Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was with God in the beginning.

³All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

⁵That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

⁷He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.

⁸He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him.

¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

¹²But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

¹³who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”)

¹⁶Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,

¹⁷for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side —he has revealed him.

¹⁹This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹“What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered.

²²“Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

²³He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord  — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

²⁵So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him.

²⁷He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

²⁸All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁰This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’

³¹I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so he might be revealed to Israel.”

³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.

³³I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on — he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁴I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples.

³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

³⁸When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹“Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him.

⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”),

⁴²and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter” ).

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets ): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered.

⁴⁷Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

⁴⁹“Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”

⁵¹Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

¹Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and follow them carefully.

²The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

³He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

⁴The LORD spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain.

⁵At that time I was standing between the LORD and you to report the word of the LORD to you, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And he said:

⁶I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

⁷Do not have other gods besides me.

⁸Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

⁹Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

¹⁰but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

¹¹Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

¹²Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the LORD your God has commanded you.

¹³You are to labor six days and do all your work,

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. Do not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the resident alien who lives within your city gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁷Do not murder.

¹⁸Do not commit adultery.

¹⁹Do not steal.

²⁰Do not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.

²¹Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

²²“The LORD spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

²⁴You said, ‘Look, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.

²⁵But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer.

²⁶For who out of all mankind has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷Go near and listen to everything the LORD our God says. Then you can tell us everything the LORD our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’

²⁸“The LORD heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.

²⁹If only they had such a heart to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that they and their children would prosper forever.

³⁰Go and tell them: Return to your tents.

³¹But you stand here with me, and I will tell you every command — the statutes and ordinances — you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess.’

³²“Be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

³³Follow the whole instruction the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.

¹Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.

²We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.

³Do you really think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God’s judgment?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

⁵Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

⁶He will repay each one according to his works:

⁷eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;

⁸but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.

⁹There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;

¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

¹¹For there is no favoritism with God.

¹²All who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

¹⁴So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them

¹⁶on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

¹⁷Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,

¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,

¹⁹and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,

²⁰an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law —

²¹you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal?

²²You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?

²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

²⁴For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

²⁵Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

²⁷A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.

²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

²⁹On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

⁵You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials

⁷so that the proven character of your faith  — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire  — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,

⁹because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.

¹¹They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven  — angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

¹³Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

¹⁵But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;

¹⁶for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

¹⁷If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.

¹⁸For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

²¹Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²²Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,

²³because you have been born again  — not of perishable seed but of imperishable — through the living and enduring word of God.

²⁴For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

²⁵but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.

¹Then Elihu continued, saying:

²Hear my words, you wise ones, and listen to me, you knowledgeable ones.

³Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

⁴Let us judge for ourselves what is right; let us decide together what is good.

⁵For Job has declared, “I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.

⁶Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.”

⁷What man is like Job? He drinks derision like water.

⁸He keeps company with evildoers and walks with wicked men.

⁹For he has said, “A man gains nothing when he becomes God’s friend.”

¹⁰Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly.

¹¹For he repays a person according to his deeds, and he gives him what his conduct deserves.

¹²Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

¹³Who gave him authority over the earth? Who put him in charge of the entire world?

¹⁴If he put his mind to it and withdrew the spirit and breath he gave,

¹⁵every living thing would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.

¹⁶If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I have to say.

¹⁷Could one who hates justice govern the world? Will you condemn the mighty Righteous One,

¹⁸who says to a king, “Worthless man!” and to nobles, “Wicked men!”?

¹⁹God is not partial to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.

²⁰They die suddenly in the middle of the night; people shudder, then pass away. Even the mighty are removed without effort.

²¹For his eyes watch over a man’s ways, and he observes all his steps.

²²There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide.

²³God does not need to examine a person further, that one should approach him in court.

²⁴He shatters the mighty without an investigation and sets others in their place.

²⁵Therefore, he recognizes their deeds and overthrows them by night, and they are crushed.

²⁶In full view of the public, he strikes them for their wickedness,

²⁷because they turned aside from following him and did not understand any of his ways

²⁸but caused the poor to cry out to him, and he heard the outcry of the needy.

²⁹But when God is silent, who can declare him guilty? When he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he watches over both individuals and nations,

³⁰so that godless men should not rule or ensnare the people.

³¹Suppose someone says to God, “I have endured my punishment; I will no longer act wickedly.

³²Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I won’t do it again.”

³³Should God repay you on your terms when you have rejected his? You must choose, not I! So declare what you know.

³⁴Reasonable men will say to me, along with the wise men who hear me,

³⁵“Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.”

³⁶If only Job were tested to the limit, because his answers are like those of wicked men.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin; he scornfully claps in our presence, while multiplying his words against God.

¹For the choir director: on the . A psalm of David. [1] LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty.

²From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place,

⁴what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?

⁵You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:

⁷all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild,

⁸the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.

⁹LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

¹My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands;

²for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.

³Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;

⁶in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

⁸This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;

¹⁰then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹Do not despise the LORD’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline;

¹²for the LORD disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy.

¹⁹The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

²¹Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them.

²²They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.

²³Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant.

²⁵Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes,

²⁶for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.

²⁷When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs.

²⁸Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later. I’ll give it tomorrow” — when it is there with you.

²⁹Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor, for he trusts you and lives near you.

³⁰Don’t accuse anyone without cause, when he has done you no harm.

³¹Don’t envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

³²for the devious are detestable to the LORD, but he is a friend to the upright.

³³The LORD’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous;

³⁴He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, but he holds up fools to dishonor.

¹Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron — four.

²Tola’s sons: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, the heads of their ancestral families. During David’s reign, 22,600 descendants of Tola were recorded as valiant warriors in their family records.

³Uzzi’s son: Izrahiah. Izrahiah’s sons: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah. All five of them were chiefs.

⁴Along with them, they had 36,000 troops for battle according to the family records of their ancestral families, for they had many wives and children.

⁵Their tribesmen who were valiant warriors belonging to all the families of Issachar totaled 87,000 in their genealogies.

⁶Three of Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher, and Jediael.

⁷Bela’s sons: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri — five. They were valiant warriors and heads of their ancestral families; 22,034 were listed in their genealogies.

⁸Becher’s sons: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth; all these were Becher’s sons.

⁹Their family records were recorded according to the heads of their ancestral families — 20,200 valiant warriors.

¹⁰Jediael’s son: Bilhan. Bilhan’s sons: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.

¹¹All these sons of Jediael listed by family heads were valiant warriors; there were 17,200 who could serve in the army.

¹²Shuppim and Huppim were sons of Ir, and the Hushim were the sons of Aher.

¹³Naphtali’s sons: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum — Bilhah’s sons.

¹⁴Manasseh’s sons through his Aramean concubine: Asriel and Machir the father of Gilead.

¹⁵Machir took wives from Huppim and Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, but he had only daughters.

¹⁶Machir’s wife Maacah gave birth to a son, and she named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem.

¹⁷Ulam’s son: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh.

¹⁸His sister Hammolecheth gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.

¹⁹Shemida’s sons: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

²⁰Ephraim’s sons: Shuthelah, and his son Bered, his son Tahath, his son Eleadah, his son Tahath,

²¹his son Zabad, his son Shuthelah, also Ezer, and Elead. The men of Gath, born in the land, killed them because they went down to raid their cattle.

²²Their father Ephraim mourned a long time, and his relatives came to comfort him.

²³He slept with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. So he named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his home.

²⁴His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah,

²⁵his son Rephah, his son Resheph, his son Telah, his son Tahan,

²⁶his son Ladan, his son Ammihud, his son Elishama,

²⁷his son Nun, and his son Joshua.

²⁸Their holdings and settlements were Bethel and its surrounding villages; Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages,

²⁹and along the borders of the descendants of Manasseh, Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor with their surrounding villages. The sons of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.

³⁰Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah.

³¹Beriah’s sons: Heber, and Malchiel, who fathered Birzaith.

³²Heber fathered Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, with their sister Shua.

³³Japhlet’s sons: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s sons.

³⁴Shemer’s sons: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.

³⁵His brother Helem’s sons: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.

³⁶Zophah’s sons: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah,

³⁷Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.

³⁸Jether’s sons: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara.

³⁹Ulla’s sons: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.

⁴⁰All these were Asher’s descendants. They were the heads of their ancestral families, chosen men, valiant warriors, and chiefs among the leaders. The number of men listed in their genealogies for military service was 26,000.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, face Mount Seir and prophesy against it.

³Say to it, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Look! I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste.

⁴I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁵“‘Because you maintained a perpetual hatred and gave the Israelites over to the power of the sword in the time of their disaster, the time of final punishment,

⁶therefore, as I live — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD  — I will destine you for bloodshed, and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, it will pursue you.

⁷I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go.

⁸I will fill its mountains with the slain; those slain by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines.

⁹I will make you a perpetual desolation; your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

¹⁰“‘Because you said, “These two nations and two lands will be mine, and we will possess them” — though the LORD was there  —

¹¹therefore, as I live — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD  — I will treat you according to the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them. I will make myself known among them when I judge you.

¹²Then you will know that I, the LORD, have heard all the blasphemies you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate. They have been given to us to devour!”

¹³You boasted against me with your mouth, and spoke many words against me. I heard it myself!

¹⁴“‘This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole world rejoices, I will make you a desolation.

¹⁵Just as you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it became a desolation, I will deal the same way with you: you will become a desolation, Mount Seir, and so will all Edom in its entirety. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.