Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,

²and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);

³Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

⁴As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable:

⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.

⁶Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

⁸Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

⁹Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

¹²The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

¹³And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.

¹⁴As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.

¹⁵But the seed in the good ground — these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

¹⁶“No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see its light.

¹⁷For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light.

¹⁸Therefore take care how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

¹⁹Then his mother and brothers came to him, but they could not meet with him because of the crowd.

²⁰He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”

²²One day he and his disciples got into a boat, and he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they set out,

²³and as they were sailing he fell asleep. Then a fierce windstorm came down on the lake; they were being swamped and were in danger.

²⁴They came and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him!”

²⁶Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.

²⁷When he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house but in the tombs.

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”

²⁹For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was guarded, bound by chains and shackles, he would snap the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.

³⁰“What is your name?” Jesus asked him. “Legion,” he said, because many demons had entered him.

³¹And they begged him not to banish them to the abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him to permit them to enter the pigs, and he gave them permission.

³³The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside.

³⁵Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus’s feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

³⁶Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered.

³⁷Then all the people of the Gerasene region asked him to leave them, because they were gripped by great fear. So getting into the boat, he returned.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had departed begged him earnestly to be with him. But he sent him away and said,

³⁹“Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.

⁴¹Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’s feet and pleaded with him to come to his house,

⁴²because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying. While he was going, the crowds were nearly crushing him.

⁴³A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years, who had spent all she had on doctors and yet could not be healed by any,

⁴⁴approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶“Someone did touch me,” said Jesus. “I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched him and how she was instantly healed.

⁴⁸“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰When Jesus heard it, he answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”

⁵¹After he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother.

⁵²Everyone was crying and mourning for her. But he said, “Stop crying, because she is not dead but asleep.”

⁵³They laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

⁵⁴So he took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!”

⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then he gave orders that she be given something to eat.

⁵⁶Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

¹The LORD instructed Moses:

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,

³and you make a fire offering to the LORD from the herd or flock — either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed festivals — to produce a pleasing aroma for the LORD,

⁴the one presenting his offering to the LORD is also to present a grain offering of two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of oil.

⁵Prepare a quart of wine as a drink offering with the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb.

⁶“If you prepare a grain offering with a ram, it is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with a third of a gallon of oil.

⁷Also present a third of a gallon of wine for a drink offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁸“If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a fellowship offering to the LORD,

⁹a grain offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with two quarts of oil is to be presented with the bull.

¹⁰Also present two quarts of wine as a drink offering. It is a fire offering of pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹¹This is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb, or goat.

¹²This is how you are to prepare each of them, no matter how many.

¹³“Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴When an alien resides with you or someone else is among you and wants to prepare a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do throughout your generations.

¹⁵The assembly is to have the same statute for both you and the resident alien as a permanent statute throughout your generations. You and the alien will be alike before the LORD.

¹⁶The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the alien who resides with you.”

¹⁷The LORD instructed Moses:

¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,

¹⁹you are to offer a contribution to the LORD when you eat from the food of the land.

²⁰You are to offer a loaf from your first batch of dough as a contribution; offer it just like a contribution from the threshing floor.

²¹Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD a contribution from the first batch of your dough.

²²“When you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands that the LORD spoke to Moses  —

²³all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses, from the day the LORD issued the commands and onward throughout your generations —

²⁴and if it was done unintentionally without the community’s awareness, the entire community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵The priest will then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven, for the sin was unintentional. They are to bring their offering, one made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their unintentional sin.

²⁶The entire Israelite community and the alien who resides among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

²⁷“If one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

²⁸The priest will then make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven.

²⁹You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or an alien who resides among you.

³⁰“But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the LORD. That person is to be cut off from his people.

³¹He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the LORD’s word and broken his command; his guilt remains on him.”

³²While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community.

³⁴They placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the LORD told Moses, “The man is to be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the entire community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁷The LORD said to Moses,

³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their garments, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner.

³⁹These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the LORD’s commands and obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

⁴⁰This way you will remember and obey all my commands and be holy to your God.

⁴¹I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God.”

¹Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?

²For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.

³So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.

⁴Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death.

⁶But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

⁷What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.

⁸And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.

⁹Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again

¹⁰and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.

¹¹For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

¹³Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave to sin.

¹⁵For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.

¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

¹⁷So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.

¹⁸For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.

¹⁹For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

²¹So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.

²²For in my inner self I delight in God’s law,

²³but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

²The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.

³The second poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.

⁴The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

⁵I heard the angel of the waters say, You are just, the Holy One, who is and who was, because you have passed judgment on these things.

⁶Because they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, you have given them blood to drink; they deserve it!

⁷I heard the altar say, Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

⁸The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire,

⁹and people were scorched by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

¹⁰The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain

¹¹and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

¹²The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

¹³Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon’s mouth, from the beast’s mouth, and from the mouth of the false prophet.

¹⁴For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty.

¹⁵“Look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame.”

¹⁶So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

¹⁷Then the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

¹⁸There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. And a severe earthquake occurred like no other since people have been on the earth, so great was the quake.

¹⁹The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the Great was remembered in God’s presence; he gave her the cup filled with the wine of his fierce anger.

²⁰Every island fled, and the mountains disappeared.

²¹Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because that plague was extremely severe.

¹Then Job answered:

²Yes, I know what you’ve said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?

³If one wanted to take him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹¹If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him; if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something, who can stop him? Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”

¹³God does not hold back his anger; Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

¹⁴How then can I answer him or choose my arguments against him?

¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

¹⁷He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He doesn’t let me catch my breath but fills me with bitter experiences.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

²¹Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life.

²²It is all the same. Therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

²³When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.

²⁶They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷If I said, “I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,”

²⁸I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know you will not acquit me.

²⁹Since I will be found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you dip me in a pit of mud, and my own clothes despise me!

³²For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court.

³³There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.

²Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.

³There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.

⁴Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.

⁵It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course.

⁶It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.

⁷The instruction of the LORD is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.

⁸The precepts of the LORD are right, making the heart glad; the command of the LORD is radiant, making the eyes light up.

⁹The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are reliable and altogether righteous.

¹⁰They are more desirable than gold — than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.

¹¹In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.

¹²Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹³Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

¹⁴May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

²David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place.

³Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”

⁴The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”

⁵David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. The young men’s bodies are consecrated even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.”

⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the LORD. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.

⁷One of Saul’s servants, detained before the LORD, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”

⁹The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.” “There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”

¹⁰David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.

¹¹But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?”

¹²David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,

¹³so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the city gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴“Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me?

¹⁵Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”

¹If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Wouldn’t such a land become totally defiled? But you! You have prostituted yourself with many partners  — can you return to me? This is the LORD’s declaration.

²Look to the barren heights and see. Where have you not been immoral? You sat waiting for them beside the highways like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

³This is why the showers haven’t come  — why there has been no spring rain. You have the brazen look of a prostitute and refuse to be ashamed.

⁴Haven’t you recently called to me, “My Father. You were my friend in my youth.

⁵Will he bear a grudge forever? Will he be endlessly infuriated?” This is what you have said, but you have done the evil things you are capable of.

⁶In the days of King Josiah the LORD asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.

⁷I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’  But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

⁸I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.

⁹Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

¹⁰Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart  — only in pretense.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹¹The LORD announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹²Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say, ‘Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in my love. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will not be angry forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your guilt  — you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁴“‘Return, you faithless children  — this is the LORD’s declaration — for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.

¹⁶When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days — this is the LORD’s declaration — no one will say again, “The ark of the LORD’s covenant.” It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.

¹⁷At that time Jerusalem will be called The LORD’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’”

¹⁹I thought, “How I long to make you my sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.” I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’ and never turn away from me.”

²⁰However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed me, house of Israel. This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹A sound is heard on the barren heights: the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.

²²Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. “Here we are, coming to you, for you are the LORD our God.

²³Surely, falsehood comes from the hills, commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israel is only in the LORD our God.

²⁴From the time of our youth the shameful one has consumed what our fathers have worked for — their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers, from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the LORD our God.”

¹The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step:

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.

¹³He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

³⁰They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.