Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.

²This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

³So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

⁴Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David,

⁵to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.

⁶While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

⁷Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

¹¹Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

¹²This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

¹⁵When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

¹⁶They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

¹⁷After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child,

¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

¹⁹But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.

²¹When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus  — the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

²²And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

²³(just as it is written in the law of the Lord,Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord )

²⁴and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons ).

²⁵There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.

²⁷Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform for him what was customary under the law,

²⁸Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said,

²⁹Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised.

³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation.

³¹You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples —

³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.

³³His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and told his mother Mary: “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed  —

³⁵and a sword will pierce your own soul — that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

³⁷and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers.

³⁸At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

⁴⁰The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was on him.

⁴¹Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the festival.

⁴³After those days were over, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.

⁴⁴Assuming he was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

⁴⁶After three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹“Why were you searching for me?” he asked them. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?”

⁵⁰But they did not understand what he said to them.

⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.

⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

¹In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the LORD told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:

²“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.

³You must observe it at its appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; you are to observe it according to all its statutes and ordinances.”

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover,

⁵and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day

⁷and said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the LORD’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”

⁸Moses replied to them, “Wait here until I hear what the LORD commands for you.”

⁹Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.

¹¹Such people are to observe it in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight. They are to eat the animal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

¹²they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.

¹³“But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴“If an alien resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do it according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the resident alien and the native of the land.”

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

¹⁶It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, appearing like fire at night.

¹⁷Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.

¹⁸At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

¹⁹Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the LORD’s requirement and did not set out.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the LORD’s command and set out at the LORD’s command.

²¹Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted.

²²Whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out.

²³They camped at the LORD’s command, and they set out at the LORD’s command. They carried out the LORD’s requirement according to his command through Moses.

¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God  —

²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures —

³concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh

⁴and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.

⁵Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles,

⁶including you who are also called by Jesus Christ.

⁷To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.

⁹God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son — that I constantly mention you,

¹⁰always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

¹¹For I want very much to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

¹²that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

¹³Now I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now ) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles.

¹⁴I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.

¹⁵So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

¹⁸For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

¹⁹since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.

²⁰For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

²¹For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools

²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

²⁷The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

²⁸And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

²⁹They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

³⁰slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

³¹senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.

³²Although they know God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die  — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire,

²and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land,

³and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders raised their voices.

⁴And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down!”

⁵Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.

⁶He swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will no longer be a delay,

⁷but in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

⁸Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

¹⁰Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.

¹¹And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

¹After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.

²He said:

³May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, “A boy is conceived.”

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May what darkens the day terrify it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.

⁷Yes, may that night be barren; may no joyful shout be heard in it.

⁸Let those who curse days condemn it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹Why was I not stillborn; why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

¹³Now I would certainly be lying down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest

¹⁴with the kings and counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child, like infants who never see daylight?

¹⁷There the wicked cease to make trouble, and there the weary find rest.

¹⁸The captives are completely at rest; they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.

¹⁹Both small and great are there, and the slave is set free from his master.

²⁰Why is light given to one burdened with grief, and life to those whose existence is bitter,

²¹who wait for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with much joy and are glad when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶I cannot relax or be calm; I have no rest, for turmoil has come.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

²How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me?

³Consider me and answer, LORD my God. Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death.

⁴My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,” and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.

⁶I will sing to the LORD because he has treated me generously.

¹My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands;

²for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.

³Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;

⁶in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

⁸This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;

¹⁰then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹Do not despise the LORD’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline;

¹²for the LORD disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy.

¹⁹The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

²¹Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them.

²²They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.

²³Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant.

²⁵Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes,

²⁶for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.

²⁷When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs.

²⁸Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later. I’ll give it tomorrow” — when it is there with you.

²⁹Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor, for he trusts you and lives near you.

³⁰Don’t accuse anyone without cause, when he has done you no harm.

³¹Don’t envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

³²for the devious are detestable to the LORD, but he is a friend to the upright.

³³The LORD’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous;

³⁴He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, but he holds up fools to dishonor.

¹Samuel told Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now, listen to the words of the LORD.

²This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.

³Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

⁴Then Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah.

⁵Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi.

⁶He warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, go on and leave! Get away from the Amalekites, or I’ll sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.

⁷Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt.

⁸He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

⁹Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.

¹⁰Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel,

¹¹“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the LORD all night.

¹²Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.”

¹³When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

¹⁴Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?”

¹⁵Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep, goats, and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we destroyed.”

¹⁶“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” “Tell me,” he replied.

¹⁷Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant, have you not become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel

¹⁸and then sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’

¹⁹So why didn’t you obey the LORD? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the LORD’s sight?”

²⁰“But I did obey the LORD!” Saul answered. “I went on the mission the LORD gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder — the best of what was set apart for destruction — to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

²²Then Samuel said: Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.

²⁴Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned. I have transgressed the LORD’s command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.

²⁵Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.”

²⁶Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

²⁷When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

²⁹Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.”

³⁰Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the LORD your God.”

³¹Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the LORD.

³²Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.”

³³Samuel declared: As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

³⁴Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted he had made Saul king over Israel.

¹Who is this coming from Edom in crimson-stained garments from Bozrah — this one who is splendid in his apparel, striding in his formidable might? It is I, proclaiming vindication, powerful to save.

²Why are your clothes red, and your garments like one who treads a winepress?

³I trampled the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with me. I trampled them in my anger and ground them underfoot in my fury; their blood spattered my garments, and all my clothes were stained.

⁴For I planned the day of vengeance, and the year of my redemption came.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help, and I was amazed that no one assisted; so my arm accomplished victory for me, and my wrath assisted me.

⁶I crushed nations in my anger; I made them drunk with my wrath and poured out their blood on the ground.

⁷I will make known the LORD’s faithful love and the LORD’s praiseworthy acts, because of all the LORD has done for us — even the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, which he did for them based on his compassion and the abundance of his faithful love.

⁸He said, “They are indeed my people, children who will not be disloyal,” and he became their Savior.

⁹In all their suffering, he suffered, and the angel of his presence saved them. He redeemed them because of his love and compassion; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he became their enemy and fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of the past, the days of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among the flock?

¹²He made his glorious strength available at the right hand of Moses, divided the water before them to make an eternal name for himself,

¹³and led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble.

¹⁴Like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led your people this way to make a glorious name for yourself.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see from your lofty home — holy and beautiful. Where is your zeal and your might? Your yearning and your compassion are withheld from me.

¹⁶Yet you are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn’t recognize us. You, LORD, are our Father; your name is Our Redeemer from Ancient Times.

¹⁷Why, LORD, do you make us stray from your ways? You harden our hearts so we do not fear you. Return, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.

¹⁸Your holy people had a possession for a little while, but our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become like those you never ruled, like those who did not bear your name.

¹But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property.

²However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

⁴Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”

⁵When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.

⁶The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.

⁷About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸“Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?” “Yes,” she said, “for that price.”

⁹Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

¹⁰Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.

¹²Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹³No one else dared to join them, but the people spoke well of them.

¹⁴Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers — multitudes of both men and women.

¹⁵As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

¹⁶In addition, a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

¹⁷Then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

¹⁸So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

¹⁹But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said,

²⁰“Go and stand in the temple, and tell the people all about this life.”

²¹Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full council of the Israelites — and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.

²²But when the servants got there, they did not find them in the jail, so they returned and reported,

²³“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing in front of the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

²⁴As the captain of the temple police and the chief priests heard these things, they were baffled about them, wondering what would come of this.

²⁵Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

²⁶Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.

²⁷After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked,

²⁸“Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree.

³¹God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

³²We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

³⁵He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re about to do to these men.

³⁶Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and came to nothing.

³⁷After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.

³⁸So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail;

³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.

⁴⁰After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

⁴¹Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.

⁴²Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.