Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now on that very occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²And Jesus responded and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans just because they have suffered this fate?

³No, I tell you, but unless yourepent, you will all likewise perish.

⁴Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worseoffenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

⁷And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Look! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig treewithout finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

⁸But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

⁹and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”

¹⁰Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all.

¹²When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

¹³And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood up straight again, and began glorifying God.

¹⁴But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days during which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does each of you on the Sabbath not untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it?

¹⁶And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound foreighteen long years, should she not have been released from this restraint on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

¹⁸So He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

²⁰And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹It is likeleaven, which a woman took and hid in threesata of flour until it was all leavened.”

²²And He was passing through one city and village after another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.

²³And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them,

²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

²⁵Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

²⁶Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’

²⁷And yet He willsay, ‘I do not know where you are from; LEAVE ME, ALL YOUEVILDOERS.’

²⁸In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.

²⁹And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

³⁰And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away and leave this place, because Herod wants to kill You.”

³²And He said to them, “Go and tell thatfox, ‘Behold, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day Ireach My goal.’

³³Nevertheless I must go on My journey today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem.

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers heryoung under her wings, and you were unwilling!

³⁵Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”

¹Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

²When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed.

³Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,

⁴and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.

⁶But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, so that I may bless them.”

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. And Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well!”

¹²Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.

¹³And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

¹⁴But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

¹⁶The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the boys; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” And so he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

²²And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

¹Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

²which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,

³concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,

⁴who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name,

⁶among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

⁷to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world.

⁹For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,

¹⁰always in my prayers requesting if perhaps now, at last by the will of God, I will succeed in coming to you.

¹¹For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;

¹²that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

¹³I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also just as among the rest of the Gentiles.

¹⁴I am under obligation both to Greeks and to the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish.

¹⁵So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS one will live by faith.”

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

¹⁹because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

²¹For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

²³and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

²⁵For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature,

²⁷and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing shameful acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper,

²⁹people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips,

³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

³¹without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful;

³²and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

⁴For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

⁵Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

⁹If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.

¹⁰The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.

¹¹And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹²The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that.

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

¹⁸We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

¹A good name is better than good oil, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

²It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every person, And the living takes it to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

⁴The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

⁵It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise person Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

⁶For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.

⁷For oppression makes a wise person look foolish, And a bribe corrupts the heart.

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit.

⁹Do not be eager in your spirit to be angry, For anger resides in the heart of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

¹¹Wisdom along with an inheritance is good, And an advantage to those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom is protection just as money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its possessors alive.

¹³Consider the work of God, For who is able to straighten what He has bent?

¹⁴On the day of prosperity be happy, But on the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other So that a person will not discover anything that will come after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

¹⁶Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?

¹⁷Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you die before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you grasp one thing while not letting go of the other; for one who fears God comes out with both of them.

¹⁹Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰Indeed, there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin.

²¹Also, do not take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you,

²²for you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.

²³I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but wisdom was far from me.

²⁴What has been is remote and very mysterious. Who can discover it?

²⁵I directed my mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity.

²⁶And I discovered as more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

²⁸which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.

²⁹Behold, I have found only this, that God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

¹LORD, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob.

²You forgave the guilt of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah

³You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.

⁴Restore us, God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.

⁵Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?

⁶Will You not revive us again, So that Your people may rejoice in You?

⁷Show us Your mercy, LORD, And grant us Your salvation.

⁸I will hear what God the LORD will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; And may they not turn back to foolishness.

⁹Certainly His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Graciousness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

¹¹Truth sprouts from the earth, And righteousness looks down from heaven.

¹²Indeed, the LORD will give what is good, And our land will yield its produce.

¹³Righteousness will go before Him And will make His footsteps into a way.

¹One who separates himself seeks his own desire; He quarrels against all sound wisdom.

²A fool does not delight in understanding, But in revealing his own mind.

³When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes, And with dishonor comes taunting.

⁴The words of a person’s mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

⁵To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Nor to suppress the righteous in judgment.

⁶A fool’s lips bring strife, And his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool’s mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul.

⁸The words of a gossiper are like dainty morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

⁹He also who is lax in his work Is a brother to him who destroys.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.

¹¹A rich person’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of a person is haughty, But humility goes before honor.

¹³One who gives an answer before he hears, It is foolishness and shame to him.

¹⁴The spirit of a person can endure his sickness, But as for a broken spirit, who can endure it?

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

¹⁶A person’s gift makes room for him And brings him before great people.

¹⁷The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him.

¹⁸The cast lot puts an end to quarrels, And decides between the mighty ones.

¹⁹A brother who is offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And quarrels are like the bars of a citadel.

²⁰With the fruit of a person’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.

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

²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.

²³A poor person utters pleadings, But a rich person answers defiantly.

²⁴A person of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

¹Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.

²The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers.

³While they stood in their place, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God.

⁴Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God.

⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever! May Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise!

⁶You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their lights, The earth and everything that is on it, The seas and everything that is in them. You give life to all of them, And the heavenly lights bow down before You.

⁷You are the LORD God, Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham.

⁸You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite— To give it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, Because You are righteous.

⁹“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea.

¹⁰Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And You made a name for Yourself as it is this day.

¹¹You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And You hurled their pursuers into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters.

¹²And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go.

¹³Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.

¹⁴So You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And gave them commandments, statutes, and law, Through Your servant Moses.

¹⁵You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought out water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You told them to enter in order to take possession of The land which You swore to give them.

¹⁶“But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.

¹⁷They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in mercy; And You did not abandon them.

¹⁸Even when they made for themselves A calf of cast metal And said, ‘This is your god Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And committed great blasphemies,

¹⁹You, in Your great compassion, Did not abandon them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.

²⁰Instead, You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst.

²¹Indeed, for forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.

²²You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

²³You made their sons as numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.

²⁴So their sons entered and took possession of the land. And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired.

²⁵They captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled and put on fat, And lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

²⁶“But they became rebellious and revolted against You, And threw Your Law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them In order to bring them back to You, And they committed great blasphemies.

²⁷Therefore You handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them, But when they cried out to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.

²⁸But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven, And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,

²⁹And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, Which, if a person follows them, then he will live by them. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

³⁰However, You remained patient with them for many years, And admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not listen. Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands.

³¹Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or abandon them, For You are a gracious and compassionate God.

³²“Now then, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.

³³However, You are righteous in everything that has happened to us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.

³⁴For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your Law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your admonitions with which You have admonished them.

³⁵But they, in their own kingdom, With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You placed before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.

³⁶Behold, we are slaves today, And as for the land which You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves on it.

³⁷And its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress.

³⁸“Now because of all this We are making an agreement in writing; And on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests.”

¹Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right to accuse him.

²And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log snatched from the fire?”

³Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and was standing before the angel.

⁴And he responded and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you and will clothe you with festive robes.”

⁵Then I said, “Have them put a clean headband on his head.” So they put the clean headband on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

⁶And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying,

⁷“The LORD of armies says this: ‘If you walk in My ways and perform My service, then you will both govern My house and be in charge of My courtyards, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

⁸Now listen, Joshua, you high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a sign: for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.

⁹For behold, the stone that I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I am going to engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of armies, ‘and I will remove the guilt of that land in one day.

¹⁰On that day,’ declares the LORD of armies, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ”

¹Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

²And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the Jewish believers took issue with him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴But Peter began and explained at length to them in an orderly sequence, saying,

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came to where I was,

⁶and I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’

¹⁰This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky.

¹¹And behold, at that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea came up to the house where we were staying.

¹²And the Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send some men to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;

¹⁴and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptizedwith the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus.

²¹And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.

²³Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;

²⁴for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And considerable numbers were added to the Lord.

²⁵And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul;

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers of people; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that there would definitely be a severe famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius.

²⁹And to the extent that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

³⁰And they did this, sending it with Barnabas and Saul to the elders.