Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

²He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

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

⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?

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

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

⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’

⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

¹¹And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

¹³When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?

¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

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

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

²⁰And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

²²Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

²³Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them,

²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

²⁵When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’

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

²⁹Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

³⁰Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

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

¹On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets,

²and you shall offer a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish.

³Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of one ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

⁴and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs;

⁵with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you.

⁶These are in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to the ordinance for them, a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the LORD.

⁷On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and deny yourselves; you shall do no work.

⁸You shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing odor: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.

⁹Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram,

¹⁰one-tenth for each of the seven lambs;

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

¹²On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. You shall celebrate a festival to the LORD seven days.

¹³You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.

¹⁴Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams,

¹⁵and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs;

¹⁶also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.

¹⁷On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

¹⁸with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

¹⁹also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²⁰On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

²¹with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

²²also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.

²³On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

²⁴with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

²⁵also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.

²⁶On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

²⁷with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

²⁸also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.

²⁹On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

³⁰with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

³¹also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.

³²On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish,

³³with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

³⁴also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

³⁵On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.

³⁶You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish,

³⁷and the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;

³⁸also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.

³⁹These you shall offer to the LORD at your appointed festivals, in addition to your votive offerings and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your offerings of well-being.

⁴⁰So Moses told the Israelites everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

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

²was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all God’s house.”

³Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

⁴(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)

⁵Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later.

⁶Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.

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

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

⁹where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works

¹⁰for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’

¹¹As in my anger I swore, ‘They will not enter my rest.’”

¹²Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

¹³But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.

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

¹⁶Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

¹⁷But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not 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 were disobedient?

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

¹You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus;

²and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.

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

⁴No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.

⁵And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules.

⁶It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops.

⁷Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David — that is my gospel,

⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.

¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹The saying is sure: If we have 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 this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.

¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

¹⁶Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety,

¹⁷and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

¹⁸who have swerved from the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting the faith of some.

¹⁹But God’s firm foundation stands, 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.”

²⁰In a large house there are utensils not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary.

²¹All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.

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

²³Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

²⁴And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient,

²⁵correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth,

²⁶and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,

²⁴if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver,

²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.

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

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble.

³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”

¹Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!

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

³Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

⁴When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

⁵Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God,

⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;

⁸the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.

⁹The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!

¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.

³The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

⁴The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; the cautious will keep far from them.

⁶Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.

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

⁸Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.

⁹Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out; quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech will have the king as a friend.

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

¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry falls into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.

¹⁷The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching;

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today — yes, to you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings of admonition and knowledge,

²¹to show you what is right and true, so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;

²³for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

²⁴Make no friends with those given to anger, and do not associate with hotheads,

²⁵or you may learn their ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Do not be one of those who give pledges, who become surety for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not remove the ancient landmark that your ancestors set up.

²⁹Do you see those who are skillful in their work? They will serve kings; they will not serve common people.

¹In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.”

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

³“Remember now, O LORD, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:

⁵“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

⁸Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: the shadow has now advanced ten intervals; shall it retreat ten intervals?”

¹⁰Hezekiah answered, “It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather let the shadow retreat ten intervals.”

¹¹The prophet Isaiah cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the sun had declined on the dial of Ahaz.

¹²At that time King Merodach-baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³Hezekiah welcomed them; he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah answered, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

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

¹⁷Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

¹⁸Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be 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 in my days?”

²⁰The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, all his power, how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?

²¹Hezekiah slept with his ancestors; and his son Manasseh succeeded him.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother;

³they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled.

⁴Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors

⁶clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen.

⁷She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted.

⁸She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.

⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.

¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.

¹¹Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister.

¹²She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.

¹³And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.

¹⁴But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

¹⁵with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers — a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea.

¹⁶When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust.

¹⁸When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister.

¹⁹Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt

²⁰and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions.

²¹Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.

²²Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses.

²⁴They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances.

²⁵I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.

²⁶They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.

²⁷So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more.

²⁸For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust;

²⁹and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings

³⁰have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols.

³¹You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.

³²Thus says the Lord GOD: You shall drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide; you shall be scorned and derided, it holds so much.

³³You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria;

³⁴you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.

³⁵Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.

³⁶The LORD said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds.

³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.

³⁸Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths.

³⁹For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.

⁴⁰They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;

⁴¹you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.

⁴²The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

⁴³Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.

⁴⁴For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women.

⁴⁵But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

⁴⁶For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder.

⁴⁷The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses.

⁴⁸Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.

⁴⁹They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

¹Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,

⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”

⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

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

⁷The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.

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

¹²They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

¹³They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law;

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

¹⁵And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.