Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

²And they were watching Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

³He *said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!”

⁴And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

⁵After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

⁷Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea,

⁸and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him.

⁹And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the masses, so that they would not crowd Him;

¹⁰for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had diseases pushed in around Him in order to touch Him.

¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”

¹²And He strongly warned them not to reveal who He was.

¹³And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

¹⁴And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

¹⁵and to have authority to cast out the demons.

¹⁶And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),

¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”);

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

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

²⁰And He *came home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

²¹And when His own people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

²²The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

²³And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?

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

²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, buthe is finished!

²⁷But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit;

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.”

³¹Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him.

³²And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”

³³Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

³⁴And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

³⁵For whoever does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

¹Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

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

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

⁴On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

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

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

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

⁸Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

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

¹²He said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son.

¹⁴And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

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

¹⁶and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

¹⁸And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.

²⁰Now it came about after these things, that Abraham was told, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

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

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

²³and it was Bethuel who fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹And you were dead in your offenses and sins,

²in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

³Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

⁵even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

¹¹Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—

¹²remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

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

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace;

¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility.

¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

¹⁸for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

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

²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone,

²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

¹All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.

²Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers or sisters, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.

³If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

⁴he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a sick craving for controversial questions and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,

⁵and constant friction between people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

⁶But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

⁷For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either.

⁸If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

⁹But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and 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 sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

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

¹²Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³I direct you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,

¹⁴that you keep the commandment without fault or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

¹⁶who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

¹⁹storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

²⁰Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—

²¹which some have professed and thereby have gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.

¹Then Job responded,

²“Even today my complaint is rebellion; His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³Oh that I knew how to find Him, That I might come to His home!

⁴I would present my case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn the words which He would answer, And perceive what He would tell me.

⁶Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power? No, surely He would pay attention to me.

⁷There the upright would argue with Him; And I would be free of my Judge forever.

⁸“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

⁹When He acts on the left, I cannot see Him; He turns to the right, but I cannot see Him.

¹⁰But He knows the way I take; When He has put me to the test, I will come out as gold.

¹¹My foot has held on to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside.

¹²I have not failed the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

¹³But He is unique, and who can make Him turn? Whatever His soul desires, He does it.

¹⁴For He carries out what is destined for me, And many such destinies are with Him.

¹⁵Therefore, I would be terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am frightened of Him.

¹⁶It is God who has made my heart faint, And the Almighty who has terrified me,

¹⁷But I am not destroyed by darkness, Nor by deep gloom which covers me.

¹Rescue me from my enemies, my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.

²Rescue me from those who practice injustice, And save me from men of bloodshed.

³For behold, they have set an ambush for my life; Fierce men attack me, Not for my wrongdoing nor for my sin, LORD,

⁴For no guilt of mine, they run and take their stand against me. Stir Yourself to help me, and see!

⁵You, LORD God of armies, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be gracious to any who deal treacherously in wrongdoing. Selah

⁶They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And prowl around the city.

⁷Behold, they gush forth with their mouths; Swords are in their lips, For, they say, “Who hears?”

⁸But You, LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

⁹Because of his strength I will watch for You, For God is my refuge.

¹⁰My God in His faithfulness will meet me; God will let me look triumphantly upon my enemies.

¹¹Do not kill them, or my people will forget; Scatter them by Your power and bring them down, Lord, our shield.

¹²On account of the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips, May they even be caught in their pride, And on account of curses and lies which they tell.

¹³Destroy them in wrath, destroy them so that they will no longer exist; So that people may know that God rules in Jacob, To the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And prowl around the city.

¹⁵They wander about for food And murmur if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶But as for me, I will sing of Your strength; Yes, I will joyfully sing of Your faithfulness in the morning, For You have been my refuge And a place of refuge on the day of my distress.

¹⁷My strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my refuge, the God who shows me favor.

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

²And put a knife to your throat If you are a person of great appetite.

³Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.

⁴Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; Stop dwelling on it.

⁵When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

⁶Do not eat the bread of a selfish person; Or desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten And waste your compliments.

⁹Do not speak to be heard by a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad,

¹⁶And my innermost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.

¹⁸Certainly there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.

²⁰Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

²²Listen to your father, who fathered you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

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

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

²⁶Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, And a strange woman is a narrow well.

²⁸Certainly she lurks as a robber, And increases the treacherous among mankind.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly;

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

³³Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will say perverse things.

³⁴And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When will I awake? I will seek another drink.”

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

²He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that his father David had done.

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

⁴He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the public square on the east.

⁵Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place.

⁶For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and they have abandoned Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and have turned their backs.

⁷They have also shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

⁸Therefore the wrath of the LORD was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.

⁹For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.

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

¹¹My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

¹²Then the Levites arose: Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;

¹³and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

¹⁴and from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the LORD, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the LORD.

¹⁶So the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the LORD out to the courtyard of the house of the LORD. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷Now they began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the LORD. Then they consecrated the house of the LORD in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all of its utensils.

¹⁹Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.”

²⁰Then King Hezekiah got up early and assembled the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.

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

²²So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs as well, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

²³Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.

²⁴The priests slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, because the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

²⁵He then stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad, the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the LORD through His prophets.

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

²⁷Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel.

²⁸While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.

³⁰Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come forward and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the house of the LORD.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings.

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

³³The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep.

³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the other priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests.

³⁵There were also many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was established again.

³⁶Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Strike the pillar capitals so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of them all! Then I will put to death the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will flee, Nor a survivor who will escape.

²Though they dig into Sheol, From there My hand will take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there I will bring them down.

³And though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will track them down and take them from there; And though they hide themselves from My sight on the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent from there, and it will bite them.

⁴And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword and it will kill them, And I will set My eyes against them for harm and not for good.”

⁵The Lord GOD of armies, The One who touches the land so that it quakes, And all those who live in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

⁶The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The LORD is His name.

⁷“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, You sons of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will eliminate it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally eliminate the house of Jacob,” Declares the LORD.

⁹“For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a pebble will fall to the ground.

¹⁰All the sinners of My people will die by the sword, Those who say, ‘The catastrophe will not overtake or confront us.’

¹¹“On that day I will raise up the fallen shelter of David, And wall up its gaps; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the days of old;

¹²So that they may possess the remnant of Edom And all the nations who are called by My name,” Declares the LORD who does this.

¹³“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When the plowman will overtake the reaper, And the one who treads grapes will overtake him who sows the seed; When the mountains will drip grape juice, And all the hills will come apart.

¹⁴I will also restore the fortunes of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the desolated cities and live in them; They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit.

¹⁵I will also plant them on their land, And they will not be uprooted again from their land Which I have given them,” Says the LORD your God.

¹Now there were prophets and teachers at Antioch, in the church that was there: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

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

³Then, when they had fasted, prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

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

⁵When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,

⁷who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him,

¹⁰and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

¹¹Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

¹⁶Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.

¹⁸For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about 450 years.

²⁰After these things 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 He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’

²³From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

²⁴after John had proclaimed, before His coming, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the declarations of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.

²⁸And though they found no grounds for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.

²⁹When they had carried out everything that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised Him from the dead;

³¹and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

³²And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,

³³that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE FATHERED YOU.’

³⁴As for the fact that He raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and faithful mercies of DAVID.’

³⁵Therefore, He also says in another Psalm: ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’

³⁶For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, and was buried among his fathers and underwent decay;

³⁷but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰Therefore, see that the thing spoken of in the Prophets does not come upon you:

⁴¹‘LOOK, YOU SCOFFERS, AND BE ASTONISHED, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’ ”

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people repeatedly begged to have these things spoken to them the next Sabbath.

⁴³Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.

⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE APPOINTED YOU AS A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’ ”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region.

⁵¹But they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

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