Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home.

²And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

³And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was paralyzed, carried by four men.

⁴And when they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralyzed man was lying.

⁵And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”

⁸Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man,

¹¹“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.”

¹²And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

¹⁴As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁵And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

¹⁶When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁸John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them,the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

²³And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;

²⁶how he entered the house of God in thetime of Abiathar the high priest, and ate theconsecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷Jesus said to them, “The Sabbathwas madefor man, and not manfor the Sabbath.

²⁸So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

¹Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.

²So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

³Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

⁴Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

⁷And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

⁸And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.

¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”

¹¹The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.

¹³And of the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”

¹⁴So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes.

¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept.

¹⁷God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

¹⁸Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do;

²³so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.”

²⁴Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.

²⁶And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

²⁸But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.

³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

³⁴And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many days.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved.

⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace

⁸which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

⁹He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him,

¹⁰regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

¹¹In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will,

¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

¹³In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise,

¹⁴who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,

¹⁶do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

²⁰which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church,

²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

¹Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, and to the younger men as brothers,

²to the older women as mothers, and to the younger women as sisters, in all purity.

³Honor widows who are actually widows;

⁴but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show proper respect for their own family and to give back compensation to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

⁵Now she who is actually a widow and has been left alone has set her hope on God, and she continues in requests and prayers night and day.

⁶But she who indulges herself in luxury is dead, even while she lives.

⁷Give these instructions as well, so that they may be above reproach.

⁸But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

¹⁰having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.

¹¹But refuse to register younger widows, for when they feel physical desires alienating them from Christ, they want to get married,

¹²thereby incurring condemnation, because they have ignored their previous pledge.

¹³At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also they become gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.

¹⁴Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, have children, manage their households, and give the enemy no opportunity for reproach;

¹⁵for some have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are actually widows.

¹⁷The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

¹⁹Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.

²⁰Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.

²¹I solemnly exhort you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.

²²Do not lay hands upon anyone too quickly and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.

²³Do not go on drinking only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

²⁴The sins of some people are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.

²⁵Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

²“Can a strong man be of use to God, Or a wise one be useful to himself?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, Or gain if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you, That He enters into judgment against you?

⁵Is your wickedness not abundant, And is there no end to your guilty deeds?

⁶For you have seized pledges from your brothers without cause, And stripped people naked.

⁷You have given the weary no water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸But the earth belongs to the powerful man, And the one who is honorable dwells on it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of orphans has been crushed.

¹⁰Therefore traps surround you, And sudden dread terrifies you,

¹¹Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is God not in the height of heaven? Look also at the highest stars, how high they are!

¹³But you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the ancient path Which wicked people have walked,

¹⁶Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river?

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Go away from us!’ And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’

¹⁸Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the advice of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see and are glad, And the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰‘Truly our enemies are eliminated, And fire has consumed their abundance.’

²¹“Be reconciled with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you.

²²Please receive instruction from His mouth, And put His words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; If you remove injustice far from your tent,

²⁴And put your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,

²⁵Then the Almighty will be your gold And abundant silver to you.

²⁶For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty And lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; And you will pay your vows.

²⁸You will also decide something, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When they have brought you low, you will speak with confidence, And He will save the humble person.

³⁰He will rescue one who is not innocent, And he will be rescued due to the cleanness of your hands.”

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, you gods? Do you judge fairly, you sons of mankind?

²No, in heart you practice injustice; On earth you clear a way for the violence of your hands.

³The wicked have turned away from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.

⁴They have venom like the venom of a serpent; Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

⁵So that it does not hear the voice of charmers, Or a skillful caster of spells.

⁶God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, LORD.

⁷May they flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, may they be as headless shafts.

⁸May they be like a snail which goes along in slime, Like the miscarriage of a woman that never sees the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹And people will say, “There certainly is a reward for the righteous; There certainly is a God who judges on the earth!”

¹A good name is to be more desired than great wealth; Favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the Maker of them all.

³A prudent person sees evil and hides himself, But the naive proceed, and pay the penalty.

⁴The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor, and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; One who guards himself will be far from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.

⁸One who sows injustice will reap disaster, And the rod of his fury will perish.

⁹One who is generous will be blessed, Because he gives some of his food to the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the scoffer, and strife will leave, Even quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹One who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

¹²The eyes of the LORD protect knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous person.

¹³The lazy one says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; He who is cursed of the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

¹⁶One who oppresses the poor to make more for himself, Or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

¹⁷Extend your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your mind to my knowledge;

¹⁸For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, So that they may be ready on your lips.

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, you indeed.

²⁰Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge,

²¹To make you know the certainty of the words of truth, So that you may correctly answer him who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor because he is poor, Nor crush the needy at the gate;

²³For the LORD will plead their case And take the life of those who rob them.

²⁴Do not make friends with a person given to anger, Or go with a hot-tempered person,

²⁵Or you will learn his ways And find a snare for yourself.

²⁶Do not be among those who shake hands, Among those who become guarantors for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to repay, Why should he take your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient boundary Which your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure people.

¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD as his father David had done.

²But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made cast metal images for the Baals.

³Furthermore, he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from the sons of Israel.

⁴He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵Therefore the LORD his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties.

⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the LORD God of their fathers.

⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

⁸The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage which has even reached heaven.

¹⁰Now you are proposing to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the LORD your God?

¹¹Now then, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the LORD is against you.”

¹²Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle,

¹³and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the LORD, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.”

¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly.

¹⁵Then the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent word to the kings of Assyria for help.

¹⁷For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives.

¹⁸The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there.

¹⁹For the LORD had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the LORD.

²⁰So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him.

²¹Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the LORD and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

²²Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.

²³For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the downfall of him and all Israel.

²⁴Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the LORD, and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem.

²⁵In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.

²⁶Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷So Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

¹This is what the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.

²And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will not spare them any longer.

³The songs of the palace will turn to wailing on that day,” declares the Lord GOD. “The corpses will be many; in every place they will throw them out. Hush!”

⁴Hear this, you who trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land,

⁵saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain; And the Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market, To make the ephah smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales,

⁶So as to buy the helpless for money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

⁷The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.

⁸Because of this will the land not quake, And everyone who lives in it mourn? Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

⁹And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And make the earth dark in broad daylight.

¹⁰Then I will turn your festivals into mourning, And all your songs into songs of mourning; And I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist, And baldness on every head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

¹¹“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

¹²People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will roam about to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.

¹³On that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst.

¹⁴As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, And say, ‘As your god lives, Dan,’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ They will fall and not rise again.”

¹Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, to do them harm.

²And he had James the brother of John executed with a sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well. (Now these were the days of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, turning him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending only after the Passover to bring him before the people.

⁵So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made to God intensely by the church.

⁶On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near Peter, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.

⁸And the angel said to him, “Put on your belt and strap on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

⁹And he went out and continued to follow, and yet he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰Now when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

¹³When he knocked at the door of the gate, a slave woman named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.

¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.

²⁰Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one mind they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was supported with grain from the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day, after putting on his royal apparel, Herod took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them.

²²The people repeatedly cried out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵And Barnabas and Saul returned when they had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.