Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porticoes.

³In these porticoes lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, limping, or paralyzed.

⁴

⁵Now a man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

⁶Jesus, upon seeing this man lying there and knowing that he had already been in that condition for a long time, *said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸Jesus *said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”

⁹Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was a Sabbath on that day.

¹⁰So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is a Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”

¹¹But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”

¹²They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”

¹³But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

¹⁵The man went away, and informed the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on a Sabbath.

¹⁷But He answered them, “My Fatheris working until now, and I Myself am working.”

¹⁸For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whateverthe Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.

²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

²²For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,

²³so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

²⁵Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

²⁶For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

²⁷and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He isthe Son of Man.

²⁸Do not be amazed at this; fora time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,

²⁹and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

³⁰“I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.

³¹“If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.

³²There is another who testifies about Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

³³You have sent messengers to John, and he has testified to the truth.

³⁴But the testimony I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

³⁵He was the lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice fora while in his light.

³⁶But the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷And the Father who sent Me, He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

³⁸Also you do not have His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent.

³⁹You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me;

⁴⁰and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

⁴¹I do not receive glory from people;

⁴²but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

⁴³I have come in My Father’s name, and you do notreceive Me; if another comes in his own name, you willreceive him.

⁴⁴How can you believe, when youacceptglory from one another and you do not seek theglory that is from the one and only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.

⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

⁴⁷But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

¹“Hear, Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are great and fortified to heaven,

²a people who are great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand against the sons of Anak?’

³So be aware today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and eliminate them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

⁴“Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them away from you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to take possession of this land.’ Rather, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you.

⁵It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶“Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

⁷Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to anger, and the LORD was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

⁹When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I remained on the mountain for forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

¹⁰The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have behaved corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.’

¹³The LORD also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.

¹⁴Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

¹⁵“So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a cast metal image of a calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands, and smashed them to pieces before your eyes!

¹⁸Then I fell down before the LORD like the first time, for forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the LORD was angry with you so as to destroy you; but the LORD listened to me that time as well.

²⁰The LORD was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

²¹And I took your sinful thing which you had made, the calf, and burned it in the fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

²²“Then at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking the LORD to anger.

²³And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice.

²⁴You have been rebellious toward the LORD since the day I knew you.

²⁵“So I fell down before the LORD for the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD said He would destroy you.

²⁶And I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand!

²⁷Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin.

²⁸Otherwise, the people of the land from which You brought us will say, “Since the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them, and since He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness!”

²⁹Yet they are Your people, and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’

¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

²Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

³Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

⁴Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

⁶knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

⁷for the one who has died is freed from sin.

⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

⁹knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

¹⁰For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

¹¹So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

¹³and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God.

¹⁴For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it!

¹⁶Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

¹⁷But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted,

¹⁸and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness.

²¹Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

²²But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

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

¹Therefore, I urge elders among you, as your fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and one who is also a fellow partaker of the glory that is to be revealed:

²shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not with greed but with eagerness;

³nor yet as domineering over those assigned to your care, but by proving to be examples to the flock.

⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

⁵You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT HE GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

⁶Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time,

⁷having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.

⁸Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

⁹So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world.

¹⁰After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

¹¹To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!

¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.

¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

¹Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind and said,

²“Who is this who darkens the divine plan By words without knowledge?

³Now tighten the belt on your waist like a man, And I shall ask you, and you inform Me!

⁴Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,

⁵Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the measuring line over it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who enclosed the sea with doors When it went out from the womb, bursting forth;

⁹When I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling bands,

¹⁰And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors,

¹¹And I said, ‘As far as this point you shall come, but no farther; And here your proud waves shall stop’?

¹²“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And made the dawn know its place,

¹³So that it would take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked would be shaken off from it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand out like a garment.

¹⁵Their light is withheld from the wicked, And the uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered the springs of the sea, And walked in the depth of the ocean?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you, And have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place,

²⁰That you would take it to its territory, And discern the paths to its home?

²¹You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great!

²²Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, And have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³Which I have reserved for a time of distress, For a day of war and battle?

²⁴Where is the way that the light is divided, And the east wind scattered on the earth?

²⁵“Who has split open a channel for the flood, And a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶To bring rain on a land without people, On a desert without a person in it,

²⁷To satisfy the waste and desolate land, And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Or who has fathered the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

³⁰Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

³¹“Can you tie up the chains of the Pleiades, Or untie the cords of Orion?

³²Can you bring out a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or do you establish their rule over the earth?

³⁴“Can you raise your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you?

³⁵Can you send flashes of lightning, so that they may go And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the innermost being, Or given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who can count the clouds by wisdom, And pour out the water jars of the heavens,

³⁸When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of young lions,

⁴⁰When they crouch in their hiding places, And lie in wait in their lair?

⁴¹Who prepares feed for the raven When its young cry to God, And wander about without food?

¹Help, LORD, for the godly person has come to an end, For the faithful have disappeared from the sons of mankind.

²They speak lies to one another; They speak with flattering lips and a double heart.

³May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;

⁴Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?”

⁵“Because of the devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will put him in the safety for which he longs.”

⁶The words of the LORD are pure words; Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, filtered seven times.

⁷You, LORD, will keep them; You will protect him from this generation forever.

⁸The wicked strut about on every side When vileness is exalted among the sons of mankind.

¹My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding your intimate friend,

⁵So that they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice,

⁷And I saw among the naive, And discerned among the youths A young man lacking sense,

⁸Passing through the street near her corner; And he walks along the way to her house,

⁹In the twilight, in the evening, In the middle of the night and the darkness.

¹⁰And behold, a woman comes to meet him, Dressed as a prostitute and cunning of heart.

¹¹She is boisterous and rebellious, Her feet do not remain at home;

¹²She is now in the streets, now in the public squares, And lurks by every corner.

¹³So she seizes him and kisses him, And with a brazen face she says to him:

¹⁴“I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence diligently, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings, With colored linens of Egypt.

¹⁷I have sprinkled my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning; Let’s delight ourselves with caresses.

¹⁹For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. At the full moon he will come home.”

²¹With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him.

²²Suddenly he follows her As an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as one walks in ankle bracelets to the discipline of a fool,

²³Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As a bird hurries to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths.

²⁶For many are the victims she has brought to ruin, And numerous are all those slaughtered by her.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.

¹Then all Israel gathered to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

²In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be leader over My people Israel.’ ”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, in accordance with the word of the LORD through Samuel.

⁴Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there.

⁵The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not enter here.” Nevertheless David took the mountain stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David).

⁶Now David had said, “Whoever is first to kill a Jebusite shall be chief and commander.” Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.

⁷Then David lived in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David.

⁸He built the city all around, from the Millo to the surrounding area; and Joab repaired the rest of the city.

⁹And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of armies was with him.

¹⁰Now these are the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who remained faithful to him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, in accordance with the word of the LORD concerning Israel.

¹¹These constitute the list of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty; he wielded his spear against three hundred whom he killed at one time.

¹²After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men.

¹³He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines were gathered together there to battle, and there was a plot of land full of barley; and the people fled from the Philistines.

¹⁴But they took their stand in the midst of the plot and defended it, and defeated the Philistines; and the LORD saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines was camping in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁶David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁷And David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”

¹⁸So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David; however, David would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD;

¹⁹and he said, “Far be it from me before my God that I would do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives? For they brought it at the risk of their lives.” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

²⁰As for Abshai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the thirty, and he wielded his spear against three hundred and killed them; and he had a name as well as the thirty.

²¹Of the three in the second rank he was the most honored, and he became their commander; however, he did not attain the reputation of the first three.

²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a warrior of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck and killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck and killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day.

²³And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

²⁴Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name as well as the three mighty men.

²⁵Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the first three; and David appointed him over his bodyguard.

²⁶Now the mighty men of the armies were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

²⁷Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

²⁸Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite,

²⁹Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

³¹Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

³²Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite,

³⁵Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur,

³⁶Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai,

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

³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

⁴²Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

⁴³Hanan the son of Maacah and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite,

⁴⁵Jediael the son of Shimri and his brother Joha the Tizite,

⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

⁴⁷Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

¹“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal;

²and I will turn you around, lead you on a rope, take you up from the remotest parts of the north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

³Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand.

⁴You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops, and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and animal of the field.

⁵You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken,” declares the Lord GOD.

⁶“And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷“And I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not allow My holy name to be profaned anymore. But the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

⁸Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,” declares the Lord GOD. “That is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹“Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them.

¹⁰They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoils of those who plundered them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹¹“On that day I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block the way of those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹²For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

¹³And all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I appear in My glory,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁴“They will also select men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will conduct a search.

¹⁵As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a human bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the burial detail has buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹⁶And even the name of the city will be Hamonah. So they will cleanse the land.” ’

¹⁷“Now as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Say to every kind of bird and to every animal of the field: “Assemble and come, gather from every direction to My sacrifice, which I am going to sacrifice for you as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel; and you will eat flesh and drink blood.

¹⁸You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the leaders of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened livestock of Bashan.

¹⁹So you will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

²⁰You will eat your fill at My table with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all the men of war,” declares the Lord GOD.

²¹“And I will place My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.

²²And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God, from that day onward.

²³The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their wrongdoing, because they were disloyal to Me, and I hid My face from them; so I handed them over to their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword.

²⁴In accordance with their uncleanness and their offenses I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.” ’ ”

²⁵Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on all the house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.

²⁶They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid.

²⁷When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall show Myself holy through them in the sight of the many nations.

²⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then I gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.

²⁹I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹“Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

⁵as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,

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

⁸And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹And those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’

¹¹But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹²“Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up at him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a message from His mouth.

¹⁵For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’

¹⁷“It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’

²¹And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a man from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”

²³And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that he be brought into the barracks, saying that he was to be interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

²⁵But when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.”

²⁷The commander came and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”

²⁹Therefore, those who were about to interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

³⁰Now on the next day, wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.