Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.

³A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight!

⁴John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

⁵The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁶John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

⁸I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.

¹⁰As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”

¹²Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness.

¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.

¹⁴After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God:

¹⁵“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

¹⁶As he passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea  — for they were fishermen.

¹⁷“Follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”

¹⁸Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat putting their nets in order.

²⁰Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

²¹They went into Capernaum, and right away he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.

²²They were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

²³Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out,

²⁴“What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”

²⁵Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”

²⁶And the unclean spirit threw him into convulsions, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.

²⁷They were all amazed, and so they began to ask each other: “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

²⁸At once the news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee.

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they went into Simon and Andrew’s house with James and John.

³⁰Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

³¹So he went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²When evening came, after the sun had set, they brought to him all those who were sick and demon-possessed.

³³The whole town was assembled at the door,

³⁴and he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.

³⁶Simon and his companions searched for him,

³⁷and when they found him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

³⁸And he said to them, “Let’s go on to the neighboring villages so that I may preach there too. This is why I have come.”

³⁹He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

⁴⁰Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he told him. “Be made clean.”

⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

⁴³Then he sternly warned him and sent him away at once,

⁴⁴telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

⁴⁵Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.

¹Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country.

²He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well.

³The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there. Then they would return the stone to its place over the well’s opening.

⁴Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?” “We’re from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked them. They answered, “We know him.”

⁶“Is he well?” Jacob asked. “Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.”

⁷Then Jacob said, “Look, it is still broad daylight. It’s not time for the animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze.”

⁸But they replied, “We can’t until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

¹²He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

¹⁴Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

¹⁷Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.”

²⁰So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast.

²³That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

²⁴And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban answered, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.

²⁷Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”

²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

²⁹And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive.

³²Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.”

³³She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The LORD heard that I am unloved and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi.

³⁵And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

¹If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

³And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,

⁵is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

⁶Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

¹³Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.

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.

¹Job continued his discourse, saying:

²If only I could be as in months gone by, in the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone above my head, and I walked through darkness by his light!

⁴I would be as I was in the days of my youth when God’s friendship rested on my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,

⁶when my feet were bathed in curds and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the town square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, while older men stood to their feet.

⁹City officials stopped talking and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The noblemen’s voices were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹When they heard me, they blessed me, and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.

¹²For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.

¹³The dying blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.

¹⁴I clothed myself in righteousness, and it enveloped me; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I examined the case of the stranger.

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸So I thought, “I will die in my own nest and multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My roots will have access to water, and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

²⁰My whole being will be refreshed within me, and my bow will be renewed in my hand.”

²¹Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my advice.

²²After a word from me they did not speak again; my speech settled on them like dew.

²³They waited for me as for the rain and opened their mouths as for spring showers.

²⁴If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it; they were thrilled at the light of my countenance.

²⁵I directed their course and presided as chief. I lived as a king among his troops, like one who comforts those who mourn.

¹A psalm of David. [1] Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

³The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders — the LORD, above the vast water,

⁴the voice of the LORD in power, the voice of the LORD in splendor.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion, like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the woodlands bare. In his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned, King forever.

¹¹The LORD gives his people strength; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

¹One who becomes stiff-necked, after many reprimands will be shattered instantly — beyond recovery.

²When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but one who consorts with prostitutes destroys his wealth.

⁴By justice a king brings stability to a land, but a person who demands “contributions” demolishes it.

⁵A person who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil person is caught by sin, but the righteous one sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous person knows the rights of the poor, but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.

⁸Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger.

⁹If a wise person goes to court with a fool, there will be ranting and raving but no resolution.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate an honest person, but the upright care about him.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise person holds it in check.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

¹³The poor and the oppressor have this in common: the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴A king who judges the poor with fairness — his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a youth left to himself is a disgrace to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, rebellion increases, but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your child, and it will bring you peace of mind and give you delight.

¹⁸Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

¹⁹A servant cannot be disciplined by words; though he understands, he doesn’t respond.

²⁰Do you see someone who speaks too soon? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹A servant pampered from his youth will become arrogant later on.

²²An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered one increases rebellion.

²³A person’s pride will humble him, but a humble spirit will gain honor.

²⁴To be a thief’s partner is to hate oneself; he hears the curse but will not testify.

²⁵The fear of mankind is a snare, but the one who trusts in the LORD is protected.

²⁶Many desire a ruler’s favor, but a person receives justice from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust person is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:

²When the leaders lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, blessed be the LORD.

³Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

⁴LORD, when you came from Seir, when you marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, the skies poured rain, and the clouds poured water.

⁵The mountains melted before the LORD, even Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the main roads were deserted because travelers kept to the side roads.

⁷Villages were deserted, they were deserted in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸Israel chose new gods, then there was war in the city gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers of the people. Blessed be the LORD!

¹⁰You who ride on white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and who travel on the road, give praise!

¹¹Let them tell the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of his warriors in Israel, with the voices of the singers at the watering places. Then the LORD’s people went down to the city gates.

¹²“Awake! Awake, Deborah! Awake! Awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!”

¹³Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the LORD’s people came down to me with the warriors.

¹⁴Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim; Benjamin came with your people after you. The leaders came down from Machir, and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was with Barak; they were under his leadership in the valley. There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheep pens listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁷Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger at the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.

¹⁸The people of Zebulun defied death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, but they did not plunder the silver.

²⁰The stars fought from the heavens; the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul, in strength!

²²The horses’ hooves then hammered — the galloping, galloping of his stallions.

²³“Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the LORD, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD with the warriors.”

²⁴Jael is most blessed of women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.

²⁵He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.

²⁶She reached for a tent peg, her right hand, for a workman’s hammer. Then she hammered Sisera — she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet; he collapsed, he fell between her feet; where he collapsed, there he fell — dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice, crying out: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”

²⁹Her wisest princesses answer her; she even answers herself:

³⁰“Are they not finding and dividing the spoil — a girl or two for each warrior, the spoil of colored garments for Sisera, the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”

³¹LORD, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did. But may those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its strength. And the land had peace for forty years.

¹Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur.

²I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to me like an Ariel.

³I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.

⁴You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁶you will be punished by the LORD of Armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.

⁷All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel — all the attackers, the siege works against her, and those who oppress her — will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.

⁸It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So it will be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.

¹⁰For the LORD has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; he has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.”

¹²And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

¹³The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service  — yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

¹⁴Therefore, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

¹⁵Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in the dark, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

¹⁶You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

¹⁷Isn’t it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed —

²¹those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.

²²Therefore, the LORD who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer be pale.

²³For when he sees his children, the work of my hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.

¹I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach

²until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

³After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about;

⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

⁹After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them.

¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem — a Sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters  — the number of people who were together was about a hundred and twenty — and said:

¹⁶“Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

¹⁸Now this man acquired a field with his unrighteous wages. He fell headfirst, his body burst open and his intestines spilled out.

¹⁹This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that in their own language that field is called Hakeldama (that is, Field of Blood).

²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his dwelling become desolate; let no one live in it; and Let someone else take his position.

²¹“Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us —

²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us — from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

²³So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know everyone’s hearts; show which of these two you have chosen

²⁵to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs.”

²⁶Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles.