Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.

²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³So he told them this parable:

⁴“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?

⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.

⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

¹¹Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.

¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

¹⁴When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

¹⁶He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!

¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’

²⁰So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe — the best one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;

²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.

²⁷He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’

²⁸Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.

³⁰But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’

³¹Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

³²But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

¹Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.

²Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;

³they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

⁴When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows:

⁵My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.”

⁶Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

⁸as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.

⁹Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days.

¹¹When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.

¹²Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them.

¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

¹⁵Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”

¹⁶So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died,

¹⁷‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?

²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.

²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

²²So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred ten years.

²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

²⁵So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.”

²⁶And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

¹Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

²Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

³What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

⁴By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.”

⁵But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)

⁶By no means! For then how could God judge the world?

⁷But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

⁸And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

⁹What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin,

¹⁰as it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one;

¹¹there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God.

¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.”

¹³“Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of vipers is under their lips.”

¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and misery are in their paths,

¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

²⁰For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

²¹But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets,

²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;

²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.

²⁸For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

³⁰since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

³¹Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

¹The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

²Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.

³I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you;

⁶they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God;

⁷for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers.

⁸Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

⁹I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.

¹⁰So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

¹¹Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

¹²Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

¹³I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink;

¹⁴instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face.

¹⁵Peace to you. The friends send you their greetings. Greet the friends there, each by name.

¹All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them

²is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.

³This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.

⁶Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do.

⁸Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head.

⁹Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

¹¹Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.

¹²For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.

¹³I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

¹⁴There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one bungler destroys much good.

¹On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

²the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

³Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah

⁴Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; Philistia too, and Tyre, with Ethiopia — “This one was born there,” they say.

⁵And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in it”; for the Most High himself will establish it.

⁶The LORD records, as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah

⁷Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

²The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion; anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.

³It is honorable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴The lazy person does not plow in season; harvest comes, and there is nothing to be found.

⁵The purposes in the human mind are like deep water, but the intelligent will draw them out.

⁶Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?

⁷The righteous walk in integrity — happy are the children who follow them!

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?

¹⁰Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹¹Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD has made them both.

¹³Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

¹⁴“Bad, bad,” says the buyer, then goes away and boasts.

¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁷Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by taking advice; wage war by following wise guidance.

¹⁹A gossip reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler.

²⁰If you curse father or mother, your lamp will go out in utter darkness.

²¹An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will help you.

²³Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.

²⁴All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

²⁵It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,” and begin to reflect only after making a vow.

²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them.

²⁷The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD, searching every inmost part.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by righteousness.

²⁹The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.

³⁰Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts.

¹Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem; and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city Jerusalem, while nine-tenths remained in the other towns.

²And the people blessed all those who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

³These are the leaders of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the towns of Judah all lived on their property in their towns: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon’s servants.

⁴And in Jerusalem lived some of the Judahites and of the Benjaminites. Of the Judahites: Athaiah son of Uzziah son of Zechariah son of Amariah son of Shephatiah son of Mahalalel, of the descendants of Perez;

⁵and Maaseiah son of Baruch son of Col-hozeh son of Hazaiah son of Adaiah son of Joiarib son of Zechariah son of the Shilonite.

⁶All the descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were four hundred sixty-eight valiant warriors.

⁷And these are the Benjaminites: Sallu son of Meshullam son of Joed son of Pedaiah son of Kolaiah son of Maaseiah son of Ithiel son of Jeshaiah.

⁸And his brothers Gabbai, Sallai: nine hundred twenty-eight.

⁹Joel son of Zichri was their overseer; and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in charge of the city.

¹⁰Of the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jachin,

¹¹Seraiah son of Hilkiah son of Meshullam son of Zadok son of Meraioth son of Ahitub, officer of the house of God,

¹²and their associates who did the work of the house, eight hundred twenty-two; and Adaiah son of Jeroham son of Pelaliah son of Amzi son of Zechariah son of Pashhur son of Malchijah,

¹³and his associates, heads of ancestral houses, two hundred forty-two; and Amashsai son of Azarel son of Ahzai son of Meshillemoth son of Immer,

¹⁴and their associates, valiant warriors, one hundred twenty-eight; their overseer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.

¹⁵And of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub son of Azrikam son of Hashabiah son of Bunni;

¹⁶and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the leaders of the Levites, who were over the outside work of the house of God;

¹⁷and Mattaniah son of Mica son of Zabdi son of Asaph, who was the leader to begin the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua son of Galal son of Jeduthun.

¹⁸All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred eighty-four.

¹⁹The gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon and their associates, who kept watch at the gates, were one hundred seventy-two.

²⁰And the rest of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, all of them in their inheritance.

²¹But the temple servants lived on Ophel; and Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants.

²²The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani son of Hashabiah son of Mattaniah son of Mica, of the descendants of Asaph, the singers, in charge of the work of the house of God.

²³For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as was required every day.

²⁴And Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was at the king’s hand in all matters concerning the people.

²⁵And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, and in Dibon and its villages, and in Jekabzeel and its villages,

²⁶and in Jeshua and in Moladah and Beth-pelet,

²⁷in Hazar-shual, in Beer-sheba and its villages,

²⁸in Ziklag, in Meconah and its villages,

²⁹in En-rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth,

³⁰Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. So they camped from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.

³¹The people of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages,

³²Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

³³Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

³⁴Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

³⁵Lod, and Ono, the valley of artisans.

³⁶And certain divisions of the Levites in Judah were joined to Benjamin.

¹Again I looked up and saw a flying scroll.

²And he said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”

³Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to the writing on the other side.

⁴I have sent it out, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name; and it shall abide in that house and consume it, both timber and stones.”

⁵Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what this is that is coming out.”

⁶I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is a basket coming out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

⁷Then a leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket!

⁸And he said, “This is Wickedness.” So he thrust her back into the basket, and pressed the leaden weight down on its mouth.

⁹Then I looked up and saw two women coming forward. The wind was in their wings; they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it; and when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”

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

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

³Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

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

⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus.

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

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

⁹But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

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

¹¹And now listen — the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

¹³Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem;

¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen.

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

¹⁸For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance

²⁰for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.

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

²²When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

²³Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised;

²⁴before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’

²⁶“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

²⁷Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him.

²⁸Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed.

²⁹When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree 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, and they are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors

³³he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’

³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’

³⁵Therefore he has also said in another psalm, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption;

³⁷but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption.

³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you;

³⁹by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:

⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers! Be amazed and perish, for in your days I am doing a work, a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.’”

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath.

⁴³When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul.

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

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.

⁴⁹Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region.

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

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