Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

²But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

³And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

⁴how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”

⁵And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

⁷And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

⁸But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there.

⁹And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

¹¹But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

¹⁴Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,

¹⁵and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,

¹⁶and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,

¹⁸who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

¹⁹And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹ “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

²²“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!

²³ Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

²⁵“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

²⁶“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

²⁷“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

²⁹ To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.

³⁰ Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

³¹And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

³² “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

³⁵But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

³⁶ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

³⁹He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

⁴¹ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

⁴³“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,

⁴⁴for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:

⁴⁸he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”

³So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.

⁴And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

¹¹from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;

¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,

¹⁸and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,

¹⁹and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,

²⁰and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.

²²They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

²⁵At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.

²⁶And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

²⁸However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

³⁰But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

³¹Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

³²So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

³³And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

¹Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die —

⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —

¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

¹⁷For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

¹⁹For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,

³and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

⁴It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,

⁵and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

⁶Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

⁷And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

⁹And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,

¹⁰he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

¹²Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

¹⁴Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.

¹⁵And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

¹⁶So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

¹“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?

²Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,

³so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.

⁸The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

¹⁰he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?

¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’

¹⁴then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.

¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,

¹⁸visit him every morning and test him every moment?

¹⁹How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?

²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

¹Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

²From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right!

³You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

⁴With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.

⁶I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.

⁷Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.

⁸Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,

⁹from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly.

¹¹They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.

¹²He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.

¹³Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

¹⁴from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.

¹⁵As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

¹My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

²keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

³bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,

⁵to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

⁶For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,

⁷and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,

⁸passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house

⁹in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

¹¹She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;

¹²now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.

¹³She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,

¹⁴“I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;

¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.

¹⁹For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

²⁰he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”

²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

²²All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

²³till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,

²⁶for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.

²And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.”

⁴And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you.

⁵For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?”

⁶And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.”

⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

⁸And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him.

⁹Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.

¹⁰And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”

¹²So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

¹³Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes.

¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”

¹⁶And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head.

¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’”

¹⁸Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth.

¹⁹And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

²¹When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

²²Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”

²³And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

²to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”

⁷But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

⁸Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

¹¹And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.”

¹²Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.

¹⁸And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.”

¹But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

⁴And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

⁶But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

¹²and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁴And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

¹⁶For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

¹⁷So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

¹⁹and taking food, he was strengthened. Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

²⁰And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

²²But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

²³When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him,

²⁵but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

²⁶And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.

³⁰And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

³²Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.

³⁴And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.

³⁵And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

³⁷In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”

³⁹So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.

⁴⁰But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.