Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

²Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

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

¹²After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud,

¹⁵Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

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

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

²³“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

²⁵But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

¹When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it,

²take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name

³and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”

⁴The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

⁵Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.

⁶But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor.

⁷Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.

⁸So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.

⁹He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;

¹⁰and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me.” Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him.

¹¹Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.

¹²When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

¹³Then say to the LORD your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.

¹⁴I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded me.

¹⁵Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

¹⁶The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁷You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him.

¹⁸And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.

¹⁹He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

¹Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

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

³The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

⁴The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.

⁵Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

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

⁷I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

⁸Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.

⁹But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.

¹¹But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

¹²To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

¹³And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.

¹⁶How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

¹⁸Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.

²⁰Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

²¹Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.

²²For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.

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

²⁴Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

²⁵Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

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

²⁷Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife.

²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

²⁹What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not;

³⁰those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;

³¹those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

³²I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.

³³But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—

³⁴and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.

³⁵I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.

³⁷But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing.

³⁸So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.

³⁹A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.

⁴⁰In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

¹I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

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

⁴Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

⁵When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

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

⁸I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

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

¹⁰They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

¹¹Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

¹²I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,

¹³and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

¹⁴The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

¹Solomon’s Song of Songs.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.

³Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you!

⁴Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you!

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

⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect.

⁷Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?

⁸If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.

⁹I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.

¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

¹¹We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.

¹²While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

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

¹⁶How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant.

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.

¹A psalm of David. 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 over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

⁴The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

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

⁷The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

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

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

¹Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;

²for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;

⁴through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

⁵The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.

⁶Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.

⁷Wisdom is too high for fools; in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.

⁸Whoever plots evil will be known as a schemer.

⁹The schemes of folly are sin, and people detest a mocker.

¹⁰If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!

¹¹Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

¹²If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous, do not plunder their dwelling place;

¹⁶for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

¹⁷Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,

¹⁸or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked,

²⁰for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

²¹Fear the LORD and the king, my son, and do not join with rebellious officials,

²²for those two will send sudden destruction on them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:

²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

²⁵But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.

²⁶An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead?

²⁹Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

³⁰I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

³¹thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.

³²I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:

³³A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—

³⁴and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

¹David summoned all the officials of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem: the officers over the tribes, the commanders of the divisions in the service of the king, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the warriors and all the brave fighting men.

²King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.

³But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’

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

⁵Of all my sons—and the LORD has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

⁶He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will 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 is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’

⁸“So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

⁹“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

¹⁰Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

¹¹Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement.

¹²He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.

¹³He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the LORD, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service.

¹⁴He designated the weight of gold for all the gold articles to be used in various kinds of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver articles to be used in various kinds of service:

¹⁵the weight of gold for the gold lampstands and their lamps, with the weight for each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand;

¹⁶the weight of gold for each table for consecrated bread; the weight of silver for the silver tables;

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

¹⁸and the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense. He also gave him the plan for the chariot, that is, the cherubim of gold that spread their wings and overshadow the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

¹⁹“All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the LORD’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”

²⁰David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.

²¹The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command.”

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

²In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal.

³I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later.

⁴I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great.

⁵As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground.

⁶It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage.

⁷I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power.

⁸The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.

¹⁰It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.

¹¹It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the LORD; it took away the daily sacrifice from the LORD, and his sanctuary was thrown down.

¹²Because of rebellion, the LORD’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the LORD’s people?”

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

¹⁵While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man.

¹⁶And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.”

¹⁷As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”

¹⁸While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet.

¹⁹He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.

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

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

²²The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power.

²³“In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise.

²⁴He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people.

²⁵He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.

²⁶“The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”

²⁷I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.

¹The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him

³and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.

⁶I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.

⁷Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

⁸“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

¹¹“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.

¹²The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

¹⁴He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.

²⁰Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²²News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

²⁴He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

²⁷During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

³⁰This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.