Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

²But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³Then Jesus told them this parable:

⁴“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

⁶and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

⁸“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’

¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

¹¹Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.

¹²The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’

²⁰So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.

²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

²⁷‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

³So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the LORD’s vengeance on them.

⁴Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.”

⁵So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel.

⁶Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

⁷They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man.

⁸Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

⁹The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.

¹⁰They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.

¹¹They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,

¹²and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹³Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

¹⁵“Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them.

¹⁶“They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people.

¹⁷Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,

¹⁸but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

¹⁹“Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives.

²⁰Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.”

²¹Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the LORD gave Moses:

²²Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead

²³and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water.

²⁴On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

²⁵The LORD said to Moses,

²⁶“You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured.

²⁷Divide the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community.

²⁸From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the LORD one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep.

²⁹Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s part.

³⁰From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.”

³¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

³²The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep,

³³72,000 cattle,

³⁴61,000 donkeys

³⁵and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.

³⁶The half share of those who fought in the battle was: 337,500 sheep,

³⁷of which the tribute for the LORD was 675;

³⁸36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the LORD was 72;

³⁹30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the LORD was 61;

⁴⁰16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the LORD was 32.

⁴¹Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s part, as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴²The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men—

⁴³the community’s half—was 337,500 sheep,

⁴⁴36,000 cattle,

⁴⁵30,500 donkeys

⁴⁶and 16,000 people.

⁴⁷From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the LORD commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses

⁴⁹and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.

⁵⁰So we have brought as an offering to the LORD the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles.

⁵²All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.

⁵³Each soldier had taken plunder for himself.

⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

¹Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

³This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

⁴And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

⁶And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

⁸Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered

⁹and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

¹⁰and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.

¹²In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

¹³Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

¹In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

²Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

³For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

⁴They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

⁵But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

⁶For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

⁹Do your best to come to me quickly,

¹⁰for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.

¹²I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

¹³When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done.

¹⁵You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.

¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.

²⁰Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.

²¹Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.

²²The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

¹“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

²There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.

³They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁴They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.

⁶They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

⁸They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

⁹The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

¹²The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.

¹⁶In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.

¹⁷For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.

¹⁹As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.

²²But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

²³He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.

²⁴For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”

¹Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.

²Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

³Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.

⁴Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

⁵Let them praise the name of the LORD, for at his command they were created,

⁶and he established them for ever and ever— he issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

⁸lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,

⁹you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

¹⁰wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,

¹¹kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,

¹²young men and women, old men and children.

¹³Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD.

¹Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;

²for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;

⁴through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

⁵The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.

⁶Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.

⁷Wisdom is too high for fools; in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.

⁸Whoever plots evil will be known as a schemer.

⁹The schemes of folly are sin, and people detest a mocker.

¹⁰If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!

¹¹Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous, do not plunder their dwelling place;

¹⁶for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

¹⁷Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,

¹⁸or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked,

²⁰for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

²¹Fear the LORD and the king, my son, and do not join with rebellious officials,

²²for those two will send sudden destruction on them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:

²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

²⁵But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.

²⁶An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead?

²⁹Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

³⁰I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

³¹thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.

³²I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:

³³A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

³⁴and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

¹Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.

²He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

³In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said:

⁴“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

⁵Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD—

⁶the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.

⁷But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.”

⁸Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.”

¹⁰Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

¹¹When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.

¹²He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:

¹³“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

¹⁴Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

¹⁵She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,

¹⁶‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.

¹⁷Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’

¹⁸Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:

¹⁹Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.

²⁰Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’ ” So they took her answer back to the king.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

³Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you said “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile,

⁴therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

⁵I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁶For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel,

⁷therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

⁸“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, Judah has become like all the other nations,”

⁹therefore I will expose the flank of Moab, beginning at its frontier towns—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim—the glory of that land.

¹⁰I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations;

¹¹and I will inflict punishment on Moab. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

¹²“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because Edom took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so,

¹³therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill both man and beast. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

¹⁴I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”

¹⁵“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah,

¹⁶therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast.

¹⁷I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them.’ ”

¹And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

²Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

³But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

⁴Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.

⁶When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.

⁷For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,

¹⁰and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

¹³Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

¹⁴When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.

¹⁵When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,

¹⁶because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money

¹⁹and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.

²³For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

²⁴Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

²⁷So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

³⁰Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.