Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One sabbath while Jesus was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.

²But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?”

³Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

⁴He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?”

⁵Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

⁶On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.

⁷The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him.

⁸Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there.

⁹Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.

¹¹But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.

¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:

¹⁴Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,

¹⁵and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot,

¹⁶and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

²⁰Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²²“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

²⁵“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

²⁷“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.

³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

³³If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

³⁴If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;

³⁸give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

³⁹He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.

⁴¹Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

⁴²Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

⁴³“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;

⁴⁴for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

⁴⁵The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

⁴⁶“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?

⁴⁷I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.

⁴⁸That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.”

¹After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile,

²and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass.

³Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

⁴The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke.

⁵Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk.

⁶Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.

⁷The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream.

⁸In the morning his spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my faults today.

¹⁰Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard.

¹¹We dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning.

¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each according to his dream.

¹³As he interpreted to us, so it turned out; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was hurriedly brought out of the dungeon. When he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.

¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile;

¹⁸and seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass.

¹⁹Then seven other cows came up after them, poor, very ugly, and thin. Never had I seen such ugly ones in all the land of Egypt.

²⁰The thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows,

²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had done so, for they were still as ugly as before. Then I awoke.

²²I fell asleep a second time and I saw in my dream seven ears of grain, full and good, growing on one stalk,

²³and seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouting after them;

²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. But when I told it to the magicians, there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one.

²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind. They are seven years of famine.

²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

²⁹There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.

³⁰After them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land.

³¹The plenty will no longer be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, for it will be very grievous.

³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.

³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a man who is discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years.

³⁵Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to befall the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

³⁷The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.

³⁸Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find anyone else like this — one in whom is the spirit of God?”

³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.

⁴⁰You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”

⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴²Removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph’s hand; he arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck.

⁴³He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command; and they cried out in front of him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Moreover Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.

⁴⁸He gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it.

⁴⁹So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance — like the sand of the sea — that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”

⁵²The second he named Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.”

⁵³The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end;

⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.

¹This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him”;

²and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.”

³Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

⁴See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils.

⁵And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham.

⁶But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises.

⁷It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.

⁸In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.

⁹One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,

¹⁰for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

¹¹Now if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood — for the people received the law under this priesthood — what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron?

¹²For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

¹³Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.

¹⁴For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

¹⁵It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek,

¹⁶one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.

¹⁷For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual

¹⁹(for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God.

²⁰This was confirmed with an oath; for others who became priests took their office without an oath,

²¹but this one became a priest with an oath, because of the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” —

²²accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.

²³Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office;

²⁴but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

²⁵Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.

²⁸For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

¹Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

²May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

⁴Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

⁵For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,

⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,

⁷and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

⁸For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.

¹¹For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

¹²Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you.

¹³I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory,

¹⁴since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

¹⁵And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

²⁰First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

²¹because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

¹Then Job answered the LORD:

²“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

³‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

⁴‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring.

¹²The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys.

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.

¹⁵In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations.

¹⁷And Job died, old and full of days.

¹Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,

³things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

⁵He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children;

⁶that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children,

⁷so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

⁸and that they should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.

¹¹They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them.

¹²In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

¹³He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.

¹⁴In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all night long with a fiery light.

¹⁵He split rocks open in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

¹⁶He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out and torrents overflowed, can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?”

²¹Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of rage; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel,

²²because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.

²³Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;

²⁴he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.

²⁵Mortals ate of the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance.

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;

²⁷he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;

²⁸he let them fall within their camp, all around their dwellings.

²⁹And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.

³⁰But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,

³¹the anger of God rose against them and he killed the strongest of them, and laid low the flower of Israel.

³²In spite of all this they still sinned; they did not believe in his wonders.

³³So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.

³⁴When he killed them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.

³⁶But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.

³⁷Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant.

³⁸Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!

⁴¹They tested God again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;

⁴³when he displayed his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

⁴⁸He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.

⁵¹He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.

⁵²Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴And he brought them to his holy hill, to the mountain that his right hand had won.

⁵⁵He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they tested the Most High God, and rebelled against him. They did not observe his decrees,

⁵⁷but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors; they twisted like a treacherous bow.

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

⁵⁹When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.

⁶⁰He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mortals,

⁶¹and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.

⁶²He gave his people to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage.

⁶³Fire devoured their young men, and their girls had no marriage song.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior shouting because of wine.

⁶⁶He put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting disgrace.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.

⁷⁰He chose his servant David, and took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from tending the nursing ewes he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his inheritance.

⁷²With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skillful hand.

¹A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright saves them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their schemes.

⁷When the wicked die, their hope perishes, and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

⁸The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead.

⁹With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.

¹³A gossip goes about telling secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a confidence.

¹⁴Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

¹⁶A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches.

¹⁷Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm.

¹⁸The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.

¹⁹Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die.

²⁰Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

²¹Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

²³The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

²⁴Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.

²⁵A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.

²⁶The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.

²⁷Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.

²⁸Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

²⁹Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

³¹If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.

²So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

³I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

⁵Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.”

⁶The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date.

⁷Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah;

⁸and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.

⁹Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me.

¹⁰When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

¹¹So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days.

¹²Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode.

¹³I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

¹⁴Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue.

¹⁵So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

¹⁶The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work.

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”

¹⁸I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.

¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building; but you have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem.”

¹The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.

²I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

³I will sweep away humans and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I will make the wicked stumble. I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

⁴I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests;

⁵those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens; those who bow down and swear to the LORD, but also swear by Milcom;

⁶those who have turned back from following the LORD, who have not sought the LORD or inquired of him.

⁷Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at hand; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.

⁸And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.

⁹On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.

¹⁰On that day, says the LORD, a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.

¹¹The inhabitants of the Mortar wail, for all the traders have perished; all who weigh out silver are cut off.

¹²At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The LORD will not do good, nor will he do harm.”

¹³Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.

¹⁴The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there.

¹⁵That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁶a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the LORD, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them,

²much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.

³So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

⁵The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,

⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

⁷When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,

⁹if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,

¹⁰let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’

¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.

¹⁴When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another.

¹⁶They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;

²⁰for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened.

²²For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

²³After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them,

²⁵it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?

²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

²⁷For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

²⁸to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

²⁹And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).

³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.