Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret.

²He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

³He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

⁶When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

⁹For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken,

¹⁰and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”

¹¹Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

¹²While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴Then he ordered him to tell no one: “But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

¹⁶Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

¹⁷On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him.

¹⁸Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him.

¹⁹Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves: “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?

²³Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

²⁴But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”  — he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

²⁵Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

²⁶Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁸So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him.

²⁹Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.

³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

³³Then they said to him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but yours eat and drink.”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?

³⁵But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them — then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old.

³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined.

³⁸No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.

³⁹And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’”

¹Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman).

²They said, “Does the LORD speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard it.

³Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.

⁴Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out.

⁵Then the LORD descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward,

⁶he said: “Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the LORD, I make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

⁷Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my household.

⁸I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The LORD’s anger burned against them, and he left.

¹⁰As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow. When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased

¹¹and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Please don’t let her be like a dead baby whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹³Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴The LORD answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.

¹⁶After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

²If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God.

³For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

⁴Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed.

⁵But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

⁶Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.

⁹Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰In what way then was it credited — while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

¹²And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified,

¹⁵because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

¹⁶This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants  — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God’s sight, in whom Abraham believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

¹⁸He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.

¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

²¹because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

²²Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.

²³Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,

²⁴but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

¹And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names.

²The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.

³One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

⁶It began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling — those who dwell in heaven.

⁷And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

⁸All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.

⁹If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.

¹⁰If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword he will be killed. This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints.

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

¹³It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.

¹⁴It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

¹⁵It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶And it makes everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,

¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

¹Then Job answered:

²If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.

⁴Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Is bland food eaten without salt? Is there flavor in an egg white?

⁷I refuse to touch them; they are like contaminated food.

⁸If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for:

⁹that he would decide to crush me, to unleash his power and cut me off!

¹⁰It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Since I cannot help myself, the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow

¹⁶and become darkened because of ice, and the snow melts into them.

¹⁷The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

¹⁸Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for these streams. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water. When they arrive there, they are disappointed.

²¹So this is what you have now become to me. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said: “Give me something” or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

²³or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand” or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.

²⁵How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?

²⁶Do you think that you can disprove my words or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?

²⁷No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

²⁸But now, please look at me; I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Reconsider; don’t be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue or can my palate not taste disaster?

¹A of David. [1] Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”

³As for the holy people who are in the land, they are the noble ones. All my delight is in them.

⁴The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not speak their names with my lips.

⁵LORD, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future.

⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷I will bless the LORD who counsels me  — even at night when my thoughts trouble me.

⁸I always let the LORD guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.

¹⁰For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

¹¹You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself.

²Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.

³Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself.

⁴Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

⁵David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.

⁶As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments.

⁷As they danced, the women sang: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.

⁸Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?”

⁹So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

¹⁰The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear,

¹¹and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

¹²Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul.

¹³Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops

¹⁴and continued to be successful in all his activities because the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.

¹⁷Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife, if you will be a warrior for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I don’t need to raise a hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

¹⁹When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

²¹“I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”

²²Saul then ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and tell him, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.’”

²³Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor commoner.”

²⁴The servants reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”

²⁵Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

²⁶When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

²⁷David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.

²⁸Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him,

²⁹and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.

³⁰Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.

¹This is what the LORD says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be?

²My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.

³One person slaughters an ox, another kills a person; one person sacrifices a lamb, another breaks a dog’s neck; one person offers a grain offering, another offers pig’s blood; one person offers incense, another praises an idol — all these have chosen their ways and delight in their abhorrent practices.

⁴So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they did not listen; they did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in.

⁵You who tremble at his word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate and exclude you for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified so that we can see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”

⁶A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple — the voice of the LORD, paying back his enemies what they deserve!

⁷Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.

⁸Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.

⁹“Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD; “or will I who deliver, close the womb?” says your God.

¹⁰Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her —

¹¹so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight yourselves from her glorious breasts.

¹²For this is what the LORD says: I will make peace flow to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flood; you will nurse and be carried on her hip and bounced on her lap.

¹³As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You will see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the LORD’s power will be revealed to his servants, but he will show his wrath against his enemies.

¹⁵Look, the LORD will come with fire  — his chariots are like the whirlwind  — to execute his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For the LORD will execute judgment on all people with his fiery sword, and many will be slain by the LORD.

¹⁷“Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸“Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see my glory.

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations — to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the coasts and islands far away — who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations.

²⁰They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.

²¹I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

²²“For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “so your offspring and your name will remain.

²³All mankind will come to worship me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says the LORD.

²⁴“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”

¹Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

²Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

³Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

⁴So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

⁶The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing.

⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.

¹⁰They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time.

¹²But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

¹³Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

¹⁴When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

¹⁵After they went down there, they prayed for them so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them.

¹⁶(They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. )

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven.

²³For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road. )

²⁷So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

²⁸and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

³⁰When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

³⁴The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?”

³⁵Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

³⁶As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.