Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,

²and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.

³Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

⁴When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

⁶And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

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

⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

⁹For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;

¹⁰and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”

¹¹So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

¹²And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”

¹⁵However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

¹⁶So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

¹⁷Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

¹⁸Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.

¹⁹And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

²⁰When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

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

²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

²⁵Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

²⁶And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

²⁷After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”

²⁸So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

²⁹Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

³⁰And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

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

³³Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

³⁵But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.

³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.

³⁸But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

³⁹And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

¹Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

²So they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it.

³(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)

⁴Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out.

⁵Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward.

⁶Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.

⁷Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

⁸I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”

⁹So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed.

¹⁰And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.

¹¹So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

¹²Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”

¹³So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.”

¹⁵So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?

²For if 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 accounted to him for righteousness.”

⁴Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

⁵But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

⁶just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,

¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,

¹⁵because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

¹⁷(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

¹⁹And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

²²And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,

²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,

²⁵who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

¹Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

²Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

³And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.

⁴So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

⁵And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.

⁶Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.

⁷It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

⁸All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

¹⁰He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

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

¹²And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

¹³He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

¹⁴And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

¹⁵He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

¹⁶He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,

¹⁷and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales!

³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder?

⁶Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me?

¹⁴“To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,

¹⁶Which are dark because of the ice, And into which the snow vanishes.

¹⁷When it is warm, they cease to flow; When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, The travelers of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident; They come there and are confused.

²¹For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid.

²²Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?

²⁶Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind?

²⁷Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend.

²⁸Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face.

²⁹Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands!

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory?

¹A Michtam of David. [1] Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

²O my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.”

³As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips.

⁵O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

⁸I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.

¹⁰For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

¹¹You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

¹My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

²You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.

³So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

⁷Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,

⁸Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—

¹¹So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers;

¹⁴Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

¹⁶These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,

¹⁹A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.

²¹Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck.

²²When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.

²⁶For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

²⁷Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

³⁰People do not despise a thief If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.

³¹Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.

³²Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.

³³Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy is a husband’s fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

¹Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

²Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore.

³Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

⁴And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

⁵So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

⁶Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments.

⁷So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”

⁸Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”

⁹So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

¹⁰And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul’s hand.

¹¹And Saul cast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.

¹²Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul.

¹³Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.

¹⁵Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸So David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

¹⁹But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

²⁰Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

²¹So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall be my son-in-law today.”

²²And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

²³So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?”

²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, saying, “In this manner David spoke.”

²⁵Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the days had not expired;

²⁷therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

²⁸Thus Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him;

²⁹and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually.

³⁰Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.

¹Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?

²For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.

³“He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations,

⁴So will I choose their delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.”

⁵Hear the word of the LORD, You who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, Who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, That we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”

⁶The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, Who fully repays His enemies!

⁷“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child.

⁸Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.

⁹Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.

¹⁰“Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;

¹¹That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory.”

¹²For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees.

¹³As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

¹⁴When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, And your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, And His indignation to His enemies.

¹⁵For behold, the LORD will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many.

¹⁷“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together,” says the LORD.

¹⁸“For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.

¹⁹I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.

²⁰Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

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

²²“For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.

²³And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

²⁴“And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

¹Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

²And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

³As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

⁴Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

⁵Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

⁶And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

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

⁸And there was great joy in that city.

⁹But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great,

¹⁰to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

¹¹And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

¹³Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

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

¹⁵who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

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

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

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

²⁰But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!

²¹You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

²²Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

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

²⁴Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”

²⁵So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert.

²⁷So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.

²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

³⁰So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

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

³²The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

³³In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”

³⁴So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”

³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

³⁶Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”

³⁷Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

³⁸So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.