Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

²At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.

³Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center.

⁴“Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.

⁵In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

⁶They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger.

⁷When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

⁸Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground.

⁹When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center.

¹⁰When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹“No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

¹²Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

¹³So the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴“Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going.

¹⁵You judge by human standards. I judge no one.

¹⁶And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

¹⁷Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.

¹⁸I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?” “You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

²¹Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

²²So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’ ?”

²³“You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

²⁴Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵“Who are you?” they questioned. “Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them.

²⁶“I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him — these things I tell the world.”

²⁷They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father.

²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.

²⁹The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

³¹Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.

³²You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³“We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

³⁵A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

³⁷I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you.

³⁸I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

³⁹“Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.

⁴⁰But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

⁴¹You’re doing what your father does.” “We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father — God.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me.

⁴³Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word.

⁴⁴You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

⁴⁶Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?

⁴⁷The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”

⁴⁸The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹“I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me.

⁵⁰I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges.

⁵¹Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

⁵²Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?”

⁵⁴“If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father — about whom you say, ‘He is our God’ — he is the one who glorifies me.

⁵⁵You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.

⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple.

¹The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the LORD’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the LORD?”

³But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”

⁵The LORD answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go.

⁶I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

⁸At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel.

⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

¹²When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴The LORD then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it, “The LORD Is My Banner.”

¹⁶He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the LORD’s throne. The LORD will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

¹A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.

²In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.

³It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself.

⁴For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.

⁵So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

⁶Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another.

⁷For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

⁸You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us — and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!

⁹For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

¹⁰We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

¹¹Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless;

¹²we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

¹³when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage.

¹⁴I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.

¹⁵For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

¹⁶Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

¹⁷This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.

¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant.

²⁰For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

²¹What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

²The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.

³The second poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.

⁴The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

⁵I heard the angel of the waters say, You are just, the Holy One, who is and who was, because you have passed judgment on these things.

⁶Because they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, you have given them blood to drink; they deserve it!

⁷I heard the altar say, Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

⁸The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire,

⁹and people were scorched by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

¹⁰The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain

¹¹and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

¹²The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

¹³Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon’s mouth, from the beast’s mouth, and from the mouth of the false prophet.

¹⁴For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty.

¹⁵“Look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame.”

¹⁶So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

¹⁷Then the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

¹⁸There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. And a severe earthquake occurred like no other since people have been on the earth, so great was the quake.

¹⁹The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the Great was remembered in God’s presence; he gave her the cup filled with the wine of his fierce anger.

²⁰Every island fled, and the mountains disappeared.

²¹Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because that plague was extremely severe.

¹Then Job answered:

²If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.

⁴Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Is bland food eaten without salt? Is there flavor in an egg white?

⁷I refuse to touch them; they are like contaminated food.

⁸If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for:

⁹that he would decide to crush me, to unleash his power and cut me off!

¹⁰It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Since I cannot help myself, the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow

¹⁶and become darkened because of ice, and the snow melts into them.

¹⁷The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

¹⁸Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for these streams. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water. When they arrive there, they are disappointed.

²¹So this is what you have now become to me. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said: “Give me something” or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

²³or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand” or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.

²⁵How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?

²⁶Do you think that you can disprove my words or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?

²⁷No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

²⁸But now, please look at me; I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Reconsider; don’t be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue or can my palate not taste disaster?

¹My soul, bless the LORD! LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor.

²He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy,

³laying the beams of his palace on the waters above, making the clouds his chariot, walking on the wings of the wind,

⁴and making the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.

⁵He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken.

⁶You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the water stood above the mountains.

⁷At your rebuke the water fled; at the sound of your thunder they hurried away  —

⁸mountains rose and valleys sank  — to the place you established for them.

⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.

¹⁰He causes the springs to gush into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They supply water for every wild beast; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the sky live beside the springs; they make their voices heard among the foliage.

¹³He waters the mountains from his palace; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of your labor.

¹⁴He causes grass to grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth,

¹⁵wine that makes human hearts glad — making his face shine with oil — and bread that sustains human hearts.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD flourish, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷There the birds make their nests; storks make their homes in the pine trees.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the festivals; the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals stir.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

²²The sun rises; they go back and lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.

²⁴How countless are your works, LORD! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small.

²⁶There the ships move about, and Leviathan, which you formed to play there.

²⁷All of them wait for you to give them their food at the right time.

²⁸When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.

³⁰When you send your breath, they are created, and you renew the surface of the ground.

³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.

³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles; he touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

³³I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him; I will rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth and wicked people be no more. My soul, bless the LORD! Hallelujah!

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea heard how the LORD had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, they lost heart and their courage failed because of the Israelites.

²At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again.”

³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁴This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males — all the men of war — had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt.

⁵Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the wilderness along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt.

⁶For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷He raised up their sons in their place; it was these Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.

⁸After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.

⁹The LORD then said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” Therefore, that place is still called Gilgal today.

¹⁰While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

¹¹The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

¹²And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

¹³When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴“Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the LORD’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?”

¹⁵The commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did that.

¹On that day seven women will seize one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothing. Just let us bear your name. Take away our disgrace.”

²On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

³Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy  — all in Jerusalem written in the book of life  —

⁴when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.

⁵Then the LORD will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,

⁶and there will be a shelter for shade from heat by day, and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.

¹When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.

²Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

³They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

⁴Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.

⁶When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

⁷They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts),

¹¹Cretans and Arabs — we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”

¹²They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

¹⁴Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words.

¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning.

¹⁶On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

²²“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.

²³Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.

²⁴God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

²⁵For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me in Hades or allow your holy one to see decay.

²⁸You have revealed the paths of life to me; you will fill me with gladness in your presence.

²⁹“Brothers and sisters, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David: He is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah: He was not abandoned in Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.

³²“God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this.

³³Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.

³⁴For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.’

³⁶“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

⁴¹So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

⁴⁴Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.

⁴⁵They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.

⁴⁶Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts,

⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.