Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

²(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),

³he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

⁴And he had to pass through Samaria.

⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

⁶Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,

¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

²⁶Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,

²⁹“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

³⁰They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

³³So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’

³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

⁴¹And many more believed because of his word.

⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

⁴³After the two days he departed for Galilee.

⁴⁴(For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)

⁴⁵So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

⁴⁶So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

⁴⁹The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

⁵¹As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

⁵²So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

⁵³The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

⁵⁴This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

²“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities.

³The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts.

⁴The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.

⁵And you shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities.

⁶“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

⁷All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their pasturelands.

⁸And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites.”

⁹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

¹¹then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.

¹²The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

¹³And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge.

¹⁴You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.

¹⁵These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.

¹⁶“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

¹⁷And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

¹⁸Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

¹⁹The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.

²⁰And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died,

²¹or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait

²³or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,

²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules.

²⁵And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled,

²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.

²⁸For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

²⁹And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

³⁰“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

³¹Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.

³²And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest.

³³You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

³⁴You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”

¹Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

²Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

³But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,

⁵but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

⁶For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.

⁷For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.

⁹Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

¹⁰That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman;

¹²for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,

¹⁵but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.

¹⁶If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,

¹⁹for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

²⁰When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.

²¹For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.

²²What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

²³For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,

²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

²⁷Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

³⁰That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

³¹But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

³³So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another —

³⁴if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home — so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

¹Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

²Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. False Teachers and True Contentment Teach and urge these things.

³If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,

⁴he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

⁵and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain,

⁷for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

⁸But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

⁹But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

¹¹But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,

¹⁴to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵which he will display at the proper time — he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

¹⁶who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

¹⁷As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

¹⁹thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

²⁰O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

²¹for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

⁴as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

¹I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

²I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.

³My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

⁵Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

⁶Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

⁷“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool!

⁹I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.

¹⁰Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

¹¹When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.

¹³Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!”

¹He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

⁷A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

⁸Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

⁹If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

¹²If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor meet together; the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

¹⁸Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

¹⁹By mere words a servant is not disciplined, for though he understands, he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹Whoever pampers his servant from childhood will in the end find him his heir.

²²A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

²³One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.

²⁵The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

²⁶Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice.

²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

¹After this the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.

²And David said, “I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me.” So David sent by his servants to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the Ammonites.

³But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?”

⁴So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half the beard of each and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away.

⁵When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return.”

⁶When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, the Ammonites sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob, 12,000 men.

⁷And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men.

⁸And the Ammonites came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the gate, and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

⁹When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians.

¹⁰The rest of his men he put in the charge of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the Ammonites.

¹¹And he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

¹²Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him.”

¹³So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him.

¹⁴And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together.

¹⁶And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam, with Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

¹⁷And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him.

¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there.

¹⁹And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.

¹“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.

²Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD.

³Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

⁴I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD.

⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

⁷“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’

⁸but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

⁹Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.

¹¹“Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD.

¹²Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.

¹³In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁶Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

¹⁹Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

²²But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

²³“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?

²⁴Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’

²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,

²⁷who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?

²⁸Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.

²⁹Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁰Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another.

³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the LORD.’

³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.

³³“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the LORD.’

³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household.

³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

³⁶But ‘the burden of the LORD’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the LORD,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’”

³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.

⁴⁰And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

²And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.

³Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

⁴And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”

⁵And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

⁸And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

¹²And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

¹⁴But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

¹⁶And his name — by faith in his name — has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

¹⁸But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

²¹whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

²²Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

²³And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

²⁴And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”