Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

³And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’ ”

⁵And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

⁶And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

⁷Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

⁸Jesus replied to him, “It is written: ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

⁹And he brought Him into Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

¹⁰for it is written: ‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS ORDERS CONCERNING YOU, TO PROTECT YOU,’

¹¹and, ‘ON their hands they will lift YOU UP, SO THAT YOU DO NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been stated, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

¹³And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

¹⁴And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region.

¹⁵And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

¹⁷And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

²⁰And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him.

²¹Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in yourhearing.”

²²And all the people were speaking well of Him, and admiring the gracious words which were coming from His lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³And He said to them, “No doubt you willquote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”

²⁴But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

²⁵But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when asevere famine came over all the land;

²⁶and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only toZarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

²⁷And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them wascleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

²⁹and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff.

³⁰But He passed through their midst and went on His way.

³¹And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee; and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

³²and they were amazed at His teaching, because His message was delivered with authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴“Leave us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.

³⁶And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

³⁷And the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

³⁸Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.

³⁹And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

⁴⁰Now while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was laying His hands on each one of them and healing them.

⁴¹Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” And yet He was rebuking them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

⁴²Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.

⁴³But He said to them, “I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, because I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

¹Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the ears of the LORD; and the LORD heard them and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some at the outskirts of the camp.

²The people then cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died out.

³So that place was named Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

⁴Now the rabble who were among them had greedy cravings; and the sons of Israel also wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

⁵We remember the fish which we used to eat for free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;

⁶but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna!”

⁷Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.

⁸The people would roam about and gather it and grind it between two millstones, or pound it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make loaves with it; and its taste was like the taste of cake baked with oil.

⁹When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna would come down with it.

¹⁰Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each one at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of the LORD became very hot, and Moses was displeased.

¹¹So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have put the burden of all this people on me?

¹²Was it I who conceived all this people? Or did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?

¹³Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat so that we may eat!’

¹⁴I am not able to carry all this people by myself, because it is too burdensome for me.

¹⁵So if You are going to deal with me this way, please kill me now, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my misery.”

¹⁶The LORD therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their stand there with you.

¹⁷Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take away some of the Spirit who is upon you, and put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it by yourself.

¹⁸And you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat and you shall eat.

¹⁹You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

²⁰but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nose and makes you nauseated; because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am included, are six hundred thousand on foot! Yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’

²²Are flocks and herds to be slaughtered for them, so that it will be sufficient for them? Or are all the fish of the sea to be caught for them, so that it will be sufficient for them?”

²³Then the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’S power too little? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. He also gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and positioned them around the tent.

²⁵Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took away some of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Yet they did not do it again.

²⁶But two men had remained in the camp; the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (and they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷So a young man ran and informed Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the personal servant of Moses from his youth, responded and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!”

²⁹But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the LORD’S people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!”

³⁰Then Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

³¹Now a wind burst forth from the LORD and it brought quail from the sea, and dropped them beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side all around the camp, and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground.

³²And the people spent all that day, all night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the one who gathered least gathered ten homers) and spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

³³While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague.

³⁴So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.

³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

¹Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

²Great in every respect. First, that they were entrusted with the actual words of God.

³What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

⁴Far from it! Rather, God must prove to be true, though every person be found a liar, as it is written: “SO THAT YOU ARE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking from a human viewpoint.)

⁶Far from it! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?

⁷But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

⁸And why not say (just as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let’s do evil that good may come of it”? Their condemnation is deserved.

⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;

¹⁰as it is written: “THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE;

¹¹THERE IS NO ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NO ONE WHO SEEKS OUT GOD;

¹²THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME CORRUPT; THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

¹³“THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE VENOM OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;

¹⁴“THEIR MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;

¹⁵“THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,

¹⁶DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,

¹⁷AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE WAY OF PEACE.”

¹⁸“THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;

²⁰because by the works of the Law none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes knowledge of sin.

²¹But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

²²but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction,

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

²⁴being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

²⁵whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;

²⁶for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is boasting? It has been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

²⁸For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

³⁰since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

³¹Do we then nullify the Law through faith? Far from it! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

¹A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

²and she was pregnant and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

³Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns.

⁴And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

⁵And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

⁷And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

⁸and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

¹²For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

¹⁴But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.

¹⁵And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.

¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

¹“Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For irritation kills the fool, And jealousy brings death to the simple.

³I have seen the fool taking root, And I cursed his home immediately.

⁴His sons are far from safety, They are also oppressed at the gate, And there is no one to save them.

⁵The hungry devour his harvest And take it to a place of thorns, And the schemer is eager for their wealth.

⁶For disaster does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

⁷For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.

⁸“But as for me, I would seek God, And I would make my plea before God,

⁹Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number.

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth, And sends water on the fields,

¹¹So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success.

¹³He captures the wise by their own cleverness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.

¹⁴By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night.

¹⁵But He saves from the sword of their mouth, And the poor from the hand of the strong.

¹⁶So the helpless has hope, And injustice has shut its mouth.

¹⁷“Behold, happy is the person whom God disciplines, So do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.

¹⁹In six troubles He will save you; Even in seven, evil will not touch you.

²⁰In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.

²²You will laugh at violence and hunger, And you will not be afraid of wild animals.

²³For you will be in league with the stones of the field, And the animals of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your home and have nothing missing.

²⁵You will also know that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave at a ripe age, Like the stacking of grain in its season.

²⁷Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”

¹LORD, who may reside in Your tent? Who may settle on Your holy hill?

²One who walks with integrity, practices righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.

³He does not slander with his tongue, Nor do evil to his neighbor, Nor bring shame on his friend;

⁴A despicable person is despised in his eyes, But he honors those who fear the LORD; He takes an oath to his own detriment, and does not change;

⁵He does not lend his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. One who does these things will never be shaken.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,

²So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol.

⁶She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,

⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength, And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹And you will groan in the end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹²And you say, “How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

¹⁴I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?

²¹For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD, And He observes all his paths.

²²His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked, And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

²³He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.

¹Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

²Saul and the men of Israel were assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, and they drew up in battle formation to confront the Philistines.

³The Philistines were standing on the mountain on one side, while Israel was standing on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.

⁴Then a champion came forward from the army encampment of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.

⁵And he had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze saber slung between his shoulders.

⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-carrier walked in front of him.

⁸He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle formation? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man as your representative and have him come down to me.

⁹If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”

¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “I have defied the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man, so that we may fight together.”

¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very fearful.

¹²Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, the man whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men.

¹³The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who had gone into the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and second to him, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah.

¹⁴So David was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul,

¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

¹⁶And the Philistine came forward morning and evening, and took his stand for forty days.

¹⁷Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to your brothers.

¹⁸Bring also these ten slices of cheese to the commander of their thousand, and look into the well-being of your brothers and bring back confirmation from them.

¹⁹For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.”

²⁰So David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper, and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the entrenchment encircling the camp while the army was going out in battle formation, shouting the war cry.

²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle formation, army against army.

²²Then David left the baggage in the care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line. And he entered and greeted his brothers.

²³As he was speaking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke these same words; and David heard him.

²⁴When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were very fearful.

²⁵And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will make the man who kills him wealthy with great riches, and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

²⁶Then David said to the men who were standing by him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and rids Israel of the disgrace? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he has dared to defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷The people answered him in agreement with this statement, saying, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now Eliab his oldest brother heard him when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why is it that you have come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I myself know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”

²⁹But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?”

³⁰Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people replied with the same words as before.

³¹When the words that David spoke were heard, they informed Saul, and he sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, “May no one’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”

³³But Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him; for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior since his youth.”

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock,

³⁵I went out after it and attacked it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I grabbed it by its mane and struck it and killed it.

³⁶Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “The LORD who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his military attire and put a bronze helmet on his head, and outfitted him with armor.

³⁹And David strapped on his sword over his military attire and struggled at walking, for he had not trained with the armor. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I have not trained with them.” And David took them off.

⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹Then the Philistine came and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.

⁴²When the Philistine looked and saw David, he was contemptuous of him; for he was only a youth, and reddish, with a handsome appearance.

⁴³So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals.”

⁴⁵But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁴⁶This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

⁴⁷and that this entire assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will hand you over to us!”

⁴⁸Then it happened, when the Philistine came closer to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and the stone: he struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand.

⁵¹Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and finished him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted, and they pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the Philistine dead lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron.

⁵³Then the sons of Israel returned from their close pursuit of the Philistines, and plundered their camps.

⁵⁴And David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵Now when Saul had seen David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” And Abner said, “By your life, O king, I do not know.”

⁵⁶And the king said, “You then, ask whose son the youth is.”

⁵⁷So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand.

⁵⁸Then Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

¹“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name.

²I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,

³A people who continually provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks;

⁴Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat pig’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.

⁵Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.

⁶Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their laps,

⁷Both your own wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of your fathers together,” says the LORD. “Because they have burned incense on the mountains And scorned Me on the hills, Therefore I will measure their former work into their laps.”

⁸This is what the LORD says: “Just as the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’ So I will act in behalf of My servants In order not to destroy all of them.

⁹I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from Judah; My chosen ones shall inherit it, And My servants will live there.

¹⁰Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks, And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, For My people who seek Me.

¹¹But as for you who abandon the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And fill a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,

¹²I will destine you for the sword, And all of you will bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not listen. Instead, you did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”

¹³Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

¹⁴Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart, But you will cry out from a painful heart, And you will wail from a broken spirit.

¹⁵You will leave your name as a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord GOD will put you to death. But My servants will be called by another name.

¹⁶Because the one who is blessed on the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And the one who swears an oath on the earth Will swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight!

¹⁷“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness.

¹⁹I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

²⁰No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days, Or an old person who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of a hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred Will be thought accursed.

²¹They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They will not labor in vain, Or give birth to children for disaster; For they are the descendants of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them.

²⁴It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

¹Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

²And Stephen said, “Listen to me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and He said to him, ‘GO FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU.’

⁴Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

⁵But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.

⁶But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE STRANGERS IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS, AND THEY WOULD ENSLAVE AND MISTREAT them for four hundred years.

⁷‘AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY ARE ENSLAVED I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’

⁸And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

¹⁰and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

¹¹“Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

¹³And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all.

¹⁵And Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there.

¹⁶And they were brought back from there to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until ANOTHER KING AROSE OVER EGYPT WHO DID NOT KNOW JOSEPH.

¹⁹It was he who shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive.

²⁰At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home.

²¹And after he had been put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.

²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in speaking and action.

²³But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel.

²⁴And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian.

²⁵And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but they did not understand.

²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’

²⁷But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US?

²⁸YOU DO NOT INTEND TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?’

²⁹At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME A STRANGER IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he fathered two sons.

³⁰“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came:

³²‘I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND ISAAC, AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely.

³³But the LORD said to him, ‘REMOVE YOUR SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND.

³⁴I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE IN EGYPT, AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANING, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; AND NOW COME, I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.’

³⁵“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN.’

³⁸This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to you.

³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘MAKE US A GOD WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT—WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’

⁴¹At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to serve the heavenly lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘YOU DID NOT OFFER ME VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FOR FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, DID YOU, HOUSE OF ISRAEL?

⁴³YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF YOUR GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL DEPORT YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

⁴⁵Our fathers in turn received it, and they also brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David.

⁴⁶David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND THE EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord, ‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REST?

⁵⁰WAS IT NOT MY HAND THAT MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’

⁵¹“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

⁵²Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;

⁵³you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

⁵⁴Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

⁵⁶and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind.

⁵⁸When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.