Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Therefore, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

²So they made Him a dinner there, and Martha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.

³Mary then took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, the one who intended to betray Him, *said,

⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to poor people?”

⁶Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it.

⁷Therefore Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep itfor the day of My burial.

⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

⁹The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not on account of Jesus only, but so that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also,

¹¹because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

¹²On the next day, when the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began shouting, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, indeed, the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

¹⁵“DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

¹⁶These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things for Him.

¹⁷So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him.

¹⁸For this reason also the people went to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not accomplishing anything; look, the world has gone after Him!”

²⁰Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;

²¹these people then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were making a request of him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

²²Philip *came and *told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip *came and *told Jesus.

²³But Jesus *answered them by saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

²⁴Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

²⁵The one who loves hislife loses it, and the one who hates hislife in this world will keep itto eternal life.

²⁶If anyoneserves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyoneserves Me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷“Now My soul has become troubled; and what am I to say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

²⁸Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

²⁹So the crowd who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him!”

³⁰Jesus responded and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for yours.

³¹Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

³²And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”

³³Now He was saying this to indicate what kind of death He was going to die.

³⁴The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how is it that You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³⁶While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus proclaimed, and He went away and hid Himself from them.

³⁷But though He had performed so many signs in their sight, they still were not believing in Him.

³⁸This happened so that the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke would be fulfilled: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?”

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again,

⁴⁰“HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WILL NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED, AND so I WILL not heal them.”

⁴¹These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him.

⁴²Nevertheless many, even of the rulers, believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, so that they would not be excommunicated from the synagogue;

⁴³for they loved the approval of people rather than the approval of God.

⁴⁴Now Jesus cried out and said, “The one who believes in Me, does not believe only in Me, but also in Him who sent Me.

⁴⁵And the one who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.

⁴⁶I have come as Light into the world, so that no one who believes in Me will remain in darkness.

⁴⁷If anyone hears Myteachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects Me and does notaccept Myteachings has one who judges him: the word which I spoke. That will judge him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I did not speakon My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.

⁵⁰And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

¹“Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

²You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name.

³You shall not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry), so that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

⁴For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in your entire territory, and none of the meat which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall be left overnight until the morning.

⁵You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the LORD your God is giving you;

⁶but only at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.

⁷You shall cook and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents.

⁸For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festive assembly to the LORD your God; you shall do no work on it.

⁹“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.

¹⁰Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a voluntary offering of your hand in a proportional amount, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you;

¹¹and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name.

¹²You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and comply with these statutes.

¹³“You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;

¹⁴and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in your towns.

¹⁵For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

¹⁶“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and they are not to appear before the LORD empty-handed.

¹⁷Everyone shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

¹⁸“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹You shall not distort justice, you shall not show partiality; and you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous.

²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

²¹“You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself.

²²And you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the LORD your God hates.

¹Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

²Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

³For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;

⁴for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

⁵Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

⁷Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.

⁸Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.

⁹For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

¹¹Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.

¹²The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹³Let’s behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy.

¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit.

¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

¹⁹We love, because He first loved us.

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

¹There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven—

²A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

³A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.

⁴A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.

⁵A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

⁶A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.

⁷A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak.

⁸A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?

¹⁰I have seen the task which God has given the sons of mankind with which to occupy themselves.

¹¹He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;

¹³moreover, that every person who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—this is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it. And God has so worked, that people will fear Him.

¹⁵That which is, is what has already been, and that which will be has already been; and God seeks what has passed by.

¹⁶Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

¹⁷I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

¹⁸I said to myself regarding the sons of mankind, “God is testing them in order for them to see that they are as animals, they to themselves.”

¹⁹For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility.

²⁰All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

²¹Who knows that the spirit of the sons of mankind ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth?

²²I have seen that nothing is better than when a person is happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?

¹The heavens tell of the glory of God; And their expanse declares the work of His hands.

²Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.

³There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.

⁴Their line has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

⁵Which is like a groom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices like a strong person to run his course.

⁶Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

⁸The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

⁹The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

¹⁰They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold; Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹Moreover, Your servant is warned by them; In keeping them there is great reward.

¹²Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

¹³Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be innocent, And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing.

¹⁴May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

¹The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

²One who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, But one who is devious in his ways despises Him.

³In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back, But the lips of the wise will protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean; But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

⁵A trustworthy witness will not lie, But a false witness declares lies.

⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy for one who has understanding.

⁷Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge.

⁸The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, But the foolishness of fools is deceit.

⁹Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is goodwill.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, And a stranger does not share its joy.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may be in pain, And the end of joy may be grief.

¹⁴One with a wayward heart will have his fill of his own ways, But a good person will be satisfied with his.

¹⁵The naive believes everything, But the sensible person considers his steps.

¹⁶A wise person is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless.

¹⁷A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, And a person of evil devices is hated.

¹⁸The naive inherit foolishness, But the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil will bow down before the good, And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor is hated even by his neighbor, But those who love the rich are many.

²¹One who despises his neighbor sins, But one who is gracious to the poor is blessed.

²²Will they who devise evil not go astray? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

²³In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches, But the foolishness of fools is simply foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, But one who declares lies is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.

²⁷The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, By which one may avoid the snares of death.

²⁸In a multitude of people is a king’s glory, But in the scarcity of people is a prince’s ruin.

²⁹One who is slow to anger has great understanding; But one who is quick-tempered exalts foolishness.

³⁰A tranquil heart is life to the body, But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

³¹One who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But one who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

³²The wicked is thrust down by his own wrongdoing, But the righteous has a refuge when he dies.

³³Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, But among fools it is made known.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts wisely, But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.

¹Now after this it came about that David defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines.

²And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his rule to the river Euphrates.

⁴David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and David hamstrung almost all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for a hundred chariots.

⁵When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans.

⁶Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the LORD helped David wherever he went.

⁷And David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸Also from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹Now when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

¹⁰he sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

¹¹King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹²Moreover, Abishai the son of Zeruiah defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹³Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the LORD helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴So David reigned over all Israel; and he administered justice and righteousness for all his people.

¹⁵Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary;

¹⁶and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary;

¹⁷and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.

¹‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east shall be shut for the six working days; but it shall be opened on the Sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon.

²The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

³The people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

⁴The burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish;

⁵and the grain offering shall be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs as much as he is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

⁶On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish.

⁷And he shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

⁸When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate, and go out by the same way.

⁹But when the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, one who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And one who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but shall go straight out.

¹⁰And when they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹“At the festivals and the appointed feasts, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

¹²And when the prince provides a voluntary offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a voluntary offering to the LORD, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

¹³“And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.

¹⁴You shall also provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the LORD continually by a permanent ordinance.

¹⁵So they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, morning by morning, as a continual burnt offering.”

¹⁶‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “If the prince gives a gift from his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.

¹⁷But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of release; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons’; it shall belong to them.

¹⁸And the prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, depriving them of their property; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own property, so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his property.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and behold, a place was there at the extreme rear toward the west.

²⁰And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer courtyard and transfer holiness to the people.”

²¹Then he brought me out into the outer courtyard and led me across to the four corners of the courtyard; and behold, in every corner of the courtyard there was a small courtyard.

²²In the four corners of the courtyard there were enclosed courtyards, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size.

²³And there was a row of masonry all around in them, around the four of them, and cooking hearths were made under the rows all around.

²⁴Then he said to me, “These are the cooking places where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

¹The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,

²until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.

³To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.

⁴Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

⁵for John baptizedwith water, but you will be baptizedwith the Holy Spiritnot many days from now.”

⁶So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority;

⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

⁹And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight.

¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them,

¹¹and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵At this time Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 people was there together), and said,

¹⁶“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in their own language, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘MAY HIS RESIDENCE BE MADE DESOLATE, AND MAY THERE BE NONE LIVING IN IT’; and, ‘MAY ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE.’

²¹Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—

²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen

²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.