Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.

³And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

⁵And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

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

⁷“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?

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

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

¹¹“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

¹⁴And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

¹⁶And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁸Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

²³One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

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

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

²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

¹When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

²Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”

⁴So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.

⁷Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

¹¹And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad.

¹²Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.

¹³And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.

¹⁴In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”

¹⁵But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.”

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

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

¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.

²⁰Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.

²¹Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

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

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

²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!”

²⁵As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.”

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

²⁸Name your wages, and I will give it.”

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

³⁰For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?”

³¹He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it:

³²let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages.

³³So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.”

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

³⁵But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons.

³⁶And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock.

³⁷Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.

³⁸He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,

³⁹the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks,

⁴²but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

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

²For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

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

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

⁵Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

⁶Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?

⁸And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

⁹So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning,

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

¹²So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.

¹⁵What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?

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

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

¹⁹Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

²¹In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

²²Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

²⁴But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,

²⁵the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

²⁶What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

²⁷If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.

²⁸But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

³⁰If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.

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

³²and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

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

³⁴the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.

³⁵If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

³⁶Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

³⁷If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

³⁸If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

³⁹So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

⁴⁰But all things should be done decently and in order.

¹Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

²when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

³Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear —

⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

⁷Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

¹²For 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 evil.”

¹³Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

¹⁵but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

¹⁶having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may 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 once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

²⁰because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

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

¹“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

²What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

³Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

⁴they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

⁵They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

⁶In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

⁸A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

¹⁰They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

¹¹Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

¹³They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

¹⁴As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

¹⁷The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

¹⁸With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

²¹You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

²³For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

²⁸I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

³¹My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

¹I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

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

³O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

⁴Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

⁵For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”

⁷By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

⁸To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:

⁹“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?

¹⁰Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!”

¹¹You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

¹²that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

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.

¹The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

²And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

³For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

⁴They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.

⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number — both they and their camels could not be counted — so that they laid waste the land as they came in.

⁶And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.

⁷When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites,

⁸the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.

⁹And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

¹⁰And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

¹¹Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

¹²And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

¹⁵And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.”

¹⁶And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.

¹⁸Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

¹⁹So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.

²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so.

²¹Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

²²Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”

²³But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

²⁵That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it

²⁶and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.”

²⁷So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

²⁸When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

²⁹And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

³⁰Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”

³¹But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.”

³²Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

³³Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.

³⁴But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.

³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

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

³⁷behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

³⁸And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.

³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.”

⁴⁰And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

¹“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

²who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

³Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

⁴For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes,

⁵everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.”

⁶An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.

⁷Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”

⁸And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.

⁹For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;

¹⁰who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,

¹¹leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,

¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

¹⁴and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,

¹⁶and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

¹⁷A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

¹⁸Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.

²⁰And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.

²¹And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

²²Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

²³And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,

²⁴and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

²⁵And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

²⁶Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

²⁷Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;

²⁸his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

²⁹You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.

³¹The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod.

³²And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.

³³For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

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

²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

⁶And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

⁷And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

¹¹both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians — we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

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

¹³But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.

¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

¹⁶But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

¹⁹And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;

²⁰the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

²¹And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know —

²³this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

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

²⁵For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

²⁶therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.

²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,

³¹he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

³³Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

³⁴For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,

³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

³⁶Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one 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, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

⁴¹So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

⁴⁶And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.