Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

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

³Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

⁴and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

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

⁶And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?

⁸Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

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

¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

¹²And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance

¹³and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

¹⁴When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

¹⁵Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;

¹⁶and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

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

¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

¹⁹And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,

²¹nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

²²And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

²³ And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.

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

²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

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

²⁷ They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot — they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,

²⁹ but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all —

³⁰so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.

³² Remember Lot's wife.

³³ Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

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

³⁵ There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”

³⁶

³⁷And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

²The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

⁴And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

⁵Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

⁶When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

⁸And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother.

⁹And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child 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.”

¹¹One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

¹²He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”

¹⁴He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?”

¹⁹They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

²¹And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

²²She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

²³During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

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

²⁵God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.

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

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

³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

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

⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die —

⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —

¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

¹⁷For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

¹⁹For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

²who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

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

⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

⁵and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us 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.

⁷Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

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

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

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

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

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

¹³and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

¹⁴The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

¹⁵his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

¹⁸and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

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

³If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

⁴He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

⁵As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

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

⁸So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

⁹Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

¹⁰Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

¹I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

²For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

³You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:

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

⁵Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

⁶For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,

⁷a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?

⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?

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

¹⁰You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

¹¹The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

¹²The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

¹³You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.

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

¹⁵Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,

¹⁶who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.

¹⁷For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.

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

¹⁹Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

²⁰I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,

²¹so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.

²²The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.

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

²⁴My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

²⁵I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

²⁶He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

²⁷And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.

²⁹I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

³⁰If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,

³¹if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,

³²then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,

³³but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.

³⁴I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

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

³⁶His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.

³⁷Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

³⁸But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.

³⁹You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.

⁴⁰You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

⁴¹All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

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

⁴³You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.

⁴⁴You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.

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

⁴⁶How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?

⁴⁷Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

⁴⁸What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

⁵¹with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

⁵²Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.

¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all.

³The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

⁴The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

⁸Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

⁹Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.

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

¹³The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

¹⁷Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge,

²¹to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,

²³for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

²⁴Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,

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

²⁶Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

¹On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

²for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them — yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

³As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah,

⁵prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.

⁶While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king

⁷and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

⁸And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber.

⁹Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

¹⁰I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.

¹¹So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.

¹²Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.

¹³And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers.

¹⁴Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.

¹⁶Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!

¹⁷Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?

¹⁸Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day.

²⁰Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

²¹But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

²²Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

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

²⁴And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.

²⁵And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin.

²⁷Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”

²⁸And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me.

²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work;

³¹and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

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 and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD,

³saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

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

⁵“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

⁶And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

⁷Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

⁸And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,

¹⁰do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

¹²They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

¹³“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts,

¹⁴“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

¹But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

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

⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

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

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

⁷And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

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

⁹and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

¹²And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.

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

¹⁶“‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,

¹⁷that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things

¹⁸known from of old.’

¹⁹Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,

²⁰but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

²¹For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

²²Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,

²³with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

²⁵it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

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

²⁷We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:

²⁹that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

³⁰So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

³¹And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

³²And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.

³³And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

³⁴

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

³⁶And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

³⁷Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.

³⁸But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

³⁹And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,

⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.