Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

²These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

³Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.

⁴Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.

⁵“Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’

⁶If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you.

⁷Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

⁸“If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you.

⁹Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’

¹⁰But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

¹¹‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this — the Kingdom of God is near!’

¹²I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on judgment day.

¹³“What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse.

¹⁴Yes, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.

¹⁵And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. ”

¹⁶Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”

¹⁷When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

¹⁸“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!

¹⁹Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.

²⁰But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”

²¹At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.

²²“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.

²⁴I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

²⁵One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

²⁷The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

²⁹The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

³¹“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.

³²A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

³³“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.

³⁴Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.

³⁵The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

³⁶“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

³⁷The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

³⁸As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

³⁹Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

⁴¹But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!

⁴²There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff.

³Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.

⁴Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you.

⁵Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”

⁶So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff.

⁷Moses placed the staffs in the LORD’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.

⁸When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

⁹When Moses brought all the staffs out from the LORD’s presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.”

¹¹So Moses did as the LORD commanded him.

¹²Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined!

¹³Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the LORD dies. Are we all doomed to die?”

¹With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

²My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief

³for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed — cut off from Christ! — if that would save them.

⁴They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

⁵Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

⁶Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

⁷Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

⁸This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.

⁹For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁰This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.

¹¹But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;

¹²he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”

¹³In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

¹⁴Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!

¹⁵For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

¹⁶So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

¹⁷For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”

¹⁸So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

¹⁹Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

²⁰No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

²¹When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

²²In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

²³He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.

²⁴And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

²⁵Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”

²⁶And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

²⁷And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.

²⁸For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”

²⁹And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.”

³⁰What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.

³¹But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.

³²Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

³³God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

¹After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor.

²He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is fallen — that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal.

³For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

⁴Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.

⁵For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds.

⁶Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her.

⁷She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’

⁸Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day — death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”

⁹And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.

¹⁰They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.”

¹¹The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.

¹²She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble.

¹³She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies — that is, human slaves.

¹⁴“The fancy things you loved so much are gone,” they cry. “All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to be yours again.”

¹⁵The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out,

¹⁶“How terrible, how terrible for that great city! She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!

¹⁷In a single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!” And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance.

¹⁸They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?”

¹⁹And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city! The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone.”

²⁰Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes.

²¹Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.

²²The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again.

²³The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.

²⁴In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied to Job:

²“Shouldn’t someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent just by a lot of talking?

³Should I remain silent while you babble on? When you mock God, shouldn’t someone make you ashamed?

⁴You claim, ‘My beliefs are pure,’ and ‘I am clean in the sight of God.’

⁵If only God would speak; if only he would tell you what he thinks!

⁶If only he would tell you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom is not a simple matter. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!

⁷“Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?

⁸Such knowledge is higher than the heavens — and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld — what do you know?

⁹It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea.

¹⁰If God comes and puts a person in prison or calls the court to order, who can stop him?

¹¹For he knows those who are false, and he takes note of all their sins.

¹²An empty-headed person won’t become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child.

¹³“If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!

¹⁴Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you.

¹⁵Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear.

¹⁶You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning.

¹⁸Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help.

²⁰But the wicked will be blinded. They will have no escape. Their only hope is death.”

¹How the king rejoices in your strength, O LORD! He shouts with joy because you give him victory.

²For you have given him his heart’s desire; you have withheld nothing he requested. Interlude

³You welcomed him back with success and prosperity. You placed a crown of finest gold on his head.

⁴He asked you to preserve his life, and you granted his request. The days of his life stretch on forever.

⁵Your victory brings him great honor, and you have clothed him with splendor and majesty.

⁶You have endowed him with eternal blessings and given him the joy of your presence.

⁷For the king trusts in the LORD. The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.

⁸You will capture all your enemies. Your strong right hand will seize all who hate you.

⁹You will throw them in a flaming furnace when you appear. The LORD will consume them in his anger; fire will devour them.

¹⁰You will wipe their children from the face of the earth; they will never have descendants.

¹¹Although they plot against you, their evil schemes will never succeed.

¹²For they will turn and run when they see your arrows aimed at them.

¹³Rise up, O LORD, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.

¹The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

²Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

³Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.

⁴Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.

⁵The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.

⁶The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them.

⁷When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.

⁸The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead.

⁹With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

¹⁰The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the wicked die.

¹¹Upright citizens are good for a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.

¹²It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet.

¹³A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

¹⁴Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers.

¹⁵There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt; it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

¹⁶A gracious woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

¹⁷Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.

¹⁸Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.

¹⁹Godly people find life; evil people find death.

²⁰The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity.

²¹Evil people will surely be punished, but the children of the godly will go free.

²²A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³The godly can look forward to a reward, while the wicked can expect only judgment.

²⁴Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.

²⁵The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

²⁶People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need.

²⁷If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

²⁸Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

²⁹Those who bring trouble on their families inherit the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise.

³⁰The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends.

³¹If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, what will happen to wicked sinners?

¹One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors.

²David asked the LORD, “Should I go and attack them?” “Yes, go and save Keilah,” the LORD told him.

³But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”

⁴So David asked the LORD again, and again the LORD replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”

⁵So David and his men went to Keilah. They slaughtered the Philistines and took all their livestock and rescued the people of Keilah.

⁶Now when Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he brought the ephod with him.

⁷Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. “Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled town!”

⁸So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men.

⁹But David learned of Saul’s plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and ask the LORD what he should do.

¹⁰Then David prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here.

¹¹Will the leaders of Keilah betray me to him? And will Saul actually come as I have heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell me.” And the LORD said, “He will come.”

¹²Again David asked, “Will the leaders of Keilah betray me and my men to Saul?” And the LORD replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”

¹³So David and his men — about 600 of them now — left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go to Keilah after all.

¹⁴David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.

¹⁵One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him.

¹⁶Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God.

¹⁷“Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.”

¹⁸So the two of them renewed their solemn pact before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.

¹⁹But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. “We know where David is hiding,” they said. “He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon.

²⁰Come down whenever you’re ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!”

²¹“The LORD bless you,” Saul said. “At last someone is concerned about me!

²²Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty.

²³Discover his hiding places, and come back when you are sure. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!”

²⁴So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul. Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon.

²⁵When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him in the wilderness.

²⁶Saul and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men,

²⁷an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again.

²⁸So Saul quit chasing David and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape.

²⁹David then went to live in the strongholds of En-gedi.

¹“Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city.

²But even when they are under oath, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are still telling lies!”

³LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the LORD. They don’t understand God’s laws.

⁵So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the LORD and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.

⁶So now a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will pounce on them. A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare to venture out. For their rebellion is great, and their sins are many.

⁷“How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were full. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the brothels.

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

⁹Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

¹⁰“Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines, leaving a scattered few alive. Strip the branches from the vines, for these people do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me,” says the LORD.

¹²“They have lied about the LORD and said, ‘He won’t bother us! No disasters will come upon us. There will be no war or famine.

¹³God’s prophets are all windbags who don’t really speak for him. Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’”

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies says: “Because the people are talking like this, my messages will flame out of your mouth and burn the people like kindling wood.

¹⁵O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand.

¹⁶Their weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty.

¹⁷They will devour the food of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters. They will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs. And they will destroy your fortified towns, which you think are so safe.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely,” says the LORD.

¹⁹“And when your people ask, ‘Why did the LORD our God do all this to us?’ you must reply, ‘You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’

²⁰“Make this announcement to Israel, and say this to Judah:

²¹Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.

²²Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.

²³But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me.

²⁴They do not say from the heart, ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’

²⁵Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.

²⁶“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They continually set traps to catch people.

²⁷Like a cage filled with birds, their homes are filled with evil plots. And now they are great and rich.

²⁸They are fat and sleek, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse to provide justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor.

²⁹Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

³⁰A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land —

³¹the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?

¹Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called “the black man” ), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas ), and Saul.

²One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”

³So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

⁴So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus.

⁵There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them as their assistant.

⁶Afterward they traveled from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing.

⁹Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye.

¹⁰Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord?

¹¹Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.

¹²When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

¹³Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services.

¹⁵After the usual readings from the books of Moses and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me.

¹⁷“The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm he led them out of their slavery.

¹⁸He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

¹⁹Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance.

²⁰All this took about 450 years. “After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.

²²But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’

²³“And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!

²⁴Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized.

²⁵As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon — and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’

²⁶“Brothers — you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles — this message of salvation has been sent to us!

²⁷The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath.

²⁸They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.

²⁹“When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead!

³¹And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel.

³²“And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors,

³³and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ’

³⁴For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’

³⁵Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’

³⁶This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed.

³⁷No, it was a reference to someone else — someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.

³⁸“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.

³⁹Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight — something the law of Moses could never do.

⁴⁰Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said,

⁴¹‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’ ”

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week.

⁴³Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.

⁴⁴The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ ”

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.

⁴⁹So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.

⁵⁰Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.

⁵¹So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.

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