Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

²For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

³During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,

⁶and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”

⁷Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’ ”

⁸Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹“I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

¹⁰“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’ ”

¹¹Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee.

¹³He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

¹⁴This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,

¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”

¹⁷From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. ”

¹⁸One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers — Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew — throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

¹⁹Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

²⁰And they left their nets at once and followed him.

²¹A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too.

²²They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

²³Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

²⁴News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed — he healed them all.

²⁵Large crowds followed him wherever he went — people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.

¹These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Sinai.

²Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to his whole country —

³all the great tests of strength, the miraculous signs, and the amazing wonders.

⁴But to this day the LORD has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!

⁵For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

⁶You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the LORD your God.

⁷“When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.

⁸We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh as their grant of land.

⁹“Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do.

¹⁰All of you — tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of Israel — are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God.

¹¹Your little ones and your wives are with you, as well as the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water.

¹²You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the LORD your God. The LORD is making this covenant, including the curses.

¹³By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴“But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses.

¹⁵I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the LORD our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.

¹⁶“You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left.

¹⁷You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold.

¹⁸I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you — no man, woman, clan, or tribe — will turn away from the LORD our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

¹⁹“Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin!

²⁰The LORD will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the LORD will erase their names from under heaven.

²¹The LORD will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.

²²“Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the LORD inflicts on it.

²³They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his intense anger.’

²⁴“And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’

²⁵“And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²⁶Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the LORD.

²⁷That is why the LORD’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book.

²⁸In great anger and fury the LORD uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’

²⁹“The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

¹I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.

²In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.

³All of them ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,

⁷or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”

⁸And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.

⁹Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.

¹⁰And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

¹²If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

¹³The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

¹⁴So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

¹⁵You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true.

¹⁶When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.

¹⁸Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?

¹⁹What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods?

²⁰No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons.

²¹You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.

²²What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?

²³You say, “I am allowed to do anything” — but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything” — but not everything is beneficial.

²⁴Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.

²⁵So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience.

²⁶For “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”

²⁷If someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience.

²⁸(But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you.

²⁹It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks?

³⁰If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it?

³¹So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

³²Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God.

³³I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.

¹Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

²When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke.

³Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions.

⁴They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

⁵They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting.

⁶In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!

⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces.

⁸They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion.

⁹They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.

¹⁰They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.

¹¹Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon — the Destroyer.

¹²The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!

¹³Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.

¹⁴And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.”

¹⁵Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.

¹⁶I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

¹⁷And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.

¹⁸One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues — by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.

¹⁹Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.

²⁰But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood — idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!

²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

¹You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.

²Your teeth are as white as sheep, recently shorn and freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin.

³Your lips are like scarlet ribbon; your mouth is inviting. Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David, jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes.

⁵Your breasts are like two fawns, twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.

⁶Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee, I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Come down from Mount Amana, from the peaks of Senir and Hermon, where the lions have their dens and leopards live among the hills.

⁹You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices.

¹¹Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹²You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.

¹³Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates with rare spices — henna with nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, fragrant calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, and every other lovely spice.

¹⁵You are a garden fountain, a well of fresh water streaming down from Lebanon’s mountains.

¹⁶Awake, north wind! Rise up, south wind! Blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around. Come into your garden, my love; taste its finest fruits.

¹Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

²Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

³When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.

⁴Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude

⁵Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude

⁶Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.

⁷For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. Interlude

⁸The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

⁹Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

¹⁰Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD.

¹¹So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!

¹Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.

²Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth — a stranger, not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

⁴Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.

⁵An open rebuke is better than hidden love!

⁶Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

⁷A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

⁸A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.

⁹The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.

¹⁰Never abandon a friend — either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad. Then I will be able to answer my critics.

¹²A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

¹³Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.

¹⁴A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!

¹⁵A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.

¹⁶Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

¹⁸As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.

¹⁹As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.

²⁰Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.

²¹Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.

²²You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

²³Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,

²⁴for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.

²⁵After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in,

²⁶your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field.

²⁷And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.

¹Solomon decided to build a Temple to honor the name of the LORD, and also a royal palace for himself.

²He enlisted a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 men to quarry stone in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen.

³Solomon also sent this message to King Hiram at Tyre: “Send me cedar logs as you did for my father, David, when he was building his palace.

⁴I am about to build a Temple to honor the name of the LORD my God. It will be a place set apart to burn fragrant incense before him, to display the special sacrificial bread, and to sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon celebrations, and at the other appointed festivals of the LORD our God. He has commanded Israel to do these things forever.

⁵“This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods.

⁶But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?

⁷“So send me a master craftsman who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, scarlet, and blue cloth. He must be a skilled engraver who can work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father, David.

⁸“Also send me cedar, cypress, and red sandalwood logs from Lebanon, for I know that your men are without equal at cutting timber in Lebanon. I will send my men to help them.

⁹An immense amount of timber will be needed, for the Temple I am going to build will be very large and magnificent.

¹⁰In payment for your woodcutters, I will send 100,000 bushels of crushed wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil. ”

¹¹King Hiram sent this letter of reply to Solomon: “It is because the LORD loves his people that he has made you their king!

¹²Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son, gifted with skill and understanding, who will build a Temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.

¹³“I am sending you a master craftsman named Huram-abi, who is extremely talented.

¹⁴His mother is from the tribe of Dan in Israel, and his father is from Tyre. He is skillful at making things from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and he also works with stone and wood. He can work with purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen. He is also an engraver and can follow any design given to him. He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.

¹⁵“Send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that my lord has mentioned.

¹⁶We will cut whatever timber you need from the Lebanon mountains and will float the logs in rafts down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa. From there you can transport the logs up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷Solomon took a census of all foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father had taken, and he counted 153,600.

¹⁸He assigned 70,000 of them as common laborers, 80,000 as quarry workers in the hill country, and 3,600 as foremen.

¹I have been standing beside Michael to support and strengthen him since the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede.)

²“Now then, I will reveal the truth to you. Three more Persian kings will reign, to be succeeded by a fourth, far richer than the others. He will use his wealth to stir up everyone to fight against the kingdom of Greece.

³“Then a mighty king will rise to power who will rule with great authority and accomplish everything he sets out to do.

⁴But at the height of his power, his kingdom will be broken apart and divided into four parts. It will not be ruled by the king’s descendants, nor will the kingdom hold the authority it once had. For his empire will be uprooted and given to others.

⁵“The king of the south will increase in power, but one of his own officials will become more powerful than he and will rule his kingdom with great strength.

⁶“Some years later an alliance will be formed between the king of the north and the king of the south. The daughter of the king of the south will be given in marriage to the king of the north to secure the alliance, but she will lose her influence over him, and so will her father. She will be abandoned along with her supporters.

⁷But when one of her relatives becomes king of the south, he will raise an army and enter the fortress of the king of the north and defeat him.

⁸When he returns to Egypt, he will carry back their idols with him, along with priceless articles of gold and silver. For some years afterward he will leave the king of the north alone.

⁹“Later the king of the north will invade the realm of the king of the south but will soon return to his own land.

¹⁰However, the sons of the king of the north will assemble a mighty army that will advance like a flood and carry the battle as far as the enemy’s fortress.

¹¹“Then, in a rage, the king of the south will rally against the vast forces assembled by the king of the north and will defeat them.

¹²After the enemy army is swept away, the king of the south will be filled with pride and will execute many thousands of his enemies. But his success will be short lived.

¹³“A few years later the king of the north will return with a fully equipped army far greater than before.

¹⁴At that time there will be a general uprising against the king of the south. Violent men among your own people will join them in fulfillment of this vision, but they will not succeed.

¹⁵Then the king of the north will come and lay siege to a fortified city and capture it. The best troops of the south will not be able to stand in the face of the onslaught.

¹⁶“The king of the north will march onward unopposed; none will be able to stop him. He will pause in the glorious land of Israel, intent on destroying it.

¹⁷He will make plans to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will form an alliance with the king of the south. He will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom from within, but his plan will fail.

¹⁸“After this, he will turn his attention to the coastland and conquer many cities. But a commander from another land will put an end to his insolence and cause him to retreat in shame.

¹⁹He will take refuge in his own fortresses but will stumble and fall and be seen no more.

²⁰“His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. But after a very brief reign, he will die, though not from anger or in battle.

²¹“The next to come to power will be a despicable man who is not in line for royal succession. He will slip in when least expected and take over the kingdom by flattery and intrigue.

²²Before him great armies will be swept away, including a covenant prince.

²³With deceitful promises, he will make various alliances. He will become strong despite having only a handful of followers.

²⁴Without warning he will enter the richest areas of the land. Then he will distribute among his followers the plunder and wealth of the rich — something his predecessors had never done. He will plot the overthrow of strongholds, but this will last for only a short while.

²⁵“Then he will stir up his courage and raise a great army against the king of the south. The king of the south will go to battle with a mighty army, but to no avail, for there will be plots against him.

²⁶His own household will cause his downfall. His army will be swept away, and many will be killed.

²⁷Seeking nothing but each other’s harm, these kings will plot against each other at the conference table, attempting to deceive each other. But it will make no difference, for the end will come at the appointed time.

²⁸“The king of the north will then return home with great riches. On the way he will set himself against the people of the holy covenant, doing much damage before continuing his journey.

²⁹“Then at the appointed time he will once again invade the south, but this time the result will be different.

³⁰For warships from western coastlands will scare him off, and he will withdraw and return home. But he will vent his anger against the people of the holy covenant and reward those who forsake the covenant.

³¹“His army will take over the Temple fortress, pollute the sanctuary, put a stop to the daily sacrifices, and set up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration.

³²He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.

³³“Wise leaders will give instruction to many, but these teachers will die by fire and sword, or they will be jailed and robbed.

³⁴During these persecutions, little help will arrive, and many who join them will not be sincere.

³⁵And some of the wise will fall victim to persecution. In this way, they will be refined and cleansed and made pure until the time of the end, for the appointed time is still to come.

³⁶“The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed, but only until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place.

³⁷He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god loved by women, or for any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all.

³⁸Instead of these, he will worship the god of fortresses — a god his ancestors never knew — and lavish on him gold, silver, precious stones, and expensive gifts.

³⁹Claiming this foreign god’s help, he will attack the strongest fortresses. He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the land among them as their reward.

⁴⁰“Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack the king of the north. The king of the north will storm out with chariots, charioteers, and a vast navy. He will invade various lands and sweep through them like a flood.

⁴¹He will enter the glorious land of Israel, and many nations will fall, but Moab, Edom, and the best part of Ammon will escape.

⁴²He will conquer many countries, and even Egypt will not escape.

⁴³He will gain control over the gold, silver, and treasures of Egypt, and the Libyans and Ethiopians will be his servants.

⁴⁴“But then news from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in great anger to destroy and obliterate many.

⁴⁵He will stop between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents. But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, and no one will help him.

¹The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.

²Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.

³But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

⁵Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.

⁶When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia — to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area.

⁷And there they preached the Good News.

⁸While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting

⁹and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.

¹⁰So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.

¹¹When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!”

¹²They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker.

¹³Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting,

¹⁵“Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings — just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways,

¹⁷but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.”

¹⁸But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.

²⁰But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia,

²²where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.

²³Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

²⁴Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia.

²⁵They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia.

²⁶Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun. The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed.

²⁷Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too.

²⁸And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.