Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham :

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

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram.

⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse.

⁶Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).

⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa.

⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.

⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.

¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah.

¹¹Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).

¹²After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.

¹³Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor.

¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud.

¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob.

¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

¹⁸This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

²⁰As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

²¹And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

²³“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

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

²⁵But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

¹“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession and you have conquered it and settled there,

²put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and bring it to the designated place of worship — the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored.

³Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ‘With this gift I acknowledge to the LORD your God that I have entered the land he swore to our ancestors he would give us.’

⁴The priest will then take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the LORD your God.

⁵“You must then say in the presence of the LORD your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation.

⁶When the Egyptians oppressed and humiliated us by making us their slaves,

⁷we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. He heard our cries and saw our hardship, toil, and oppression.

⁸So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders.

⁹He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁰And now, O LORD, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’ Then place the produce before the LORD your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him.

¹¹Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.

¹²“Every third year you must offer a special tithe of your crops. In this year of the special tithe you must give your tithes to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that they will have enough to eat in your towns.

¹³Then you must declare in the presence of the LORD your God, ‘I have taken the sacred gift from my house and have given it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, just as you commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten any of your commands.

¹⁴I have not eaten any of it while in mourning; I have not handled it while I was ceremonially unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God and have done everything you commanded me.

¹⁵Now look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you swore to our ancestors to give us — a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶“Today the LORD your God has commanded you to obey all these decrees and regulations. So be careful to obey them wholeheartedly.

¹⁷You have declared today that the LORD is your God. And you have promised to walk in his ways, and to obey his decrees, commands, and regulations, and to do everything he tells you.

¹⁸The LORD has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure, just as he promised, and that you must obey all his commands.

¹⁹And if you do, he will set you high above all the other nations he has made. Then you will receive praise, honor, and renown. You will be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, just as he promised.”

¹Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations.

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

³The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs.

⁴The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.

⁵Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

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

⁷But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.

⁸So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows — it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am.

⁹But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

¹⁰But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband.

¹¹But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.

¹²Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her.

¹³And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him.

¹⁴For the believing wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the believing husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy.

¹⁵(But if the husband or wife who isn’t a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the believing husband or wife is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you to live in peace.)

¹⁶Don’t you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you?

¹⁷Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.

¹⁸For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now.

¹⁹For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.

²⁰Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you.

²¹Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you — but if you get a chance to be free, take it.

²²And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.

²³God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.

²⁴Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.

²⁵Now regarding your question about the young women who are not yet married. I do not have a command from the Lord for them. But the Lord in his mercy has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will share it with you.

²⁶Because of the present crisis, I think it is best to remain as you are.

²⁷If you have a wife, do not seek to end the marriage. If you do not have a wife, do not seek to get married.

²⁸But if you do get married, it is not a sin. And if a young woman gets married, it is not a sin. However, those who get married at this time will have troubles, and I am trying to spare you those problems.

²⁹But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage.

³⁰Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions.

³¹Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.

³²I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him.

³³But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife.

³⁴His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.

³⁵I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.

³⁶But if a man thinks that he’s treating his fiancée improperly and will inevitably give in to his passion, let him marry her as he wishes. It is not a sin.

³⁷But if he has decided firmly not to marry and there is no urgency and he can control his passion, he does well not to marry.

³⁸So the person who marries his fiancée does well, and the person who doesn’t marry does even better.

³⁹A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only if he loves the Lord.

⁴⁰But in my opinion it would be better for her to stay single, and I think I am giving you counsel from God’s Spirit when I say this.

¹As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory.

³When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!”

⁴Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.

⁵When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.”

⁷When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!”

⁸I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.

⁹When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony.

¹⁰They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?”

¹¹Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters — their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred — had joined them.

¹²I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood.

¹³Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind.

¹⁴The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.

¹⁵Then everyone — the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person — all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”

¹This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.

²Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine.

³How pleasing is your fragrance; your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils. No wonder all the young women love you!

⁴Take me with you; come, let’s run! The king has brought me into his bedroom. Young Women of Jerusalem How happy we are for you, O king. We praise your love even more than wine. Young Woman How right they are to adore you.

⁵I am dark but beautiful, O women of Jerusalem — dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon’s tents.

⁶Don’t stare at me because I am dark — the sun has darkened my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they forced me to care for their vineyards, so I couldn’t care for myself — my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your sheep at noon? For why should I wander like a prostitute among your friends and their flocks?

⁸If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock, and graze your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.

⁹You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.

¹⁰How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels.

¹¹We will make for you earrings of gold and beads of silver.

¹²The king is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.

¹³My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.

¹⁴He is like a bouquet of sweet henna blossoms from the vineyards of En-gedi.

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

¹⁶You are so handsome, my love, pleasing beyond words! The soft grass is our bed;

¹⁷fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house, and pleasant smelling firs are the rafters.

¹Honor the LORD, you heavenly beings ; honor the LORD for his glory and strength.

²Honor the LORD for the glory of his name. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

³The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The LORD thunders over the mighty sea.

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

⁵The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.

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

⁸The voice of the LORD makes the barren wilderness quake; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”

¹⁰The LORD rules over the floodwaters. The LORD reigns as king forever.

¹¹The LORD gives his people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace.

¹Don’t envy evil people or desire their company.

²For their hearts plot violence, and their words always stir up trouble.

³A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.

⁴Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.

⁵The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger.

⁶So don’t go to war without wise guidance; victory depends on having many advisers.

⁷Wisdom is too lofty for fools. Among leaders at the city gate, they have nothing to say.

⁸A person who plans evil will get a reputation as a troublemaker.

⁹The schemes of a fool are sinful; everyone detests a mocker.

¹⁰If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.

¹¹Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death.

¹²Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.

¹³My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.

¹⁴In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short.

¹⁵Don’t wait in ambush at the home of the godly, and don’t raid the house where the godly live.

¹⁶The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

¹⁷Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.

¹⁸For the LORD will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.

¹⁹Don’t fret because of evildoers; don’t envy the wicked.

²⁰For evil people have no future; the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.

²¹My child, fear the LORD and the king. Don’t associate with rebels,

²²for disaster will hit them suddenly. Who knows what punishment will come from the LORD and the king?

²³Here are some further sayings of the wise: It is wrong to show favoritism when passing judgment.

²⁴A judge who says to the wicked, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by many people and denounced by the nations.

²⁵But it will go well for those who convict the guilty; rich blessings will be showered on them.

²⁶An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship.

²⁷Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.

²⁸Don’t testify against your neighbors without cause; don’t lie about them.

²⁹And don’t say, “Now I can pay them back for what they’ve done to me! I’ll get even with them!”

³⁰I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense.

³¹I saw that it was overgrown with nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.

³²Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson:

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

³⁴then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

¹David summoned all the officials of Israel to Jerusalem — the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of the army divisions, the other generals and captains, the overseers of the royal property and livestock, the palace officials, the mighty men, and all the other brave warriors in the kingdom.

²David rose to his feet and said: “My brothers and my people! It was my desire to build a Temple where the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, God’s footstool, could rest permanently. I made the necessary preparations for building it,

³but God said to me, ‘You must not build a Temple to honor my name, for you are a warrior and have shed much blood.’

⁴“Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, has chosen me from among all my father’s family to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen the tribe of Judah to rule, and from among the families of Judah he chose my father’s family. And from among my father’s sons the LORD was pleased to make me king over all Israel.

⁵And from among my sons — for the LORD has given me many — he chose Solomon to succeed me on the throne of Israel and to rule over the LORD’s kingdom.

⁶He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon will build my Temple and its courtyards, for I have chosen him as my son, and I will be his father.

⁷And if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does now, I will make his kingdom last forever.’

⁸“So now, with God as our witness, and in the sight of all Israel — the LORD’s assembly — I give you this charge. Be careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land and leave it to your children as a permanent inheritance.

⁹“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

¹⁰So take this seriously. The LORD has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work.”

¹¹Then David gave Solomon the plans for the Temple and its surroundings, including the entry room, the storerooms, the upstairs rooms, the inner rooms, and the inner sanctuary — which was the place of atonement.

¹²David also gave Solomon all the plans he had in mind for the courtyards of the LORD’s Temple, the outside rooms, the treasuries, and the rooms for the gifts dedicated to the LORD.

¹³The king also gave Solomon the instructions concerning the work of the various divisions of priests and Levites in the Temple of the LORD. And he gave specifications for the items in the Temple that were to be used for worship.

¹⁴David gave instructions regarding how much gold and silver should be used to make the items needed for service.

¹⁵He told Solomon the amount of gold needed for the gold lampstands and lamps, and the amount of silver for the silver lampstands and lamps, depending on how each would be used.

¹⁶He designated the amount of gold for the table on which the Bread of the Presence would be placed and the amount of silver for other tables.

¹⁷David also designated the amount of gold for the solid gold meat hooks used to handle the sacrificial meat and for the basins, pitchers, and dishes, as well as the amount of silver for every dish.

¹⁸He designated the amount of refined gold for the altar of incense. Finally, he gave him a plan for the LORD’s “chariot” — the gold cherubim whose wings were stretched out over the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant.

¹⁹“Every part of this plan,” David told Solomon, “was given to me in writing from the hand of the LORD. ”

²⁰Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the LORD is finished correctly.

²¹The various divisions of priests and Levites will serve in the Temple of God. Others with skills of every kind will volunteer, and the officials and the entire nation are at your command.”

¹During the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, saw another vision, following the one that had already appeared to me.

²In this vision I was at the fortress of Susa, in the province of Elam, standing beside the Ulai River.

³As I looked up, I saw a ram with two long horns standing beside the river. One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one.

⁴The ram butted everything out of his way to the west, to the north, and to the south, and no one could stand against him or help his victims. He did as he pleased and became very great.

⁵While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes,

⁶headed toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage.

⁷The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.

⁸The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth.

⁹Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of Israel.

¹⁰Its power reached to the heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them.

¹¹It even challenged the Commander of heaven’s army by canceling the daily sacrifices offered to him and by destroying his Temple.

¹²The army of heaven was restrained from responding to this rebellion. So the daily sacrifice was halted, and truth was overthrown. The horn succeeded in everything it did.

¹³Then I heard two holy ones talking to each other. One of them asked, “How long will the events of this vision last? How long will the rebellion that causes desecration stop the daily sacrifices? How long will the Temple and heaven’s army be trampled on?”

¹⁴The other replied, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the Temple will be made right again.”

¹⁵As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me.

¹⁶And I heard a human voice calling out from the Ulai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.”

¹⁷As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.”

¹⁸While he was speaking, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. But Gabriel roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet.

¹⁹Then he said, “I am here to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath. What you have seen pertains to the very end of time.

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

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

²²The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first.

²³“At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power.

²⁴He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people.

²⁵He will be a master of deception and will become arrogant; he will destroy many without warning. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle, but he will be broken, though not by human power.

²⁶“This vision about the 2,300 evenings and mornings is true. But none of these things will happen for a long time, so keep this vision a secret.”

²⁷Then I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for several days. Afterward I got up and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly troubled by the vision and could not understand it.

¹Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

²But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.

³“You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

⁴Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

⁶When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds.

⁷And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

⁸“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. ’

⁹“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

¹¹“Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us.

¹³He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

¹⁴He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

¹⁵“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

¹⁹Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

²⁰However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

²²When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

²⁷During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

³⁰This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.