Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.

²Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

⁴He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

⁵Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁶On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.

⁷The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

⁸But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

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

¹⁰He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored.

¹¹But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

¹²One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

¹³When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

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

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

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

¹⁷He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,

¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,

¹⁹and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

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

²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

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

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

²⁹If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

³³And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

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

⁴⁰The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁴³“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

⁴⁴Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

⁴⁵A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

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

⁴⁷As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.

⁴⁸They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

³So at the LORD’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

⁴These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

¹⁷When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.

¹⁸See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?

²⁰How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

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

²⁶They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.

²⁸But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

³²And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

³³We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

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

²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

³Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope.

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

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

¹⁰For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

¹¹Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

¹³To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

¹⁶Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

¹⁷For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

²⁰The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

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

¹Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.

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

⁴These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

⁵No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

⁶Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.

⁷He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸A second angel followed and said, “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

⁹A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand,

¹⁰they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

¹²This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

¹⁴I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

¹⁵Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

¹⁶So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

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

¹⁸Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

²⁰They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

¹“Do not mortals have hard service on earth? Are not their days like those of hired laborers?

²Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,

³so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

⁴When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁵My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.

⁶“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.

⁸The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return.

¹⁰He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.

¹¹“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.

¹⁶I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

¹⁷“What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention,

¹⁸that you examine them every morning and test them every moment?

¹⁹Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?

²¹Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

¹A prayer of David. Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips.

²Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.

³Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.

⁴Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded.

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

⁶I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

⁷Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.

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

⁹from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.

¹¹They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

¹²They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

¹³Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked.

¹⁴By your hand save me from such people, LORD, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

¹⁵As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

¹My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.

²Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings 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 to insight, “You are my relative.”

⁵They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

⁶At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense.

⁸He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house

⁹at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.

¹¹(She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home;

¹²now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)

¹³She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴“Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!

¹⁶I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.

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

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!

¹⁹My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.

²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose

²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.

²⁶Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

¹Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David

²and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there.

³I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”

⁴Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly.

⁵He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”

⁷So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

⁸Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.

⁹But an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre,

¹⁰Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

¹¹Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.”

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

¹³Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.

¹⁴When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”

¹⁵Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.”

¹⁶But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.

¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?” Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’ ”

¹⁸When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

¹⁹Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”;

²⁰so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied.

²¹Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied.

²²Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.

²³So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth.

²⁴He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

²The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,

³and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

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

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

⁶“Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

⁷But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

⁸Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

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

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

¹¹The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

¹²The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

¹³The word of the LORD came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”

¹⁴The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.

¹⁵I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.

¹⁶I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.

¹⁷“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.

¹⁸Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand 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 will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest

²and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

⁶“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

⁹For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

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

¹⁵But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

¹⁷Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,

¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

²⁰At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

²¹All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him,

²⁴but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.

²⁵But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.

³⁰When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda.

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

³⁴“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up.

³⁵All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.

³⁷About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.

³⁸Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

³⁹Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.

⁴¹He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive.

⁴²This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

⁴³Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.