Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth.

²His disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.

⁴We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.

⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.

⁷“Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?”

⁹Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.”

¹⁰So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.”

¹²“Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said.

¹³They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.

¹⁴The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

¹⁵Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.

¹⁷Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” “He’s a prophet,” he said.

¹⁸The Jews did not believe this about him — that he was blind and received sight — until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.

¹⁹They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

²⁰“We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered.

²¹“But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.”

²²His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, he would be banned from the synagogue.

²³This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.”

²⁴So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷“I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

²⁸They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples.

²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man — we don’t know where he’s from.”

³⁰“This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. “You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.

³¹We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.

³²Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.

³³If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

³⁴“You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶“Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked.

³⁷Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸“I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

⁴¹“If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

¹Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt.

²Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’s wife, after he had sent her back,

³along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land”)

⁴and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).

⁵Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’s wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.

⁶He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent.

⁸Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the LORD rescued them.

⁹Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians.

¹⁰“Blessed be the LORD,” Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt!

¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”

¹²Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’s father-in-law in God’s presence.

¹³The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁴When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

¹⁶Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

¹⁷“What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him.

¹⁸“You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him.

²⁰Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.

²¹But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²²They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you.

²³If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

²⁴Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

²⁵So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²⁶They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.

²⁷Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles  — a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

²And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?

³Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.

⁴When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?

⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.

¹¹But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

¹²For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?

¹³God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.

¹Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who is seated on many waters.

²The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality.”

³Then he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls. She had a golden cup in her hand filled with everything detestable and with the impurities of her prostitution.

⁵On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE DETESTABLE THINGS OF THE EARTH.

⁶Then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

⁷Then the angel said to me, “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast, with the seven heads and the ten horns, that carries her.

⁸The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss and go to destruction. Those who live on the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast that was, and is not, and is to come.

⁹This calls for a mind that has wisdom: “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings:

¹⁰Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain for only a little while.

¹¹The beast that was and is not, is itself an eighth king, but it belongs to the seven and is going to destruction.

¹²The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

¹³These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

¹⁴These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

¹⁵He also said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

¹⁶The ten horns you saw, and the beast, will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.

¹⁸And the woman you saw is the great city that has royal power over the kings of the earth.”

¹Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired worker?

²Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hired worker he waits for his pay.

³So I have been made to inherit months of futility, and troubled nights have been assigned to me.

⁴When I lie down I think, “When will I get up?” But the evening drags on endlessly, and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt. My skin forms scabs and then oozes.

⁶My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath. My eye will never again see anything good.

⁸The eye of anyone who looks on me will no longer see me. Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

⁹As a cloud fades away and vanishes, so the one who goes down to Sheol will never rise again.

¹⁰He will never return to his house; his hometown will no longer remember him.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea or a sea monster, that you keep me under guard?

¹³When I say, “My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint,”

¹⁴then you frighten me with dreams, and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling  — death rather than life in this body.

¹⁶I give up! I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him?

¹⁸You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment.

¹⁹Will you ever look away from me, or leave me alone long enough to swallow?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you, Watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to you?

²¹Why not forgive my sin and pardon my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the grave. You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples.

²Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell about all his wondrous works!

³Honor his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

⁴Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

⁵Remember the wondrous works he has done, his wonders, and the judgments he has pronounced,

⁶you offspring of Abraham his servant, Jacob’s descendants — his chosen ones.

⁷He is the LORD our God; his judgments govern the whole earth.

⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he ordained for a thousand generations  —

⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, swore to Isaac,

¹⁰and confirmed to Jacob as a decree and to Israel as a permanent covenant:

¹¹“I will give the land of Canaan to you as your inherited portion.”

¹²When they were few in number, very few indeed, and resident aliens in Canaan,

¹³wandering from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another,

¹⁴he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their behalf:

¹⁵“Do not touch my anointed ones, or harm my prophets.”

¹⁶He called down famine against the land and destroyed the entire food supply.

¹⁷He had sent a man ahead of them — Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸They hurt his feet with shackles; his neck was put in an iron collar.

¹⁹Until the time his prediction came true, the word of the LORD tested him.

²⁰The king sent for him and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free.

²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all his possessions  —

²²binding his officials at will and instructing his elders.

²³Then Israel went to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them more numerous than their foes,

²⁵whose hearts he turned to hate his people and to deal deceptively with his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness, and it became dark — for did they not defy his commands?

²⁹He turned their water into blood and caused their fish to die.

³⁰Their land was overrun with frogs, even in their royal chambers.

³¹He spoke, and insects came  — gnats throughout their country.

³²He gave them hail for rain, and lightning throughout their land.

³³He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their territory.

³⁴He spoke, and locusts came — young locusts without number.

³⁵They devoured all the vegetation in their land and consumed the produce of their land.

³⁶He struck all the firstborn in their land, all their first progeny.

³⁷Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and no one among his tribes stumbled.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they left, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread a cloud as a covering and gave a fire to light up the night.

⁴⁰They asked, and he brought quail and satisfied them with bread from heaven.

⁴¹He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a stream in the desert.

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise to Abraham his servant.

⁴³He brought his people out with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy.

⁴⁴He gave them the lands of the nations, and they inherited what other peoples had worked for.

⁴⁵All this happened so that they might keep his statutes and obey his instructions. Hallelujah!

¹My son, obey my words, and treasure my commands.

²Keep my commands and live, and guard my instructions as you would the pupil of your eye.

³Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your relative.

⁵She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a wayward woman with her flattering talk.

⁶At the window of my house I looked through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the inexperienced, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking sense.

⁸Crossing the street near her corner, he strolled down the road to her house

⁹at twilight, in the evening, in the dark of the night.

¹⁰A woman came to meet him dressed like a prostitute, having a hidden agenda.

¹¹She is loud and defiant; her feet do not stay at home.

¹²Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.

¹³She grabs him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him,

¹⁴“I’ve made fellowship offerings; today I’ve fulfilled my vows.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you, to search for you, and I’ve found you.

¹⁶I’ve spread coverings on my bed  — richly colored linen from Egypt.

¹⁷I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning. Let’s feast on each other’s love!

¹⁹My husband isn’t home; he went on a long journey.

²⁰He took a bag of silver with him and will come home at the time of the full moon.”

²¹She seduces him with her persistent pleading; she lures with her flattering talk.

²²He follows her impulsively like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding toward a trap

²³until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird darting into a snare  — he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words from my mouth.

²⁵Don’t let your heart turn aside to her ways; don’t stray onto her paths.

²⁶For she has brought many down to death; her victims are countless.

²⁷Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

¹Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites — no one leaving or entering.

²The LORD said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its best soldiers over to you.

³March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days.

⁴Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the trumpets.

⁵When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.”

⁶So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the LORD.”

⁷He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the LORD.”

⁸After Joshua had spoken to the troops, seven priests carrying seven trumpets before the LORD moved forward and blew the trumpets; the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them.

⁹While the trumpets were blowing, the armed men went in front of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard went behind the ark.

¹⁰But Joshua had commanded the troops: “Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Don’t let one word come out of your mouth until the time I say, ‘Shout! ’ Then you are to shout.”

¹¹So the ark of the LORD was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.

¹²Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests took the ark of the LORD,

¹³and the seven priests carrying seven trumpets marched in front of the ark of the LORD. While the trumpets were blowing, the armed men went in front of them, and the rear guard went behind the ark of the LORD.

¹⁴On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.

¹⁶After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.

¹⁷But the city and everything in it are set apart to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers we sent.

¹⁸But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and make trouble for it.

¹⁹For all the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are dedicated to the LORD and must go into the LORD’s treasury.”

²⁰So the troops shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the troops gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The troops advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

²¹They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword — every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.

²²Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you swore to her.”

²³So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴They burned the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

²⁵However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she still lives in Israel today.

²⁶At that time Joshua imposed this curse: The man who undertakes the rebuilding of this city, Jericho, is cursed before the LORD. He will lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn; he will finish its gates at the cost of his youngest.

²⁷And the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

¹I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

³So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

⁵Now I will tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness, but heard cries of despair.

⁸Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

⁹I heard the LORD of Armies say: Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

¹⁰For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will yield only one bushel of grain.

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.

¹²At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the LORD’s actions, and they do not see the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people will go into exile because they lack knowledge; her dignitaries are starving, and her masses are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

¹⁵Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.

¹⁶But the LORD of Armies is exalted by his justice, and the holy God shows that he is holy through his righteousness.

¹⁷Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and resident aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

¹⁹to those who say: “Let him hurry up and do his work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!”

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

²¹Woe to those who consider themselves wise and judge themselves clever.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at pouring beer,

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against his people. He raised his hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

²⁶He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!

²⁷None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

³⁰On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

²A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

³When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.

⁴Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”

⁵So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

⁷Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

⁸So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹²When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

¹⁴You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.

¹⁵You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

¹⁶By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

¹⁷“And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets — that his Messiah would suffer.

¹⁹Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,

²⁰that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

²¹Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

²²Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and sisters. You must listen to everything he tells you.

²³And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

²⁴“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.

²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.

²⁶God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”