Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager wasreported to him as squandering his possessions.

²And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

³And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since mymaster is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough todig; I am ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵And he summoned each one of hismaster’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶And he said, ‘A hundredjugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

⁷Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundredkors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

⁸And hismaster complimented the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their ownkind than the sons of light.

⁹And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of thewealth of unrighteousness, so that when itis all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰“The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much.

¹¹Therefore if you have notbeen faithful in the use of unrighteouswealth, who will entrust the true wealth to you?

¹²And if you have notbeen faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

¹³Noservant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God andwealth.”

¹⁴Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were ridiculing Him.

¹⁵And He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of people, but God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God.

¹⁶“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John came; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for onestroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

¹⁸“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

¹⁹“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day.

²⁰And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,

²¹and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores.

²²Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels toAbraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried.

²³And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in hisarms.

²⁴And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’

²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

²⁶Andbesides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’

²⁷And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—

²⁸for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’

²⁹But Abraham *said, ‘They haveMoses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

³⁰But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’

³¹But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,

²the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

⁴the land which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”

⁵And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as our property; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, “Should your brothers go to war while you remain here?

⁷And why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the LORD has given them?

⁸This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

⁹For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them.

¹⁰So the LORD’S anger burned on that day, and He swore, saying,

¹¹‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully,

¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have followed the LORD fully.’

¹³So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD came to an end.

¹⁴Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, born of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.

¹⁵For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶Then they approached him and said, “We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here and cities for our little ones;

¹⁷but we ourselves will be armed, hurrying ahead of the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁸We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has gained possession of his inheritance.

¹⁹But we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan toward the east.”

²⁰So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for the war,

²¹and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the LORD until He has driven His enemies out from Him,

²²and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you may return and be free of obligation toward the LORD and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours as property before the LORD.

²³But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure that your sin will find you out.

²⁴Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.”

²⁵Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands.

²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead,

²⁷while your servants, that is, everyone who is armed for war, cross over in the presence of the LORD to battle, just as my lord says.”

²⁸So Moses gave the command regarding them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

²⁹And Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as their property;

³⁰but if they do not cross over with you armed, they shall instead be settled among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As the LORD has said to your servants, so we will do.

³²We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”

³³So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad, the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

³⁴And the sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

³⁶Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep.

³⁷The sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

³⁸Nebo, and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹The sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.

⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it.

⁴¹Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its towns, and called them Havvoth-jair.

⁴²Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and named it Nobah, after his own name.

¹Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

²of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

³And this we will do, if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

⁶and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

⁷For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

⁸but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

⁹But, beloved, we are convinced of better things regarding you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we are speaking in this way.

¹⁰For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, by having served and by still serving the saints.

¹¹And we desire that each one of you demonstrate the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

¹²so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises.

¹³For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear an oath by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

¹⁴saying, “INDEED I WILL GREATLY BLESS YOU AND I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY YOU.”

¹⁵And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

¹⁶For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

¹⁷In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath,

¹⁸so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.

¹⁹This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil,

²⁰where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

²in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

³but at the proper time revealed His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

⁴To Titus, my true son in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

⁵For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,

⁶namely, if any man is beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of indecent behavior or rebellion.

⁷For the overseer must be beyond reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not overindulging in wine, not a bully, not greedy for money,

⁸but hospitable, loving what is good, self-controlled, righteous, holy, disciplined,

⁹holding firmly the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

¹¹who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain.

¹²One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

¹³This testimony is true. For this reason reprimand them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,

¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

¹⁵To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

¹⁶They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

²“Dominion and awe belong to Him Who makes peace in His heights.

³Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise?

⁴How then can mankind be righteous with God? Or how can anyone who is born of woman be pure?

⁵If even the moon has no brightness And the stars are not pure in His sight,

⁶How much less man, that maggot, And a son of man, that worm!”

¹Praise the LORD! Sing a new song to the LORD, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

²Israel shall be joyful in his Maker; The sons of Zion shall rejoice in their King.

³They shall praise His name with dancing; They shall sing praises to Him with tambourine and lyre.

⁴For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will glorify the lowly with salvation.

⁵The godly ones shall be jubilant in glory; They shall sing for joy on their beds.

⁶The high praises of God shall be in their mouths, And a two-edged sword in their hands,

⁷To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishment on the peoples,

⁸To bind their kings with chains, And their dignitaries with shackles of iron,

⁹To execute against them the judgment written. This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD!

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

³As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable.

⁴Take away the impurities from the silver, And there comes out a vessel for the smith;

⁵Take away the wicked before the king, And his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not boast in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the same place as great people;

⁷For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,” Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen.

⁸Do not go out hastily to argue your case; Otherwise, what will you do in the end, When your neighbor humiliates you?

⁹Argue your case with your neighbor, And do not reveal the secret of another,

¹⁰Or one who hears it will put you to shame, And the evil report about you will not pass away.

¹¹Like apples of gold in settings of silver, Is a word spoken at the proper time.

¹²Like an earring of gold and a jewelry piece of fine gold, Is a wise person who offers rebukes to a listening ear.

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest Is a faithful messenger to those who send him, For he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain Is a person who boasts of his gifts falsely.

¹⁵Through patience a ruler may be persuaded, And a gentle tongue breaks bone.

¹⁶Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, So that you do not have it in excess and vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot rarely be in your neighbor’s house, Or he will become weary of you and hate you.

¹⁸Like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow Is a person who gives false testimony against his neighbor.

¹⁹Like a bad tooth and an unsteady foot Is confidence in a treacherous person in time of trouble.

²⁰Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, Is one who sings songs to a troubled heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

²²For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the LORD will reward you.

²³The north wind brings rain, And a gossiping tongue brings an angry face.

²⁴It is better to live on a corner of the roof, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

²⁵Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land.

²⁶Like a trampled spring and a polluted well, So is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.

²⁸Like a city that is broken into and without walls So is a person who has no self-control over his spirit.

¹Then the king sent messengers, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

²And the king went up to the house of the LORD and every man of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great; and he read in their presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

³And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments, His provisions, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

⁴Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the heavenly lights; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

⁵Then he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the remaining heavenly lights.

⁶He also brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

⁷And he tore down the cubicles of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.

⁸Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he tore down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

⁹Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

¹⁰He also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no one would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.

¹¹And he did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was at the covered courtyard; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

¹²The king also tore down the altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the brook Kidron.

¹³And the king defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁴He also smashed to pieces the memorial stones and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place, ground the remains to dust, and burned the Asherah.

¹⁶Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it in accordance with the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, the one who proclaimed these things.

¹⁷Then he said, “What is this gravestone there that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸And he said, “Leave him alone; no one is to disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

¹⁹Then Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had constructed, provoking the LORD to anger; and he did to them just as he had done in Bethel.

²⁰And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars, and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

²²Truly such a Passover had not been celebrated since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

²³But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.

²⁴Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, the household idols, the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might fulfill the words of the Law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

²⁵Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, in conformity to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

²⁷And the LORD said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, just as I have removed Israel. And I will reject this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there!’ ”

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁹In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo.

³⁰His servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

³²He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with all that his forefathers had done.

³³And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

³⁴Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of his father Josiah, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.

³⁵So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he assessed the land in order to give the money at the command of Pharaoh. He collected the silver and gold from the people of the land, each according to his assessment, to give to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

³⁷He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with all that his forefathers had done.

¹Now in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, because Tyre has said in regard to Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,’

³therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.

⁴They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers; and I will sweep her debris away from her and make her a bare rock.

⁵She will become a dry place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD; ‘and she will become plunder for the nations.

⁶Also her daughters who are on the mainland will be killed by the sword, and they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

⁷For the Lord GOD says this: “Behold, I am going to bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great army.

⁸He will kill your daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against you, pile up an assault ramp against you, and raise up a large shield against you.

⁹And he will direct the blow of his battering rams against your walls, and he will tear down your towers with his axes.

¹⁰Because of the multitude of his horses, the dust raised by them will cover you; your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots when he enters your gates as warriors enter a city that is breached.

¹¹With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will go down to the ground.

¹²Also they will take your riches as spoils and plunder your merchandise, tear down your walls and destroy your delightful houses, and throw your stones, your timbers, and your debris into the water.

¹³So I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps will no longer be heard.

¹⁴I will turn you into a bare rock; you will become a dry place for the spreading of nets. You will not be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁵The Lord GOD says this to Tyre: “Will the coastlands not shake from the sound of your downfall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter takes place in your midst?

¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their colorfully woven garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble again and again, and be appalled at you.

¹⁷And they will take up a song of mourning over you and say to you, ‘How you have perished, you inhabited one, From the seas, you famous city, Which was mighty on the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who imposed her terror On all her inhabitants!

¹⁸Now the coastlands will tremble On the day of your downfall; Yes, the coastlands which are by the sea Will be horrified at your passing.’ ”

¹⁹For this is what the Lord GOD says: “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you,

²⁰then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you remain in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will put glory in the land of the living.

²¹I will cause you sudden terrors and you will no longer exist; though you will be sought, you will never be found again,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

⁴and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

⁶but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”

⁷The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.

⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

¹²and he has seenin a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem;

¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choseninstrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.”

¹⁷So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

¹⁹and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus,

²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

²²But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

²³When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were also closely watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;

²⁵but his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried repeatedly to associate with the disciples; and yet they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.

³⁰Now when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

³²Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he also came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your own bed.” Immediately he got up.

³⁵And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

³⁷But it happened at that time that she became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”

³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the room upstairs; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.

⁴⁰But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a tanner named Simon.