Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables:

²“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

³He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come.

⁴Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business,

⁶while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’

¹⁰So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.

¹¹When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.

¹²So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

¹³“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said.

¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality.

¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites?

¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius.

²⁰“Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them.

²¹“Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²²When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

²³That same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to him and questioned him:

²⁴“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.

²⁶The same thing happened to the second also, and the third, and so on to all seven.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.

³¹Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:

³²I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.

³⁵And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him:

³⁶“Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

³⁷He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

³⁸This is the greatest and most important command.

³⁹The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

⁴¹While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them,

⁴²“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “David’s.”

⁴³He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’

⁴⁴ The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’?

⁴⁵“If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how then can he be his son?”

⁴⁶No one was able to answer him at all, and from that day no one dared to question him anymore.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Tell the Israelites: When a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean seven days, as she is during the days of her menstrual impurity.

³The flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised on the eighth day.

⁴She will continue in purification from her bleeding for thirty-three days. She must not touch any holy thing or go into the sanctuary until completing her days of purification.

⁵But if she gives birth to a female child, she will be unclean for two weeks as she is during her menstrual impurity. She will continue in purification from her bleeding for sixty-six days.

⁶“When her days of purification are complete, whether for a son or daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.

⁷He will present them before the LORD and make atonement on her behalf; she will be clean from her discharge of blood. This is the law for a woman giving birth, whether to a male or female.

⁸But if she doesn’t have sufficient means for a sheep, she may take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the priest will make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.”

¹Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received,

²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit  — just as you were called to one hope at your calling —

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

⁷Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

⁸For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people.

⁹But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.

¹¹And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

¹²equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head  — Christ.

¹⁶From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.

¹⁷Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts.

¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁹They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

²⁰But that is not how you came to know Christ,

²¹assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,

²²to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,

²³to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

²⁴and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.

²⁶Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,

²⁷and don’t give the devil an opportunity.

²⁸Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.

²⁹No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.

³⁰And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.

³¹Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.

³²And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.

²Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation,

³if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to him, a living stone — rejected by people but chosen and honored by God —

⁵you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

⁷So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected — this one has become the cornerstone,

⁸and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

¹²Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.

¹³Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority

¹⁴or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.

¹⁵For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.

¹⁶Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

¹⁷Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence not only to the good and gentle ones but also to the cruel.

¹⁹For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.

²⁰For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

²¹For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

²²He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth;

²³when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

²⁵For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

¹Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³Will he beg you for mercy or speak softly to you?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you so that you can take him as a slave forever?

⁵Can you play with him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?

⁶Will traders bargain for him or divide him among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Lay a hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it!

⁹Any hope of capturing him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?

¹⁰No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against me?

¹¹Who confronted me, that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

¹²I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions.

¹³Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?

¹⁴Who can open his jaws, surrounded by those terrifying teeth?

¹⁵His pride is in his rows of scales, closely sealed together.

¹⁶One scale is so close to another that no air can pass between them.

¹⁷They are joined to one another, so closely connected they cannot be separated.

¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹Flaming torches shoot from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out!

²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.

²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth.

²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay dances before him.

²³The folds of his flesh are joined together, solid as metal and immovable.

²⁴His heart is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

²⁵When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw because of his thrashing.

²⁶The sword that reaches him will have no effect, nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.

²⁷He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him.

²⁹A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.

³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like an ointment jar.

³²He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair!

³³He has no equal on earth — a creature devoid of fear!

³⁴He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] LORD, you have searched me and known me.

²You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away.

³You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways.

⁴Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, LORD.

⁵You have encircled me; you have placed your hand on me.

⁶This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

⁷Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

⁹If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits,

¹⁰even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”  —

¹²even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.

¹³For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.

¹⁵My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

¹⁷God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is!

¹⁸If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you.

¹⁹God, if only you would kill the wicked — you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me  —

²⁰who invoke you deceitfully. Your enemies swear by you falsely.

²¹LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you, and detest those who rebel against you?

²²I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

¹Solomon’s proverbs: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.

²Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.

³The LORD will not let the righteous go hungry, but he denies the wicked what they crave.

⁴Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.

⁵The son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.

⁶Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

⁷The remembrance of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed.

⁹The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.

¹⁰A sly wink of the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will be destroyed.

¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

¹²Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense.

¹⁴The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of the fool hastens destruction.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; the poverty of the poor is their destruction.

¹⁶The reward of the righteous is life; the wages of the wicked is punishment.

¹⁷The one who follows instruction is on the path to life, but the one who rejects correction goes astray.

¹⁸The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is pure silver; the heart of the wicked is of little value.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.

²²The LORD’s blessing enriches, and he adds no painful effort to it.

²³As shameful conduct is pleasure for a fool, so wisdom is for a person of understanding.

²⁴What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desire will be given to them.

²⁵When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.

²⁶Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand.

²⁷The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold for the honorable, but destruction awaits the malicious.

³⁰The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not remain on the earth.

³¹The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.

³²The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate, but the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse.

¹Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.

²When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”

³But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

⁴Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.

⁵The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

⁷Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.

⁹While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”

¹¹He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹²Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom — ”

¹⁴She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

¹⁵“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

¹⁶Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,

¹⁷he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him.

²⁰Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

²¹The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

²²But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²³Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead.

²⁵When they were in good spirits, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

²⁶Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”

²⁷The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

²⁸He called out to the LORD: “Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

²⁹Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left.

³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹Then his brothers and all his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel twenty years.

¹At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

²Hezekiah was pleased with the letters, and he showed the envoys his treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil — and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and where did they come to you from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”

⁴Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of Armies:

⁶‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.

⁷‘Some of your descendants — who come from you, whom you father — will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.

¹Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest

²and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

⁴Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.

⁶“But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

⁹He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.

¹⁰There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Here I am, Lord,” he replied.

¹¹“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.

¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

¹⁷Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

¹⁹And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time.

²⁰Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,

²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him,

²⁵but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

²⁷Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.

³⁰When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²As Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,” and immediately he got up.

³⁵So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated Dorcas). She was always doing good works and acts of charity.

³⁷About that time she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him who urged him, “Don’t delay in coming with us.”

³⁹Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. And all the widows approached him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.

⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. He called the saints and widows and presented her alive.

⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³Peter stayed for some time in Joppa with Simon, a leather tanner.