Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.

²“Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

⁴This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,

⁵“Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey — riding on a donkey’s colt.’”

⁶The two disciples did as Jesus commanded.

⁷They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

⁸Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!”

¹⁰The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.

¹¹And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

¹³He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

¹⁵The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.” But the leaders were indignant.

¹⁶They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’ ”

¹⁷Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.

¹⁸In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry,

¹⁹and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.

²⁰The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.

²²You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”

²³When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”

²⁴“I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied.

²⁵“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John.

²⁶But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.”

²⁷So they finally replied, “We don’t know.” And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’

²⁹The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway.

³⁰Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.

³¹“Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.

³²For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.

³³“Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.

³⁴At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.

³⁵But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

³⁶So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.

³⁷“Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

³⁸“But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’

³⁹So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.

⁴⁰“When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”

⁴¹The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”

⁴²Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’

⁴³I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.

⁴⁴Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on. ”

⁴⁵When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them — they were the wicked farmers.

⁴⁶They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “Of all the land animals, these are the ones you may use for food.

³You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud.

⁴You may not, however, eat the following animals that have split hooves or that chew the cud, but not both. The camel chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is ceremonially unclean for you.

⁵The hyrax chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean.

⁶The hare chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean.

⁷The pig has evenly split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is unclean.

⁸You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses. They are ceremonially unclean for you.

⁹“Of all the marine animals, these are ones you may use for food. You may eat anything from the water if it has both fins and scales, whether taken from salt water or from streams.

¹⁰But you must never eat animals from the sea or from rivers that do not have both fins and scales. They are detestable to you. This applies both to little creatures that live in shallow water and to all creatures that live in deep water.

¹¹They will always be detestable to you. You must never eat their meat or even touch their dead bodies.

¹²Any marine animal that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.

¹³“These are the birds that are detestable to you. You must never eat them: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

¹⁴the kite, falcons of all kinds,

¹⁵ravens of all kinds,

¹⁶the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the seagull, hawks of all kinds,

¹⁷the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,

¹⁸the barn owl, the desert owl, the Egyptian vulture,

¹⁹the stork, herons of all kinds, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰“You must not eat winged insects that walk along the ground; they are detestable to you.

²¹You may, however, eat winged insects that walk along the ground and have jointed legs so they can jump.

²²The insects you are permitted to eat include all kinds of locusts, bald locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.

²³All other winged insects that walk along the ground are detestable to you.

²⁴“The following creatures will make you ceremonially unclean. If any of you touch their carcasses, you will be defiled until evening.

²⁵If you pick up their carcasses, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening.

²⁶“Any animal that has split hooves that are not evenly divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you. If you touch the carcass of such an animal, you will be defiled.

²⁷Of the animals that walk on all fours, those that have paws are unclean. If you touch the carcass of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening.

²⁸If you pick up its carcass, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening. These animals are unclean for you.

²⁹“Of the small animals that scurry along the ground, these are unclean for you: the mole rat, the rat, large lizards of all kinds,

³⁰the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

³¹All these small animals are unclean for you. If any of you touch the dead body of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening.

³²If such an animal dies and falls on something, that object will be unclean. This is true whether the object is made of wood, cloth, leather, or burlap. Whatever its use, you must dip it in water, and it will remain defiled until evening. After that, it will be ceremonially clean and may be used again.

³³“If such an animal falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot will be defiled, and the pot must be smashed.

³⁴If the water from such a container spills on any food, the food will be defiled. And any beverage in such a container will be defiled.

³⁵Any object on which the carcass of such an animal falls will be defiled. If it is an oven or hearth, it must be destroyed, for it is defiled, and you must treat it accordingly.

³⁶“However, if the carcass of such an animal falls into a spring or a cistern, the water will still be clean. But anyone who touches the carcass will be defiled.

³⁷If the carcass falls on seed grain to be planted in the field, the seed will still be considered clean.

³⁸But if the seed is wet when the carcass falls on it, the seed will be defiled.

³⁹“If an animal you are permitted to eat dies and you touch its carcass, you will be defiled until evening.

⁴⁰If you eat any of its meat or carry away its carcass, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening.

⁴¹“All small animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.

⁴²This includes all animals that slither along on their bellies, as well as those with four legs and those with many feet. All such animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.

⁴³Do not defile yourselves by touching them. You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them.

⁴⁴For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.

⁴⁵For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

⁴⁶“These are the instructions regarding land animals, birds, marine creatures, and animals that scurry along the ground.

⁴⁷By these instructions you will know what is unclean and clean, and which animals may be eaten and which may not be eaten.”

¹When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles . . .

²assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles.

³As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.

⁴As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ.

⁵God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

⁶And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

⁷By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

⁸Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

⁹I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

¹⁰God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

¹¹This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹²Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.

¹³So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

¹⁴When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,

¹⁵the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

¹⁶I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.

¹⁷Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

¹⁸And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

¹⁹May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

²⁰Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

²¹Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

¹This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

²God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

³All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,

⁴and we have a priceless inheritance — an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

⁵And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

⁶So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.

⁷These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold — though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

⁸You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

⁹The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.

¹¹They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

¹²They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

¹³So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

¹⁴So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.

¹⁵But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.

¹⁶For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

¹⁷And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”

¹⁸For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.

¹⁹It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

²⁰God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

²¹Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

²²You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

²³For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

²⁴As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.

²⁵But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

¹Then the LORD said to Job,

²“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?”

³Then Job replied to the LORD,

⁴“I am nothing — how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand.

⁵I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷“Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

⁸“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?

⁹Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty.

¹¹Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud.

¹²Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead.

¹⁴Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.

¹⁵“Take a look at Behemoth, which I made, just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷Its tail is as strong as a cedar. The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron.

¹⁹It is a prime example of God’s handiwork, and only its Creator can threaten it.

²⁰The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play.

²¹It lies under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds in the marsh.

²²The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream.

²³It is not disturbed by the raging river, not concerned when the swelling Jordan rushes around it.

²⁴No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.

¹I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.

²I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

³As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.

⁴Every king in all the earth will thank you, LORD, for all of them will hear your words.

⁵Yes, they will sing about the LORD’s ways, for the glory of the LORD is very great.

⁶Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

⁷Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies. You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.

⁸The LORD will work out his plans for my life — for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns.

²She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table.

³She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city.

⁴“Come in with me,” she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment.”

⁷Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return. Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt.

⁸So don’t bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.

¹⁰Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

¹¹Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.

¹²If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer.

¹³The woman named Folly is brash. She is ignorant and doesn’t know it.

¹⁴She sits in her doorway on the heights overlooking the city.

¹⁵She calls out to men going by who are minding their own business.

¹⁶“Come in with me,” she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!”

¹⁸But little do they know that the dead are there. Her guests are in the depths of the grave.

¹Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. He said, “I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her,” but her father wouldn’t let him in.

²“I truly thought you must hate her,” her father explained, “so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.”

³Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.”

⁴Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails.

⁵Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves.

⁶“Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “Samson,” was the reply, “because his father-in-law from Timnah gave Samson’s wife to be married to his best man.” So the Philistines went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death.

⁷“Because you did this,” Samson vowed, “I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you!”

⁸So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam.

⁹The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spreading out near the town of Lehi.

¹⁰The men of Judah asked the Philistines, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines replied, “We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.”

¹¹So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?” But Samson replied, “I only did to them what they did to me.”

¹²But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” “All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

¹³“We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists.

¹⁵Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it.

¹⁶Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve piled them in heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve killed a thousand men!”

¹⁷When he finished his boasting, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was named Jawbone Hill.

¹⁸Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?”

¹⁹So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day.

²⁰Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.

¹About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”

²When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

³“Remember, O LORD, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.

⁴Then this message came to Isaiah from the LORD:

⁵“Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,

⁶and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.

⁷“‘And this is the sign from the LORD to prove that he will do as he promised:

⁸I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.

⁹When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:

¹⁰I said, “In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”

¹¹I said, “Never again will I see the LORD GOD while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or be with those who live in this world.

¹²My life has been blown away like a shepherd’s tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over.

¹³I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.

¹⁴Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”

¹⁵But what could I say? For he himself sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt.

¹⁶Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live!

¹⁷Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins.

¹⁸For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.

¹⁹Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.

²⁰Think of it — the LORD is ready to heal me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the LORD.

²¹Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”

²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the LORD?”

¹Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. Persecution Scatters the Believers A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

²(Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.)

³But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

⁴But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.

⁵Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.

⁶Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.

⁷Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great.

¹⁰Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One — the Power of God.”

¹¹They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.

¹²But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.

¹³Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.

¹⁴When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there.

¹⁵As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power.

¹⁹“Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”

²⁰But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!

²¹You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.

²²Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,

²³for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

²⁵After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.

²⁶As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

²⁷So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

³⁰Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

³²The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

³³He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?”

³⁵So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

³⁶As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.