Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

²Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,

³Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram,

⁴Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,

⁵Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse,

⁶and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

⁷Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa,

⁸Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah,

⁹Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,

¹⁰Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah,

¹¹and Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹²After the exile to Babylon Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor,

¹⁴Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud,

¹⁵Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob,

¹⁶and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Christ.

¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations; and from David until the exile to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Christ, fourteen generations.

¹⁸The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

²⁰But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her

²⁵but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

¹“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,

²take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land the LORD your God is giving you and put it in a basket. Then go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to have his name dwell.

³When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, say to him, ‘Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have entered the land the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴“Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the LORD your God.

⁵You are to respond by saying in the presence of the LORD your God: My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and resided there as an alien. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.

⁶But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, and forced us to do hard labor.

⁷So we called out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.

⁸Then the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders.

⁹He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that you, LORD, have given me. You will then place the container before the LORD your God and bow down to him.

¹¹You, the Levites, and the resident aliens among you will rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given you and your household.

¹²“When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children and widows, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

¹³Then you will say in the presence of the LORD your God: I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, according to all the commands you gave me. I have not violated or forgotten your commands.

¹⁴I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done all you commanded me.

¹⁵Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁶“The LORD your God is commanding you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. Follow them carefully with all your heart and all your soul.

¹⁷Today you have affirmed that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, and ordinances, and obey him.

¹⁸And today the LORD has affirmed that you are his own possession as he promised you, that you are to keep all his commands,

¹⁹that he will elevate you to praise, fame, and glory above all the nations he has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God as he promised.”

¹Now in response to the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to use a woman for sex.”

²But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband.

³A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.

⁴A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another — except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶I say this as a concession, not as a command.

⁷I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.

⁸I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am.

⁹But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.

¹⁰To the married I give this command  — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave her husband.

¹¹But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband — and a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹²But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

¹³Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.

¹⁶Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.

¹⁷Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters.

²⁰Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.

²¹Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.

²²For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave.

²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people.

²⁴Brothers and sisters, each person is to remain with God in the situation in which he was called.

²⁵Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is faithful.

²⁶Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

²⁹This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none,

³⁰those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn’t own anything,

³¹and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

³²I want you to be without concerns. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord — how he may please the Lord.

³³But the married man is concerned about the things of the world — how he may please his wife —

³⁴and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world — how she may please her husband.

³⁵I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶If any man thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage, and he feels he should marry — he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married.

³⁷But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will ) and has decided in his heart to keep her as his fiancée, will do well.

³⁸So then he who marries his fiancée does well, but he who does not marry will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants — only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

¹Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

⁴Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand.

⁶Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.”

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

⁸And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? ”

¹¹So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

¹²Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood;

¹³the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind;

¹⁴the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”

¹The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

²Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your caresses are more delightful than wine.

³The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating; your name is perfume poured out. No wonder young women adore you.

⁴Take me with you  — let’s hurry. Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and be glad in you; we will celebrate your caresses more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

⁵Daughters of Jerusalem, I am dark like the tents of Kedar, yet lovely like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has gazed on me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me take care of the vineyards. I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, you whom I love: Where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you let them rest at noon? Why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats near the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with jewelry, your neck with its necklace.

¹¹We will make gold jewelry for you, accented with silver.

¹²While the king is on his couch, my perfume releases its fragrance.

¹³The one I love is a sachet of myrrh to me, spending the night between my breasts.

¹⁴The one I love is a cluster of henna blossoms to me, in the vineyards of En-gedi.

¹⁵How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Your eyes are doves.

¹⁶How handsome you are, my love. How delightful! Our bed is verdant;

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedars, and our rafters are cypresses.

¹A psalm of David. [1] Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

³The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders — the LORD, above the vast water,

⁴the voice of the LORD in power, the voice of the LORD in splendor.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion, like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the woodlands bare. In his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned, King forever.

¹¹The LORD gives his people strength; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

¹Don’t envy the evil or desire to be with them,

²for their hearts plan violence, and their words stir up trouble.

³A house is built by wisdom, and it is established by understanding;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.

⁵A wise warrior is better than a strong one, and a man of knowledge than one of strength;

⁶for you should wage war with sound guidance — victory comes with many counselors.

⁷Wisdom is inaccessible to a fool; he does not open his mouth at the city gate.

⁸The one who plots evil will be called a schemer.

⁹A foolish scheme is sin, and a mocker is detestable to people.

¹⁰If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.

¹¹Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,” won’t he who weighs hearts consider it? Won’t he who protects your life know? Won’t he repay a person according to his work?

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;

¹⁴realize that wisdom is the same for you. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

¹⁵Don’t set an ambush, you wicked one, at the camp of the righteous man; don’t destroy his dwelling.

¹⁶Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

¹⁷Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸or the LORD will see, be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him.

¹⁹Don’t be agitated by evildoers, and don’t envy the wicked.

²⁰For the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD, as well as the king, and don’t associate with rebels,

²²for destruction will come suddenly from them; who knows what distress these two can bring?

²³These sayings also belong to the wise: It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”  — peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

²⁵but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a generous blessing will come to them.

²⁶He who gives an honest answer gives a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Complete your outdoor work, and prepare your field; afterward, build your house.

²⁸Don’t testify against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips.

²⁹Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me; I’ll repay the man for what he has done.”

³⁰I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of one lacking sense.

³¹Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined.

³²I saw, and took it to heart; I looked, and received instruction:

³³a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

³⁴and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need, like a bandit.

¹David assembled all the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the fighting men, and all the best soldiers.

²Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the LORD’s covenant and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build,

³but God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’

⁴“Yet the LORD God of Israel chose me out of all my father’s family to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah, my father’s family, and from my father’s sons, he was pleased to make me king over all Israel.

⁵And out of all my sons  — for the LORD has given me many sons — he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the LORD’s kingdom over Israel.

⁶He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who is to build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

⁷I will establish his kingdom forever if he perseveres in keeping my commands and my ordinances as he is doing today.’

⁸“So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and follow all the commands of the LORD your God so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

⁹“As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.

¹⁰Realize now that the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it.”

¹¹Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple and its buildings, treasuries, upstairs rooms, inner rooms, and a room for the mercy seat.

¹²The plans contained everything he had in mind for the courts of the LORD’s house, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of God’s house, and the treasuries for what is dedicated.

¹³Also included were plans for the divisions of the priests and the Levites; all the work of service in the LORD’s house; all the articles of service of the LORD’s house;

¹⁴the weight of gold for all the articles for every kind of service; the weight of all the silver articles for every kind of service;

¹⁵the weight of the gold lampstands and their gold lamps, including the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; the weight of each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the service of each lampstand;

¹⁶the weight of gold for each table for the rows of the Bread of the Presence and the silver for the silver tables;

¹⁷the pure gold for the forks, sprinkling basins, and pitchers; the weight of each gold dish; the weight of each silver bowl;

¹⁸the weight of refined gold for the altar of incense; and the plans for the chariot of the gold cherubim that spread out their wings and cover the ark of the LORD’s covenant.

¹⁹David concluded, “By the LORD’s hand on me, he enabled me to understand everything in writing, all the details of the plan.”

²⁰Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the LORD’s house is finished.

²¹Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of God’s house. Every willing person of any skill will be at your disposal for the work, and the leaders and all the people are at your every command.”

¹In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me earlier.

²I saw the vision, and as I watched, I was in the fortress city of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.

³I looked up, and there was a ram standing beside the canal. He had two horns. The two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up last.

⁴I saw the ram charging to the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no rescue from his power. He did whatever he wanted and became great.

⁵As I was observing, a male goat appeared, coming from the west across the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.

⁶He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with savage fury.

⁷I saw him approaching the ram, and infuriated with him, he struck the ram, breaking his two horns, and the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power.

⁸Then the male goat acted even more arrogantly, but when he became powerful, the large horn was broken. Four conspicuous horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹From one of them a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land.

¹⁰It grew as high as the heavenly army, made some of the army and some of the stars fall to the earth, and trampled them.

¹¹It acted arrogantly even against the Prince of the heavenly army; it revoked his regular sacrifice and overthrew the place of his sanctuary.

¹²In the rebellion, the army was given up, together with the regular sacrifice. The horn threw truth to the ground and was successful in what it did.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, “How long will the events of this vision last  — the regular sacrifice, the rebellion that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and of the army to be trampled?”

¹⁴He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be restored.”

¹⁵While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a man.

¹⁶I heard a human voice calling from the middle of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

¹⁷So he approached where I was standing; when he came near, I was terrified and fell facedown. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision refers to the time of the end.”

¹⁸While he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, made me stand up,

¹⁹and said, “I am here to tell you what will happen at the conclusion of the time of wrath, because it refers to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king.

²²The four horns that took the place of the broken horn represent four kingdoms. They will rise from that nation, but without its power.

²³Near the end of their kingdoms, when the rebels have reached the full measure of their sin, a ruthless king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne.

²⁴His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause outrageous destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the powerful along with the holy people.

²⁵He will cause deceit to prosper through his cunning and by his influence, and in his own mind he will exalt himself. He will destroy many in a time of peace; he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken — not by human hands.

²⁶The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. Now you are to seal up the vision because it refers to many days in the future.”

²⁷I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was greatly disturbed by the vision and could not understand it.

¹The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step:

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.

¹³He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

³⁰They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.