Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.

²Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples.

³So Judas took a company of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Who is it that you’re seeking?”

⁵“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “I am he,” Jesus told them. Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them.

⁶When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground.

⁷Then he asked them again, “Who is it that you’re seeking?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

⁸“I told you I am he,” Jesus replied. “So if you’re looking for me, let these men go.”

⁹This was to fulfill the words he had said: “I have not lost one of those you have given me.”

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

¹¹At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?”

¹²Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up.

¹³First they led him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

¹⁴Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better for one man to die for the people.

¹⁵Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple. That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest; so he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.

¹⁶But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

¹⁷Then the servant girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” “I am not.” he said.

¹⁸Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

¹⁹The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

²⁰“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered him. “I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews congregate, and I haven’t spoken anything in secret.

²¹Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”

²²When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”

²³“If I have spoken wrongly,” Jesus answered him, “give evidence about the wrong; but if rightly, why do you hit me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”

²⁶One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”

²⁷Peter denied it again. Immediately a rooster crowed.

²⁸Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

²⁹So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰They answered him, “If this man weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

³¹Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.” “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared.

³²They said this so that Jesus’s words might be fulfilled indicating what kind of death he was going to die.

³³Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?”

³⁵“I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶“My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷“You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸“What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.

³⁹You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

⁴⁰They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

¹“You are to construct the altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, 7½ feet long, and 7½ feet wide; it must be 4½ feet high.

²Make horns for it on its four corners; the horns are to be of one piece. Overlay it with bronze.

³Make its pots for removing ashes, and its shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans; make all its utensils of bronze.

⁴Construct a grate for it of bronze mesh, and make four bronze rings on the mesh at its four corners.

⁵Set it below, under the altar’s ledge, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar.

⁶Then make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

⁷The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

⁸Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. They are to make it just as it was shown to you on the mountain.

⁹“You are to make the courtyard for the tabernacle. Make hangings for the south side of the courtyard out of finely spun linen, 150 feet long on that side

¹⁰including twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and silver bands for the posts.

¹¹And so make hangings 150 feet long for the north side, including twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and silver bands for the posts.

¹²For the width of the courtyard, make hangings 75 feet long for the west side, including their ten posts and their ten bases.

¹³And for the width of the courtyard on the east side toward the sunrise, 75 feet,

¹⁴make hangings 22½ feet long for one side of the gate, including their three posts and their three bases.

¹⁵And make hangings 22½ feet long for the other side, including their three posts and their three bases.

¹⁶The gate of the courtyard is to have a 30-foot screen embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It is to have four posts and their four bases.

¹⁷“All the posts around the courtyard are to be banded with silver and have silver hooks and bronze bases.

¹⁸The courtyard is to be 150 feet long, 75 feet wide at each end, and 7½ feet high, all of it made of finely spun linen. The bases of the posts are to be bronze.

¹⁹All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use and all its tent pegs as well as all the tent pegs of the courtyard are to be made of bronze.

²⁰“You are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light, in order to keep the lamp burning regularly.

²¹In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the LORD. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites throughout their generations.

¹Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

²For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

⁴The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

⁶So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds — whether flute or harp  — if they don’t make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized?

⁸In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

⁹In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, none is without meaning.

¹¹Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

¹²So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

¹⁵What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you;

¹⁹yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.

²⁰Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

²¹It is written in the law, I will speak to this people by people of other tongues and by the lips of foreigners, and even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

²²Speaking in other tongues, then, is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

²⁴But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all.

²⁵The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”

²⁶What then, brothers and sisters? Whenever you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, another tongue, or an interpretation. Everything is to be done for building up.

²⁷If anyone speaks in another tongue, there are to be only two, or at the most three, each in turn, and let someone interpret.

²⁸But if there is no interpreter, that person is to keep silent in the church and speak to himself and God.

²⁹Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate.

³⁰But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent.

³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged.

³²And the prophets’ spirits are subject to the prophets,

³³since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says.

³⁵If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

³⁶Or did the word of God originate from you, or did it come to you only?

³⁷If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord’s command.

³⁸If anyone ignores this, he will be ignored.

³⁹So then, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other tongues.

⁴⁰But everything is to be done decently and in order.

¹Then Job answered:

²I have heard many things like these. You are all miserable comforters.

³Is there no end to your empty words? What provokes you that you continue testifying?

⁴If you were in my place I could also talk like you. I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.

⁵Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.

⁶If I speak, my suffering is not relieved, and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?

⁷Surely he has now exhausted me. You have devastated my entire family.

⁸You have shriveled me up  — it has become a witness; my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

⁹His anger tears at me, and he harasses me. He gnashes his teeth at me. My enemy pierces me with his eyes.

¹⁰They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join themselves together against me.

¹¹God hands me over to the unjust; he throws me to the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but he shattered me; he seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as his target;

¹³his archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground.

¹⁴He breaks through my defenses again and again; he charges at me like a warrior.

¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength in the dust.

¹⁶My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes,

¹⁷although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights!

²⁰My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.

²¹I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend.

²²For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.

¹When Israel came out of Egypt — the house of Jacob from a people who spoke a foreign language  —

²Judah became his sanctuary, Israel, his dominion.

³The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back.

⁴The mountains skipped like rams, the hills, like lambs.

⁵Why was it, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you turned back?

⁶Mountains, that you skipped like rams? Hills, like lambs?

⁷Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

⁸who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a spring.

¹The reflections of the heart belong to mankind, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

²All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs motives.

³Commit your activities to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

⁴The LORD has prepared everything for his purpose — even the wicked for the day of disaster.

⁵Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

⁶Iniquity is atoned for by loyalty and faithfulness, and one turns from evil by the fear of the LORD.

⁷When a person’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

⁸Better a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.

⁹A person’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.

¹⁰God’s verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth should not give an unfair judgment.

¹¹Honest balances and scales are the LORD’s; all the weights in the bag are his concern.

¹²Wicked behavior is detestable to kings, since a throne is established through righteousness.

¹³Righteous lips are a king’s delight, and he loves one who speaks honestly.

¹⁴A king’s fury is a messenger of death, but a wise person appeases it.

¹⁵When a king’s face lights up, there is life; his favor is like a cloud with spring rain.

¹⁶Get wisdom — how much better it is than gold! And get understanding — it is preferable to silver.

¹⁷The highway of the upright avoids evil; the one who guards his way protects his life.

¹⁸Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.

¹⁹Better to be lowly of spirit with the humble than to divide plunder with the proud.

²⁰The one who understands a matter finds success, and the one who trusts in the LORD will be happy.

²¹Anyone with a wise heart is called discerning, and pleasant speech increases learning.

²²Insight is a fountain of life for its possessor, but the discipline of fools is folly.

²³The heart of a wise person instructs his mouth; it adds learning to his speech.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.

²⁵There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

²⁶A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger urges him on.

²⁷A worthless person digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

²⁸A contrary person spreads conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

²⁹A violent person lures his neighbor, leading him on a path that is not good.

³⁰The one who narrows his eyes is planning deceptions; the one who compresses his lips brings about evil.

³¹Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness.

³²Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s emotions, than capturing a city.

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

¹Now the allotment for the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans was in the southernmost region, south to the Wilderness of Zin and over to the border of Edom.

²Their southern border began at the tip of the Dead Sea on the south bay

³and went south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceeded to Zin, ascended to the south of Kadesh-barnea, passed Hezron, ascended to Addar, and turned to Karka.

⁴It proceeded to Azmon and to the Brook of Egypt and so the border ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This is your southern border.

⁵Now the eastern border was along the Dead Sea to the mouth of the Jordan. The border on the north side was from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan.

⁶It ascended to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and ascended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.

⁷Then the border ascended to Debir from the Valley of Achor, turning north to the Gilgal that is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, which is south of the ravine. The border proceeded to the Waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.

⁸From there the border ascended Ben Hinnom Valley to the southern Jebusite slope (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces Hinnom Valley on the west, at the northern end of Rephaim Valley.

⁹From the top of the hill the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, went to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then curved to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim ).

¹⁰The border turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, went to the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), descended to Beth-shemesh, and proceeded to Timnah.

¹¹Then the border reached to the slope north of Ekron, curved to Shikkeron, proceeded to Mount Baalah, went to Jabneel, and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

¹²Now the western border was the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. This was the boundary of the descendants of Judah around their clans.

¹³He gave Caleb son of Jephunneh the following portion among the descendants of Judah based on the LORD’s instruction to Joshua: Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak).

¹⁴Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, descendants of Anak.

¹⁵From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir, which used to be called Kiriath-sepher,

¹⁶and Caleb said, “Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.”

¹⁷So Othniel son of Caleb’s brother, Kenaz, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as a wife.

¹⁸When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁹She replied, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me the springs also.” So he gave her the upper and lower springs.

²⁰This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans.

²¹These were the outermost cities of the tribe of the descendants of Judah toward the border of Edom in the Negev: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,

²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,

²⁴Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

²⁵Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor),

²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah,

²⁷Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,

²⁸Hazar-shual, Beer-sheba, Biziothiah,

²⁹Baalah, Iim, Ezem,

³⁰Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,

³¹Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,

³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon — twenty-nine cities in all, with their settlements.

³³In the Judean foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

³⁴Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam,

³⁵Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

³⁶Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim — fourteen cities, with their settlements;

³⁷Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad,

³⁸Dilan, Mizpeh, Jokthe-el,

³⁹Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

⁴⁰Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish,

⁴¹Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah — sixteen cities, with their settlements;

⁴²Libnah, Ether, Ashan,

⁴³Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,

⁴⁴Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah — nine cities, with their settlements;

⁴⁵Ekron, with its surrounding villages and settlements;

⁴⁶from Ekron to the sea, all the cities near Ashdod, with their settlements;

⁴⁷Ashdod, with its surrounding villages and settlements; Gaza, with its surrounding villages and settlements, to the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,

⁴⁹Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),

⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,

⁵¹Goshen, Holon, and Giloh — eleven cities, with their settlements;

⁵²Arab, Dumah, Eshan,

⁵³Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah,

⁵⁴Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior — nine cities, with their settlements;

⁵⁵Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,

⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,

⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah — ten cities, with their settlements;

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,

⁵⁹Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon — six cities, with their settlements;

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah — two cities, with their settlements.

⁶¹In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,

⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi — six cities, with their settlements.

⁶³But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites still live in Jerusalem among the descendants of Judah today.

¹For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.

²The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

³When the LORD gives you rest from your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do,

⁴you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has quieted down, and how the raging has become quiet!

⁵The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

⁶It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows. It subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

⁷The whole earth is calm and at rest; people shout with a ringing cry.

⁸Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: “Since you have been laid low, no lumberjack has come against us.”

⁹Sheol below is eager to greet your coming, stirring up the spirits of the departed for you — all the rulers of the earth — making all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

¹⁰They all respond to you, saying, “You too have become as weak as we are; you have become like us!

¹¹Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.”

¹²Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.

¹³You said to yourself, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.

¹⁴I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the Pit.

¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you: “Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

¹⁷who turned the world into a wilderness, who destroyed its cities and would not release the prisoners to return home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are thrown out without a grave, like a worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

²⁰You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will never be mentioned again.

²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

²²“I will rise up against them” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

²³“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

²⁴The LORD of Armies has sworn: As I have purposed, so it will be; as I have planned it, so it will happen.

²⁵I will break Assyria in my land; I will tread him down on my mountain. Then his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

²⁶This is the plan prepared for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out against all the nations.

²⁷The LORD of Armies himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is his hand that is outstretched, so who can turn it back?

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died, this pronouncement came:

²⁹Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come from the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

³⁰Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed, and the impoverished will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root with hunger, and your remnant will be slain.

³¹Wail, you gates! Cry out, city! Tremble with fear, all Philistia! For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.

³²What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation? The LORD has founded Zion, and his oppressed people find refuge in her.

¹About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

²and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

⁴After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

⁶When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”

⁹So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

¹²As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

¹³He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

¹⁵“You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

¹⁷Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.

¹⁸At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

¹⁹After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.

²²The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

²⁵After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.