Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.

²He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

³Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

⁶And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

⁷A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

⁸When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me — I’m such a sinful man.”

⁹For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.

¹⁰His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

¹¹And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

¹²In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

¹³Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

¹⁴Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

¹⁵But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.

¹⁶But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

¹⁷One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.

¹⁸Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,

¹⁹but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

²²Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?

²³Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?

²⁴So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

²⁵And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.

²⁶Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

²⁷Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him.

²⁸So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

²⁹Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them.

³⁰But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum? ”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do.

³²I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

³³One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”

³⁴Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not.

³⁵But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

³⁶Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

³⁷“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.

³⁸New wine must be stored in new wineskins.

³⁹But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

¹While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman.

²They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the LORD heard them.

³(Now Moses was very humble — more humble than any other person on earth.)

⁴So immediately the LORD called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle.

⁵Then the LORD descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward.

⁶And the LORD said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the LORD, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams.

⁷But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust.

⁸I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the LORD as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

⁹The LORD was very angry with them, and he departed.

¹⁰As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her,

¹¹he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”

¹⁴But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.”

¹⁵So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again.

¹⁶Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

¹Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God?

²If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.

³For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

⁴When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.

⁵But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

⁶David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

⁷“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

⁸Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”

⁹Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith.

¹⁰But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!

¹¹Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous — even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.

¹²And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

¹⁴If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.

¹⁵For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

¹⁶So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

¹⁷That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

¹⁸Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping — believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

¹⁹And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead — and so was Sarah’s womb.

²⁰Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.

²¹He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

²²And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.

²³And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded

²⁴for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

¹Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God.

²This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.

³I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery — but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”

⁵Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.

⁶And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling — that is, those who dwell in heaven.

⁷And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.

⁸And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.

⁹Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

¹⁰Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.

¹¹Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon.

¹²He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.

¹³He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching.

¹⁴And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life.

¹⁵He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.

¹⁶He required everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.

¹⁷And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.

¹⁸Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

¹Then Job spoke again:

²“If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,

³they would outweigh all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke impulsively.

⁴For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me.

⁵Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?

⁶Don’t people complain about unsalted food? Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?

⁷My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.

⁹I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

¹⁰At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.

¹²Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?

¹³No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

¹⁴“One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring

¹⁶when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.

¹⁷But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat.

¹⁸The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die.

¹⁹The caravans from Tema search for this water; the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.

²⁰They count on it but are disappointed. When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.

²¹You, too, have given no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

²²But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?

²³Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies, or to save me from ruthless people?

²⁴Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Show me what I have done wrong.

²⁵Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to?

²⁶Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation?

²⁷You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend.

²⁸Look at me! Would I lie to your face?

²⁹Stop assuming my guilt, for I have done no wrong.

³⁰Do you think I am lying? Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

¹Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.”

³The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!

⁴Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods. I will not take part in their sacrifices of blood or even speak the names of their gods.

⁵LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.

⁶The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!

⁷I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

⁸I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

⁹No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.

¹⁰For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.

¹¹You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

¹My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger —

²if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said —

³follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.

⁴Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.

⁵Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

⁶Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

⁷Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

⁸they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

⁹But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?

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

¹¹then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

¹²What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars,

¹³signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.

¹⁴Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.

¹⁵But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.

¹⁶There are six things the LORD hates — no, seven things he detests:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,

¹⁸a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,

¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

²⁰My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

²¹Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you.

²³For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.

²⁵Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.

²⁶For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

²⁷Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?

²⁸Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?

²⁹So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

³⁰Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.

³¹But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.

³²But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.

³³He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased.

³⁴For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.

¹After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king’s son. There was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David.

²From that day on Saul kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home.

³And Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, because he loved him as he loved himself.

⁴Jonathan sealed the pact by taking off his robe and giving it to David, together with his tunic, sword, bow, and belt.

⁵Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike.

⁶When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals.

⁷This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”

⁸This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!”

⁹So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

¹⁰The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand,

¹¹and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.

¹²Saul was then afraid of David, for the LORD was with David and had turned away from Saul.

¹³Finally, Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over 1,000 men, and David faithfully led his troops into battle.

¹⁴David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.

¹⁷One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my older daughter, Merab, as your wife. But first you must prove yourself to be a real warrior by fighting the LORD’s battles.” For Saul thought, “I’ll send him out against the Philistines and let them kill him rather than doing it myself.”

¹⁸“Who am I, and what is my family in Israel that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” David exclaimed. “My father’s family is nothing!”

¹⁹So when the time came for Saul to give his daughter Merab in marriage to David, he gave her instead to Adriel, a man from Meholah.

²⁰In the meantime, Saul’s daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it.

²¹“Here’s another chance to see him killed by the Philistines!” Saul said to himself. But to David he said, “Today you have a second chance to become my son-in-law!”

²²Then Saul told his men to say to David, “The king really likes you, and so do we. Why don’t you accept the king’s offer and become his son-in-law?”

²³When Saul’s men said these things to David, he replied, “How can a poor man from a humble family afford the bride price for the daughter of a king?”

²⁴When Saul’s men reported this back to the king,

²⁵he told them, “Tell David that all I want for the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins! Vengeance on my enemies is all I really want.” But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight.

²⁶David was delighted to accept the offer. Before the time limit expired,

²⁷he and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. Then David fulfilled the king’s requirement by presenting all their foreskins to him. So Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to be his wife.

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

²⁹Saul became even more afraid of him, and he remained David’s enemy for the rest of his life.

³⁰Every time the commanders of the Philistines attacked, David was more successful against them than all the rest of Saul’s officers. So David’s name became very famous.

¹This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?

²My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.

³But those who choose their own ways — delighting in their detestable sins — will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.

⁴I will send them great trouble — all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”

⁵Hear this message from the LORD, all you who tremble at his words: “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the LORD be honored!’ they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!’ But they will be put to shame.

⁶What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies.

⁷“Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.

⁸Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born.

⁹Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the LORD. “No! I would never keep this nation from being born,” says your God.

¹⁰“Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her.

¹¹Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

¹²This is what the LORD says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap.

¹³I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”

¹⁴When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the LORD’s hand of blessing on his servants — and his anger against his enemies.

¹⁵See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.

¹⁶The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.

¹⁷“Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center — feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats — will come to a terrible end,” says the LORD.

¹⁸“I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.

¹⁹I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations — to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.

²⁰They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD.

²¹“And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken!

²²“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the LORD.

²³“All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.

²⁴And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.”

¹Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. Persecution Scatters the Believers A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

²(Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.)

³But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

⁴But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.

⁵Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.

⁶Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.

⁷Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great.

¹⁰Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One — the Power of God.”

¹¹They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.

¹²But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.

¹³Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.

¹⁴When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there.

¹⁵As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power.

¹⁹“Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”

²⁰But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!

²¹You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.

²²Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,

²³for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

²⁵After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.

²⁶As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

²⁷So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

³⁰Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

³²The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

³³He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?”

³⁵So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

³⁶As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.