Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

²And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

³Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

⁴ Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.

⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’

⁶And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.

⁷And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.

⁸Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.

⁹Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,

¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴ But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶ “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

¹⁸And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!

²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

²⁵And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

²⁷And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁸And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

³²So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

³³But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

³⁴He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

³⁵And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

³⁶Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

³⁷He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

³⁸Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

⁴¹But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

⁴²but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff,

³and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house.

⁴Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.”

⁶Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

⁷And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

⁸On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”

¹¹Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.

¹²And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

¹³Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

¹I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit —

²that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

³For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

⁴They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

⁵To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

⁷and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

⁹For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,

¹¹though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls —

¹²she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

¹³As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!

¹⁵For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

²⁰But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

²¹Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

²³in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory —

²⁴even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

²⁵As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

²⁶“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

²⁸for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”

²⁹And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

³⁰What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

³¹but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

³²Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

³³as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

¹After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.

²And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

³For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;

⁵for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

⁶Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.

⁷As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’

⁸For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

⁹And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.

¹⁰They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”

¹¹And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,

¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,

¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

¹⁴“The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!”

¹⁵The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

¹⁶“Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!

¹⁷For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off

¹⁸and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?”

¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”

²¹Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;

²²and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,

²³and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.

²⁴And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?

³Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

⁴For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's eyes.’

⁵But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,

⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

⁸It is higher than heaven — what can you do? Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?

¹¹For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹²But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!

¹³“If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.

¹⁶You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

¹⁷And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.

¹⁹You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

¹O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!

²You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

³For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

⁴He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.

⁵His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

⁶For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

⁸Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.

⁹You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

¹⁰You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.

¹¹Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

¹²For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.

¹³Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.

¹A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.

⁷When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

⁸The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.

⁹With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

¹²Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

¹³Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

¹⁴Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.

¹⁷A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

¹⁸The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

¹⁹Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.

²⁰Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

²¹Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

²⁴One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

²⁵Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

²⁶The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.

²⁸Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

²⁹Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

³¹If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.”

²Therefore David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

³But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

⁴Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

⁵And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand.

⁷Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”

⁸And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

⁹David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”

¹⁰Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.

¹¹Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”

¹²Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”

¹³Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.

¹⁴And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

¹⁵David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

¹⁶And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.

¹⁷And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”

¹⁸And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

¹⁹Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?

²⁰Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.”

²¹And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.

²²Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning.

²³See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

²⁴And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.

²⁵And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

²⁶Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them,

²⁷a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.”

²⁸So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.

²⁹And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.

¹Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.

²Though they say, “As the LORD lives,” yet they swear falsely.

³O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.

⁷“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.

⁸They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the LORD.

¹²They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.

¹³The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’”

¹⁴Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.

¹⁵Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors.

¹⁷They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword.”

¹⁸“But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

¹⁹And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah:

²¹“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.

²²Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

²³But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

²⁵Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.

²⁶For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich;

²⁸they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

²⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

³⁰An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

³¹the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

¹Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

¹⁰and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

¹⁸And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

²⁰All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

²³Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

²⁴Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

²⁸And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

²⁹And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead,

³¹and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

³³this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

³⁴And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,

³⁷but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴¹“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

⁴²As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

⁴³And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

⁴⁶And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

⁵¹But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.