Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

²“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people.

³A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’

⁴The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people,

⁵but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

⁶Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge.

⁷Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

⁸I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

⁹Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else:

¹⁰“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer : ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people — cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector!

¹²I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

¹⁴I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him.

¹⁶Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

¹⁷I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

¹⁸Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good.

²⁰But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’ ”

²¹The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”

²²When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.

²⁴When Jesus saw this, he said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!

²⁵In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

²⁶Those who heard this said, “Then who in the world can be saved?”

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”

²⁸Peter said, “We’ve left our homes to follow you.”

²⁹“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,

³⁰will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”

³¹Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true.

³²He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon.

³³They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.

³⁵As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road.

³⁶When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening.

³⁷They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by.

³⁸So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹“Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him,

⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”

⁴²And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”

⁴³Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries.

³The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea.

⁴It will then run south past Scorpion Pass in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon.

⁵From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶“Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁷“Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor,

⁸then to Lebo-hamath, and on through Zedad

⁹and Ziphron to Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary.

¹⁰“The eastern boundary will start at Hazar-enan and run south to Shepham,

¹¹then down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there the boundary will run down along the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee,

¹²and then along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These are the boundaries of your land.”

¹³Then Moses told the Israelites, “This territory is the homeland you are to divide among yourselves by sacred lot. The LORD has commanded that the land be divided among the nine and a half remaining tribes.

¹⁴The families of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their grants of land

¹⁵on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁷“Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun are the men designated to divide the grants of land among the people.

¹⁸Enlist one leader from each tribe to help them with the task.

¹⁹These are the tribes and the names of the leaders: Tribe — Leader Judah — Caleb son of Jephunneh

²⁰Simeon — Shemuel son of Ammihud

²¹Benjamin — Elidad son of Kislon

²²Dan — Bukki son of Jogli

²³Manasseh son of Joseph — Hanniel son of Ephod

²⁴Ephraim son of Joseph — Kemuel son of Shiphtan

²⁵Zebulun — Elizaphan son of Parnach

²⁶Issachar — Paltiel son of Azzan

²⁷Asher — Ahihud son of Shelomi

²⁸Naphtali — Pedahel son of Ammihud

²⁹These are the men the LORD has appointed to divide the grants of land in Canaan among the Israelites.”

¹Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.

²There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

³And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.

⁴If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.

⁵They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”

⁶But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.

⁸But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

⁹This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.

¹⁰But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹¹And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.

¹²And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

¹³When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

¹Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good.

²They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.

³Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.

⁴But — When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,

⁵he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

⁶He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

⁷Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

⁸This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

⁹Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These things are useless and a waste of time.

¹⁰If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them.

¹¹For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them.

¹²I am planning to send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, do your best to meet me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to stay there for the winter.

¹³Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos with their trip. See that they are given everything they need.

¹⁴Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive.

¹⁵Everybody here sends greetings. Please give my greetings to the believers — all who love us. May God’s grace be with you all.

¹Job continued speaking:

²“I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul —

³As long as I live, while I have breath from God,

⁴my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies.

⁵I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die.

⁶I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

⁷“May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like those who do evil.

⁸For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life?

⁹Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them?

¹⁰Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time?

¹¹I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.

¹²But you have seen all this, yet you say all these useless things to me.

¹³“This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty.

¹⁴They may have many children, but the children will die in war or starve to death.

¹⁵Those who survive will die of a plague, and not even their widows will mourn them.

¹⁶“Evil people may have piles of money and may store away mounds of clothing.

¹⁷But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide that money.

¹⁸The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.

¹⁹The wicked go to bed rich but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.

²⁰Terror overwhelms them like a flood, and they are blown away in the storms of the night.

²¹The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away.

²²It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power.

²³But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.

¹Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

²But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

³They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

⁴But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.

⁵They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.

⁶For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

¹Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.

²Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth — a stranger, not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

⁴Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.

⁵An open rebuke is better than hidden love!

⁶Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

⁷A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

⁸A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.

⁹The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.

¹⁰Never abandon a friend — either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad. Then I will be able to answer my critics.

¹²A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

¹³Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

¹⁴A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!

¹⁵A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.

¹⁶Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

¹⁸As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.

¹⁹As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.

²⁰Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.

²¹Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.

²²You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

²³Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,

²⁴for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.

²⁵After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in,

²⁶your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field.

²⁷And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.

¹So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.

²Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

³By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

⁴Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.

⁵But the Babylonian troops chased the king and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.

⁶They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

⁷They made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

⁸On August 14 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.

⁹He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.

¹⁰Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

¹¹Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.

¹²But the captain of the guard allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.

¹³The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

¹⁴They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, ladles, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.

¹⁵The captain of the guard also took the incense burners and basins, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.

¹⁶The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD’s Temple in the days of Solomon.

¹⁷Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall. The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1⁄2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.

¹⁸Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.

¹⁹And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; five of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.

²⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²¹And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.

²²Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan as governor over the people he had left in Judah.

²³When all the army commanders and their men learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to see him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, and all their men.

²⁴Gedaliah vowed to them that the Babylonian officials meant them no harm. “Don’t be afraid of them. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well for you,” he promised.

²⁵But in midautumn of that year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, went to Mizpah with ten men and killed Gedaliah. He also killed all the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶Then all the people of Judah, from the least to the greatest, as well as the army commanders, fled in panic to Egypt, for they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them.

²⁷In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on April 2 of that year.

²⁸He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.

²⁹He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

³⁰So the king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived.

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

²“Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign LORD: “In your great pride you claim, ‘I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.’ But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are a god.

³You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you.

⁴With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth — gold and silver for your treasuries.

⁵Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud.

⁶“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are as wise as a god,

⁷I will now bring against you a foreign army, the terror of the nations. They will draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom and defile your splendor!

⁸They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die in the heart of the sea, pierced with many wounds.

⁹Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’ to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man!

¹⁰You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

¹¹Then this further message came to me from the LORD:

¹²“Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.

¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone — red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald — all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created.

¹⁴I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire.

¹⁵“You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you.

¹⁶Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire.

¹⁷Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.

¹⁸You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.

¹⁹All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you will exist no more.”

²⁰Then another message came to me from the LORD:

²¹“Son of man, turn and face the city of Sidon and prophesy against it.

²²Give the people of Sidon this message from the Sovereign LORD: “I am your enemy, O Sidon, and I will reveal my glory by what I do to you. When I bring judgment against you and reveal my holiness among you, everyone watching will know that I am the LORD.

²³I will send a plague against you, and blood will be spilled in your streets. The attack will come from every direction, and your people will lie slaughtered within your walls. Then everyone will know that I am the LORD.

²⁴No longer will Israel’s scornful neighbors prick and tear at her like briers and thorns. For then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

²⁵“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people.

²⁶They will live safely in Israel and build homes and plant vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the LORD their God.”

¹Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

²But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.

³“You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

⁴Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

⁶When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds.

⁷And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

⁸“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. ’

⁹“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

¹¹“Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us.

¹³He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

¹⁴He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

¹⁵“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

¹⁹Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

²⁰However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

²²When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

²⁷During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

³⁰This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.