Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.

²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.

⁵They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

⁶Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

⁹I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.

¹⁰A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

¹²The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them.

¹³This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,

¹⁵just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.

¹⁷This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.

¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

¹⁹Again the Jews were divided because of these words.

²⁰Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?”

²¹Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

²²Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

²³Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade.

²⁴The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

²⁵“I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me.

²⁶But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.

³²Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

³³“We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you — being a man — make yourself God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?

³⁵If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’ — and the Scripture cannot be broken — 

³⁶do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?

³⁷If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me.

³⁸But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

³⁹Then they were trying again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp.

⁴⁰So he departed again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there.

⁴¹Many came to him and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.”

⁴²And many believed in him there.

¹In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness.

²They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

³Moses went up the mountain to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites:

⁴‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

⁵Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine,

⁶and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

⁷After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

⁸Then all the people responded together, “We will do all that the LORD has spoken.” So Moses brought the people’s words back to the LORD.

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.” Moses reported the people’s words to the LORD,

¹⁰and the LORD told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

¹¹and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

¹²Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death.

¹³No hand may touch him; instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”

¹⁴Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.

¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

¹⁹As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

²⁰The LORD came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up.

²¹The LORD directed Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD; otherwise many of them will die.

²²Even the priests who come near the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out in anger against them.”

²³Moses responded to the LORD, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, since you warned us: Put a boundary around the mountain and consecrate it.”

²⁴And the LORD replied to him, “Go down and come back with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out in anger against them.”

²⁵So Moses went down to the people and told them.

¹If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels — how much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

⁶Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat — and you do this to brothers and sisters!

⁹Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,

¹⁰no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

¹¹And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

¹⁶Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

¹⁷But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

¹⁹Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

¹After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

²He called out in a mighty voice: It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast.

³For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.

⁵For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

⁶Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion for her.

⁷As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.”

⁸For this reason her plagues will come in just one day — death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

⁹The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

¹⁰They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come.

¹¹The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer —

¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble;

¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves — human lives.

¹⁴The fruit you craved has left you. All your splendid and glamorous things are gone; they will never find them again.

¹⁵The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

¹⁶saying, Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;

¹⁷for in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off

¹⁸as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out: “Who was like the great city?”

¹⁹They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning, Woe, woe, the great city, where all those who have ships on the sea became rich from her wealth; for in a single hour she was destroyed.

²⁰Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!

²¹Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.

²²The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;

²³the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

²⁴In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long will you go on saying these things? Your words are a blast of wind.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴Since your children sinned against him, he gave them over to their rebellion.

⁵But if you earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

⁶if you are pure and upright, then he will move even now on your behalf and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.

⁷Then, even if your beginnings were modest, your final days will be full of prosperity.

⁸For ask the previous generation, and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,

⁹since we were born only yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and speak from their understanding?

¹¹Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

¹²While still uncut shoots, they would dry up quicker than any other plant.

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish.

¹⁴His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine; his shoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks. He looks for a home among the stones.

¹⁸If he is uprooted from his place, it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”

¹⁹Surely this is the joy of his way of life; yet others will sprout from the dust.

²⁰Look, God does not reject a person of integrity, and he will not support evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy.

²²Your enemies will be clothed with shame; the tent of the wicked will no longer exist.

¹Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

²Who can declare the LORD’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due him?

³How happy are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.

⁴Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people. Come to me with your salvation

⁵so that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, rejoice in the joy of your nation, and boast about your heritage.

⁶Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.

⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp the significance of your wondrous works or remember your many acts of faithful love; instead, they rebelled by the sea — the Red Sea.

⁸Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his power known.

⁹He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert.

¹⁰He saved them from the power of the adversary; he redeemed them from the power of the enemy.

¹¹Water covered their foes; not one of them remained.

¹²Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.

¹³They soon forgot his works and would not wait for his counsel.

¹⁴They were seized with craving in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.

¹⁵He gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.

¹⁶In the camp they were envious of Moses and of Aaron, the LORD’s holy one.

¹⁷The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram.

¹⁸Fire blazed throughout their assembly; flames consumed the wicked.

¹⁹At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped the cast metal image.

²⁰They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.

²¹They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,

²²wondrous works in the land of Ham, awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.

²³So he said he would have destroyed them — if Moses his chosen one had not stood before him in the breach to turn his wrath away from destroying them.

²⁴They despised the pleasant land and did not believe his promise.

²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the LORD.

²⁶So he raised his hand against them with an oath that he would make them fall in the desert

²⁷and would disperse their descendants among the nations, scattering them throughout the lands.

²⁸They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

²⁹They angered the LORD with their deeds, and a plague broke out against them.

³⁰But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.

³¹It was credited to him as righteousness throughout all generations to come.

³²They angered the LORD at the Waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them;

³³for they embittered his spirit, and he spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them

³⁵but mingled with the nations and adopted their ways.

³⁶They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood — the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; so the land became polluted with blood.

³⁹They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴⁰Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own inheritance.

⁴¹He handed them over to the nations; those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴²Their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their power.

⁴³He rescued them many times, but they continued to rebel deliberately and were beaten down by their iniquity.

⁴⁴When he heard their cry, he took note of their distress,

⁴⁵remembered his covenant with them, and relented according to the abundance of his faithful love.

⁴⁶He caused them to be pitied before all their captors.

⁴⁷Save us, LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to your holy name and rejoice in your praise.

⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!

¹Doesn’t wisdom call out? Doesn’t understanding make her voice heard?

²At the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.

³Beside the gates leading into the city, at the main entrance, she cries out:

⁴“People, I call out to you; my cry is to the children of Adam.

⁵Learn to be shrewd, you who are inexperienced; develop common sense, you who are foolish.

⁶Listen, for I speak of noble things, and what my lips say is right.

⁷For my mouth tells the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

⁸All the words from my mouth are righteous; none of them are deceptive or perverse.

⁹All of them are clear to the perceptive, and right to those who discover knowledge.

¹⁰Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can equal it.

¹²I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion.

¹³To fear the LORD is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁴I possess good advice and sound wisdom; I have understanding and strength.

¹⁵It is by me that kings reign and rulers enact just law;

¹⁶by me, princes lead, as do nobles and all righteous judges.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who search for me find me.

¹⁸With me are riches and honor, lasting wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than solid gold, and my harvest than pure silver.

²⁰I walk in the ways of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

²¹giving wealth as an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²“The LORD acquired me at the beginning of his creation, before his works of long ago.

²³I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began.

²⁴I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were established, prior to the hills, I was given birth —

²⁶before he made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth.

²⁷I was there when he established the heavens, when he laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,

²⁸when he placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out,

²⁹when he set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate his command, when he laid out the foundations of the earth.

³⁰I was a skilled craftsman beside him. I was his delight every day, always rejoicing before him.

³¹I was rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the children of Adam.

³²“And now, sons, listen to me; those who keep my ways are happy.

³³Listen to instruction and be wise; don’t ignore it.

³⁴Anyone who listens to me is happy, watching at my doors every day, waiting by the posts of my doorway.

³⁵For the one who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,

³⁶but the one who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

¹The Israelites, however, were unfaithful regarding the things set apart for destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart, and the LORD’s anger burned against the Israelites.

²Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and scout the land.” So the men went up and scouted Ai.

³After returning to Joshua they reported to him, “Don’t send all the people, but send about two thousand or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, don’t wear out all our people there.”

⁴So about three thousand men went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.

⁵The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them and chased them from outside the city gate to the quarries, striking them down on the descent. As a result, the people lost heart.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.

⁷“Oh, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did you ever bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites for our destruction? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan!

⁸What can I say, Lord, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will you do about your great name?”

¹⁰The LORD then said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen facedown?

¹¹Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant that I appointed for them. They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put those things with their own belongings.

¹²This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you what is set apart.

¹³“Go and consecrate the people. Tell them to consecrate themselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are things that are set apart among you, Israel. You will not be able to stand against your enemies until you remove what is set apart.

¹⁴In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the LORD selects is to come forward clan by clan. The clan the LORD selects is to come forward family by family. The family the LORD selects is to come forward man by man.

¹⁵The one who is caught with the things set apart must be burned, along with everything he has, because he has violated the LORD’s covenant and committed an outrage in Israel.”

¹⁶Joshua got up early the next morning. He had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected.

¹⁷He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the Zerahite clan was selected. He had the Zerahite clan come forward by heads of families, and Zabdi was selected.

¹⁸He then had Zabdi’s family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

¹⁹So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to him. I urge you, tell me what you have done. Don’t hide anything from me.”

²⁰Achan replied to Joshua, “It is true. I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:

²¹When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon, five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing a pound and a quarter, I coveted them and took them. You can see for yourself. They are concealed in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under the cloak.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there was the cloak, concealed in his tent, with the silver underneath.

²³They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out in the LORD’s presence.

²⁴Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, and the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, and sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵Joshua said, “Why have you brought us trouble? Today the LORD will bring you trouble!” So all Israel stoned them to death. They burned their bodies, threw stones on them,

²⁶and raised over him a large pile of rocks that remains still today. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor still today.

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

²Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

³And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.

⁴The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies.

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

⁷He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who should I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

⁹And he replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive.

¹⁰Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

¹¹Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,

¹²and the LORD drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land.

¹³Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.

¹While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,

²because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

³So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem

⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family.

⁷After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

⁸Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders:

⁹If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed,

¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing here before you healthy.

¹¹This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

¹³When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵After they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves,

¹⁶saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.”

¹⁸So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide;

²⁰for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done.

²²For this sign of healing had been performed on a man over forty years old.

²³After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.

²⁵You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things?

²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah.

²⁷“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

²⁸to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place.

²⁹And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.

³²Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.

³³With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.

³⁴For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold,

³⁵and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.

³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement),

³⁷sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.