Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

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

³and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram,

⁴and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

⁷and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,

⁸and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah,

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

¹⁰and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,

¹¹and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹²And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,

¹⁵and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,

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

¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

²⁰But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

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

²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

¹When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,

²you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.

³You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”

⁴When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God,

⁵you shall make this response before the LORD your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

⁶When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us,

⁷we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

⁸The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;

⁹and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.

¹¹Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

¹²When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns,

¹³then you shall say before the LORD your God: “I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments:

¹⁴I have not eaten of it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God, doing just as you commanded me.

¹⁵Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors — a land flowing with milk and honey.”

¹⁶This very day the LORD your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁷Today you have obtained the LORD’s agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him.

¹⁸Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments;

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

¹Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.”

²But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

³The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

⁴For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶This I say by way of concession, not of command.

⁷I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am.

⁹But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

¹⁰To the married I give this command — not I but the Lord — that the wife should not separate from her husband

¹¹(but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²To the rest I say — I and not the Lord — that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

¹³And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

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

¹⁵But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you.

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

¹⁷However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.

²⁰Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.

²¹Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.

²²For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.

²³You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.

²⁴In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

²⁶I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are.

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

²⁸But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.

²⁹I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none,

³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,

³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

³²I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;

³³but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,

³⁴and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.

³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.

³⁷But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well.

³⁸So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too 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 call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.

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

⁴And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.

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

⁶and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

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

⁸I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, 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 for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;

¹⁰they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”

¹¹They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.

¹²When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

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

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

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

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine,

³your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore the maidens love you.

⁴Draw me after you, let us make haste. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.

⁵I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!

⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture your kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

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

¹⁰Your cheeks are comely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

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

¹²While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

¹⁵Ah, you are beautiful, my love; ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.

¹⁶Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely. Our couch is green;

¹⁷the beams of our house are cedar, our rafters are pine.

¹Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

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

³The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters.

⁴The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

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

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

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.

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

⁹The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”

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

¹¹May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!

¹Do not envy the wicked, nor desire to be with them;

²for their minds devise violence, and their lips talk of mischief.

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

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵Wise warriors are mightier than strong ones, and those who have knowledge than those who have strength;

⁶for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

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

⁸Whoever plans to do evil will be called a mischief-maker.

⁹The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to all.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength being small;

¹¹if you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death, those who go staggering to the slaughter;

¹²if you say, “Look, we did not know this” — does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay all according to their deeds?

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

¹⁴Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, you will find a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous; do no violence to the place where the righteous live;

¹⁶for though they fall seven times, they will rise again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble,

¹⁸or else the LORD will see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from them.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers. Do not envy the wicked;

²⁰for the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will go out.

²¹My child, fear the LORD and the king, and do not disobey either of them;

²²for disaster comes from them suddenly, and who knows the ruin that both can bring?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: Partiality in judging is not good.

²⁴Whoever says to the wicked, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations;

²⁵but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.

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

²⁷Prepare your work outside, get everything ready for you in the field; and after that build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

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

³⁰I passed by the field of one who was lazy, by the vineyard of a stupid person;

³¹and see, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

³²Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.

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

³⁴and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.

¹David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors.

²Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building.

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

⁴Yet the LORD God of Israel chose me from all my ancestral house to be king over Israel forever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took delight in making me king over all Israel.

⁵And of all my sons, for the LORD has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

⁶He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.

⁷I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.’

⁸Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and search out all the commandments of the LORD your God; that you may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

⁹“And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the LORD searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.

¹⁰Take heed now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.”

¹¹Then David gave his son Solomon the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat;

¹²and the plan of all that he had in mind: for the courts of the house of the LORD, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts;

¹³for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, and all the work of the service in the house of the LORD; for all the vessels for the service in the house of the LORD,

¹⁴the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service, the weight of silver vessels for each service,

¹⁵the weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, the weight of silver for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each in the service,

¹⁶the weight of gold for each table for the rows of bread, the silver for the silver tables,

¹⁷and pure gold for the forks, the basins, and the cups; for the golden bowls and the weight of each; for the silver bowls and the weight of each;

¹⁸for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

¹⁹“All this, in writing at the LORD’s direction, he made clear to me — the plan of all the works.”

²⁰David said further to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; 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 house of the LORD is finished.

²¹Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be every volunteer who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”

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

²In the vision I was looking and saw myself in Susa the capital, in the province of Elam, and I was by the river Ulai.

³I looked up and saw a ram standing beside the river. It had two horns. Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second.

⁴I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. All beasts were powerless to withstand it, and no one could rescue from its power; it did as it pleased and became strong.

⁵As I was watching, a male goat appeared from the west, coming across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a horn between its eyes.

⁶It came toward the ram with the two horns that I had seen standing beside the river, and it ran at it with savage force.

⁷I saw it approaching the ram. It was enraged against it and struck the ram, breaking its two horns. The ram did not have power to withstand it; it threw the ram down to the ground and trampled upon it, and there was no one who could rescue the ram from its power.

⁸Then the male goat grew exceedingly great; but at the height of its power, the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four prominent horns toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹Out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.

¹⁰It grew as high as the host of heaven. It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars, and trampled on them.

¹¹Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary.

¹²Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt offering; it cast truth to the ground, and kept prospering in what it did.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, “For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled?”

¹⁴And he answered him, “For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

¹⁵When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I tried to understand it. Then someone appeared standing before me, having the appearance of a man,

¹⁶and I heard a human voice by the Ulai, calling, “Gabriel, help this man understand the vision.”

¹⁷So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I became frightened and fell prostrate. But he said to me, “Understand, O mortal, that the vision is for the time of the end.”

¹⁸As he was speaking to me, I fell into a trance, face to the ground; then he touched me and set me on my feet.

¹⁹He said, “Listen, and I will tell you what will take place later in the period of wrath; for it refers to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.

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

²²As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.

²³At the end of their rule, when the transgressions have reached their full measure, a king of bold countenance shall arise, skilled in intrigue.

²⁴He shall grow strong in power, shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does. He shall destroy the powerful and the people of the holy ones.

²⁵By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall be great. Without warning he shall destroy many and shall even rise up against the Prince of princes. But he shall be broken, and not by human hands.

²⁶The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. As for you, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”

²⁷So I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days; then I arose and went about the king’s business. But I was dismayed by the vision and did not understand it.

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

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

³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,

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

⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.

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

⁸But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

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

¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

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

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;

¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

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

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

¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord.

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

²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion;

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷At that time 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 over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea;

³⁰this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.