Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;

²and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

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

⁴Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

⁶And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

⁷But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”

⁸When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

⁹Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

¹⁰And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.

¹²But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

¹⁴And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying,

¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

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

²⁰So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

²¹However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

²²Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men,

²³and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

²⁴When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

²⁵He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

²⁶Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

²⁷Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

¹‘Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering (it is most holy):

²In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the trespass offering. And its blood he shall sprinkle all around on the altar.

³And he shall offer from it all its fat. The fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails,

⁴the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove;

⁵and the priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a trespass offering.

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

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

⁸And the priest who offers anyone’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered.

⁹Also every grain offering that is baked in the oven and all that is prepared in the covered pan, or in a pan, shall be the priest’s who offers it.

¹⁰Every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all the sons of Aaron, to one as much as the other.

¹¹‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer to the LORD:

¹²If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil.

¹³Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.

¹⁴And from it he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering.

¹⁵‘The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning.

¹⁶But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten;

¹⁷the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire.

¹⁸And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be imputed to him; it shall be an abomination to him who offers it, and the person who eats of it shall bear guilt.

¹⁹‘The flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned with fire. And as for the clean flesh, all who are clean may eat of it.

²⁰But the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, while he is unclean, that person shall be cut off from his people.

²¹Moreover the person who touches any unclean thing, such as human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any abominable unclean thing, and who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

²²And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²³“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat.

²⁴And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it.

²⁵For whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.

²⁶Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast.

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

²⁸Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁹“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offering to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from the sacrifice of his peace offering.

³⁰His own hands shall bring the offerings made by fire to the LORD. The fat with the breast he shall bring, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the LORD.

³¹And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.

³²Also the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a heave offering from the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

³³He among the sons of Aaron, who offers the blood of the peace offering and the fat, shall have the right thigh for his part.

³⁴For the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering I have taken from the children of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons from the children of Israel by a statute forever.’ ”

³⁵This is the consecrated portion for Aaron and his sons, from the offerings made by fire to the LORD, on the day when Moses presented them to minister to the LORD as priests.

³⁶The LORD commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel, on the day that He anointed them, by a statute forever throughout their generations.

³⁷This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering,

³⁸which the LORD commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when He commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai.

¹Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

²Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

³And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

⁴You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

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

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

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

⁸This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.

⁹A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

¹⁰I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.

¹¹And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

¹²I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

¹³For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

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

¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

¹⁶I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

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

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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

²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

²⁴And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

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

¹My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

²For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

³and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”

⁴have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

⁷Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

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

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

¹⁰For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

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

¹²So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

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

¹⁴What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

¹⁷Thus 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 without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

²⁰But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

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

²²Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

²⁴You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

¹Elihu also proceeded and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you That there are yet words to speak on God’s behalf.

³I will fetch my knowledge from afar; I will 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, but despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not preserve the life of the wicked, But gives justice to the oppressed.

⁷He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; But they are on the throne with kings, For He has seated them forever, And they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in fetters, Held in the cords of affliction,

⁹Then He tells them their work and their transgressions— That they have acted defiantly.

¹⁰He also opens their ear to instruction, And commands that they turn from iniquity.

¹¹If they obey and serve Him, They shall spend their days in prosperity, And their years in pleasures.

¹²But if they do not obey, They shall perish by the sword, And they shall die without knowledge.

¹³“But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath; They do not cry for help when He binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, And their life ends among the perverted persons.

¹⁵He delivers the poor in their affliction, And opens their ears in oppression.

¹⁶“Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, Into a broad place where there is no restraint; And what is set on your table would be full of richness.

¹⁷But you are filled with the judgment due the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow; For a large ransom would not help you avoid it.

¹⁹Will your riches, Or all the mighty forces, Keep you from distress?

²⁰Do not desire the night, When people are cut off in their place.

²¹Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction.

²²“Behold, God is exalted by His power; Who teaches like Him?

²³Who has assigned Him His way, Or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember to magnify His work, Of which men have sung.

²⁵Everyone has seen it; Man looks on it from afar.

²⁶“Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered.

²⁷For He draws up drops of water, Which distill as rain from the mist,

²⁸Which the clouds drop down And pour abundantly on man.

²⁹Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, The thunder from His canopy?

³⁰Look, He scatters His light upon it, And covers the depths of the sea.

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

³²He covers His hands with lightning, And commands it to strike.

³³His thunder declares it, The cattle also, concerning the rising storm.

¹A Song of Ascents. [1] Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD!

²Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.

³The LORD who made heaven and earth Bless you from Zion!

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding,

²That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.

³For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth 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 lay hold of hell.

⁶Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.

⁷Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove 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 cruel one;

¹⁰Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹²And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction!

¹³I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!

¹⁴I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.

¹⁹As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.

²²His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.

²³He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.

²Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”

³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.

⁵And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

⁶Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

⁷So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from 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 again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.”

¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

¹²Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

¹³And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

¹⁴So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,

¹⁵and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon;

¹⁶for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

¹⁸And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

¹⁹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our place.”

²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

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

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

²³‘And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?

²⁴Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.

²⁵And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?

²⁶While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?

²⁷Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ”

²⁸However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.

³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands,

³¹then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

³³And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

³⁴When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

³⁵And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.”

³⁶So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.”

³⁷Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.”

³⁸So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

³⁹And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel

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

¹Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it.

²For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter.

³Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

⁴All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.

⁵“For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

⁶The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness.”

⁸For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

⁹Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch.

¹⁰It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

¹¹But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.

¹²They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

¹³And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches.

¹⁴The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest.

¹⁵There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs And hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, Every one with her mate.

¹⁶“Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.

¹⁷He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”

¹Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,

²being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

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

⁴However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

⁵And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,

⁶as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”

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

⁹If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,

¹⁰let it be known to you all, 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 stands here before you whole.

¹¹This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’

¹²Nor is there salvation in any other, 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 and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

¹⁵But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,

¹⁶saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

¹⁸So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

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

²⁰For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

²¹So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.

²²For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

²³And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

²⁴So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

²⁵who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?

²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.’

²⁷“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together

²⁸to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

²⁹Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,

³⁰by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

³¹And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

³³And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

³⁴Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,

³⁵and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

³⁶And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,

³⁷having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.