Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a cunning way to arrest Jesus and kill him.

²“Not during the festival,” they said, “so that there won’t be a riot among the people.”

³While he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head.

⁴But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted?

⁵For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her.

⁶Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me.

⁷You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me.

⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body in advance for burial.

⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

¹¹And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

¹²On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?”

¹³So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

¹⁴Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’

¹⁵He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”

¹⁶So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me — one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve — the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me.

²¹For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

²²As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.”

²³Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

²⁵Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

²⁶After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

²⁸But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

²⁹Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.”

³⁰“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

³¹But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.

³²Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”

³³He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.

³⁴He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”

³⁵He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

³⁶And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”

³⁷Then he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake one hour?

³⁸Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹Once again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing.

⁴⁰And again he came and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him.

⁴¹Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴²Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”

⁴³While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. With him was a mob, with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.

⁴⁴His betrayer had given them a signal. “The one I kiss,” he said, “he’s the one; arrest him and take him away under guard.”

⁴⁵So when he came, immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.

⁴⁶They took hold of him and arrested him.

⁴⁷One of those who stood by drew his sword, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me?

⁴⁹Every day I was among you, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”

⁵⁰Then they all deserted him and ran away.

⁵¹Now a certain young man, wearing nothing but a linen cloth, was following him. They caught hold of him,

⁵²but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.

⁵³They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes assembled.

⁵⁴Peter followed him at a distance, right into the high priest’s courtyard. He was sitting with the servants, warming himself by the fire.

⁵⁵The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they could not find any.

⁵⁶For many were giving false testimony against him, and the testimonies did not agree.

⁵⁷Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, stating,

⁵⁸“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another not made by hands.’”

⁵⁹Yet their testimony did not agree even on this.

⁶⁰Then the high priest stood up before them all and questioned Jesus, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?”

⁶¹But he kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶²“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses?

⁶⁴You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?” They all condemned him as deserving death.

⁶⁵Then some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to beat him, saying, “Prophesy!” The temple servants also took him and slapped him.

⁶⁶While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the high priest’s maidservants came.

⁶⁷When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.”

⁶⁸But he denied it: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” Then he went out to the entryway, and a rooster crowed.

⁶⁹When the maidservant saw him again, she began to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”

⁷⁰But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you’re also a Galilean.”

⁷¹Then he started to curse and swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”

⁷²Immediately a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

¹The LORD instructed Moses:

²“Command the Israelites to send away anyone from the camp who is afflicted with a skin disease, anyone who has a discharge, or anyone who is defiled because of a corpse.

³Send away both male or female; send them outside the camp, so that they will not defile their camps where I dwell among them.”

⁴The Israelites did this, sending them outside the camp. The Israelites did as the LORD instructed Moses.

⁵The LORD spoke to Moses:

⁶“Tell the Israelites: When a man or woman commits any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully toward the LORD and is guilty.

⁷The person is to confess the sin he has committed. He is to pay full compensation, add a fifth of its value to it, and give it to the individual he has wronged.

⁸But if that individual has no relative to receive compensation, the compensation goes to the LORD for the priest, along with the atonement ram by which the priest will make atonement for the guilty person.

⁹Every holy contribution the Israelites present to the priest will be his.

¹⁰Each one’s holy contribution is his to give; what each one gives to the priest will be his.”

¹¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

¹²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man’s wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him,

¹³and sleeps with another, but it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn’t caught in the act;

¹⁴and if a feeling of jealousy comes over the husband and he becomes jealous because of his wife who has defiled herself — or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he becomes jealous of her though she has not defiled herself —

¹⁵then the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is also to bring an offering for her of two quarts of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembrance to draw attention to guilt.

¹⁶“The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the LORD.

¹⁷Then the priest is to take holy water in a clay bowl, take some of the dust from the tabernacle floor, and put it in the water.

¹⁸After the priest has the woman stand before the LORD, he is to let down her hair and place in her hands the grain offering for remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse.

¹⁹The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse.

²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’ —

²¹at this point the priest will make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her — ‘May the LORD make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell.

²²May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your womb to shrivel.’ “And the woman will reply, ‘Amen, Amen.’

²³“Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

²⁴He will require the woman to drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her to cause bitter suffering.

²⁵The priest is to take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman, present the offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

²⁶The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Afterward, he will require the woman to drink the water.

²⁷“When he makes her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, and her womb will shrivel. She will become a curse among her people.

²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.

²⁹“This is the law regarding jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,

³⁰or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest will carry out all these instructions for her.

³¹The husband will be free of guilt, but that woman will bear her iniquity.”

¹Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

²Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

³But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.

⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.

⁶You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.

⁷Then I said, “See — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, O God.”

⁸After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law ),

⁹he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.

¹⁰By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

¹¹Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.

¹²But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

¹³He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.

¹⁴For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:

¹⁶This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds,

¹⁷andI will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.

¹⁸Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus  —

²⁰he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh ) —

²¹and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,

²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

²³Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works,

²⁵not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

²⁶For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

²⁷but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

²⁸Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people.

³¹It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

³³Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.

³⁴For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.

³⁵So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

³⁶For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.

³⁷For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

³⁸But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him.

³⁹But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.

¹Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

⁴Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand.

⁶Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.”

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

⁸And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? ”

¹¹So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

¹²Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood;

¹³the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind;

¹⁴the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”

¹How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess! The curves of your thighs are like jewelry, the handiwork of a master.

²Your navel is a rounded bowl; it never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a mound of wheat surrounded by lilies.

³Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

⁴Your neck is like a tower of ivory, your eyes like pools in Heshbon by Bath-rabbim’s gate. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple cloth — a king could be held captive in your tresses.

⁶How beautiful you are and how pleasant, my love, with such delights!

⁷Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of grapes, and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.

⁹Your mouth is like fine wine  — flowing smoothly for my love, gliding past my lips and teeth!

¹⁰I am my love’s, and his desire is for me.

¹¹Come, my love, let’s go to the field; let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.

¹²Let’s go early to the vineyards; let’s see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my caresses.

¹³The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our doors is every delicacy, both new and old. I have treasured them up for you, my love.

¹For the choir director: according to . A psalm of David. [1] I will thank the LORD with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous works.

²I will rejoice and boast about you; I will sing about your name, Most High.

³When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before you.

⁴For you have upheld my just cause; you are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.

⁵You have rebuked the nations: You have destroyed the wicked; you have erased their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has come to eternal ruin. You have uprooted the cities, and the very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for judgment.

⁸And he judges the world with righteousness; he executes judgment on the nations with fairness.

⁹The LORD is a refuge for the persecuted, a refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you because you have not abandoned those who seek you, LORD.

¹¹Sing to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim his deeds among the nations.

¹²For the one who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.

¹³Be gracious to me, LORD; consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me. Lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴so that I may declare all your praises. I will rejoice in your salvation within the gates of Daughter Zion.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they made; their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.

¹⁶The LORD has made himself known; he has executed justice, snaring the wicked by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol  — all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten; the hope of the oppressed will not perish forever.

¹⁹Rise up, LORD! Do not let mere humans prevail; let the nations be judged in your presence.

²⁰Put terror in them, LORD; let the nations know they are only humans. Selah

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The pronouncement. The man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand.

³I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son — if you know?

⁵Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Don’t add to his words, or he will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you; don’t deny them to me before I die:

⁸Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need.

⁹Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, “Who is the LORD?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.

¹⁰Don’t slander a servant to his master or he will curse you, and you will become guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filth.

¹³There is a generation — how haughty its eyes and pretentious its looks.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, devouring the oppressed from the land and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!” Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough!”:

¹⁶Sheol; a childless womb; earth, which is never satisfied with water; and fire, which never says, “Enough!”

¹⁷As for the eye that ridicules a father and despises obedience to a mother, may ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures eat it.

¹⁸Three things are too wondrous for me; four I can’t understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

²¹The earth trembles under three things; it cannot bear up under four:

²²a servant when he becomes king, a fool when he is stuffed with food,

²³an unloved woman when she marries, and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵ants are not a strong people, yet they store up their food in the summer;

²⁶hyraxes are not a mighty people, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷locusts have no king, yet all of them march in ranks;

²⁸a lizard can be caught in your hands, yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

²⁹Three things are stately in their stride; four are stately in their walk:

³⁰a lion, which is mightiest among beasts and doesn’t retreat before anything;

³¹a strutting rooster; a goat; and a king at the head of his army.

³²If you have been foolish by exalting yourself or if you’ve been scheming, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For the churning of milk produces butter, and twisting a nose draws blood, and stirring up anger produces strife.

¹Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

²Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I’ll make one with you on this condition: that I gouge out everyone’s right eye and humiliate all Israel.”

³“Don’t do anything to us for seven days,” the elders of Jabesh said to him, “and let us send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one saves us, we will surrender to you.”

⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, and told the terms to the people, all wept aloud.

⁵Just then Saul was coming in from the field behind his oxen. “What’s the matter with the people? Why are they weeping?” Saul inquired, and they repeated to him the words of the men from Jabesh.

⁶When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God suddenly came powerfully on him, and his anger burned furiously.

⁷He took a team of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by messengers who said, “This is what will be done to the ox of anyone who doesn’t march behind Saul and Samuel.” As a result, the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they went out united.

⁸Saul counted them at Bezek. There were three hundred thousand Israelites and thirty thousand men from Judah.

⁹He told the messengers who had come, “Tell this to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Deliverance will be yours tomorrow by the time the sun is hot.’” So the messengers told the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.

¹⁰Then the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will come out, and you can do whatever you want to us.”

¹¹The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions. During the morning watch, they invaded the Ammonite camp and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. There were survivors, but they were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

¹²Afterward, the people said to Samuel, “Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Give us those men so we can kill them!”

¹³But Saul ordered, “No one will be executed this day, for today the LORD has provided deliverance in Israel.”

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal, so we can renew the kingship there.”

¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, and there in the LORD’s presence they made Saul king. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings in the LORD’s presence, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

¹Indeed, the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear.

²But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

³For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.

⁴No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.

⁸They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night.

¹⁰We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy.

¹¹We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions have multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgression and deception against the LORD, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The LORD saw that there was no justice, and he was offended.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man — he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

¹⁸So he will repay according to their deeds: fury to his enemies, retribution to his foes, and he will repay the coasts and islands.

¹⁹They will fear the name of the LORD in the west and his glory in the east; for he will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the LORD.

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.