Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

²So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them.

³They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them.

⁴Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

⁵Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts:

⁷“Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’?

¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”  — he told the paralytic —

¹¹“I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.”

¹²Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

¹³Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

¹⁴Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

¹⁵While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him.

¹⁶When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”

²³On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain.

²⁴The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry  — 

²⁶how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence  — which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests  — and also gave some to his companions?”

²⁷Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld offspring from you?”

³Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.”

⁴So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.

⁷Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad.

¹²When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son,

¹³Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?” “Well then,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun.

²¹Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb.

²³She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

²⁴She named him Joseph and said, “May the LORD add another son to me.”

²⁵After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor with you, stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

²⁸Then Laban said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your herds have fared with me.

³⁰For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The LORD has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?”

³¹Laban asked, “What should I give you?” And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

³²Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages.

³³In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴“Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats — every one that had any white on it — and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

³⁶He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled the bark, exposing white stripes on the branches.

³⁸He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep — in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

³⁹The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.

⁴⁰Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked sheep and the completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn’t put them with Laban’s sheep.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches.

⁴²As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

⁴³And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, female and male slaves, and camels and donkeys.

¹Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

²For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

⁴The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

⁶So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds — whether flute or harp  — if they don’t make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized?

⁸In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

⁹In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, none is without meaning.

¹¹Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

¹²So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

¹⁵What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you;

¹⁹yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.

²⁰Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

²¹It is written in the law, I will speak to this people by people of other tongues and by the lips of foreigners, and even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

²²Speaking in other tongues, then, is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

²⁴But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all.

²⁵The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”

²⁶What then, brothers and sisters? Whenever you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, another tongue, or an interpretation. Everything is to be done for building up.

²⁷If anyone speaks in another tongue, there are to be only two, or at the most three, each in turn, and let someone interpret.

²⁸But if there is no interpreter, that person is to keep silent in the church and speak to himself and God.

²⁹Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate.

³⁰But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent.

³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged.

³²And the prophets’ spirits are subject to the prophets,

³³since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says.

³⁵If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

³⁶Or did the word of God originate from you, or did it come to you only?

³⁷If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord’s command.

³⁸If anyone ignores this, he will be ignored.

³⁹So then, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other tongues.

⁴⁰But everything is to be done decently and in order.

¹In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live

²when they observe your pure, reverent lives.

³Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry,

⁴but rather what is inside the heart  — the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

⁵For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,

⁶just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.

⁷Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

⁸Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble,

⁹not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹⁰For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit,

¹¹and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it,

¹²because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.

¹³Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated,

¹⁵but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

¹⁶Yet do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.

¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

¹⁹in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison

²⁰who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few — that is, eight people  — were saved through water.

²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

¹But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.

²What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.

³Emaciated from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, the desolate wasteland by night.

⁴They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

⁵They were banished from human society; people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

⁶They are living on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

⁷They bray among the shrubs; they huddle beneath the thistles.

⁸Foolish men, without even a name. They were forced to leave the land.

⁹Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them.

¹⁰They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me.

¹³They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them.

¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins.

¹⁵Terrors are turned loose against me; they chase my dignity away like the wind, and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

¹⁶Now my life is poured out before me, and days of suffering have seized me.

¹⁷Night pierces my bones, but my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸My clothing is distorted with great force; he chokes me by the neck of my garment.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me; when I stand up, you merely look at me.

²¹You have turned against me with cruelty; you harass me with your strong hand.

²²You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it; you scatter me in the storm.

²³Yes, I know that you will lead me to death — the place appointed for all who live.

²⁴Yet no one would stretch out his hand against a ruined person when he cries out to him for help because of his distress.

²⁵Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness came.

²⁷I am churning within and cannot rest; days of suffering confront me.

²⁸I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

²⁹I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin blackens and flakes off, and my bones burn with fever.

³¹My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

¹A psalm; a dedication song for the house. Of David. [1] I will exalt you, LORD, because you have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me.

²LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me.

³LORD, you brought me up from Sheol; you spared me from among those going down to the Pit.

⁴Sing to the LORD, you his faithful ones, and praise his holy name.

⁵For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor, a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning.

⁶When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”

⁷LORD, when you showed your favor, you made me stand like a strong mountain; when you hid your face, I was terrified.

⁸LORD, I called to you; I sought favor from my Lord:

⁹“What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your truth?

¹⁰LORD, listen and be gracious to me; LORD, be my helper.”

¹¹You turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

¹²so that I can sing to you and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever.

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.

¹The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD handed them over to Midian seven years,

²and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

³Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them.

⁴They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.

⁵For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it.

⁶So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

⁷When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian,

⁸the LORD sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.

⁹I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

¹⁰I said to you: I am the LORD your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.’”

¹¹The angel of the LORD came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.

¹²Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said: “The LORD is with you, valiant warrior.”

¹³Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the LORD brought us out of Egypt? ’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

¹⁴The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

¹⁵He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

¹⁶“But I will be with you,” the LORD said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

¹⁷Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me.

¹⁸Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

²⁰The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that.

²¹The angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

²²When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”

²³But the LORD said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.”

²⁴So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.

²⁵On that very night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

²⁶Build a well-constructed altar to the LORD your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”

²⁷So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.

²⁸When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.

²⁹They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.”

³²That day he was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.

³³All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

³⁴The Spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him.

³⁵He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.

³⁶Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you said,

³⁷I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my strength, as you said.”

³⁸And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

³⁹Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.”

⁴⁰That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.

¹Woe to the rebellious children! This is the LORD’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin.

²Without asking my advice they set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.

³But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.

⁴For though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

⁵everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can’t help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.

⁶A pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not help them.

⁷Egypt’s help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.

⁸Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.

⁹They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not want to listen to the LORD’s instruction.

¹⁰They say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.

¹¹Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,

¹³this iniquity of yours will be like a crumbling gap, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come in an instant — suddenly!

¹⁴Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter’s jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains — no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern.”

¹⁵For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.”

¹⁶You say, “No! We will escape on horses” — therefore you will escape! — and, “We will ride on fast horses” — but those who pursue you will be faster.

¹⁷One thousand will flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.

¹⁸Therefore the LORD is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.

¹⁹For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you.

²⁰The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,

²¹and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

²²Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

²³Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

²⁴The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.

²⁵Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.

²⁶The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter  — like the light of seven days — on the day that the LORD bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.

²⁷Look there! The LORD is coming from far away, his anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.

²⁸His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

²⁹Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰And the LORD will make the splendor of his voice heard and reveal his arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.

³¹Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the LORD. He will strike with a rod.

³²And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD brings down on him will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; he will fight against him with brandished weapons.

³³Indeed! Topheth has been ready for the king for a long time. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, kindles it.

¹When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.

²Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

³They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

⁴Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.

⁶When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

⁷They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts),

¹¹Cretans and Arabs — we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”

¹²They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

¹⁴Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words.

¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning.

¹⁶On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

²²“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.

²³Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.

²⁴God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

²⁵For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me in Hades or allow your holy one to see decay.

²⁸You have revealed the paths of life to me; you will fill me with gladness in your presence.

²⁹“Brothers and sisters, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David: He is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah: He was not abandoned in Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.

³²“God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this.

³³Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.

³⁴For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.’

³⁶“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

⁴¹So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

⁴⁴Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.

⁴⁵They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.

⁴⁶Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts,

⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.