Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

²In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you.

³If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.

⁴You know the way to where I am going.”

⁵“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

⁷If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works.

¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

¹²“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

¹³Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commands.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

¹⁷He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too.

²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.

²¹The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

²⁴The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

²⁵“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you.

²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

²⁷“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

²⁸You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

²⁹I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe.

³⁰I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.

³¹On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me. “Get up; let’s leave this place.

¹“You must not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked to be a malicious witness.

²“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.

³Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.

⁴“If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

⁵“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.

⁶“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.

⁷Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.

⁸You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous.

⁹You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰“Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.

¹¹But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹²“Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.

¹³“Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

¹⁴“Celebrate a festival in my honor three times a year.

¹⁵Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

¹⁶Also observe the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

¹⁷Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.

¹⁸“You must not offer the blood of my sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of my festival offering must not remain until morning.

¹⁹“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the LORD your God. “You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²⁰“I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.

²¹Be attentive to him and listen to him. Do not defy him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for my name is in him.

²²But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

²³For my angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

²⁴Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.

²⁵Serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.

²⁶No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.

²⁷“I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror and will throw into confusion all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.

²⁸I will send hornets in front of you, and they will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hethites away from you.

²⁹I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you.

³⁰I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous and take possession of the land.

³¹I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

³²You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.

³³They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against me. If you serve their gods, it will be a snare for you.”

¹Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea,

²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³They all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

⁷Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.

⁸Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.

⁹Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes.

¹⁰And don’t complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

¹³No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁴So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying.

¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

¹⁹What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

²²Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

²⁵Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience,

²⁶since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it.

²⁷If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.

²⁹I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

³²Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God,

³³just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

¹Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

²down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,

³and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.

⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

⁵Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

⁶Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

⁷“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me.

⁹But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

¹⁰Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

¹¹Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness, let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”

¹²“Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

¹⁴“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

¹⁵Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

¹⁸I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.

¹⁹And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

²⁰He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone. Amen.

¹Then Job answered:

²No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

³But I also have a mind like you; I am not inferior to you. Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, by calling on God, who answers me. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

⁵The one who is at ease holds calamity in contempt and thinks it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.

⁶The tents of robbers are safe, and those who trouble God are secure; God holds them in his hands.

⁷But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

¹⁰The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.

¹³Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴Whatever he tears down cannot be rebuilt; whoever he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵When he withholds water, everything dries up, and when he releases it, it destroys the land.

¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to him. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad.

¹⁸He releases the bonds put on by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders.

²⁰He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders’ good judgment.

²¹He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong.

²²He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light.

²³He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away.

²⁴He deprives the world’s leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²⁵They grope around in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

¹A psalm of David. [1] This is the declaration of the LORD to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

²The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion. Rule over your surrounding enemies.

³Your people will volunteer on your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.

⁴The LORD has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”

⁵The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his anger.

⁶He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses; he will crush leaders over the entire world.

⁷He will drink from the brook by the road; therefore, he will lift up his head.

¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid.

²One who is good obtains favor from the LORD, but he condemns a person who schemes.

³No one can be made secure by wickedness, but the root of the righteous is immovable.

⁴A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a wife who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just, but guidance from the wicked is deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.

⁸A man is praised for his insight, but a twisted mind is despised.

⁹Better to be disregarded, yet have a servant, than to act important but have no food.

¹⁰The righteous cares about his animal’s health, but even the merciful acts of the wicked are cruel.

¹¹The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense.

¹²The wicked desire what evil people have caught, but the root of the righteous is productive.

¹³By rebellious speech an evil person is trapped, but a righteous person escapes from trouble.

¹⁴A person will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the work of a person’s hands will reward him.

¹⁵A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.

¹⁶A fool’s displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible.

¹⁷Whoever speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

¹⁸There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword; but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁹Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue, only a moment.

²⁰Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.

²¹No disaster overcomes the righteous, but the wicked are full of misery.

²²Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but faithful people are his delight.

²³A shrewd person conceals knowledge, but a foolish heart publicizes stupidity.

²⁴The diligent hand will rule, but laziness will lead to forced labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up.

²⁶A righteous person is careful in dealing with his neighbor, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.

²⁷A lazy hunter doesn’t roast his game, but to a diligent person, his wealth is precious.

²⁸There is life in the path of righteousness, and in its path there is no death.

¹When King Jabin of Hazor heard this news, he sent a message to: King Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron and Achshaph,

²and the kings of the north in the hill country, the Arabah south of Chinnereth, the Judean foothills, and the Slopes of Dor to the west,

³the Canaanites in the east and west, the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

⁴They went out with all their armies — a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore  — along with a vast number of horses and chariots.

⁵All these kings joined forces; they came and camped together at the Waters of Merom to attack Israel.

⁶The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for at this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to be killed before Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”

⁷So Joshua and all his troops surprised them at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.

⁸The LORD handed them over to Israel, and they struck them down, pursuing them as far as greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the east as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

⁹Joshua treated them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.

¹⁰At that time Joshua turned back, captured Hazor, and struck down its king with the sword, because Hazor had formerly been the leader of all these kingdoms.

¹¹They struck down everyone in it with the sword, completely destroying them; he left no one alive. Then he burned Hazor.

¹²Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and struck them down with the sword. He completely destroyed them, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.

¹³However, Israel did not burn any of the cities that stood on their mounds except Hazor, which Joshua burned.

¹⁴The Israelites plundered all the spoils and cattle of these cities for themselves. But they struck down every person with the sword until they had annihilated them, leaving no one alive.

¹⁵Just as the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, Moses commanded Joshua. That is what Joshua did, leaving nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁶So Joshua took all this land — the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel with its foothills —

¹⁷from Mount Halak, which ascends to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.

¹⁸Joshua waged war with all these kings for a long time.

¹⁹No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon; all of them were taken in battle.

²⁰For it was the LORD’s intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²¹At that time Joshua proceeded to exterminate the Anakim from the hill country — Hebron, Debir, Anab — all the hill country of Judah and of Israel. Joshua completely destroyed them with their cities.

²²No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites, except for some remaining in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

²³So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD had told Moses. Joshua then gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. After this, the land had rest from war.

¹Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws

²to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the needy among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.

³What will you do on the day of punishment when devastation comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

⁴There will be nothing to do except crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger — the staff in their hands is my wrath.

⁶I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him to go against a people destined for my rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

⁷But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.

⁸For he says, “Aren’t all my commanders kings?

⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms, whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

¹¹and as I did to Samaria and its worthless images will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

¹²But when the Lord finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”

¹³For he said: I have done this by my own strength and wisdom, for I am clever. I abolished the borders of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.

¹⁴My hand has reached out, as if into a nest, to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered the whole earth. No wing fluttered; no beak opened or chirped.

¹⁵Does an ax exalt itself above the one who chops with it? Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it! It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn’t wood!

¹⁶Therefore the Lord GOD of Armies will inflict an emaciating disease on the well-fed of Assyria, and he will kindle a burning fire under its glory.

¹⁷Israel’s Light will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

¹⁸He will completely destroy the glory of its forests and orchards as a sickness consumes a person.

¹⁹The remaining trees of its forest will be so few in number that a child could count them.

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

²¹The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

²²Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows.

²³For throughout the land the Lord GOD of Armies is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.

²⁴Therefore, the Lord GOD of Armies says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though they strike you with a rod and raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did.

²⁵In just a little while my wrath will be spent and my anger will turn to their destruction.”

²⁶And the LORD of Armies will brandish a whip against him as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did in Egypt.

²⁷On that day his burden will fall from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.

²⁸Assyria has come to Aiath and has gone through Migron, storing their equipment at Michmash.

²⁹They crossed over at the ford, saying, “We will spend the night at Geba.” The people of Ramah are trembling; those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.

³⁰Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Anathoth is miserable.

³¹Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

³²Today the Assyrians will stand at Nob, shaking their fists at the mountain of Daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Look, the Lord GOD of Armies will chop off the branches with terrifying power, and the tall trees will be cut down, the high trees felled.

³⁴He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.

¹Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

²Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

³Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

⁴So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

⁶The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing.

⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.

¹⁰They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time.

¹²But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

¹³Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

¹⁴When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

¹⁵After they went down there, they prayed for them so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them.

¹⁶(They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. )

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven.

²³For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road. )

²⁷So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

²⁸and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

³⁰When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

³⁴The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?”

³⁵Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

³⁶As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.