Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.

³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.

¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”

¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”

¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus began to weep.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.

⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done.

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.

⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!

⁵⁰You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation,

⁵²and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

⁵³So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?”

⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

¹Then God spoke all these words:

²I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

³you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³You shall not murder.

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵You shall not steal.

¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance,

¹⁹and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

²¹Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

²²The LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the Israelites: “You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven.

²³You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

²⁴You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it.

²⁶You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.”

¹Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.”

²But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

³The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

⁴For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶This I say by way of concession, not of command.

⁷I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am.

⁹But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

¹⁰To the married I give this command — not I but the Lord — that the wife should not separate from her husband

¹¹(but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²To the rest I say — I and not the Lord — that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

¹³And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you.

¹⁶Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.

¹⁷However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.

²⁰Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.

²¹Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.

²²For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.

²³You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.

²⁴In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

²⁶I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.

²⁹I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none,

³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,

³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

³²I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;

³³but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,

³⁴and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.

³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.

³⁷But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well.

³⁸So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

¹After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God,

²for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³Once more they said, “Hallelujah! The smoke goes up from her forever and ever.”

⁴And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

⁵And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, and all who fear him, small and great.”

⁶Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready;

⁸to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure” — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

¹⁰Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

¹¹Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

¹²His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself.

¹³He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.

¹⁴And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

¹⁵From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,

¹⁸to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders — flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.”

¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and against his army.

²⁰And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

²¹And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

¹Then Job answered:

²“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?

³If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has resisted him, and succeeded? —

⁵he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;

⁶who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

⁸who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea;

⁹who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

¹⁰who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

¹¹Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

¹²He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

¹⁴How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

¹⁵Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

¹⁸he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

²¹I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

²³When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges — if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’

²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me.

³²For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

³³There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

³⁴If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,

³⁵then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

¹O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.

²Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from trouble

³and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

⁴Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town;

⁵hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.

⁶Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;

⁷he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town.

⁸Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

⁹For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.

¹⁰Some sat in darkness and in gloom, prisoners in misery and in irons,

¹¹for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

¹²Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor; they fell down, with no one to help.

¹³Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;

¹⁴he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder.

¹⁵Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

¹⁶For he shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars of iron.

¹⁷Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities endured affliction;

¹⁸they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.

¹⁹Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;

²⁰he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.

²¹Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

²²And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

²³Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters;

²⁴they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep.

²⁵For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.

²⁶They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their calamity;

²⁷they reeled and staggered like drunkards, and were at their wits’ end.

²⁸Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress;

²⁹he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

³⁰Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

³¹Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

³²Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

³³He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

³⁴a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

³⁵He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.

³⁶And there he lets the hungry live, and they establish a town to live in;

³⁷they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield.

³⁸By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their cattle decrease.

³⁹When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,

⁴⁰he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

⁴¹but he raises up the needy out of distress, and makes their families like flocks.

⁴²The upright see it and are glad; and all wickedness stops its mouth.

⁴³Let those who are wise give heed to these things, and consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

¹Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

²She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

⁴“You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,

⁵“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

⁶Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

⁷Whoever corrects a scoffer wins abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt.

⁸A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you.

⁹Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still; teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud; she is ignorant and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,

¹⁶“You who are simple, turn in here!” And to those without sense she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed; take all the fighting men with you, and go up now to Ai. See, I have handed over to you the king of Ai with his people, his city, and his land.

²You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king; only its spoil and its livestock you may take as booty for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it.”

³So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to go up against Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand warriors and sent them out by night

⁴with the command, “You shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it; do not go very far from the city, but all of you stay alert.

⁵I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us, as before, we shall flee from them.

⁶They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, as before.’ While we flee from them,

⁷you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city; for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.

⁸And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the LORD has ordered; see, I have commanded you.”

⁹So Joshua sent them out; and they went to the place of ambush, and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent that night in the camp.

¹⁰In the morning Joshua rose early and mustered the people, and went up, with the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

¹¹All the fighting men who were with him went up, and drew near before the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

¹²Taking about five thousand men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

¹³So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.

¹⁴When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, hurried out early in the morning to the meeting place facing the Arabah to meet Israel in battle; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them, and fled in the direction of the wilderness.

¹⁶So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.

¹⁷There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open, and pursued Israel.

¹⁸Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the sword that is in your hand toward Ai; for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand toward the city.

¹⁹As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush rose quickly out of their place and rushed forward. They entered the city, took it, and at once set the city on fire.

²⁰So when the men of Ai looked back, the smoke of the city was rising to the sky. They had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers.

²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city was rising, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.

²²And the others came out from the city against them; so they were surrounded by Israelites, some on one side, and some on the other; and Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.

²³But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

²⁴When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword.

²⁵The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand — all the people of Ai.

²⁶For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the sword, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

²⁷Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their booty, according to the word of the LORD that he had issued to Joshua.

²⁸So Joshua burned Ai, and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.

²⁹And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

³⁰Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel,

³¹just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, “an altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used”; and they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed offerings of well-being.

³²And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

³³All Israel, alien as well as citizen, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark in front of the levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

³⁴And afterward he read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.

¹In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it.

²When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field,

⁴and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.

⁵Because Aram — with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah — has plotted evil against you, saying,

⁶Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it;

⁷therefore thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

⁸For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)

⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.

¹⁰Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying,

¹¹Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.

¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.

¹³Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

¹⁵He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

¹⁷The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah — the king of Assyria.”

¹⁸On that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

²⁰On that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River — with the king of Assyria — the head and the hair of the feet, and it will take off the beard as well.

²¹On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

²²and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey.

²³On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.

²⁴With bow and arrows one will go there, for all the land will be briers and thorns;

²⁵and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

¹But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property;

²with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

⁴While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!”

⁵Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it.

⁶The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

⁷After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.”

⁹Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

¹⁰Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.

¹²Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

¹³None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

¹⁴Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women,

¹⁵so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by.

¹⁶A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

¹⁷Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy,

¹⁸arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

¹⁹But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said,

²⁰“Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.”

²¹When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

²²But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported,

²³“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

²⁴Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on.

²⁵Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”

²⁶Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

²⁷When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them,

²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”

²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.

³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

³¹God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

³²And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

³⁴But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.

³⁵Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.

³⁶For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared.

³⁷After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

³⁸So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail;

³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them — in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” They were convinced by him,

⁴⁰and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

⁴¹As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

⁴²And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.