Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

²He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

³“At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.

⁴So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.

⁵So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

⁶“At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

⁷“They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

⁸“That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first.

⁹When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.

¹⁰When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.

¹¹When they received their pay, they protested to the owner,

¹²‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

¹³“He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage?

¹⁴Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.

¹⁵Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

¹⁶“So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

¹⁷As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him.

¹⁸“Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die.

¹⁹Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

²⁰Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor.

²¹“What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

²²But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

²³Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

²⁴When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.

²⁵But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.

²⁶But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,

²⁷and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.

²⁸For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

²⁹As Jesus and the disciples left the town of Jericho, a large crowd followed behind.

³⁰Two blind men were sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was coming that way, they began shouting, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³¹“Be quiet!” the crowd yelled at them. But they only shouted louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³²When Jesus heard them, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?”

³³“Lord,” they said, “we want to see!”

³⁴Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.

¹Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the LORD by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded.

²So fire blazed forth from the LORD’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the LORD.

³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when he said, ‘I will display my holiness through those who come near me. I will display my glory before all the people.’” And Aaron was silent.

⁴Then Moses called for Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron’s cousins, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel. He said to them, “Come forward and carry away the bodies of your relatives from in front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”

⁵So they came forward and picked them up by their garments and carried them out of the camp, just as Moses had commanded.

⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not show grief by leaving your hair uncombed or by tearing your clothes. If you do, you will die, and the LORD’s anger will strike the whole community of Israel. However, the rest of the Israelites, your relatives, may mourn because of the LORD’s fiery destruction of Nadab and Abihu.

⁷But you must not leave the entrance of the Tabernacle or you will die, for you have been anointed with the LORD’s anointing oil.” So they did as Moses commanded.

⁸Then the LORD said to Aaron,

⁹“You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation.

¹⁰You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean.

¹¹And you must teach the Israelites all the decrees that the LORD has given them through Moses.”

¹²Then Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take what is left of the grain offering after a portion has been presented as a special gift to the LORD, and eat it beside the altar. Make sure it contains no yeast, for it is most holy.

¹³You must eat it in a sacred place, for it has been given to you and your descendants as your portion of the special gifts presented to the LORD. These are the commands I have been given.

¹⁴But the breast and thigh that were lifted up as a special offering may be eaten in any place that is ceremonially clean. These parts have been given to you and your descendants as your portion of the peace offerings presented by the people of Israel.

¹⁵You must lift up the thigh and breast as a special offering to the LORD, along with the fat of the special gifts. These parts will belong to you and your descendants as your permanent right, just as the LORD has commanded.”

¹⁶Moses then asked them what had happened to the goat of the sin offering. When he discovered it had been burned up, he became very angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons.

¹⁷“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sacred area?” he demanded. “It is a holy offering! The LORD has given it to you to remove the guilt of the community and to purify the people, making them right with the LORD.

¹⁸Since the animal’s blood was not brought into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the meat in the sacred area as I ordered you.”

¹⁹Then Aaron answered Moses, “Today my sons presented both their sin offering and their burnt offering to the LORD. And yet this tragedy has happened to me. If I had eaten the people’s sin offering on such a tragic day as this, would the LORD have been pleased?”

²⁰And when Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

¹Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.

²You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil — the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

³All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

⁴But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,

⁵that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

⁶For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

⁷So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

⁸God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

⁹Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

¹⁰For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

¹¹Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

¹²In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

¹³But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

¹⁵He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

¹⁶Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

¹⁷He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.

¹⁸Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¹⁹So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

²⁰Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

²¹We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

²²Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

¹Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.

²Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

³Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

⁴For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

⁵You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

⁷Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

⁸You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look — the Judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

¹²But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.

¹³Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

¹⁴Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁵Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

¹⁶Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

¹⁷Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!

¹⁸Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back,

²⁰you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

¹“Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?

²Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery?

³They crouch down to give birth to their young and deliver their offspring.

⁴Their young grow up in the open fields, then leave home and never return.

⁵“Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who untied its ropes?

⁶I have placed it in the wilderness; its home is the wasteland.

⁷It hates the noise of the city and has no driver to shout at it.

⁸The mountains are its pastureland, where it searches for every blade of grass.

⁹“Will the wild ox consent to being tamed? Will it spend the night in your stall?

¹⁰Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you?

¹¹Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?

¹²Can you rely on it to bring home your grain and deliver it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The ostrich flaps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork.

¹⁴She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust.

¹⁵She doesn’t worry that a foot might crush them or a wild animal might destroy them.

¹⁶She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She doesn’t care if they die.

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom. He has given her no understanding.

¹⁸But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.

¹⁹“Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?

²⁰Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust? Its majestic snorting is terrifying!

²¹It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength when it charges out to battle.

²²It laughs at fear and is unafraid. It does not run from the sword.

²³The arrows rattle against it, and the spear and javelin flash.

²⁴It paws the ground fiercely and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows.

²⁵It snorts at the sound of the horn. It senses the battle in the distance. It quivers at the captain’s commands and the noise of battle.

²⁶“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest?

²⁸It lives on the cliffs, making its home on a distant, rocky crag.

²⁹From there it hunts its prey, keeping watch with piercing eyes.

³⁰Its young gulp down blood. Where there’s a carcass, there you’ll find it.”

¹Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.

²We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.

³For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”

⁴But how can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a pagan land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp.

⁶May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.

⁷O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Destroy it!” they yelled. “Level it to the ground!”

⁸O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.

⁹Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!

¹Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice!

²On the hilltop along the road, she takes her stand at the crossroads.

³By the gates at the entrance to the town, on the road leading in, she cries aloud,

⁴“I call to you, to all of you! I raise my voice to all people.

⁵You simple people, use good judgment. You foolish people, show some understanding.

⁶Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right,

⁷for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception.

⁸My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it.

⁹My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge.

¹⁰Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.

¹¹For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.

¹²“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.

¹³All who fear the LORD will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.

¹⁴Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.

¹⁵Because of me, kings reign, and rulers make just decrees.

¹⁶Rulers lead with my help, and nobles make righteous judgments.

¹⁷“I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.

¹⁸I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.

¹⁹My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold, my wages better than sterling silver!

²⁰I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice.

²¹Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.

²²“The LORD formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else.

²³I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began.

²⁴I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters.

²⁵Before the mountains were formed, before the hills, I was born —

²⁶before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil.

²⁷I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans.

²⁸I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth.

²⁹I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,

³⁰I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence.

³¹And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family!

³²“And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful.

³³Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.

³⁴Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home!

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.

³⁶But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death.”

¹One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye.

²When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”

³His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.”

⁴His father and mother didn’t realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

⁵As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah.

⁶At that moment the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it.

⁷When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.

⁸Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass.

⁹He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men.

¹¹When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions.

¹²Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.

¹³But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.” “All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”

¹⁴So he said: “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.” Three days later they were still trying to figure it out.

¹⁵On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?”

¹⁶So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?”

¹⁷So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.

¹⁸So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother.

²⁰So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.

¹When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the LORD.

²And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

³They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.

⁴But perhaps the LORD your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”

⁵After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah,

⁶the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers.

⁷Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”

⁸Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.

⁹Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:

¹⁰“This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.

¹¹You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?

¹²Have the gods of other nations rescued them — such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all!

¹³What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

¹⁴After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the LORD’s Temple and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the LORD:

¹⁶“O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.

¹⁷Bend down, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

¹⁸“It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations.

¹⁹And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all — only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.

²⁰Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O LORD, are God. ”

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria,

²²the LORD has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee.

²³“Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴By your messengers you have defied the Lord. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains — yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights and explored its deepest forests.

²⁵I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’

²⁶“But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.

²⁷That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.

²⁸“But I know you well — where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me.

²⁹And because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came.”

³⁰Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true: “This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.

³¹And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and grow up and flourish.

³²For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount Zion. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

³³“And this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: “‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls.

³⁴The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city,’ says the LORD.

³⁵‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’”

³⁶That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.

³⁷Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁸One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.

¹Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?”

²This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.

³God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’

⁴So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live.

⁵“But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants — even though he had no children yet.

⁶God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.

⁷‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’

⁸“God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.

⁹“These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him

¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.

¹¹“But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food.

¹²Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons — our ancestors — to buy some.

¹³The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all.

¹⁵So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors.

¹⁶Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.

¹⁷“As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.

¹⁸But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.

¹⁹This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.

²⁰“At that time Moses was born — a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months.

²¹When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.

²²Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.

²³“One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.

²⁴He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.

²⁵Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.

²⁶“The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’

²⁷“But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked.

²⁸‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.

³⁰“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the LORD called out to him,

³²‘I am the God of your ancestors — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.

³³“Then the LORD said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.

³⁴I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’

³⁵“So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior.

³⁶And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷“Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’

³⁸Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.

³⁹“But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.

⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’

⁴¹So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.

⁴²Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written, ‘Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?

⁴³No, you carried your pagan gods — the shrine of Molech, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile as far away as Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses.

⁴⁵Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.

⁴⁶“David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who actually built it.

⁴⁸However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,

⁴⁹‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the LORD. ‘Could you build me such a resting place?

⁵⁰Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’

⁵¹“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!

⁵²Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One — the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered.

⁵³You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”

⁵⁴The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.

⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

⁵⁶And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

⁵⁷Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him

⁵⁸and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁶⁰He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.