Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders

²and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?”

³He answered them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me:

⁴Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

⁵They discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’

⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

⁸Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

⁹He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time.

¹⁰When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed.

¹²And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out.

¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’

¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!”

¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “What then does this text mean: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

¹⁹When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

²⁰So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.

²¹So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth.

²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

²³But he perceived their craftiness and said to them,

²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.”

²⁵He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.

²⁷Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him

²⁸and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless;

³⁰then the second

³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.

³²Finally the woman also died.

³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage;

³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

³⁸Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

³⁹Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”

⁴⁰For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

⁴¹Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is David’s son?

⁴²For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,

⁴³until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

⁴⁴David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?”

⁴⁵In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁷They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

¹The heads of the ancestral houses of the clans of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, of the Josephite clans, came forward and spoke in the presence of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelites;

²they said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

³But if they are married into another Israelite tribe, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestors and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken away from the allotted portion of our inheritance.

⁴And when the jubilee of the Israelites comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they have married; and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

⁵Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the word of the LORD, saying, “The descendants of the tribe of Joseph are right in what they are saying.

⁶This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, ‘Let them marry whom they think best; only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe that they are married,

⁷so that no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for all Israelites shall retain the inheritance of their ancestral tribes.

⁸Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the Israelites shall marry one from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that all Israelites may continue to possess their ancestral inheritance.

⁹No inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for each of the tribes of the Israelites shall retain its own inheritance.’”

¹⁰The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹¹Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father’s brothers.

¹²They were married into the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

¹³These are the commandments and the ordinances that the LORD commanded through Moses to the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.

²Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?

³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.

⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me;

⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).”

⁸When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

⁹then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.

¹⁰And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,”

¹³and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”

¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,”

¹⁷he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),

²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,

²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

²⁶For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

²⁷but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

²⁸Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

²⁹How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

³³sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

³⁴For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.

³⁵Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward.

³⁶For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

³⁷For yet “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay;

³⁸but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”

³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

²My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy,

³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;

⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.

⁶But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;

⁷[7, 8] for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

⁸

⁹Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up,

¹⁰and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.

¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

¹²Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

¹³No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.

¹⁴But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it;

¹⁵then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved.

¹⁷Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

¹⁸In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;

²⁰for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

²¹Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

²³For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;

²⁴for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.

²⁵But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act — they will be blessed in their doing.

²⁶If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

¹Job again took up his discourse and said:

²“O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

³when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

⁴when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;

⁵when the Almighty was still with me, when my children were around me;

⁶when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose up and stood;

⁹the nobles refrained from talking, and laid their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰the voices of princes were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹When the ear heard, it commended me, and when the eye saw, it approved;

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper.

¹³The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made them drop their prey from their teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;

¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches;

²⁰my glory was fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“They listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them like dew.

²³They waited for me as for the rain; they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.

²⁵I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

¹O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;

²many are saying to me, “There is no help for you in God.” Selah

³But you, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

⁴I cry aloud to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah

⁵I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.

⁶I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

⁷Rise up, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸Deliverance belongs to the LORD; may your blessing be on your people! Selah

¹One who is often reproved, yet remains stubborn, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

²When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³A child who loves wisdom makes a parent glad, but to keep company with prostitutes is to squander one’s substance.

⁴By justice a king gives stability to the land, but one who makes heavy exactions ruins it.

⁵Whoever flatters a neighbor is spreading a net for the neighbor’s feet.

⁶In the transgression of the evil there is a snare, but the righteous sing and rejoice.

⁷The righteous know the rights of the poor; the wicked have no such understanding.

⁸Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

⁹If the wise go to law with fools, there is ranting and ridicule without relief.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate the blameless, and they seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds it back.

¹²If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.

¹³The poor and the oppressor have this in common: the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with equity, his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by a neglected child.

¹⁶When the wicked are in authority, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your children, and they will give you rest; they will give delight to your heart.

¹⁸Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law.

¹⁹By mere words servants are not disciplined, for though they understand, they will not give heed.

²⁰Do you see someone who is hasty in speech? There is more hope for a fool than for anyone like that.

²¹A slave pampered from childhood will come to a bad end.

²²One given to anger stirs up strife, and the hothead causes much transgression.

²³A person’s pride will bring humiliation, but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴To be a partner of a thief is to hate one’s own life; one hears the victim’s curse, but discloses nothing.

²⁵The fear of others lays a snare, but one who trusts in the LORD is secure.

²⁶Many seek the favor of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that one gets justice.

²⁷The unjust are an abomination to the righteous, but the upright are an abomination to the wicked.

¹These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

³The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three the Canaanite woman Bath-shua bore to him. Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death.

⁴His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

⁵The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

⁶The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all.

⁷The sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the matter of the devoted thing;

⁸and Ethan’s son was Azariah.

⁹The sons of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.

¹⁰Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah.

¹¹Nahshon became the father of Salma, Salma of Boaz,

¹²Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse.

¹³Jesse became the father of Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third,

¹⁴Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,

¹⁵Ozem the sixth, David the seventh;

¹⁶and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.

¹⁷Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.

¹⁸Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

¹⁹When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

²⁰Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel.

²¹Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir father of Gilead, whom he married when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub;

²²and Segub became the father of Jair, who had twenty-three towns in the land of Gilead.

²³But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, Kenath and its villages, sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir, father of Gilead.

²⁴After the death of Hezron, in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah wife of Hezron bore him Ashhur, father of Tekoa.

²⁵The sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.

²⁶Jerahmeel also had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

²⁷The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

²⁸The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.

²⁹The name of Abishur’s wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.

³⁰The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; and Seled died childless.

³¹The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai.

³²The sons of Jada, Shammai’s brother: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died childless.

³³The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

³⁴Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters; but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave, whose name was Jarha.

³⁵So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his slave Jarha; and she bore him Attai.

³⁶Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan of Zabad.

³⁷Zabad became the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal of Obed.

³⁸Obed became the father of Jehu, and Jehu of Azariah.

³⁹Azariah became the father of Helez, and Helez of Eleasah.

⁴⁰Eleasah became the father of Sismai, and Sismai of Shallum.

⁴¹Shallum became the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah of Elishama.

⁴²The sons of Caleb brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn, who was father of Ziph. The sons of Mareshah father of Hebron.

⁴³The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

⁴⁴Shema became father of Raham, father of Jorkeam; and Rekem became the father of Shammai.

⁴⁵The son of Shammai: Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.

⁴⁶Ephah also, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran became the father of Gazez.

⁴⁷The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

⁴⁸Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.

⁴⁹She also bore Shaaph father of Madmannah, Sheva father of Machbenah and father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.

⁵⁰These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal father of Kiriath-jearim,

⁵¹Salma father of Bethlehem, and Hareph father of Beth-gader.

⁵²Shobal father of Kiriath-jearim had other sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth.

⁵³And the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; from these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.

⁵⁴The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.

⁵⁵The families also of the scribes that lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, father of the house of Rechab.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²Mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Wail, “Alas for the day!”

³For a day is near, the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.

⁴A sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, and its wealth is carried away, and its foundations are torn down.

⁵Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the allied land shall fall with them by the sword.

⁶Thus says the LORD: Those who support Egypt shall fall, and its proud might shall come down; from Migdol to Syene they shall fall within it by the sword, says the Lord GOD.

⁷They shall be desolated among other desolated countries, and their cities shall lie among cities laid waste.

⁸Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set fire to Egypt, and all who help it are broken.

⁹On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting Ethiopians; and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for it is coming!

¹⁰Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt, by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.

¹¹He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.

¹²I will dry up the channels, and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers; I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it by the hand of foreigners; I the LORD have spoken.

¹³Thus says the Lord GOD: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis; there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt; so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴I will make Pathros a desolation, and will set fire to Zoan, and will execute acts of judgment on Thebes.

¹⁵I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the hordes of Thebes.

¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt; Pelusium shall be in great agony; Thebes shall be breached, and Memphis face adversaries by day.

¹⁷The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword; and the cities themselves shall go into captivity.

¹⁸At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark, when I break there the dominion of Egypt, and its proud might shall come to an end; the city shall be covered by a cloud, and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity.

¹⁹Thus I will execute acts of judgment on Egypt. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

²⁰In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

²¹Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall from his hand.

²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the lands.

²⁴I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groans of one mortally wounded.

²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt,

²⁶and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul.

²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.

⁸But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

¹⁰and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹And now listen — the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

¹³Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem;

¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen.

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

¹⁸For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance

²⁰for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.

²¹Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.

²²When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

²³Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised;

²⁴before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’

²⁶“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

²⁷Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him.

²⁸Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed.

²⁹When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead;

³¹and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors

³³he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’

³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’

³⁵Therefore he has also said in another psalm, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption;

³⁷but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption.

³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you;

³⁹by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:

⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers! Be amazed and perish, for in your days I am doing a work, a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.’”

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath.

⁴³When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul.

⁴⁶Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.

⁴⁹Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region.

⁵¹So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.