Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he told his disciples,

²“You know that the Passover takes place after two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas,

⁴and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill him.

⁵“Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.”

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

⁷a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked.

⁹“This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me.

¹¹You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

¹²By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial.

¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.

¹⁶And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

¹⁷On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸“Go into the city to a certain man,” he said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover at your place with my disciples.’”

¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, he was reclining at the table with the Twelve.

²¹While they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

²²Deeply distressed, each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?”

²³He replied, “The one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl — he will betray me.

²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵Judas, his betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” “You have said it,” he told him.

²⁶As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you.

²⁸For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

³³Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

³⁵“Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.

³⁶Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

³⁸He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with me one hour?

⁴¹Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

⁴³And he came again and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴⁶Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. A large mob with swords and clubs was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸His betrayer had given them a sign: “The one I kiss, he’s the one; arrest him.”

⁴⁹So immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

⁵⁰“Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come?” Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him.

⁵¹At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.

⁵²Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.

⁵³Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?

⁵⁴How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me.

⁵⁶But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened.

⁵⁸Peter was following him at a distance right to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and was sitting with the servants to see the outcome.

⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death,

⁶⁰but they could not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two who came forward

⁶¹stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?”

⁶³But Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴“You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? See, now you’ve heard the blasphemy.

⁶⁶What is your decision?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷Then they spat in his face and beat him; others slapped him

⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who was it that hit you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl approached him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”

⁷⁰But he denied it in front of everyone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

⁷¹When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene!”

⁷²And again he denied it with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³After a little while those standing there approached and said to Peter, “You really are one of them, since even your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he started to curse and to swear with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed,

⁷⁵and Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.

²I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

³Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:

⁴“As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.

⁵Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.

⁶I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.

⁷I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.

⁸And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing — all the land of Canaan — as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.

¹⁰This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.

¹¹You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.

¹²Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old — every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.

¹³Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.

¹⁴If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.

¹⁶I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”

¹⁸So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”

¹⁹But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

²²When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.

²³So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased — every male among the members of Abraham’s household — and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.

²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,

²⁵and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

²⁶On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.

²⁷And all the men of his household — whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner — were circumcised with him.

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

²I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

³Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?

⁴Did you experience so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing?

⁵So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —

⁶just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

⁷You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.

⁸Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

⁹Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.

¹¹Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

¹²But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

¹⁴The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

¹⁷My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one.

²¹Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

²²But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

²⁴The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

²⁵But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

²⁶for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

²⁸There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

²To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine

⁴or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

⁵Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

⁶Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

⁷They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

⁸But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

⁹We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

¹²I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry —

¹³even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief,

¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”  — and I am the worst of them.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight,

¹⁹having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have shipwrecked their faith.

²⁰Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long until you stop talking? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

³Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in anger  — should the earth be abandoned on your account, or a rock be removed from its place?

⁵Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him is put out.

⁷His powerful stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.

⁸For his own feet lead him into a net, and he strays into its mesh.

⁹A trap catches him by the heel; a noose seizes him.

¹⁰A rope lies hidden for him on the ground, and a snare waits for him along the path.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side and harass him at every step.

¹²His strength is depleted; disaster lies ready for him to stumble.

¹³Parts of his skin are eaten away; death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.

¹⁴He is ripped from the security of his tent and marched away to the king of terrors.

¹⁵Nothing he owned remains in his tent. Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.

¹⁶His roots below dry up, and his branches above wither away.

¹⁷All memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name anywhere.

¹⁸He is driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁹He has no children or descendants among his people, no survivor where he used to live.

²⁰Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.

²¹Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man, and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A of David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?” [1] God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might!

²God, hear my prayer; listen to the words from my mouth.

³For strangers rise up against me, and violent men intend to kill me. They do not let God guide them. Selah

⁴God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.

⁵He will repay my adversaries for their evil. Because of your faithfulness, annihilate them.

⁶I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you. I will praise your name, LORD, because it is good.

⁷For he has rescued me from every trouble, and my eye has looked down on my enemies.

¹One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.

²A fool does not delight in understanding, but only wants to show off his opinions.

³When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes, and along with dishonor, derision.

⁴The words of a person’s mouth are deep waters, a flowing river, a fountain of wisdom.

⁵It is not good to show partiality to the guilty, denying an innocent person justice.

⁶A fool’s lips lead to strife, and his mouth provokes a beating.

⁷A fool’s mouth is his devastation, and his lips are a trap for his life.

⁸A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being.

⁹The one who is lazy in his work is brother to a vandal.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.

¹¹The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; in his imagination it is like a high wall.

¹²Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

¹³The one who gives an answer before he listens — this is foolishness and disgrace for him.

¹⁴A person’s spirit can endure sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?

¹⁵The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it.

¹⁶A person’s gift opens doors for him and brings him before the great.

¹⁷The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

¹⁸Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates powerful opponents.

¹⁹An offended brother is harder to reach than a fortified city, and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.

²⁰From the fruit of a person’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is filled with the product of his lips.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

²³The poor person pleads, but the rich one answers roughly.

²⁴One with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

¹Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba.

²Throughout the time of the priest Jehoiada, Joash did what was right in the LORD’s sight.

³Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.

⁴Afterward, Joash took it to heart to renovate the LORD’s temple.

⁵So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect silver from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly.” However, the Levites did not hurry.

⁶So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by the LORD’s servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?

⁷For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the LORD’s temple and even used the sacred things of the LORD’s temple for the Baals.”

⁸At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the LORD’s temple.

⁹Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God’s servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the LORD.

¹⁰All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought the tax, and put it in the chest until it was full.

¹¹Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of silver, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the silver in abundance.

¹²Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the LORD’s temple, who were hiring stonecutters and carpenters to renovate the LORD’s temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the LORD’s temple.

¹³The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God’s temple to its specifications and reinforced it.

¹⁴When they finished, they presented the rest of the silver to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the LORD’s temple with it — articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the LORD’s temple throughout Jehoiada’s life.

¹⁵Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death.

¹⁶He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had done what was good in Israel with respect to God and his temple.

¹⁷However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them,

¹⁸and they abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

¹⁹Nevertheless, he sent them prophets to bring them back to the LORD; they admonished them, but the people would not listen.

²⁰The Spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands so that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.’”

²¹But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple.

²²King Joash didn’t remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and demand an account.”

²³At the turn of the year, an Aramean army attacked Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.

²⁴Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the LORD handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash.

²⁵When the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of the priest Jehoiada. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.

²⁷The accounts concerning his sons, the many divine pronouncements about him, and the restoration of God’s temple are recorded in the Writing of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.

¹Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who are on the hill of Samaria, women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring us something to drink.”

²The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: Look, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, every last one of you with fishhooks.

³You will go through breaches in the wall, each woman straight ahead, and you will be driven along toward Harmon. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴Come to Bethel and rebel; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tenths every three days.

⁵Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings, for that is what you Israelites love to do! This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁶I gave you absolutely nothing to eat in all your cities, a shortage of food in all your communities, yet you did not return to me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁷I also withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. I sent rain on one city but no rain on another. One field received rain while a field with no rain withered.

⁸Two or three cities staggered to another city to drink water but were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁹I struck you with blight and mildew; the locust devoured your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees, yet you did not return to me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁰I sent plagues like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I caused the stench of your camp to fill your nostrils, yet you did not return to me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹¹I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire, yet you did not return to me  — This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹²Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you, and since I will do that to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God!

¹³He is here: the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, the one who makes the dawn out of darkness and strides on the heights of the earth. The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.

¹Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

²Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

³Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

⁴So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

⁶The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing.

⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.

¹⁰They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time.

¹²But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

¹³Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

¹⁴When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

¹⁵After they went down there, they prayed for them so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them.

¹⁶(They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. )

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven.

²³For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road. )

²⁷So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

²⁸and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

³⁰When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

³⁴The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?”

³⁵Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

³⁶As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.