Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days.

²Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.

³Crowds of sick people — blind, lame, or paralyzed — lay on the porches.

⁴

⁵One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.

⁶When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

⁷“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

⁸Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

⁹Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,

¹⁰so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

¹¹But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹²“Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

¹³The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.

¹⁴But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”

¹⁵Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

¹⁶So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.

¹⁷But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”

¹⁸So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

¹⁹So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.

²¹For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.

²²In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge,

²³so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

²⁴“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

²⁵“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice — the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.

²⁶The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.

²⁷And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son,

²⁹and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

³⁰I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.

³¹“If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.

³²But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true.

³³In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true.

³⁴Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved.

³⁵John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message.

³⁶But I have a greater witness than John — my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.

³⁷And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face,

³⁸and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me — the one he sent to you.

³⁹“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

⁴⁰Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

⁴¹“Your approval means nothing to me,

⁴²because I know you don’t have God’s love within you.

⁴³For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them.

⁴⁴No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.

⁴⁵“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.

⁴⁶If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

⁴⁷But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

¹“Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky!

²The people are strong and tall — descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’

³But recognize today that the LORD your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the LORD has promised.

⁴“After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way.

⁵It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶You must recognize that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not — you are a stubborn people.

⁷“Remember and never forget how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have been constantly rebelling against him.

⁸Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD so angry he was ready to destroy you.

⁹This happened when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the words of the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate no food and drank no water.

¹⁰The LORD gave me the two tablets on which God had written with his own finger all the words he had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were assembled at the mountain.

¹¹“At the end of the forty days and nights, the LORD handed me the two stone tablets inscribed with the words of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, ‘Get up! Go down immediately, for the people you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted gold and made an idol for themselves!’

¹³“The LORD also said to me, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.

¹⁴Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’

¹⁵“So while the mountain was blazing with fire I turned and came down, holding in my hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.

¹⁶There below me I could see that you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had melted gold and made a calf idol for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away from the path the LORD had commanded you to follow!

¹⁷So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.

¹⁸“Then, as before, I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin you had committed by doing what the LORD hated, provoking him to anger.

¹⁹I feared that the furious anger of the LORD, which turned him against you, would drive him to destroy you. But again he listened to me.

²⁰The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him, too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the LORD spared him.

²¹I took your sin — the calf you had made — and I melted it down in the fire and ground it into fine dust. Then I threw the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.

²²“You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

²³And at Kadesh-barnea the LORD sent you out with this command: ‘Go up and take over the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him.

²⁴Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you.

²⁵“That is why I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights — for the LORD said he would destroy you.

²⁶I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand.

²⁷Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²⁸If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the LORD wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.”

²⁹But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’

¹Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

²Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

³Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?

⁴For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

⁵Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.

⁶We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

⁷For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

⁸And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

⁹We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

¹⁰When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

¹¹So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

¹²Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

¹³Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

¹⁴Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

¹⁵Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

¹⁶Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

¹⁷Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.

¹⁸Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

¹⁹Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.

²¹And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

²²But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:

²Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly — not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

³Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.

⁴And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.

⁵In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁶So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

⁷Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

⁸Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

⁹Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

¹⁰In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

¹¹All power to him forever! Amen.

¹²I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.

¹³Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark.

¹⁴Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.

¹Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

²“Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?

³Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.

⁵Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?

⁶What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone

⁷as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,

⁹and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?

¹⁰For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.

¹¹I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’

¹²“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?

¹³Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

¹⁴As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.

¹⁵The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

¹⁶“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?

¹⁷Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?

¹⁸Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!

¹⁹“Where does light come from, and where does darkness go?

²⁰Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there?

²¹But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!

²²“Have you visited the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail?

²³(I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war.)

²⁴Where is the path to the source of light? Where is the home of the east wind?

²⁵“Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning?

²⁶Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives?

²⁷Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and make the tender grass spring up?

²⁸“Does the rain have a father? Who gives birth to the dew?

²⁹Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?

³⁰For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes.

³¹“Can you direct the movement of the stars — binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion?

³²Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?

³³Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?

³⁴“Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?

³⁵Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?

³⁶Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?

³⁷Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven

³⁸when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods?

³⁹“Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions’ appetites

⁴⁰as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?

⁴¹Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?

¹Help, O LORD, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!

²Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.

³May the LORD cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues.

⁴They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own — who can stop us?”

⁵The LORD replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.”

⁶The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.

⁷Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation,

⁸even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.

¹Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands.

²Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.

³Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.

⁴Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family.

⁵Let them protect you from an affair with an immoral woman, from listening to the flattery of a promiscuous woman.

⁶While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain,

⁷I saw some naive young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.

⁸He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman, strolling down the path by her house.

⁹It was at twilight, in the evening, as deep darkness fell.

¹⁰The woman approached him, seductively dressed and sly of heart.

¹¹She was the brash, rebellious type, never content to stay at home.

¹²She is often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner.

¹³She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and with a brazen look she said,

¹⁴“I’ve just made my peace offerings and fulfilled my vows.

¹⁵You’re the one I was looking for! I came out to find you, and here you are!

¹⁶My bed is spread with beautiful blankets, with colored sheets of Egyptian linen.

¹⁷I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning. Let’s enjoy each other’s caresses,

¹⁹for my husband is not home. He’s away on a long trip.

²⁰He has taken a wallet full of money with him and won’t return until later this month. ”

²¹So she seduced him with her pretty speech and enticed him with her flattery.

²²He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter. He was like a stag caught in a trap,

²³awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.

²⁴So listen to me, my sons, and pay attention to my words.

²⁵Don’t let your hearts stray away toward her. Don’t wander down her wayward path.

²⁶For she has been the ruin of many; many men have been her victims.

²⁷Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.

¹Then all Israel gathered before David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood.

²In the past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the LORD your God told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be the leader of my people Israel.’”

³So there at Hebron, David made a covenant before the LORD with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel, just as the LORD had promised through Samuel.

⁴Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (or Jebus, as it used to be called), where the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land, were living.

⁵The people of Jebus taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here!” But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.

⁶David had said to his troops, “Whoever is first to attack the Jebusites will become the commander of my armies!” And Joab, the son of David’s sister Zeruiah, was first to attack, so he became the commander of David’s armies.

⁷David made the fortress his home, and that is why it is called the City of David.

⁸He extended the city from the supporting terraces to the surrounding area, while Joab rebuilt the rest of Jerusalem.

⁹And David became more and more powerful, because the LORD of Heaven’s Armies was with him.

¹⁰These are the leaders of David’s mighty warriors. Together with all Israel, they decided to make David their king, just as the LORD had promised concerning Israel.

¹¹Here is the record of David’s mightiest warriors: The first was Jashobeam the Hacmonite, who was leader of the Three — the mightiest warriors among David’s men. He once used his spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle.

¹²Next in rank among the Three was Eleazar son of Dodai, a descendant of Ahoah.

¹³He was with David when the Philistines gathered for battle at Pas-dammim and attacked the Israelites in a field full of barley. The Israelite army fled,

¹⁴but Eleazar and David held their ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the LORD saved them by giving them a great victory.

¹⁵Once when David was at the rock near the cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped in the valley of Rephaim. The Three (who were among the Thirty — an elite group among David’s fighting men) went down to meet him there.

¹⁶David was staying in the stronghold at the time, and a Philistine detachment had occupied the town of Bethlehem.

¹⁷David remarked longingly to his men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.”

¹⁸So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the LORD.

¹⁹“God forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the Three.

²⁰Abishai, the brother of Joab, was the leader of the Thirty. He once used his spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle. It was by such feats that he became as famous as the Three.

²¹Abishai was the most famous of the Thirty and was their commander, though he was not one of the Three.

²²There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.

²³Once, armed only with a club, he killed an Egyptian warrior who was 7 1⁄2 feet tall and who was armed with a spear as thick as a weaver’s beam. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.

²⁴Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the three mightiest warriors.

²⁵He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.

²⁶David’s mighty warriors also included: Asahel, Joab’s brother; Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;

²⁷Shammah from Harod; Helez from Pelon;

²⁸Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa; Abiezer from Anathoth;

²⁹Sibbecai from Hushah; Zalmon from Ahoah;

³⁰Maharai from Netophah; Heled son of Baanah from Netophah;

³¹Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah (in the land of Benjamin); Benaiah from Pirathon;

³²Hurai from near Nahale-gaash ; Abi-albon from Arabah;

³³Azmaveth from Bahurim ; Eliahba from Shaalbon;

³⁴the sons of Jashen from Gizon; Jonathan son of Shagee from Harar;

³⁵Ahiam son of Sharar from Harar; Eliphal son of Ur;

³⁶Hepher from Mekerah; Ahijah from Pelon;

³⁷Hezro from Carmel; Paarai son of Ezbai;

³⁸Joel, the brother of Nathan; Mibhar son of Hagri;

³⁹Zelek from Ammon; Naharai from Beeroth, the armor bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah;

⁴⁰Ira from Jattir; Gareb from Jattir;

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite; Zabad son of Ahlai;

⁴²Adina son of Shiza, the Reubenite leader who had thirty men with him;

⁴³Hanan son of Maacah; Joshaphat from Mithna;

⁴⁴Uzzia from Ashtaroth; Shama and Jeiel, the sons of Hotham, from Aroer;

⁴⁵Jediael son of Shimri; Joha, his brother, from Tiz;

⁴⁶Eliel from Mahavah; Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam; Ithmah from Moab;

⁴⁷Eliel and Obed; Jaasiel from Zobah.

¹“Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am your enemy, O Gog, ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal.

²I will turn you around and drive you toward the mountains of Israel, bringing you from the distant north.

³I will knock the bow from your left hand and the arrows from your right hand, and I will leave you helpless.

⁴You and your army and your allies will all die on the mountains. I will feed you to the vultures and wild animals.

⁵You will fall in the open fields, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign LORD.

⁶And I will rain down fire on Magog and on all your allies who live safely on the coasts. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷“In this way, I will make known my holy name among my people of Israel. I will not let anyone bring shame on it. And the nations, too, will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

⁸That day of judgment will come, says the Sovereign LORD. Everything will happen just as I have declared it.

⁹“Then the people in the towns of Israel will go out and pick up your small and large shields, bows and arrows, javelins and spears, and they will use them for fuel. There will be enough to last them seven years!

¹⁰They won’t need to cut wood from the fields or forests, for these weapons will give them all the fuel they need. They will plunder those who planned to plunder them, and they will rob those who planned to rob them, says the Sovereign LORD.

¹¹“And I will make a vast graveyard for Gog and his hordes in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the way of those who travel there, and they will change the name of the place to the Valley of Gog’s Hordes.

¹²It will take seven months for the people of Israel to bury the bodies and cleanse the land.

¹³Everyone in Israel will help, for it will be a glorious victory for Israel when I demonstrate my glory on that day, says the Sovereign LORD.

¹⁴“After seven months, teams of men will be appointed to search the land for skeletons to bury, so the land will be made clean again.

¹⁵Whenever bones are found, a marker will be set up so the burial crews will take them to be buried in the Valley of Gog’s Hordes.

¹⁶(There will be a town there named Hamonah, which means ‘horde.’) And so the land will finally be cleansed.

¹⁷“And now, son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call all the birds and wild animals. Say to them: Gather together for my great sacrificial feast. Come from far and near to the mountains of Israel, and there eat flesh and drink blood!

¹⁸Eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of princes as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls — all fattened animals from Bashan!

¹⁹Gorge yourselves with flesh until you are glutted; drink blood until you are drunk. This is the sacrificial feast I have prepared for you.

²⁰Feast at my banquet table — feast on horses and charioteers, on mighty men and all kinds of valiant warriors, says the Sovereign LORD.

²¹“In this way, I will demonstrate my glory to the nations. Everyone will see the punishment I have inflicted on them and the power of my fist when I strike.

²²And from that time on the people of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.

²³The nations will then know why Israel was sent away to exile — it was punishment for sin, for they were unfaithful to their God. Therefore, I turned away from them and let their enemies destroy them.

²⁴I turned my face away and punished them because of their defilement and their sins.

²⁵“So now, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will end the captivity of my people ; I will have mercy on all Israel, for I jealously guard my holy reputation!

²⁶They will accept responsibility for their past shame and unfaithfulness after they come home to live in peace in their own land, with no one to bother them.

²⁷When I bring them home from the lands of their enemies, I will display my holiness among them for all the nations to see.

²⁸Then my people will know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them away to exile and brought them home again. I will leave none of my people behind.

²⁹And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

¹“Brothers and esteemed fathers,” Paul said, “listen to me as I offer my defense.”

²When they heard him speaking in their own language, the silence was even greater.

³Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.

⁴And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.

⁵The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.

⁶“As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸“‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’

⁹The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.

¹⁰“I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’

¹¹“I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.

¹²A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.

¹³He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!

¹⁴“Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.

¹⁵For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance.

¹⁸I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

²⁰And I was in complete agreement when your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.’

²¹“But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

²²The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

²³They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air.

²⁴The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious.

²⁵When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

²⁶When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷So the commander went over and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I certainly am,” Paul replied.

²⁸“I am, too,” the commander muttered, “and it cost me plenty!” Paul answered, “But I am a citizen by birth!”

²⁹The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.

³⁰The next day the commander ordered the leading priests into session with the Jewish high council. He wanted to find out what the trouble was all about, so he released Paul to have him stand before them.