Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?

¹¹Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.

²³Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.

²⁴(This was before John was put in prison.)

²⁵An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.

²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’

²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.”

³¹The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

³³Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.

³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries:

³“ ‘Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east from the southern end of the Dead Sea,

⁴cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon,

⁵where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶“ ‘Your western boundary will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.

⁷“ ‘For your northern boundary, run a line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor

⁸and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad,

⁹continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north.

¹⁰“ ‘For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham.

¹¹The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee.

¹²Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. “ ‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’ ”

¹³Moses commanded the Israelites: “Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has ordered that it be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes,

¹⁴because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

¹⁵These two-and-a-half tribes have received their inheritance east of the Jordan across from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses,

¹⁷“These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.

¹⁸And appoint one leader from each tribe to help assign the land.

¹⁹These are their names: Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;

²⁰Shemuel son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;

²¹Elidad son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;

²²Bukki son of Jogli, the leader from the tribe of Dan;

²³Hanniel son of Ephod, the leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph;

²⁴Kemuel son of Shiphtan, the leader from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph;

²⁵Elizaphan son of Parnak, the leader from the tribe of Zebulun;

²⁶Paltiel son of Azzan, the leader from the tribe of Issachar;

²⁷Ahihud son of Shelomi, the leader from the tribe of Asher;

²⁸Pedahel son of Ammihud, the leader from the tribe of Naphtali.”

²⁹These are the men the LORD commanded to assign the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

¹For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.

²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³They all ate the same spiritual food

⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

⁹We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.

¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

¹⁹Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

²²Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.

²⁴No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

²⁵Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,

²⁶for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.

²⁹I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?

³⁰If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

³²Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—

³³even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

¹Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,

²older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

³Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.

⁴But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

⁵The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

⁶But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.

⁷Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame.

⁸Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,

¹⁰and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

¹¹As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry.

¹²Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.

¹³Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.

¹⁴So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.

¹⁵Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

¹⁷The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

¹⁹Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.

²⁰But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.

²¹I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

²²Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

²³Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

²⁴The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.

²⁵In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.

¹There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.

³Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.

⁴Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway.

⁵The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire;

⁶lapis lazuli comes from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon’s eye has seen it.

⁸Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there.

⁹People assault the flinty rock with their hands and lay bare the roots of the mountains.

¹⁰They tunnel through the rock; their eyes see all its treasures.

¹¹They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light.

¹²But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?

¹³No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.”

¹⁵It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

¹⁶It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.

¹⁷Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold.

¹⁸Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold.

²⁰Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky.

²²Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”

²³God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,

²⁴for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters,

²⁶when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,

²⁷then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it.

²⁸And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”

¹A psalm of David. A petition. LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

²Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me.

³Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.

⁴My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

⁶I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.

⁷My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.

⁸I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.

¹¹My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.

¹²Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;

¹⁴I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.

¹⁵LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.

¹⁶For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

¹⁷For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous.

²⁰Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.

²¹LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.

²²Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

¹The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

²When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

³A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

⁴Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked, but those who heed it resist them.

⁵Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.

⁶Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.

⁷A discerning son heeds instruction, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.

⁸Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.

⁹If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.

¹⁰Whoever leads the upright along an evil path will fall into their own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

¹¹The rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.

¹³Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁴Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

¹⁵Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.

¹⁶A tyrannical ruler practices extortion, but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign.

¹⁷Anyone tormented by the guilt of murder will seek refuge in the grave; let no one hold them back.

¹⁸The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.

¹⁹Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.

²⁰A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good— yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.

²²The stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them.

²³Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor rather than one who has a flattering tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs their father or mother and says, “It’s not wrong,” is partner to one who destroys.

²⁵The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the LORD will prosper.

²⁶Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.

²⁷Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.

²⁸When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding; but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.

¹David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

²Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied.

³The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”

⁴“Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

⁵So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

⁶When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied.

⁷“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

⁸Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

⁹Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family.

¹⁰You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

¹²Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.

¹³And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

¹This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there:

²‘Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.

³This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people.

⁵But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’ ”

⁶For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a wasteland, like towns not inhabited.

⁷I will send destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut up your fine cedar beams and throw them into the fire.

⁸“People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’

⁹And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’ ”

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again.

¹¹For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return.

¹²He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”

¹³“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

¹⁴He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

¹⁵“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

¹⁶He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.

¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

¹⁹He will have the burial of a donkey— dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed.

²¹I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.

²²The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.

²³You who live in ‘Lebanon,’ who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!

²⁴“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.

²⁵I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.

²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die.

²⁷You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

²⁸Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?

²⁹O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!

³⁰This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”

¹When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

²Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

³They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

⁶When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

⁷Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome

¹¹(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

¹²Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

¹⁶No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

²¹And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

²²“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

²³This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

²⁴But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

²⁵David said about him: “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

²⁹“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

³⁰But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

³²God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

³³Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’

³⁶“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

⁴¹Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

⁴³Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common.

⁴⁵They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.