Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

²A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death.

³When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

⁴When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him,

⁵for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”

⁶And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof;

⁷therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”

⁹When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.

¹²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.

¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

¹⁴Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”

¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”

¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

¹⁸The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples

¹⁹and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

²⁰When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’”

²¹Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind.

²²And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.

²³And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

²⁴When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces.

²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

²⁷This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

²⁸I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹(And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.

³⁰But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)

³¹“To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’

³³For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’;

³⁴the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

³⁵Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table.

³⁷And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

³⁸She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

³⁹Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him — that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.”

⁴¹“A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

⁴²When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

⁴⁴Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.

⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

¹Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.

²And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!

³Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.

⁶And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

⁷and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land.

⁸If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

⁹Only, do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”

¹⁰But the whole congregation threatened to stone them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.

¹¹And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

¹²I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them,

¹⁴and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people; for you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say,

¹⁶‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷And now, therefore, let the power of the LORD be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,

¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.’

¹⁹Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰Then the LORD said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked;

²¹nevertheless — as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD —

²²none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,

²³shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.

²⁴But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

²⁵Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

²⁶And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

²⁷How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me.

²⁸Say to them, “As I live,” says the LORD, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say:

²⁹your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness; and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,

³⁰not one of you shall come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹But your little ones, who you said would become booty, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.

³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

³³And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.

³⁴According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.”

³⁵I the LORD have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.

³⁶And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land —

³⁷the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the LORD.

³⁸But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹When Moses told these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.”

⁴¹But Moses said, “Why do you continue to transgress the command of the LORD? That will not succeed.

⁴²Do not go up, for the LORD is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies.

⁴³For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.”

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, had not left the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.

¹What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?

²By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?

³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin.

⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.

¹³No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

¹⁷But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,

¹⁸and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

²¹So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.

²²But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

²And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

³And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations!

⁴Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.”

⁵After this I looked, and the temple of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,

⁶and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen, with golden sashes across their chests.

⁷Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever;

⁸and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

²“How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

⁴If your children sinned against him, he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

⁵If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty,

⁶if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore to you your rightful place.

⁷Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.

⁸“For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found;

⁹for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?

¹¹“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

¹²While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.

¹³Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.

¹⁴Their confidence is gossamer, a spider’s house their trust.

¹⁵If one leans against its house, it will not stand; if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.

¹⁶The wicked thrive before the sun, and their shoots spread over the garden.

¹⁷Their roots twine around the stoneheap; they live among the rocks.

¹⁸If they are destroyed from their place, then it will deny them, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

¹⁹See, these are their happy ways, and out of the earth still others will spring.

²⁰“See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

¹I love you, O LORD, my strength.

²The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

³I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me;

⁵the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁶In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.

⁹He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his covering around him, his canopy thick clouds dark with water.

¹²Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁴And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.

¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my support.

¹⁹He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his ordinances were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.

²³I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.

²⁴Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless;

²⁶with the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.

²⁷For you deliver a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.

²⁸It is you who light my lamp; the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.

²⁹By you I can crush a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰This God — his way is perfect; the promise of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

³¹For who is God except the LORD? And who is a rock besides our God? —

³²the God who girded me with strength, and made my way safe.

³³He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and set me secure on the heights.

³⁴He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand has supported me; your help has made me great.

³⁶You gave me a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.

³⁷I pursued my enemies and overtook them; and did not turn back until they were consumed.

³⁸I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.

³⁹For you girded me with strength for the battle; you made my assailants sink under me.

⁴⁰You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed.

⁴¹They cried for help, but there was no one to save them; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.

⁴²I beat them fine, like dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

⁴³You delivered me from strife with the peoples; you made me head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me.

⁴⁴As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; foreigners came cringing to me.

⁴⁵Foreigners lost heart, and came trembling out of their strongholds.

⁴⁶The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me;

⁴⁸who delivered me from my enemies; indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries; you delivered me from the violent.

⁴⁹For this I will extol you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.

⁵⁰Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

¹Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:

⁴“To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.

⁵O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it.

⁶Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right;

⁷for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

⁹They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;

¹¹for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

¹²I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

¹⁴I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;

¹⁶by me rulers rule, and nobles, all who govern rightly.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

²¹endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.

²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth —

²⁶when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

³²“And now, my children, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.

³⁴Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD;

³⁶but those who miss me injure themselves; all who hate me love death.”

¹David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?”

²He said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!”

³But David also swore, “Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

⁴Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

⁵David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at the meal; but let me go, so that I may hide in the field until the third evening.

⁶If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city; for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

⁷If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant; but if he is angry, then know that evil has been determined by him.

⁸Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a sacred covenant with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”

⁹Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was decided by my father that evil should come upon you, would I not tell you?”

¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

¹¹Jonathan replied to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.

¹²Jonathan said to David, “By the LORD, the God of Israel! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or on the third day, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you?

¹³But if my father intends to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more also, if I do not disclose it to you, and send you away, so that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.

¹⁴If I am still alive, show me the faithful love of the LORD; but if I die,

¹⁵never cut off your faithful love from my house, even if the LORD were to cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

¹⁶Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD seek out the enemies of David.”

¹⁷Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own life.

¹⁸Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon; you will be missed, because your place will be empty.

¹⁹On the day after tomorrow, you shall go a long way down; go to the place where you hid yourself earlier, and remain beside the stone there.

²⁰I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.

²¹Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, collect them,’ then you are to come, for, as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.

²²But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go; for the LORD has sent you away.

²³As for the matter about which you and I have spoken, the LORD is witness between you and me forever.”

²⁴So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat at the feast to eat.

²⁵The king sat upon his seat, as at other times, upon the seat by the wall. Jonathan stood, while Abner sat by Saul’s side; but David’s place was empty.

²⁶Saul did not say anything that day; for he thought, “Something has befallen him; he is not clean, surely he is not clean.”

²⁷But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David’s place was empty. And Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the feast, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem;

²⁹he said, ‘Let me go; for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me get away, and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

³²Then Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

³³But Saul threw his spear at him to strike him; so Jonathan knew that it was the decision of his father to put David to death.

³⁴Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food on the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, and because his father had disgraced him.

³⁵In the morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David, and with him was a little boy.

³⁶He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

³⁷When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called after the boy and said, “Is the arrow not beyond you?”

³⁸Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry, be quick, do not linger.” So Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master.

³⁹But the boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.

⁴⁰Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said to him, “Go and carry them to the city.”

⁴¹As soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He bowed three times, and they kissed each other, and wept with each other; David wept the more.

⁴²Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’” He got up and left; and Jonathan went into the city.

¹The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

²Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty; disaster came upon them, — says the LORD.

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

⁵Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?

⁶They did not say, “Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”

⁷I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸The priests did not say, “Where is the LORD?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

⁹Therefore once more I accuse you, — says the LORD, and I accuse your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing.

¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.

¹²Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, — says the LORD,

¹³for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁴Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become plunder?

¹⁵The lions have roared against him, they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.

¹⁶Moreover, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

¹⁷Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, while he led you in the way?

¹⁸What then do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, — says the Lord GOD of hosts.

²⁰For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said, “I will not serve!” On every high hill and under every green tree you sprawled and played the whore.

²¹Yet I planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock. How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?

²²Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, — says the Lord GOD.

²³How can you say, “I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals”? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done — a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,

²⁴a wild ass at home in the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.

²⁵Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, “It is hopeless, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.”

²⁶As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed — they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,

²⁷who say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth.” For they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, “Come and save us!”

²⁸But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them come, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

²⁹Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, — says the LORD.

³⁰In vain I have struck down your children; they accepted no correction. Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

³¹And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, “We are free, we will come to you no more”?

³²Can a girl forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

³³How well you direct your course to seek lovers! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.

³⁴Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things

³⁵you say, “I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.” Now I am bringing you to judgment for saying, “I have not sinned.”

³⁶How lightly you gad about, changing your ways! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷From there also you will come away with your hands on your head; for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper through them.

¹In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called.

²He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.

³One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”

⁴He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

⁵Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter;

⁶he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.”

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him,

⁸and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

¹¹He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners.

¹²In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air.

¹³Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”

¹⁴But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”

¹⁵The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

¹⁶This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

¹⁷Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate.

¹⁸They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there.

¹⁹While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you.

²⁰Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.”

²¹So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?”

²²They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”

²³So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him.

²⁴The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

²⁵On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him.

²⁶But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.”

²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled;

²⁸and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”

³⁰Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me.

³¹He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.

³²Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’

³³Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.”

³⁴Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,

³⁵but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

³⁶You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ — he is Lord of all.

³⁷That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:

³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;

⁴⁰but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,

⁴¹not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.

⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,

⁴⁶for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said,

⁴⁷“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

⁴⁸So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.