Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

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

³He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.

⁶The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

⁹So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’

¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

¹²He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

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

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

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

¹⁶They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.

¹⁷Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

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

²⁰and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

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

²³That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.

²⁴“Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.

²⁶The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.

²⁷Finally, the woman died.

²⁸Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

³⁰At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

³¹But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you,

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

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

³⁴Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

³⁶“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

⁴¹While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

⁴²“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’

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

⁴⁶No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period.

³On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.

⁴Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.

⁵If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.

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

⁷He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. “ ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.

⁸But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’ ”

¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

³Make 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 when you were called;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

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

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

⁸This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”

⁹(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?

¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

¹¹So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,

¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰That, however, is not the way of life you learned

²¹when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

²⁶“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold.

²⁸Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

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

²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—

⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

⁷Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

⁸and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,

¹⁴or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

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

¹⁶Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.

¹⁷Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

¹⁸Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.

¹⁹For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

²⁰But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

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

²²“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

²³When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

²⁴“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

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

¹“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?

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

³Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?

⁴Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?

⁵Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

⁶Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?

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

⁸If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

⁹Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.

¹⁰No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?

¹¹Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

¹²“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

¹⁴Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?

¹⁵Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;

¹⁶each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.

¹⁷They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.

¹⁸Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.

²⁰Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

²¹Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.

²²Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.

²³The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

²⁴Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.

²⁶The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

²⁷Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.

²⁸Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.

²⁹A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

³⁰Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.

³³Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.

³⁴It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

¹For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

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

⁵You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

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

⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

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

¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

¹³For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

²⁰They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

²²I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

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

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

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.

³The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

⁴Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁵He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

⁶Blessings crown the head of the righteous, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

⁷The name of the righteous is used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

¹⁰Whoever winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

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

¹²Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.

¹⁴The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

¹⁶The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

¹⁷Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

¹⁸Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

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

²²The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

²³A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

²⁴What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted.

²⁵When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them.

²⁷The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin of those who do evil.

³⁰The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.

³¹From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

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

¹One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.

²The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

³But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

⁴Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.

⁵The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

⁷Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

⁸Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.

⁹With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

¹¹He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

¹²So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

¹³Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric

¹⁴and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

¹⁵Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”

¹⁶With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.

¹⁹After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

²⁰Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

²¹Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.

²²But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

²³Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.”

²⁵While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars,

²⁶Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”

²⁷Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.

²⁸Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

²⁹Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other,

³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

³¹Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.

¹At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.

²Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

⁴The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

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

⁶The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.

⁷And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest

²and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

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

⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

⁹For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

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

¹⁵But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

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

¹⁷Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,

¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

²⁰At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

²¹All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him,

²⁴but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.

²⁵But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

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

³⁰When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda.

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

³⁴“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up.

³⁵All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.

³⁷About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.

³⁸Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

³⁹Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.

⁴¹He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive.

⁴²This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

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