Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now he said to the disciples: “There was a rich man who received an accusation that his manager was squandering his possessions.

²So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’

³“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵“So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master? ’ he asked the first one.

⁶“‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said. “‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁷“Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’ “‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said. “‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’

⁸“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.

⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.

¹⁰Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.

¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?

¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at him.

¹⁵And he told them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.

¹⁶“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

¹⁸“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.

²⁰But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.

²¹He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.

²²One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.

²⁴‘Father Abraham! ’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’

²⁵“‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

²⁷“‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house — 

²⁸because I have five brothers — to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

³⁰“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

¹These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

⁴Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

⁵The total number of Jacob’s descendants was seventy; Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died.

⁷But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.

⁸A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

⁹He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.

¹⁰Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

¹¹So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

¹²But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

¹³They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

¹⁴and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives — the first whose name was Shiphrah and the second whose name was Puah —

¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.”

¹⁷The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

¹⁸So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”

²⁰So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.

²¹Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

²²Pharaoh then commanded all his people: “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

²If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God.

³For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

⁴Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

⁶Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

⁹Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰In what way then was it credited — while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

¹²And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified,

¹⁵because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

¹⁶This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants  — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God’s sight, in whom Abraham believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

¹⁸He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.

¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

²¹because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

²²Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.

²³Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,

²⁴but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

²May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

³Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.

⁴For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

⁵Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;

⁶and the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day.

⁷Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸In the same way these people — relying on their dreams — defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones.

⁹Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

¹⁰But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct — like irrational animals — by these things they are destroyed.

¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹²These people are dangerous reefs at your love feasts as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn — fruitless, twice dead and uprooted.

¹³They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.

¹⁴It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones

¹⁵to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”

¹⁶These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage.

¹⁷But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁸They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”

¹⁹These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.

²⁰But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

²²Have mercy on those who waver;

²³save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

²⁴Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,

²⁵to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

¹Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²A wise person’s heart goes to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left.

³Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense, and he shows everyone he is a fool.

⁴If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your post, for calmness puts great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:

⁶The fool is appointed to great heights, but the rich remain in lowly positions.

⁷I have seen slaves on horses, but princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸The one who digs a pit may fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

⁹The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them; the one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

¹²The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly, but the end of his speaking is evil madness;

¹⁴yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what will happen, and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

¹⁵The struggles of fools weary them, for they don’t know how to go to the city.

¹⁶Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time — for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁸Because of laziness the roof caves in, and because of negligent hands the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy, and money is the answer for everything.

²⁰Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry the message, and a winged creature may report the matter.

¹A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to A of Heman the Ezrahite. [1] LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night.

²May my prayer reach your presence; listen to my cry.

³For I have had enough troubles, and my life is near Sheol.

⁴I am counted among those going down to the Pit. I am like a man without strength,

⁵abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care.

⁶You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths.

⁷Your wrath weighs heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah

⁸You have distanced my friends from me; you have made me repulsive to them. I am shut in and cannot go out.

⁹My eyes are worn out from crying. LORD, I cry out to you all day long; I spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah

¹¹Will your faithful love be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon?

¹²Will your wonders be known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

¹³But I call to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer meets you.

¹⁴LORD, why do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me?

¹⁵From my youth, I have been suffering and near death. I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.

¹⁶Your wrath sweeps over me; your terrors destroy me.

¹⁷They surround me like water all day long; they close in on me from every side.

¹⁸You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me; darkness is my only friend.

¹A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.

²All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs hearts.

³Doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart  — is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.

⁶Making a fortune through a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a pursuit of death.

⁷The violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to act justly.

⁸A guilty one’s conduct is crooked, but the behavior of the innocent is upright.

⁹Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

¹⁰A wicked person desires evil; he has no consideration for his neighbor.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the inexperienced become wiser; when one teaches a wise man, he acquires knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked; he brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also call out and not be answered.

¹⁴A secret gift soothes anger, and a covert bribe, fierce rage.

¹⁵Justice executed is a joy to the righteous but a terror to those who practice iniquity.

¹⁶The person who strays from the way of prudence will come to rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

¹⁷The one who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.

¹⁸The wicked are a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous, for the upright.

¹⁹Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

²⁰Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a fool consumes them.

²¹The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise person went up against a city of warriors and brought down its secure fortress.

²³The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

²⁴The arrogant and proud person, named “Mocker,” acts with excessive arrogance.

²⁵A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶He is filled with craving all day long, but the righteous give and don’t hold back.

²⁷The sacrifice of a wicked person is detestable — how much more so when he brings it with ulterior motives!

²⁸A lying witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak successfully.

²⁹A wicked person puts on a bold face, but the upright one considers his way.

³⁰No wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel will prevail against the LORD.

³¹A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the LORD.

¹These are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

⁸The Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah  — he and his relatives were in charge of the songs of praise.

⁹Bakbukiah, Unni, and their relatives stood opposite them in the services.

¹⁰Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, Eliashib fathered Joiada,

¹¹Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.

¹²In the days of Joiakim, the heads of the priestly families were Meraiah — of Seraiah, Hananiah — of Jeremiah,

¹³Meshullam — of Ezra, Jehohanan — of Amariah,

¹⁴Jonathan — of Malluchi, Joseph — of Shebaniah,

¹⁵Adna — of Harim, Helkai — of Meraioth,

¹⁶Zechariah — of Iddo, Meshullam — of Ginnethon,

¹⁷Zichri — of Abijah, Piltai — of Moadiah, of Miniamin,

¹⁸Shammua — of Bilgah, Jehonathan — of Shemaiah,

¹⁹Mattenai — of Joiarib, Uzzi — of Jedaiah,

²⁰Kallai — of Sallai, Eber — of Amok,

²¹Hashabiah — of Hilkiah, and Nethanel — of Jedaiah.

²²In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded while Darius the Persian ruled.

²³Levi’s descendants, the family heads, were recorded in the Book of the Historical Events during the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

²⁴The heads of the Levites — Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them — gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.

²⁵This included Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the city gates.

²⁶These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

²⁷At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

²⁸The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the settlements of the Netophathites,

²⁹from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem.

³⁰After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall.

³¹Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate.

³²Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed,

³³along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,

³⁵and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets, and Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph followed

³⁶as well as his relatives — Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them.

³⁷At the Fountain Gate they climbed the steps of the city of David on the ascent of the wall and went above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

³⁹above the Ephraim Gate, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

⁴⁰The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me,

⁴¹as well as the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;

⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader.

⁴³On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away.

⁴⁴On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving.

⁴⁵They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.

⁴⁶For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

⁴⁷So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for Aaron’s descendants.

¹Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze.

²The first chariot had chestnut horses, the second chariot black horses,

³the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses — all strong horses.

⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”

⁷As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the LORD said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

⁸Then he summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified my Spirit in the northern land.”

⁹The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁰“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

¹¹Take silver and gold, make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

¹²You are to tell him: This is what the LORD of Armies says: Here is a man whose name is Branch; he will branch out from his place and build the LORD’s temple.

¹³Yes, he will build the LORD’s temple; he will be clothed in splendor and will sit on his throne and rule. There will also be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.

¹⁴The crown will reside in the LORD’s temple as a memorial to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah.

¹⁵People who are far off will come and build the LORD’s temple, and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the LORD your God.”

¹In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

⁶they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside.

⁷There they continued preaching the gospel.

⁸In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

⁹He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And he jumped up and began to walk around.

¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

¹⁵“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way,

¹⁷although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.