Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

²Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

⁴and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.

⁵Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.

⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’

⁷They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’

⁹And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.

¹⁰But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.

¹¹And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,

¹²saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

¹³But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

¹⁴Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

¹⁷Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,

¹⁸“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,

¹⁹and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”

²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

²¹And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

²²But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”

²³So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

²⁴And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.

²⁵But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

²⁶Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

²⁷And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—

²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

²⁹Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.

³⁰And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

³¹Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

³²So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

³³They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”

³⁴So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

¹Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.

²So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

³And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace.

⁴Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.”

⁵So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled.

⁷You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying:

⁹“Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations,

¹⁰that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean,

¹¹and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

¹²And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: “Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings made by fire to the LORD, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; for it is most holy.

¹³You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, of the sacrifices made by fire to the LORD; for so I have been commanded.

¹⁴The breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you shall eat in a clean place, you, your sons, and your daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ due, which are given from the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel.

¹⁵The thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to offer as a wave offering before the LORD. And it shall be yours and your sons’ with you, by a statute forever, as the LORD has commanded.”

¹⁶Then Moses made careful inquiry about the goat of the sin offering, and there it was—burned up. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying,

¹⁷“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in a holy place, since it is most holy, and God has given it to you to bear the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?

¹⁸See! Its blood was not brought inside the holy place; indeed you should have eaten it in a holy place, as I commanded.”

¹⁹And Aaron said to Moses, “Look, this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and such things have befallen me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?”

²⁰So when Moses heard that, he was content.

¹And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

³among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

⁷that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast.

¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

¹¹Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—

¹²that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

¹⁵having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

¹⁸For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

²²in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

³Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

⁴Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

⁵You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

⁷Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

⁸You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

⁹Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.

¹¹Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

¹²But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,

²⁰let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

¹“Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?

²Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young?

³They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring.

⁴Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them.

⁵“Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,

⁶Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the barren land his dwelling?

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver.

⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture, And he searches after every green thing.

⁹“Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?

¹⁰Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?

¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?

¹²Will you trust him to bring home your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;

¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild beast may break them.

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,

¹⁷Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.

¹⁸When she lifts herself on high, She scorns the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?

²⁰Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.

²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.

²²He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword.

²³The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin.

²⁴He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.

²⁵At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.

²⁶“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south?

²⁷Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high?

²⁸On the rock it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.

²⁹From there it spies out the prey; Its eyes observe from afar.

³⁰Its young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there it is.”

¹By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.

²We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.

³For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How shall we sing the LORD’s song In a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill!

⁶If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth— If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, “Raze it, raze it, To its very foundation!”

⁸O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!

⁹Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock!

¹Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice?

²She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, Beside the way, where the paths meet.

³She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, At the entrance of the doors:

⁴“To you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men.

⁵O you simple ones, understand prudence, And you fools, be of an understanding heart.

⁶Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, And from the opening of my lips will come right things;

⁷For my mouth will speak truth; Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.

⁹They are all plain to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold;

¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

¹⁴Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.

¹⁷I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver.

²⁰I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

²¹That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.

²²“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.

²³I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth;

²⁶While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primal dust of the world.

²⁷When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,

²⁹When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him,

³¹Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.

³²“Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD;

³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.”

¹Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

²So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”

³Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”

⁴But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

⁵So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him.

⁶And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

⁷Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

⁸After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion.

⁹He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so.

¹¹And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹²Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.

¹³But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, that we may hear it.”

¹⁴So he said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.

¹⁵But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?”

¹⁶Then Samson’s wife wept on him, and said, “You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?”

¹⁷Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people.

¹⁸So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, You would not have solved my riddle!”

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father’s house.

²⁰And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

¹And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

²Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.

⁴It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

⁸Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.

⁹And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

¹¹Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying:

¹⁶“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁷Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

¹⁸Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,

¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.

²⁰Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone.”

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!

²³“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest.

²⁵I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.’

²⁶“Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.

²⁸“But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.

²⁹Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came.” ’

³⁰“This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

³¹And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.

³²For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

³³“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.

³⁴By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the LORD.

³⁵‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”

³⁶Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.

³⁸Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

¹Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

²And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

³and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’

⁴Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.

⁵And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.

⁶But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years.

⁷‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’

⁸Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him

¹⁰and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.

¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.

¹⁶And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

¹⁷“But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt

¹⁸till another king arose who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.

²⁰At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.

²¹But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.

²²And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

²³“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

²⁴And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.

²⁵For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.

²⁶And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

³⁰“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

³¹When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³²saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³‘Then the LORD said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’

³⁵“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’

³⁸“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

³⁹whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴²Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,

⁴⁵which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

⁴⁶who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?

⁵⁰Has My hand not made all these things?’

⁵¹“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

⁵³who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

⁵⁴When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

⁵⁶and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;

⁵⁸and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁶⁰Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.