Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

³What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

⁵But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.

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

⁸“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.

⁹But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.

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

¹¹“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

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

¹⁴Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.

¹⁹And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

²²Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.

²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

²⁴Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

²⁵Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

²⁶Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

²⁸If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!

²⁹And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.

³⁰For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

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

³⁵“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,

³⁶like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

³⁷It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

³⁸It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.

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

⁴⁰You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

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

⁴²The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

⁴³It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.

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

⁴⁵But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.

⁴⁸But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

⁴⁹“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

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

⁵²From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.

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

⁵⁴He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does.

⁵⁵And when the south wind blows, 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. How is it that you don’t 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 magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

²“This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.

³Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

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

⁵While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.

⁶The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

⁷After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.

⁸The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.

¹⁰The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.

¹¹“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.

¹²They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.

¹³If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁵and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.

¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death.

¹⁹The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.

²⁰But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.

²¹This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.

²²Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”

¹I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

²God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

³“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?

⁴And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

⁵So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

⁶And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,

⁸as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

⁹And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

¹⁰May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

¹¹Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

¹²But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

¹⁴in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.

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

¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,

¹⁸do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”

²⁰Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.

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

²²Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

²³And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

²⁴After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

²⁵I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number 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 is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

²⁸As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,

²⁹for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

³⁰Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,

³¹so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

³²For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

³⁵“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

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

¹And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

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

³He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

⁴I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

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

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

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

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

⁹They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

¹⁰And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

¹³The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.

¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

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

¹“My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

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

³But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

⁴You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

⁵If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

⁶Hear now my argument; listen to the pleas of my lips.

⁷Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

⁹Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?

¹⁰He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.

¹¹Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.

¹⁴Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!

¹⁷Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears.

¹⁸Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰“Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you:

²¹Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.

²²Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.

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

²⁵Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff?

²⁶For you write down bitter things against me and make me reap the sins of my youth.

²⁷You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

²⁸“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

¹A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

³he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, 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.

⁶Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

¹A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.

²From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things, but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.

³Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.

⁴A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

⁵The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.

⁶Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes.

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

¹⁰Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

¹¹Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it, but whoever respects a command is rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good judgment wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.

¹⁶All who are prudent act with knowledge, but fools expose their folly.

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

¹⁸Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

¹⁹A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Trouble pursues the sinner, but the righteous are rewarded with good things.

²²A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

²³An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

¹Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.

²A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

³His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.

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

⁵So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

⁶Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

⁷“ ‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing.

⁸Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’ ”

⁹When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days.

¹¹Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

¹²David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.

¹³David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.

¹⁵Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing.

¹⁶Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

¹⁷Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.

²¹David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good.

²²May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

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

²⁴She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.

²⁵Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent.

²⁶And now, my lord, as surely as the LORD your God lives and as you live, since the LORD has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.

²⁷And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

²⁸“Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.

²⁹Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

³⁰When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel,

³¹my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

³²David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.

³³May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”

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

³⁶When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak.

³⁷Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.

³⁸About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

⁴⁰His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

⁴¹She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

⁴²Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.

⁴³David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.

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

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

²“Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “ ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.

³This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.

⁴Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”

⁵If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,

⁶if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,

⁷then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

⁸But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

⁹“ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,

¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?

¹¹Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

¹²“ ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.

¹⁴Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors.

¹⁵I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’

¹⁶“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.

¹⁹But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

²⁰“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.

²¹“ ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

²²For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

²³but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.

²⁴But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

²⁵From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.

²⁶But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’

²⁷“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.

²⁸Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

²⁹“ ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

³⁰“ ‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

³²So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

³³Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

³⁴I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

¹Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

³The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.

⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

⁷After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

⁸God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.

⁹He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

¹¹No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

¹³When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.

¹⁴Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.

¹⁵The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,

¹⁷that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—

¹⁸things known from long ago.

¹⁹“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

²⁰Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

²¹For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers.

²³With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.

²⁵So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul—

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

²⁷Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.

²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:

²⁹You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

³⁰So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.

³¹The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them,

³⁸but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.

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