Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.

²Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.

³For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them;

⁴but the prudent ones took oil in flasks with their lamps.

⁵Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy and began to sleep.

⁶But at midnightthere finally was a shout: ‘Behold, the groom! Come out to meet him.’

⁷Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.

⁸But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’

⁹However, the prudent ones answered, ‘No, there most certainly would not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰But while they wereon their way to buy the oil, the groom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.

¹¹Yet later, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’

¹²But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

¹³Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.

¹⁴“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

¹⁵To one he gave fivetalents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

¹⁶The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents.

¹⁷In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more.

¹⁸But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid hismaster’s money.

¹⁹“Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them.

²⁰The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’

²¹His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of yourmaster.’

²²“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’

²³His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²⁴“Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed.

²⁵And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed?

²⁷Then you ought to haveput my money in the bank, andon my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

²⁸Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

³⁰And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

³¹“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

³²And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

³³and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

³⁶naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

³⁸And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

³⁹And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

⁴⁰And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

⁴¹“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

⁴³I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did nottake care of You?’

⁴⁵Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’

⁴⁶These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

¹Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight.

⁵So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹So the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are pregnant, And you will give birth to a son; And you shall name him Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹²But he will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live in defiance of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

¹Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

²It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that somehow I might be running, or had run, in vain.

³But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

⁴Yet it was a concern because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy on our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.

⁵But we did not yield in subjection to them, even for an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

⁶But from those who were of considerable repute (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism)—well, those who were of repute contributed nothing to me.

⁷But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised

⁸(for He who was at work for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised was at work for me also to the Gentiles),

⁹and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

¹²For prior to the coming of some men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and separate himself, fearing those from the circumcision.

¹³The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

¹⁵“We are Jews by nature and not sinners from the Gentiles;

¹⁶nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

¹⁷But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Far from it!

¹⁸For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a wrongdoer.

¹⁹For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

¹“My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.

²Mockers are certainly with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

³“Make a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor?

⁴For You have kept their hearts away from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

⁵He who informs against friends for a share of the spoils, The eyes of his children also will perish.

⁶“But He has made me a proverb among the people, And I am one at whom people spit.

⁷My eye has also become inexpressive because of grief, And all my body parts are like a shadow.

⁸The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

⁹Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past, my plans are torn apart, The wishes of my heart.

¹²They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

¹³If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness;

¹⁴If I call to the grave, ‘You are my father’; To the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;

¹⁵Where then is my hope? And who looks at my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

¹The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; There is no one who does good.

²God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind To see if there is anyone who understands, Who seeks after God.

³Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴Have the workers of injustice no knowledge, Who eat up My people like they ate bread, And have not called upon God?

⁵They were in great fear there, where no fear had been; For God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected them.

⁶Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Now in the seventh year, Jehoiada gathered his courage, and took captains of hundreds: Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Johanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, and they entered into a covenant with him.

²And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³Then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David.

⁴This is the thing which you shall do: a third of you, of the priests and Levites who come in on the Sabbath, shall be gatekeepers,

⁵and a third shall be at the king’s house, and a third at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courtyards of the house of the LORD.

⁶But no one is to enter the house of the LORD except the priests and the ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy. And all the people are to keep the command of the LORD.

⁷The Levites will surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the house is to be put to death. Therefore be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

⁸The Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss any of the divisions.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest gave the captains of hundreds the spears and the shields and quivers which had been King David’s, which were in the house of God.

¹⁰He stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house, around the king.

¹¹Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”

¹²When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the LORD to the people.

¹³She looked, and behold, the king was standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters were beside the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets, the singers with their musical instruments leading the praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and said, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!”

¹⁴And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were appointed over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her is to be put to death with the sword.” For the priest said, “You shall not put her to death in the house of the LORD.”

¹⁵So they seized her, and when she arrived at the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house, they put her to death there.

¹⁶Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they would be the LORD’S people.

¹⁷And all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down, and they broke in pieces his altars and his images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

¹⁸Moreover, Jehoiada placed the offices of the house of the LORD under the authority of the Levitical priests, whom David had assigned over the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses—with rejoicing and singing according to the order of David.

¹⁹He stationed the gatekeepers of the house of the LORD, so that no one would enter who was in any way unclean.

²⁰He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of the LORD, and went through the upper gate to the king’s house. And they seated the king upon the royal throne.

²¹So all of the people of the land rejoiced and the city was at rest. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword.

¹Hear this word which the LORD has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:

²“You only have I known among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your wrongdoing.”

³Do two people walk together unless they have agreed to meet?

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?

⁵Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no device in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?

⁶If a trumpet is blown in a city, will the people not tremble? If a disaster occurs in a city, has the LORD not brought it about?

⁷Certainly the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret plan To His servants the prophets.

⁸A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can do anything but prophesy?

⁹Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great panic within her and the oppressions in her midst.

¹⁰But they do not know how to do what is right,” declares the LORD, “these who store up violence and devastation in their citadels.”

¹¹Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy, one surrounding the land, Will take down your fortifications from you, And your citadels will be looted.”

¹²This is what the LORD says: “Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear, So will the sons of Israel living in Samaria be snatched away— With the corner of a bed and the cover of a couch!

¹³Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Declares the Lord GOD, the God of armies.

¹⁴“For on the day that I punish Israel’s offenses, I will also punish the altars of Bethel; The horns of the altar will be cut off, And will fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will also strike the winter house together with the summer house; The houses of ivory will also perish, And the great houses will come to an end,” Declares the LORD.

¹Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

²And Stephen said, “Listen to me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and He said to him, ‘GO FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU.’

⁴Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

⁵But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.

⁶But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE STRANGERS IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS, AND THEY WOULD ENSLAVE AND MISTREAT them for four hundred years.

⁷‘AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY ARE ENSLAVED I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’

⁸And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

¹⁰and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

¹¹“Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

¹³And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all.

¹⁵And Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there.

¹⁶And they were brought back from there to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until ANOTHER KING AROSE OVER EGYPT WHO DID NOT KNOW JOSEPH.

¹⁹It was he who shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive.

²⁰At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home.

²¹And after he had been put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.

²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in speaking and action.

²³But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel.

²⁴And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian.

²⁵And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but they did not understand.

²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’

²⁷But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US?

²⁸YOU DO NOT INTEND TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?’

²⁹At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME A STRANGER IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he fathered two sons.

³⁰“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came:

³²‘I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND ISAAC, AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely.

³³But the LORD said to him, ‘REMOVE YOUR SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND.

³⁴I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE IN EGYPT, AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANING, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; AND NOW COME, I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.’

³⁵“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN.’

³⁸This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to you.

³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘MAKE US A GOD WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT—WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’

⁴¹At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to serve the heavenly lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘YOU DID NOT OFFER ME VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FOR FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, DID YOU, HOUSE OF ISRAEL?

⁴³YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF YOUR GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL DEPORT YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

⁴⁵Our fathers in turn received it, and they also brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David.

⁴⁶David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND THE EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord, ‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REST?

⁵⁰WAS IT NOT MY HAND THAT MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’

⁵¹“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

⁵²Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;

⁵³you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

⁵⁴Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

⁵⁶and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind.

⁵⁸When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.