Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,

²for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

³And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

⁴There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?

⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

⁶But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

⁷For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.

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

⁹And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

¹¹And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

¹²And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

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

¹⁴and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

¹⁵And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”

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

¹⁷And when it was evening, he came with the twelve.

¹⁸And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?”

²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.

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

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

²³And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.

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

²⁵Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

²⁶And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

²⁸But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

²⁹Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”

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

³¹But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

³²And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”

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

³⁴And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”

³⁵And going a little farther, he fell on 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. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

³⁷And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?

³⁸ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

⁴⁰And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.

⁴¹And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴²Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

⁴³And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

⁴⁴Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”

⁴⁵And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him.

⁴⁶And they laid hands on him and seized him.

⁴⁷But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?

⁴⁹ Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

⁵⁰And they all left him and fled.

⁵¹And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him,

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

⁵³And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.

⁵⁴And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

⁵⁵Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.

⁵⁶For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.

⁵⁷And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,

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

⁵⁹Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”

⁶¹But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

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

⁶³And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need?

⁶⁴You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.

⁶⁵And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.

⁶⁶And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came,

⁶⁷and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.

⁶⁹And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.”

⁷⁰But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

⁷¹But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

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

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.

³You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

⁴And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the LORD said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.

⁵And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt,

⁷he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.

⁸But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him.

⁹And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.

¹⁰Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”

¹¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Speak to the people of Israel, If any man's wife goes astray and breaks faith with him,

¹³if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act,

¹⁴and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself,

¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶“And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD.

¹⁷And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

¹⁸And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and unbind the hair of the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.

¹⁹Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.

²⁰But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you,

²¹then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.

²²May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

²³“Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.

²⁴And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain.

²⁵And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand and shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar.

²⁶And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people.

²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

²⁹“This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

³⁰or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law.

³¹The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

¹For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

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

⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

⁸When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

⁹then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

¹⁰And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

¹³waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

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

¹⁷then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

²¹and since we have a great 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 with pure water.

²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

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

²⁷but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

²⁸Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

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

³²But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

³³sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

³⁴For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

³⁵Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

³⁶For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

³⁷For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;

³⁸but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

¹Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

²And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

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

⁴And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

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

⁸And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

¹¹Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

¹²When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

¹⁶calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

¹How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.

²Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.

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

⁴Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

⁶How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!

⁷Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹and your mouth like the best wine. She It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;

¹²let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

¹I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

⁵You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice,

⁸and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

⁹The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!

¹²For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O LORD! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.

¹⁶The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!

²⁰Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.

²Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!

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

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,

⁹lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those — how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.

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

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”

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

²²a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

²³an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:

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

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

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

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

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

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;

³¹the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

²But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.”

³The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days' respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.”

⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud.

⁵Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh.

⁶And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.

⁷He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.

⁸When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

⁹And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.’” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad.

¹⁰Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”

¹¹And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

¹²Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”

¹³But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.”

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

¹Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

²but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

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

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

¹³transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.

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

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.

¹⁹So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.

²⁰“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

²¹“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

¹In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

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

³He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;

⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

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

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

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

⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,

¹¹and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

¹³And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,

¹⁶“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

²³And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen

²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.