Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.

²He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

³You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.

⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

⁵“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

⁶Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.

⁷But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!

⁸When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

⁹“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

¹⁰When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

¹¹I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

¹²This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

¹³There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.

¹⁵I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

¹⁶You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

¹⁸“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

¹⁹The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

²⁰Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

²¹They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.

²²They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.

²⁴If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.

²⁵This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures : ‘They hated me without cause.’

²⁶“But I will send you the Advocate — the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.

²⁷And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.

¹“When the LORD your God destroys the nations whose land he is giving you, you will take over their land and settle in their towns and homes.

²Then you must set apart three cities of refuge in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

³Survey the territory, and divide the land the LORD your God is giving you into three districts, with one of these cities in each district. Then anyone who has killed someone can flee to one of the cities of refuge for safety.

⁴“If someone kills another person unintentionally, without previous hostility, the slayer may flee to any of these cities to live in safety.

⁵For example, suppose someone goes into the forest with a neighbor to cut wood. And suppose one of them swings an ax to chop down a tree, and the ax head flies off the handle, killing the other person. In such cases, the slayer may flee to one of the cities of refuge to live in safety.

⁶“If the distance to the nearest city of refuge is too far, an enraged avenger might be able to chase down and kill the person who caused the death. Then the slayer would die unfairly, since he had never shown hostility toward the person who died.

⁷That is why I am commanding you to set aside three cities of refuge.

⁸“And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised them,

⁹you must designate three additional cities of refuge. (He will give you this land if you are careful to obey all the commands I have given you — if you always love the LORD your God and walk in his ways.)

¹⁰That way you will prevent the death of innocent people in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. You will not be held responsible for the death of innocent people.

¹¹“But suppose someone is hostile toward a neighbor and deliberately ambushes and murders him and then flees to one of the cities of refuge.

¹²In that case, the elders of the murderer’s hometown must send agents to the city of refuge to bring him back and hand him over to the dead person’s avenger to be put to death.

¹³Do not feel sorry for that murderer! Purge from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people; then all will go well with you.

¹⁴“When you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession, you must never steal anyone’s land by moving the boundary markers your ancestors set up to mark their property.

¹⁵“You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶“If a malicious witness comes forward and accuses someone of a crime,

¹⁷then both the accuser and accused must appear before the LORD by coming to the priests and judges in office at that time.

¹⁸The judges must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges against his fellow Israelite,

¹⁹you must impose on the accuser the sentence he intended for the other person. In this way, you will purge such evil from among you.

²⁰Then the rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid to do such an evil thing.

²¹You must show no pity for the guilty! Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

¹I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea.

²Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.

³Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus.

⁴In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches.

⁵Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a follower of Christ.

⁶Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. And give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet the Lord’s people from the household of Narcissus.

¹²Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord’s workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own; and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me.

¹⁴Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them.

¹⁵Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers who meet with them.

¹⁶Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.

¹⁷And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.

¹⁸Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

¹⁹But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong.

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.

²²I, Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul, send my greetings, too, as one of the Lord’s followers.

²³Gaius says hello to you. He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings, and so does our brother Quartus.

²⁴

²⁵Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time.

²⁶But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him.

²⁷All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

¹This letter is from John, the elder. I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

²Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.

³Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth.

⁴I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

⁵Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you.

⁶They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God.

⁷For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers.

⁸So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

⁹I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us.

¹⁰When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.

¹¹Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

¹²Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius, as does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth.

¹³I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to write it with pen and ink.

¹⁴For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face.

¹⁵Peace be with you. Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there.

¹There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity.

²God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless — a sickening tragedy.

³A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn’t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead.

⁴His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name,

⁵and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man.

⁶He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else — well, what’s the use?

⁷All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.

⁸So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?

⁹Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless — like chasing the wind.

¹⁰Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.

¹¹The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they?

¹²In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow. Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?

¹My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?

²Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.

³Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

⁴Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them.

⁵They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all!

⁷Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying,

⁸“Is this the one who relies on the LORD? Then let the LORD save him! If the LORD loves him so much, let the LORD rescue him!”

⁹Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast.

¹⁰I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.

¹¹Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me.

¹²My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in!

¹³Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey.

¹⁴My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me.

¹⁵My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.

¹⁶My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

¹⁷I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat.

¹⁸They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.

¹⁹O LORD, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid!

²⁰Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs.

²¹Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.

²²I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.

²³Praise the LORD, all you who fear him! Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob! Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned his back on them, but has listened to their cries for help.

²⁵I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you.

²⁶The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the LORD will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy.

²⁷The whole earth will acknowledge the LORD and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him.

²⁸For royal power belongs to the LORD. He rules all the nations.

²⁹Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust.

³⁰Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.

³¹His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.

¹Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting — and conflict.

²A wise servant will rule over the master’s disgraceful son and will share the inheritance of the master’s children.

³Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

⁴Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.

⁵Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.

⁷Eloquent words are not fitting for a fool; even less are lies fitting for a ruler.

⁸A bribe is like a lucky charm; whoever gives one will prosper!

⁹Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.

¹⁰A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool.

¹¹Evil people are eager for rebellion, but they will be severely punished.

¹²It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to confront a fool caught in foolishness.

¹³If you repay good with evil, evil will never leave your house.

¹⁴Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop before a dispute breaks out.

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹⁶It is senseless to pay to educate a fool, since he has no heart for learning.

¹⁷A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

¹⁸It’s poor judgment to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for a friend.

¹⁹Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who trusts in high walls invites disaster.

²⁰The crooked heart will not prosper; the lying tongue tumbles into trouble.

²¹It is painful to be the parent of a fool; there is no joy for the father of a rebel.

²²A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

²³The wicked take secret bribes to pervert the course of justice.

²⁴Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

²⁵Foolish children bring grief to their father and bitterness to the one who gave them birth.

²⁶It is wrong to punish the godly for being good or to flog leaders for being honest.

²⁷A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered.

²⁸Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

¹Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.

²So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel — from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north — and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.”

³But Joab replied, “May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

⁴But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem

⁵and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah.

⁶But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.

⁷God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it.

⁸Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.”

⁹Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer. This was the message:

¹⁰“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

¹¹So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the LORD has given you.

¹²You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the LORD brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me.”

¹³“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁴So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result.

¹⁵And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁶David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem. So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground.

¹⁷And David said to God, “I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep — what have they done? O LORD my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”

¹⁸Then the angel of the LORD told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁹So David went up to do what the LORD had commanded him through Gad.

²⁰Araunah, who was busy threshing wheat at the time, turned and saw the angel there. His four sons, who were with him, ran away and hid.

²¹When Araunah saw David approaching, he left his threshing floor and bowed before David with his face to the ground.

²²David said to Araunah, “Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I will build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague.”

²³“Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, and the threshing boards for wood to build a fire on the altar, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you.”

²⁴But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and give it to the LORD. I will not present burnt offerings that have cost me nothing!”

²⁵So David gave Araunah 600 pieces of gold in payment for the threshing floor.

²⁶David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And when David prayed, the LORD answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar.

²⁷Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath.

²⁸When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered sacrifices there at Araunah’s threshing floor.

²⁹At that time the Tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of burnt offering that Moses had made in the wilderness were located at the place of worship in Gibeon.

³⁰But David was not able to go there to inquire of God, because he was terrified by the drawn sword of the angel of the LORD.

¹During the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

²The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure-house of his god.

³Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.

⁴“Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said. “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon. ”

⁵The king assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens. They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service.

⁶Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah.

⁷The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego.

⁸But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.

⁹Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel.

¹⁰But he responded, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine. If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded.”

¹¹Daniel spoke with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief of staff to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

¹²“Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said.

¹³“At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.”

¹⁴The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.

¹⁶So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.

¹⁷God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.

¹⁸When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service.

²⁰Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.

²¹Daniel remained in the royal service until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus.

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.

²These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.

³They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.

⁴But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

⁵The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.

⁶Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.

⁷They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people,

⁹are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?

¹⁰Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’

¹²There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

¹³The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

¹⁵So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.

¹⁶“What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.

¹⁷But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”

¹⁸So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?

²⁰We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

²¹The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God

²²for this miraculous sign — the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.

²³As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.

²⁴When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them —

²⁵you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

²⁶The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah.’

²⁷“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.

²⁸But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.

²⁹And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

³⁰Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

³²All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.

³³The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.

³⁴There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them

³⁵and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

³⁶For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.

³⁷He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.