Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He said to his disciples, “Offenses will certainly come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³Be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

⁴And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” the Lord said, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

⁷“Which one of you having a servant tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?

⁸Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’?

⁹Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded?

¹⁰In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are worthless servants; we’ve only done our duty.’”

¹¹While traveling to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee.

¹²As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance

¹³and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And while they were going, they were cleansed.

¹⁵But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.

¹⁶He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?

¹⁸Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

¹⁹And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”

²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable;

²¹no one will say, ‘See here! ’ or ‘There! ’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

²²Then he told the disciples: “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it.

²³They will say to you, ‘See there! ’ or ‘See here! ’ Don’t follow or run after them.

²⁴For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.

²⁵But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man:

²⁷People went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.

²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back.

³²Remember Lot’s wife!

³³Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

³⁴I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.

³⁵Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁶

³⁷“Where, Lord?” they asked him. He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

¹Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

²The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

⁴Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

⁵Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it,

⁶opened it, and saw him, the child — and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”

⁸“Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother.

⁹Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.

¹⁰When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people.

¹²Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand.

¹³The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor?”

¹⁴“Who made you a commander and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid and thought, “What I did is certainly known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

¹⁹They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰“So where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

²²She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land.”

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor; and they cried out; and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

²⁴And God heard their groaning; and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

²⁵and God saw the Israelites; and God knew.

¹Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

²We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

³And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,

⁴endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

⁵This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.

⁸But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.

¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

¹¹And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

¹³In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.

¹⁶And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

¹⁷Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.

¹⁹For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

²⁰The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more

²¹so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.

³Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

⁴John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,

⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood,

⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

⁹I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet

¹¹saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

¹³and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.

¹⁴The hair of his head was white as wool — white as snow  — and his eyes like a fiery flame.

¹⁵His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters.

¹⁶He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

¹⁸and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

¹⁹Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.

²⁰The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹Send your bread on the surface of the water, for after many days you may find it.

²Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.

³If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

⁴One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵Just as you don’t know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don’t know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good.

⁷Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸Indeed, if someone lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile.

⁹Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

¹⁰Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

¹A of Ethan the Ezrahite. [1] I will sing about the LORD’s faithful love forever; I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations with my mouth.

²For I will declare, “Faithful love is built up forever; you establish your faithfulness in the heavens.”

³The LORD said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

⁴‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah

⁵LORD, the heavens praise your wonders  — your faithfulness also — in the assembly of the holy ones.

⁶For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?

⁷God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, more awe-inspiring than all who surround him.

⁸LORD God of Armies, who is strong like you, LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds you.

⁹You rule the raging sea; when its waves surge, you still them.

¹⁰You crushed Rahab like one who is slain; you scattered your enemies with your powerful arm.

¹¹The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours. The world and everything in it — you founded them.

¹²North and south — you created them. Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.

¹³You have a mighty arm; your hand is powerful; your right hand is lifted high.

¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; faithful love and truth go before you.

¹⁵Happy are the people who know the joyful shout; LORD, they walk in the light from your face.

¹⁶They rejoice in your name all day long, and they are exalted by your righteousness.

¹⁷For you are their magnificent strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.

¹⁸Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹You once spoke in a vision to your faithful ones and said: “I have granted help to a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

²⁰I have found David my servant; I have anointed him with my sacred oil.

²¹My hand will always be with him, and my arm will strengthen him.

²²The enemy will not oppress him; the wicked will not afflict him.

²³I will crush his foes before him and strike those who hate him.

²⁴My faithfulness and love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted.

²⁵I will extend his power to the sea and his right hand to the rivers.

²⁶He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the rock of my salvation.’

²⁷I will also make him my firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸I will always preserve my faithful love for him, and my covenant with him will endure.

²⁹I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as heaven lasts.

³⁰If his sons abandon my instruction and do not live by my ordinances,

³¹if they dishonor my statutes and do not keep my commands,

³²then I will call their rebellion to account with the rod, their iniquity with blows.

³³But I will not withdraw my faithful love from him or betray my faithfulness.

³⁴I will not violate my covenant or change what my lips have said.

³⁵Once and for all I have sworn an oath by my holiness; I will not lie to David.

³⁶His offspring will continue forever, his throne like the sun before me,

³⁷like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah

³⁸But you have spurned and rejected him; you have become enraged with your anointed.

³⁹You have repudiated the covenant with your servant; you have completely dishonored his crown.

⁴⁰You have broken down all his walls; you have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.

⁴¹All who pass by plunder him; he has become an object of ridicule to his neighbors.

⁴²You have lifted high the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.

⁴³You have also turned back his sharp sword and have not let him stand in battle.

⁴⁴You have made his splendor cease and have overturned his throne.

⁴⁵You have shortened the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah

⁴⁶How long, LORD? Will you hide forever? Will your anger keep burning like fire?

⁴⁷Remember how short my life is. Have you created everyone for nothing?

⁴⁸What courageous person can live and never see death? Who can save himself from the power of Sheol? Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where are the former acts of your faithful love that you swore to David in your faithfulness?

⁵⁰Remember, Lord, the ridicule against your servants — in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples —

⁵¹how your enemies have ridiculed, LORD, how they have ridiculed every step of your anointed.

⁵²Blessed be the LORD forever. Amen and amen.

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹At that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

²because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam against them to curse them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.

³When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel.

⁴Now before this, the priest Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah

⁵and had prepared a large room for him where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, and the tenths of grain, new wine, and fresh oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.

⁶While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence

⁷so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God’s house.

⁸I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room.

⁹I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense.

¹⁰I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own field.

¹¹Therefore, I rebuked the officials, asking, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.

¹²Then all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses.

¹³I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues.

¹⁴Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

¹⁵At that time I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.

¹⁶The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

¹⁷I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them: “What is this evil you are doing — profaning the Sabbath day?

¹⁸Didn’t your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

¹⁹When shadows began to fall on the city gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the city gates be closed and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my men at the gates, so that no goods could enter during the Sabbath day.

²⁰Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,

²¹but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I’ll use force against you.” After that they did not come again on the Sabbath.

²²Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the city gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and look on me with compassion according to the abundance of your faithful love.

²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.

²⁵I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!

²⁶Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.

²⁷Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

²⁸Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.

²⁹Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰So I purified them from everything foreign and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.

³¹I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me, my God, with favor.

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the LORD’s favor

³by asking the priests who were at the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

⁴Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me:

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

⁶When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?

⁷Aren’t these the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

⁸The word of the LORD came to Zechariah:

⁹“The LORD of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.

¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.

¹²They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the LORD of Armies.

¹³Just as he had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen, says the LORD of Armies.

¹⁴I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

¹Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

³When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James responded: “Brothers and sisters, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

¹⁵And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

¹⁷so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles who are called by my name — declares the Lord who makes these things

¹⁸known from long ago.

¹⁹Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

²⁰but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

²¹For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

²³They wrote: “From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

²⁵we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements:

²⁹that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”

³⁰So they were sent off and went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

³¹When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

³²Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and sisters and strengthened them with a long message.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark.

³⁸But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.