Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

²He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

³Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.

⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

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

⁶And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.

⁷Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

⁸Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;

⁹cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

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

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

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

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

¹⁴But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

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

¹⁸He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.

¹⁹See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.

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

²¹At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

²²All 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, Jesus said to them 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, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

²⁵Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”

²⁷He 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 given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

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

³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, 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 while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.

³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

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

³⁶Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

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

³⁸Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”

⁴¹But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;

⁴²there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. 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 ancestral house.

⁴Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you.

⁵And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you.

⁶Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs.

⁷So Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant.

⁸When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.

⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.”

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

¹²The Israelites said to Moses, “We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost!

¹³Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all to perish?”

¹I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit —

²I 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 own people, my kindred 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 them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

⁶It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all Israelites truly belong to Israel,

⁷and not all of Abraham’s children are his true descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.”

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 descendants.

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

¹⁰Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac.

¹¹Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue,

¹²not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.”

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

¹⁴What then are we to say? 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 it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.

¹⁷For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

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

²⁰But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?”

²¹Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?

²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction;

²³and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory —

²⁴including 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 shall be called children of the living God.”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved;

²⁸for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.”

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

³⁰What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

³¹but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law.

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

³³as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, 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 splendor.

²He called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.

³For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues;

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

⁶Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.

⁷As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so give her a like measure of torment and grief. Since in her heart she says, ‘I rule as a queen; I am no widow, and I will never see grief,’

⁸therefore her plagues will come in a single day — pestilence and mourning and famine — and she will be burned with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

⁹And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication 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, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one 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 and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble,

¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, slaves — and human lives.

¹⁴“The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your dainties and your splendor 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, the great city, clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!

¹⁷For in one hour all this wealth has been laid waste!” And all shipmasters and seafarers, 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, the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in one hour she has been laid waste.”

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, 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, “With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down, and will be found no more;

²²and the sound of harpists and minstrels and of flutists and trumpeters will be heard in you no more; and an artisan of any trade will be found in you no more; and the sound of the millstone 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 magnates of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.

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

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated?

³Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

⁴For you say, ‘My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God’s sight.’

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

⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. 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 assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?

¹¹For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹²But a stupid person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born human.

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

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside 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 have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat 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.”

¹In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD, and in your help 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 on his head.

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

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

⁶You bestow on him blessings 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 like a fiery furnace when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

¹⁰You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind.

¹¹If they plan evil against you, if 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 an accurate weight is his delight.

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

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 their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

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

⁷When the wicked die, their hope perishes, and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

⁸The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead.

⁹With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

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

¹²Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.

¹³A gossip goes about telling secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a confidence.

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

¹⁵To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

¹⁶A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches.

¹⁷Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm.

¹⁸The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.

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

²⁰Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

²¹Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

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

²⁴Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.

²⁵A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.

²⁶The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.

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

²⁸Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

²⁹Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

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

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

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

³But David’s men said to him, “Look, 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. The LORD answered him, “Yes, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

⁵So David and his men went to Keilah, fought with the Philistines, brought away their livestock, and dealt them a heavy defeat. Thus David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶When Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came 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.”

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

⁹When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the priest Abiathar, “Bring the ephod here.”

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

¹¹And now, will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant.” 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?” The LORD said, “They will surrender you.”

¹³Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they wandered wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.

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

¹⁵David was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh when he learned that Saul had come out to seek his life.

¹⁶Saul’s son Jonathan set out and came to David at Horesh; there he strengthened his hand through the LORD.

¹⁷He said to him, “Do not be afraid; for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be second to you; my father Saul also knows that this is so.”

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

¹⁹Then some Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “David is hiding among us in the strongholds of Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon.

²⁰Now, O king, whenever you wish to come down, do so; and our part will be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”

²¹Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD for showing me compassion!

²²Go and make sure once more; find out exactly where he is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning.

²³Look around and learn all the hiding places where he lurks, 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.”

²⁴So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.

²⁵Saul and his men went to search for him. When David was told, he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon.

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

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

²⁸So Saul stopped pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.

²⁹David then went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

¹Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth — so that I may pardon Jerusalem.

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

³O LORD, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them, 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 turn back.

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

⁵Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

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

⁷How 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 prostitutes.

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

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? — says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

¹⁰Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but do not make 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 faithless to me, — says the LORD.

¹²They have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, “He will do nothing. No evil will come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.”

¹³The prophets are nothing but wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!

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

¹⁵I am going to bring upon you a nation from far away, O house of Israel, — says 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; all of them are 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; they shall destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸But even in those days, says 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 strangers in a land that is not yours.”

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

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

²²Do you not fear me? says the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as a 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 deprived you of good.

²⁶For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings.

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

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

²⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? — says the LORD, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

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

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

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, 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 also to assist them.

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

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.

⁸But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, also known as 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 listen — the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

¹³Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, 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 of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen.

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

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

¹⁹After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance

²⁰for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.

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

²²When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

²³Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised;

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

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

²⁶“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

²⁷Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him.

²⁸Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed.

²⁹When they had carried out everything that was written about 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 came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors

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

³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’

³⁵Therefore he has also said in another psalm, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption;

³⁷but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption.

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

³⁹by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:

⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers! Be amazed and perish, for in your days I am doing a work, a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.’”

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath.

⁴³When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and 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 blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul.

⁴⁶Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles.

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

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.

⁴⁹Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region.

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

⁵¹So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium.

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