the consequences for your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

¹In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

²The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.

³Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.

⁶They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen.

¹⁰But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

¹³They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law.

¹⁴For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.