Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.

²And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

³And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”

⁴And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

⁵And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea

⁸and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

⁹And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him,

¹⁰for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

¹¹And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

¹²And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

¹³And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.

¹⁴And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach

¹⁵and have authority to cast out demons.

¹⁶He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);

¹⁷James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);

¹⁸Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,

¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

²⁰Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.

²¹And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

²³And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?

²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.

²⁷But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

²⁸ “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,

²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” —

³⁰for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.

³²And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”

³³And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

³⁴And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

¹Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.”

²And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.

³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was

⁵and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.

⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength,

⁷yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.

⁸If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.

⁹Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.

¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’

¹²And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house?

¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.

¹⁶All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.

¹⁸He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

¹⁹Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods.

²⁰And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.

²¹He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²²When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,

²³he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.

²⁴But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁶And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?

²⁷Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?

²⁸And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.

²⁹It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

³⁰And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you steal my gods?”

³¹Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

³²Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them.

³⁵And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

³⁷For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.

³⁸These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.

³⁹What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

⁴³Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne?

⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

⁴⁶And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed,

⁴⁹and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight.

⁵⁰If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me.

⁵²This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.

⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,

⁵⁴and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

⁵⁵Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,

²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

¹⁹If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

²⁷For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.

²⁸When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

²⁹Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

³⁰Why are we in danger every hour?

³¹I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!

³²What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

³⁴Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”

³⁶You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

³⁷And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

³⁸But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

³⁹For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

⁴⁰There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.

⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

⁴²So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

⁴³It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

⁴⁸As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

⁴⁹Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

⁵⁰I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

¹Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

²so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

³For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

⁴With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

⁵but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

⁶For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

⁷The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

⁸Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

⁹Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

¹⁰As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

¹¹whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

¹³But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

¹⁴If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

¹⁶Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

¹⁸And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

⁶(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

⁷if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

¹²for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow ),

¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

²⁰if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴“If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,

²⁶if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

³⁰(I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

³¹if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

³²(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

³³if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —

³⁵Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸“If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,

³⁹if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,

⁴⁰let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

¹In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!

²Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!

³For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;

⁴you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

⁵Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

⁶I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.

⁷I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,

⁸and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.

¹²I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.

¹³For I hear the whispering of many — terror on every side! — as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

¹⁵My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

¹⁶Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

¹⁷O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

²⁰In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.

²²I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.

²³Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

¹The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

²What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?

³Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,

⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;

⁷let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

⁸Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.

¹⁵She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

²²She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

¹Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

²The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

³Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

⁴And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.”

⁵So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”

⁶And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.

⁷And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”

⁸So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

⁹That same night the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.

¹⁰But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.

¹¹And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.

¹²And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.

¹³When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”

¹⁴And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

¹⁵As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.”

¹⁶And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.

¹⁷And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.

¹⁸When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

¹⁹So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

²⁰Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

²¹Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.

²²When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

²³And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.

²⁵And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!

²And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

³The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

⁴For thus the LORD said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.

⁵Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”

⁶Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

⁷For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.

⁹His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

²And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.

³Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

⁴And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”

⁵And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

⁸And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

¹²And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

¹⁴But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

¹⁶And his name — by faith in his name — has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

¹⁸But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

²¹whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

²²Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

²³And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

²⁴And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”