Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

²He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

³“Listen! A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.

⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

⁸Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

⁹And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

¹⁰When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;

¹²in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

¹⁸And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,

¹⁹but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

²⁰And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

²¹He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?

²²For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

²³Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

²⁵For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

²⁶He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,

²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?

³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

³⁴he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

¹Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him;

²and when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called that place Mahanaim.

³Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,

⁴instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien, and stayed until now;

⁵and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies,

⁸thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’

¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.

¹¹Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children.

¹²Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’”

¹³So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,

¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

¹⁶These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.”

¹⁷He instructed the foremost, “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’

¹⁸then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.’”

¹⁹He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him,

²⁰and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So the present passed on ahead of him; and he himself spent that night in the camp.

²²The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

²⁴Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

²⁸Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”

²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

¹Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia.

²On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.

³And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem.

⁴If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

⁵I will visit you after passing through Macedonia — for I intend to pass through Macedonia —

⁶and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go.

⁷I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.

⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

⁹for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am;

¹¹therefore let no one despise him. Send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I am expecting him with the brothers.

¹²Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.

¹³Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.

¹⁴Let all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵Now, brothers and sisters, you know that members of the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints;

¹⁶I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people, and of everyone who works and toils with them.

¹⁷I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence;

¹⁸for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons.

¹⁹The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord.

²⁰All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.

²²Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come!

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

¹Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you

²to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it — not for sordid gain but eagerly.

³Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock.

⁴And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.

⁵In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

⁷Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

⁸Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

⁹Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

¹⁰And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.

¹¹To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

¹³Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.

¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God;

³he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he.

⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

⁶Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.

⁹It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“See, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.

¹²I gave you my attention, but there was in fact no one that confuted Job, no one among you that answered his words.

¹³Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a human.’

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed, they answer no more; they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And am I to wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will give my answer; I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

¹⁹My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

²⁰I must speak, so that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any person or use flattery toward anyone.

²²For I do not know how to flatter — or my Maker would soon put an end to me!

¹Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

²Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.

⁷You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah

⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

⁹Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.

¹⁰Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.

¹¹Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

²For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight,

³for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young —

⁵let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill,

⁶to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching;

⁹for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

¹⁰My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent;

¹²like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty.

¹⁴Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” —

¹⁵my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths;

¹⁶for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on;

¹⁸yet they lie in wait — to kill themselves! and set an ambush — for their own lives!

¹⁹Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.

²¹At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

²³Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,

²⁵and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you,

²⁷when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

³⁰would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof,

³¹therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices.

³²For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

³³but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”

¹Then the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they upbraided him violently.

²So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

³God has given into your hands the captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

⁴Then Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred who were with him, exhausted and famished.

⁵So he said to the people of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷Gideon replied, “Well then, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness and on briers.”

⁸From there he went up to Penuel, and made the same request of them; and the people of Penuel answered him as the people of Succoth had answered.

⁹So he said to the people of Penuel, “When I come back victorious, I will break down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east; for one hundred twenty thousand men bearing arms had fallen.

¹¹So Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army; for the army was off its guard.

¹²Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw all the army into a panic.

¹³When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres,

¹⁴he caught a young man, one of the people of Succoth, and questioned him; and he listed for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven people.

¹⁵Then he came to the people of Succoth, and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your troops who are exhausted?’”

¹⁶So he took the elders of the city and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them he trampled the people of Succoth.

¹⁷He also broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they, every one of them; they resembled the sons of a king.”

¹⁹And he replied, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.”

²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Go kill them!” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a boy.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You come and kill us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon proceeded to kill Zebah and Zalmunna; and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

²²Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of the hand of Midian.”

²³Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”

²⁴Then Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you; each of you give me an earring he has taken as booty.” (For the enemy had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵“We will willingly give them,” they answered. So they spread a garment, and each threw into it an earring he had taken as booty.

²⁶The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold (apart from the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the collars that were on the necks of their camels).

²⁷Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his town, in Ophrah; and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

²⁸So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they lifted up their heads no more. So the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹Jerubbaal son of Joash went to live in his own house.

³⁰Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

³¹His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

³²Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals, making Baal-berith their god.

³⁴The Israelites did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side;

³⁵and they did not exhibit loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

¹See, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.

²Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

³Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed, and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.

⁴The minds of the rash will have good judgment, and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.

⁵A fool will no longer be called noble, nor a villain said to be honorable.

⁶For fools speak folly, and their minds plot iniquity: to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.

⁷The villainies of villains are evil; they devise wicked devices to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.

⁸But those who are noble plan noble things, and by noble things they stand.

⁹Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.

¹⁰In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent ones; for the vintage will fail, the fruit harvest will not come.

¹¹Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and put sackcloth on your loins.

¹²Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

¹³for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers; yes, for all the joyous houses in the jubilant city.

¹⁴For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture for flocks;

¹⁵until a spirit from on high is poured out on us, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

¹⁷The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

¹⁸My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

¹⁹The forest will disappear completely, and the city will be utterly laid low.

²⁰Happy will you be who sow beside every stream, who let the ox and the donkey range freely.

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them,

²much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.

³So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

⁵The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,

⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

⁷When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,

⁹if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,

¹⁰let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’

¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.

¹⁴When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another.

¹⁶They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;

²⁰for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened.

²²For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

²³After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them,

²⁵it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?

²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

²⁷For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

²⁸to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

²⁹And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).

³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.