Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Him covertly and kill Him;

²for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there will be a riot of the people.”

³While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head.

⁴But there were some indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted?

⁵For this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her.

⁶But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a good deed for Me.

⁷For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.

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

⁹Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

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

¹¹They were delighted when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.

¹²On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, “Where do You want us to 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 pitcher of water will meet you; follow him;

¹⁴and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’

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

¹⁶The disciples left and came to the city, and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When it was evening He *came with the twelve.

¹⁸And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that one of you willbetray Me—one who is eating with Me.”

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

²⁰But He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, the one who dips bread with Me in the bowl.

²¹For the Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that manby whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been goodfor that man if he had not been born.”

²²While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”

²³And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

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

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

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

²⁷And Jesus *said to them, “You will allfall away, because it is written: ‘I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP WILL BE SCATTERED.’

²⁸But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

²⁹But Peter said to Him, “Even if they all fall away, yet I will not!”

³⁰And Jesus *said to him, “Truly I say to you, thatthis very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.”

³¹But Peter repeatedly said insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing as well.

³²They *came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

³³And He *took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.

³⁴And He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here andkeep watch.”

³⁵And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began praying that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.

³⁶And He was saying, “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 *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you notkeep watch for one hour?

³⁸Keep watching and praying, so that you will not come into temptation; the spirit 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 heavy; and they did not know what to say in reply to Him.

⁴¹And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? That is enough. The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is beingbetrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴²Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!”

⁴³And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, *came up, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.

⁴⁴Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him and lead Him away under guard.”

⁴⁵And after coming, Judas immediately went to Him and *said, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him.

⁴⁶And they laid hands on Him and arrested Him.

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

⁴⁸And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a man inciting a revolt?

⁴⁹Every day I was with you within the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me; but this has taken place so that the Scriptures will be fulfilled.”

⁵⁰And His disciples all left Him and fled.

⁵¹A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him.

⁵²But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

⁵³They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes *gathered together.

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

⁵⁵Now the chief priests and the entire Council were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any.

⁵⁶For many people were giving false testimony against Him, and so their testimonies were not consistent.

⁵⁷And then some stood up and began giving false testimony against Him, saying,

⁵⁸“We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that was made by hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.’ ”

⁵⁹And not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.

⁶⁰And then the high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not offer any answer for what these men are testifying against You?”

⁶¹But He kept silent and did not offer any answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and *said to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶²And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³Tearing his clothes, the high priest *said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?

⁶⁴You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death.

⁶⁵And some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists and say to Him, “Prophesy!” Then the officers took custody of Him and slapped Him in the face.

⁶⁶And while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the slave women of the high priest *came,

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

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he went out onto the porch.

⁶⁹The slave woman saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them!”

⁷⁰But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “You really are one of them, for you are a Galilean as well.”

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

⁷²And immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he hurried on and began to weep.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a discharge, and everyone who is unclean because of contact with a dead person.

³You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they do not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.”

⁴And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the LORD had spoken to Moses, that is what the sons of Israel did.

⁵Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Speak to the sons of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty,

⁷then he shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it a fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.

⁸But if the person has no redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the LORD for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.

⁹Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his.

¹⁰So every person’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever anyone gives to the priest, it becomes his.’ ”

¹¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

¹³and a man has sexual relations with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she remains undiscovered, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act,

¹⁴if an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself,

¹⁵the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of reminder, a reminder of wrongdoing.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the LORD,

¹⁷and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.

¹⁸The priest shall then have the woman stand before the LORD and let down the hair of the woman’s head, and place the grain offering of reminder in her hands, that is, the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

¹⁹And the priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has had sexual relations with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse;

²⁰if, however, you have gone astray, though under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had sexual intercourse with you”

²¹(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “may the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh shriveled and your belly swollen;

²²and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh shrivel.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

²³‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

²⁴Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness.

²⁵And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he 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 reminder offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then it will come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will shrivel, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be immune and conceive children.

²⁹‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,

³⁰or when an attitude of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all of this law to her.

³¹The man, moreover, will be free of guilt, but that woman shall bear the consequences of her guilt.’ ”

¹For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect.

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

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

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

⁵Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED SACRIFICE AND OFFERING, BUT YOU HAVE PREPARED A BODY FOR ME;

⁶YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN PLEASURE IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND offerings for sin.

⁷THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IT IS WRITTEN OF ME IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’ ”

⁸After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND offerings for sin YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law),

⁹then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order 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 daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;

¹²but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,

¹³waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.

¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

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

¹⁶“THIS IS THE COVENANT WHICH I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, DECLARES THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEARTS, AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR MIND,” He then says,

¹⁷“AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL NO LONGER REMEMBER.”

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

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

²⁰by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh,

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

²²let’s approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

²⁴and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds,

²⁵not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

²⁶For if we go on sinning willfully 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 WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.

²⁸Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted 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 terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,

³³partly by being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions with those who were so treated.

³⁴For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession.

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 was promised.

³⁷FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.

³⁸BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.

³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.

¹Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”

²I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

³When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!”

⁴And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that people would kill one another; and a large sword was given to him.

⁵When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

⁷When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!”

⁸I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;

¹⁰and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”

¹¹And a white robe was given to each of them; and they were told that they were to rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were to be killed even as they had been, was completed also.

¹²And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.

¹⁴The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

¹⁶and they *said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

¹⁷for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

¹“How beautiful are your feet in sandals, Prince’s daughter! The curves of your hips are like jewels, The work of the hands of an artist.

²Your navel is like a round goblet That never lacks mixed wine; Your belly is like a heap of wheat, Surrounded with lilies.

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

⁴Your neck is like a tower of ivory, Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon By the gate of Bath-rabbim; Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, Which looks toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing hair of your head is like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses.

⁶How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your delights!

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

⁸I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree, I will grasp its fruit stalks.’ Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, And the fragrance of your breath like apples,

⁹And your mouth like the best wine!” “It goes down smoothly for my beloved, Flowing gently through the lips of those who are asleep.

¹⁰“I am my beloved’s, And his desire is for me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let’s go out to the country, Let’s spend the night in the villages.

¹²Let’s rise early and go to the vineyards; Let’s see whether the vine has grown And its buds have opened, And whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love.

¹³The mandrakes have given forth fragrance; And over our doors are all delicious fruits, New as well as old, Which I have saved for you, my beloved.

¹I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.

²I will rejoice and be jubilant in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You.

⁴For You have maintained my just cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations, You have eliminated the wicked; You have wiped out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has come to an end in everlasting ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; The very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the LORD sits as King forever; He has established His throne for judgment,

⁸And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples fairly.

⁹The LORD will also be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;

¹⁰And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, LORD, have not abandoned those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; Declare His deeds among the peoples.

¹²For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the needy.

¹³Be gracious to me, LORD; See my oppression from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴So that I may tell of all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down into the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

¹⁶The LORD has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. A wicked one is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah

¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol, All the nations who forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, LORD, do not let mankind prevail; Let the nations be judged before You.

²⁰Put them in fear, LORD; Let the nations know that they are merely human. Selah

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the pronouncement. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²I am certainly more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man;

³Nor have I learned wisdom, Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son’s name? Surely you know!

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

⁶Do not add to His words Or He will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.

⁷Two things I have asked of You; Do not refuse me before I die:

⁸Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion,

⁹So that I will not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” And that I will not become impoverished and steal, And profane the name of my God.

¹⁰Do not slander a slave to his master, Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.

¹¹There is a kind of person who curses his father And does not bless his mother.

¹²There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, Yet is not washed from his filthiness.

¹³There is a kind—oh how lofty are his eyes! And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.

¹⁴There is a kind of person whose teeth are like swords And his jaw teeth like knives, To devour the poor from the earth And the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: “Give” and “Give.” There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, “Enough”:

¹⁶Sheol, the infertile womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father And scorns a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.

¹⁸There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand:

¹⁹The way of the eagle in the sky, The way of a snake on a rock, The way of a ship in the middle of the sea, And the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

²¹Under three things the earth quakes, And under four, it cannot endure:

²²Under a slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food,

²³Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a female servant when she dispossesses her mistress.

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

²⁵The ants are not a strong people, But they prepare their food in the summer;

²⁶The rock hyraxes are not a mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

²⁷The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks;

²⁸The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

²⁹There are three things which are stately in their march, Even four which are stately when they walk:

³⁰The lion, which is mighty among animals And does not retreat from anything,

³¹The strutting rooster or the male goat, And a king when his army is with him.

³²If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

³³For the churning of milk produces butter, And pressing the nose produces blood; So the churning of anger produces strife.

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

²But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and thereby I will inflict a disgrace on all Israel.”

³So the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Allow us seven days to send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”

⁴Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people raised their voices and wept.

⁵Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” So they reported to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

⁶Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry.

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

⁸He counted them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah, thirty thousand.

⁹They said to the messengers who had come, “This is what you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be saved.’ ” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they rejoiced.

¹⁰Then the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”

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

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

¹³But Saul said, “Not a single person shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has brought about victory in Israel.”

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

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

¹Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

²But your wrongdoings have caused 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 wrongdoing; Your lips have spoken deceit, Your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.

⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; The one who eats of their eggs dies, And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.

⁶Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of wrongdoing, And an act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing, Devastation and destruction are in their paths.

⁸They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever walks on them does not 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 walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.

¹¹All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You, And our sins have testified against us; For our wrongful acts are with us, And we know our wrongdoings:

¹³Offending and denying the LORD, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking, And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

¹⁶And He saw that there was no one, And was amazed that there was not one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will He repay: Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies; To the coastlands He will deal retribution.

¹⁹So they will 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“A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

¹The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,

²until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.

³To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.

⁴Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

⁵for John baptizedwith water, but you will be baptizedwith the Holy Spiritnot many days from now.”

⁶So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority;

⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

⁹And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight.

¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them,

¹¹and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

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

¹³When they had entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵At this time Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 people was there together), and said,

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

¹⁷For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”

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

¹⁹And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in their own language, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘MAY HIS RESIDENCE BE MADE DESOLATE, AND MAY THERE BE NONE LIVING IN IT’; and, ‘MAY ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE.’

²¹Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—

²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

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

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

²⁶And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.