Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand.

²In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath.

³He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.”

⁴Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

⁵After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

⁷Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea,

⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing.

⁹Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn’t crush him.

¹⁰Since he had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward him to touch him.

¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

¹²And he would strongly warn them not to make him known.

¹³Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him.

¹⁴He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach,

¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons.

¹⁶He appointed the Twelve: To Simon, he gave the name Peter;

¹⁷and to James the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder” );

¹⁸Andrew; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot,

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

²⁰Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.

²¹When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.”

²²The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,”  and, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

²³So he summoned them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?

²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished.

²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.

²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”  —

³⁰because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to him and called him.

³²A crowd was sitting around him and told him, “Look, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside asking for you.”

³³He replied to them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

³⁴Looking at those sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

³⁵Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

¹After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

²“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

³So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.

⁷Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

⁹When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

¹⁰Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”

¹²Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹³Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

¹⁴And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the LORD’s mountain.”

¹⁵Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven

¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the LORD’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,

¹⁷I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.

¹⁸And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

¹⁹Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

²⁰Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

²³And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

²in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

³We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,

⁵made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

⁶He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

⁷so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift —

⁹not from works, so that no one can boast.

¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

¹¹So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh — called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands.

¹²At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,

¹⁵he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

¹⁶He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.

¹⁷He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

¹⁸For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

¹⁹So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

²¹In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

²²In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

¹All who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and his teaching will not be blasphemed.

²Let those who have believing masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but serve them even better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. Teach and encourage these things.

³If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness,

⁴he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions,

⁵and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

⁸If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

¹¹But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you

¹⁴to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords,

¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

¹⁸Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share,

¹⁹storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge.

²¹By professing it, some people have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all.

¹Then Job answered:

²Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne.

⁴I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever.

⁸If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.

⁹When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him.

¹⁰Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food.

¹³But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him? He does what he desires.

¹⁴He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me, and he has many more things like these in mind.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in his presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

¹For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.” A of David. When Saul sent agents to watch the house and kill him. [1] Rescue me from my enemies, my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.

²Rescue me from those who practice sin, and save me from men of bloodshed.

³Because look, LORD, they set an ambush for me. Powerful men attack me, but not because of any sin or rebellion of mine.

⁴For no fault of mine, they run and take up a position. Awake to help me, and take notice.

⁵LORD God of Armies, you are the God of Israel. Rise up to punish all the nations; do not show favor to any wicked traitors. Selah

⁶They return at evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.

⁷Look, they spew from their mouths — sharp words from their lips. “For who,” they say, “will hear?”

⁸But you laugh at them, LORD; you ridicule all the nations.

⁹I will keep watch for you, my strength, because God is my stronghold.

¹⁰My faithful God will come to meet me; God will let me look down on my adversaries.

¹¹Do not kill them; otherwise, my people will forget. By your power, make them homeless wanderers and bring them down, Lord, our shield.

¹²For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. They utter curses and lies.

¹³Consume them in rage; consume them until they are gone. Then people will know throughout the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah

¹⁴And they return at evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.

¹⁵They scavenge for food; they growl if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶But I will sing of your strength and will joyfully proclaim your faithful love in the morning. For you have been a stronghold for me, a refuge in my day of trouble.

¹⁷To you, my strength, I sing praises, because God is my stronghold — my faithful God.

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite;

³don’t desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!

⁵As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

⁶Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food,

⁷for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong, and he will champion their cause against you.

¹²Apply yourself to discipline and listen to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold discipline from a youth; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with a rod, and you will rescue his life from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My innermost being will celebrate when your lips say what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead, always fear the LORD.

¹⁸For then you will have a future, and your hope will not be dashed.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course.

²⁰Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy — and do not sell — truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a wayward woman is a narrow well;

²⁸indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber and increases the number of unfaithful people.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.

³¹Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.

³⁴You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.”

¹Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

²He did what was right in the LORD’s sight just as his ancestor David had done.

³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the LORD’s temple and repaired them.

⁴Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern public square.

⁵He said to them, “Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place.

⁶For our fathers were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place, and turned their backs on him.

⁷They also closed the doors of the portico, extinguished the lamps, did not burn incense, and did not offer burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel.

⁸Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them an object of terror, horror, and mockery, as you see with your own eyes.

⁹Our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.

¹⁰It is in my heart now to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel so that his burning anger may turn away from us.

¹¹My sons, don’t be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand in his presence, to serve him, and to be his ministers and burners of incense.”

¹²Then the Levites stood up: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;

¹³Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites; Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites;

¹⁴Jehiel and Shimei from the Hemanites; Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites.

¹⁵They gathered their brothers together, consecrated themselves, and went according to the king’s command by the words of the LORD to cleanse the LORD’s temple.

¹⁶The priests went to the entrance of the LORD’s temple to cleanse it. They took all the unclean things they found in the LORD’s sanctuary to the courtyard of the LORD’s temple. Then the Levites received them and took them outside to the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the portico of the LORD’s temple. They consecrated the LORD’s temple for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

¹⁸Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole temple of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the rows of the Bread of the Presence and all its utensils.

¹⁹We have set up and consecrated all the utensils that King Ahaz rejected during his reign when he became unfaithful. They are in front of the altar of the LORD.”

²⁰King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the city officials, and went to the LORD’s temple.

²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he told the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

²²So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and splattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar.

²³Then they brought the goats for the sin offering right into the presence of the king and the congregation, who laid their hands on them.

²⁴The priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel, for the king said that the burnt offering and sin offering were for all Israel.

²⁵Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the LORD’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and the prophet Nathan. For the command was from the LORD through his prophets.

²⁶The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

²⁷Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offerings began, the song of the LORD and the trumpets began, accompanied by the instruments of King David of Israel.

²⁸The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets — all this continued until the burnt offering was completed.

²⁹When the burnt offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped.

³⁰Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to the LORD in the words of David and of the seer Asaph. So they sang praises with rejoicing and knelt low and worshiped.

³¹Hezekiah concluded, “Now you are consecrated to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the LORD’s temple.” So the congregation brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those with willing hearts brought burnt offerings.

³²The number of burnt offerings the congregation brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

³³Six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats were consecrated.

³⁴However, since there were not enough priests, they weren’t able to skin all the burnt offerings, so their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests were.

³⁵Furthermore, the burnt offerings were abundant, along with the fat of the fellowship offerings and with the drink offerings for the burnt offering. So the service of the LORD’s temple was established.

³⁶Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over how God had prepared the people, for it had come about suddenly.

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the capitals of the pillars so that the thresholds shake; knock them down on the heads of all the people. Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.

²If they dig down to Sheol, from there my hand will take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.

³If they hide on the top of Carmel, from there I will track them down and seize them; if they conceal themselves from my sight on the sea floor, from there I will command the sea serpent to bite them.

⁴And if they are driven by their enemies into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.

⁵The Lord, the GOD of Armies — he touches the earth; it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn; all of it rises like the Nile and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.

⁶He builds his upper chambers in the heavens and lays the foundation of his vault on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth. The LORD is his name.

⁷Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me? This is the LORD’s declaration. Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸Look, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will obliterate it from the face of the earth. However, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob  — this is the LORD’s declaration —

⁹for I am about to give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

¹⁰All the sinners among my people who say: “Disaster will never overtake or confront us,” will die by the sword.

¹¹In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹²so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name — this is the declaration of the LORD; he will do this.

¹³Look, the days are coming — this is the LORD’s declaration — when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it.

¹⁴I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce.

¹⁵I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. The LORD your God has spoken.

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

⁴So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.

⁶When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul — also called Paul — filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas

¹⁰and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁴They continued their journey from Perga and reached Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”

¹⁶Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen!

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty arm.

¹⁸And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness;

¹⁹and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

²⁰This all took about 450 years. After this, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him:’ I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will.’

²³“From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus.

²⁴Before his coming to public attention, John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵Now as John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’

²⁶“Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham’s race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent.

²⁷Since the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him or the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they have fulfilled their words by condemning him.

²⁸Though they found no grounds for the death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him killed.

²⁹When they had carried out all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead,

³¹and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors.

³³God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm: You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, never to return to decay, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure promises of David.

³⁵Therefore he also says in another passage, You will not let your Holy One see decay.

³⁶For David, after serving God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and decayed,

³⁷but the one God raised up did not decay.

³⁸Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers and sisters, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you.

³⁹Everyone who believes is justified through him from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.

⁴⁰So beware that what is said in the prophets does not happen to you:

⁴¹Look, you scoffers, marvel and vanish away, because I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will never believe, even if someone were to explain it to you.”

⁴²As they were leaving, the people urged them to speak about these matters the following Sabbath.

⁴³After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul was saying, insulting him.

⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles to bring salvation to the end of the earth.”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the prominent God-fearing women and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

⁵¹But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.