Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

³And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

⁴And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

⁵He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.

⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”

⁸And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

⁹And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

¹⁰And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”

¹¹He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.

¹²But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

¹⁴And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him,

¹⁵said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.

¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”

¹⁷And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁰He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²¹

²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,

²³and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

²⁴When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”

²⁵He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”

²⁶And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

²⁷However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

¹“This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.

²In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar.

³And all its fat shall be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails,

⁴the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.

⁵The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering to the LORD; it is a guilt offering.

⁶Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.

⁷The guilt offering is just like the sin offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it.

⁸And the priest who offers any man's burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered.

⁹And every grain offering baked in the oven and all that is prepared on a pan or a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it.

¹⁰And every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall be shared equally among all the sons of Aaron.

¹¹“And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the LORD.

¹²If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil.

¹³With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread.

¹⁴And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings.

¹⁵And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.

¹⁶But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.

¹⁷But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire.

¹⁸If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him. It is tainted, and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁹“Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire. All who are clean may eat flesh,

²⁰but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the LORD's peace offerings while an uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people.

²¹And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any unclean detestable creature, and then eats some flesh from the sacrifice of the LORD's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people.”

²²The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²³“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat.

²⁴The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it.

²⁵For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the LORD shall be cut off from his people.

²⁶Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places.

²⁷Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”

²⁸The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁹“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from the sacrifice of his peace offerings.

³⁰His own hands shall bring the LORD's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the LORD.

³¹The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons.

³²And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings.

³³Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion.

³⁴For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel.

³⁵This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the LORD's food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the LORD.

³⁶The LORD commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”

³⁷This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering,

³⁸which the LORD commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.

¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

²Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

³I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

⁴You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

⁷You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

⁸This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

⁹A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

¹⁰I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

¹¹But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

¹²I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

¹My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,

³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”

⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

¹³For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!

²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” — and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

¹And Elihu continued, and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,

⁹then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.

¹²But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

¹³“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

¹⁶He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

¹⁷“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.

¹⁸Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?

²⁰Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.

²¹Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

²²Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.

²⁵All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.

²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,

²⁸which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.

²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?

³⁰Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.

³²He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

³³Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.

¹Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!

²Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!

³May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!

¹My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

²that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

³For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

⁴but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;

⁶she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,

¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

¹¹and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

¹²and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

¹⁴I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

¹⁹a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

²¹For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.

²²The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

²³He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

²And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.”

³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel.

⁵And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.

⁶And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.”

⁷But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head.”

¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.”

¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”

¹³And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

¹⁵and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites,

¹⁶but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

¹⁷Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸“Then they journeyed through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

¹⁹Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’

²⁰but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

²¹And the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.

²²And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³So then the LORD, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?

²⁴Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.

²⁵Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?

²⁶While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time?

²⁷I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The LORD, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.”

²⁸But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,

³¹then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand.

³³And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

³⁵And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow.”

³⁶And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”

³⁷So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”

³⁸So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.

³⁹And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel

⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

¹Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it.

²For the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.

³Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood.

⁴All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.

⁵For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

⁶The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

⁸For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

⁹And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.

¹⁰Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.

¹¹But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

¹²Its nobles — there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing.

¹³Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.

¹⁴And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.

¹⁵There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate.

¹⁶Seek and read from the book of the LORD: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

¹⁷He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

¹And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,

²greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

³And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

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

⁵On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem,

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

⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

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

⁹if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,

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

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

¹²And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another,

¹⁶saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

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

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,

²⁰for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

²¹And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.

²²For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

²⁵who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ —

²⁷for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

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

²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,

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

³¹And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

³³And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold

³⁵and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

³⁶Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,

³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.