Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Meanwhile, a crowd of many thousands came together, so that they were trampling on one another. He began to say to his disciples first, “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known.

³Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴“I say to you, my friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.

⁵But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear!

⁶Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.

⁷Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

⁸“And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,

⁹but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say.

¹²For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

¹³Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴“Friend,” he said to him, “who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.”

¹⁶Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive.

¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops?

¹⁸I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there.

¹⁹Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared — whose will they be?’

²¹“That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²²Then he said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear.

²³For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds?

²⁵Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying?

²⁶If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?

²⁷“Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.

²⁸If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you — you of little faith?

²⁹Don’t strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious.

³⁰For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you.

³²Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Be ready for service and have your lamps lit.

³⁶You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.

³⁷Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.

³⁸If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants.

³⁹But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

⁴¹“Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?”

⁴²The Lord said: “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten.

⁴⁸But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.

⁴⁹“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished!

⁵¹Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

⁵²From now on, five in one household will be divided: three against two, and two against three.

⁵³ They will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it does.

⁵⁵And when the south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is.

⁵⁶Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this present time?

⁵⁷“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won’t drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last cent.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron,

²“This is the legal statute that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.

³Give it to the priest Eleazar, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

⁴The priest Eleazar is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

⁵The cow is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood, are to be burned along with its waste.

⁶The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn, and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning.

⁷Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

⁸The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will remain unclean until evening.

⁹“A man who is clean is to gather up the cow’s ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes will be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.

¹⁰Then the one who gathers up the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the alien who resides among them.

¹¹“The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days.

¹²He is to purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

¹³Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴“This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁵and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean.

¹⁶Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, they are to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them.

¹⁸A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed.

¹⁹“The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening.

²⁰But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²¹This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening.

²²Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

²God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he pleads with God against Israel?

³Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life!

⁴But what was God’s answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal.

⁵In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.

⁶Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.

⁷What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened,

⁸as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day.

⁹And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them.

¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.

¹¹I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.

¹²Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!

¹³Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

¹⁴if I might somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

¹⁶Now if the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree,

¹⁸do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast — you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you.

¹⁹Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

²⁰True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware,

²¹because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²²Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you — if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

²³And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.

²⁴For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these — the natural branches — be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

²⁶And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

²⁷And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

²⁸Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs,

²⁹since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.

³⁰As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience,

³¹so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy.

³²For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!

³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?

³⁵And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?

³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

³He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

⁴Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

⁷When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

¹⁰The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

¹²I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

¹³Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.

¹⁴Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

¹⁵And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹Look, my eyes have seen all this; my ears have heard and understood it.

²Everything you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³Yet I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.

⁴You use lies like plaster; you are all worthless healers.

⁵If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my argument, and listen to my defense.

⁷Would you testify unjustly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Would you show partiality to him or argue the case in his defense?

⁹Would it go well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you would deceive a man?

¹⁰Surely he would rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality.

¹¹Would God’s majesty not terrify you? Would his dread not fall on you?

¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ash; your defenses are made of clay.

¹³Be quiet, and I will speak. Let whatever comes happen to me.

¹⁴I will put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands.

¹⁵Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.

¹⁶Yes, this will result in my deliverance, for no godless person can appear before him.

¹⁷Pay close attention to my words; let my declaration ring in your ears.

¹⁸Now then, I have prepared my case; I know that I am right.

¹⁹Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant these two things to me, God, so that I will not have to hide from your presence:

²¹remove your hand from me, and do not let your terror frighten me.

²²Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you can respond to me.

²³How many iniquities and sins have I committed? Reveal to me my transgression and sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a wind-driven leaf? Will you chase after dry straw?

²⁶For you record bitter accusations against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths, setting a limit for the soles of my feet.

²⁸A person wears out like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

¹A psalm of David. [1] The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need.

²He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.

³He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

⁴Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

⁶Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD as long as I live.

¹A wise son responds to his father’s discipline, but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of his mouth, a person will enjoy good things, but treacherous people have an appetite for violence.

³The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

⁴The slacker craves, yet has nothing, but the diligent is fully satisfied.

⁵The righteous hate lying, but the wicked bring disgust and shame.

⁶Righteousness guards people of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.

⁷One person pretends to be rich but has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has abundant wealth.

⁸Riches are a ransom for a person’s life, but a poor person hears no threat.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is put out.

¹⁰Arrogance leads to nothing but strife, but wisdom is gained by those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth obtained by fraud will dwindle, but whoever earns it through labor will multiply it.

¹²Hope delayed makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³The one who has contempt for instruction will pay the penalty, but the one who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴A wise person’s instruction is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous never changes.

¹⁶Every sensible person acts knowledgeably, but a fool displays his stupidity.

¹⁷A wicked envoy falls into trouble, but a trustworthy courier brings healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace come to those who ignore discipline, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.

¹⁹Desire fulfilled is sweet to the taste, but to turn from evil is detestable to fools.

²⁰The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

²¹Disaster pursues sinners, but good rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

²³The uncultivated field of the poor yields abundant food, but without justice, it is swept away.

²⁴The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

²⁵A righteous person eats until he is satisfied, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.

¹Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

²A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

³The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

⁵so David sent ten young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name.

⁶Then say this: ‘Long life to you, and peace to you, peace to your family, and peace to all that is yours.

⁷I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.

¹⁰Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.

¹¹Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”

¹²David’s young men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.

¹³He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords!” So each man put on his sword, and David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.

¹⁵The men treated us very well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them.

¹⁶They were a wall around us, both day and night, the entire time we were with them herding the sheep.

¹⁷Now consider carefully what you should do, because there is certain to be trouble for our master and his entire family. He is such a worthless fool nobody can talk to him!”

¹⁸Abigail hurried, taking two hundred loaves of bread, two clay jars of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them.

²¹David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

²²May God punish me and do so severely if I let any of his males survive until morning.”

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David.

²⁴She knelt at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

²⁵My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows. I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

²⁶Now my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live— it is the LORD who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand—may your enemies and those who intend to harm my lord be like Nabal.

²⁷Let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights the LORD’s battles. Throughout your life, may evil not be found in you.

²⁹“Someone is pursuing you and intends to take your life. My lord’s life is tucked safely in the place where the LORD your God protects the living, but he is flinging away your enemies’ lives like stones from a sling.

³⁰When the LORD does for my lord all the good he promised you and appoints you ruler over Israel,

³¹there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord’s revenge. And when the LORD does good things for my lord, may you remember me your servant.”

³²Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

³³May your discernment be blessed, and may you be blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand.

³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn’t have had any males left by morning light.”

³⁵Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”

³⁶Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. Nabal’s heart was cheerful, and he was very drunk, so she didn’t say anything to him until morning light.

³⁷In the morning when Nabal sobered up, his wife told him about these events. His heart died and he became a stone.

³⁸About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained his servant from doing evil. The LORD brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.” Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.

⁴⁰When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

⁴¹She stood up, paid homage with her face to the ground, and said, “Here I am, your servant, a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

⁴²Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

⁴³David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them became his wives.

⁴⁴But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.

³“‘This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions, and I will allow you to live in this place.

⁴Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”

⁵Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,

⁶if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,

⁷I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever.

⁸But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

⁹“‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?

¹⁰Then do you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”?

¹¹Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹²“‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

¹³Now, because you have done all these things — this is the LORD’s declaration — and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn’t listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,

¹⁴what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name  — the house in which you trust — the place that I gave you and your ancestors.

¹⁵I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’

¹⁶“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger.

¹⁹But are they really provoking me?” This is the LORD’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”

²⁰Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “Look, my anger — my burning wrath — is about to be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,

²²for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

²³However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’

²⁴Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

²⁵Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you time and time again.

²⁶However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their ancestors.

²⁷“When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

²⁸Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the LORD their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished — it has disappeared from their mouths.

²⁹Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’

³⁰“For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the LORD’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth in Ben Hinnom Valley in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

³²“Therefore, look, the days are coming”  — the LORD’s declaration — “when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place.

³³The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.

³⁴I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste.

¹Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

³When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James responded: “Brothers and sisters, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

¹⁵And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

¹⁷so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles who are called by my name — declares the Lord who makes these things

¹⁸known from long ago.

¹⁹Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

²⁰but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

²¹For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

²³They wrote: “From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

²⁵we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements:

²⁹that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”

³⁰So they were sent off and went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

³¹When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

³²Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and sisters and strengthened them with a long message.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark.

³⁸But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.