Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John

²(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),

³He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

⁴But He needed to go through Samaria.

⁵So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

⁶Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

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

⁸For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says 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 with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

¹²Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

¹⁵The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

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

¹⁷The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

¹⁹The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

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

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

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

²³But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such 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” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

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

²⁷And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,

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

³⁰Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³²But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

³⁶And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

³⁷For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’

³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

³⁹And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.

⁴¹And many more believed because of His own word.

⁴²Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

⁴³Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.

⁴⁴For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

⁴⁵So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

⁴⁶So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

⁴⁹The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

⁵¹And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

⁵²Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

⁵³So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

⁵⁴This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying:

²“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites common-land around the cities.

³They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals.

⁴The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend 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, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶“Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities.

⁷So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land.

⁸And the cities which you will give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel; from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”

⁹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

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

¹¹then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

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

¹³And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge.

¹⁴You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge.

¹⁵These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

¹⁶‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

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

²⁰If he pushes him out of hatred or, while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies,

²¹or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²‘However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait,

²³or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm,

²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.

²⁵So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled,

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

²⁸because he should have remained 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.

²⁹‘And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

³⁰Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.

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

³²And you shall take 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 priest.

³³So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

³⁴Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”

¹Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

²Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

³But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

⁵But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.

⁶For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.

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

⁸For man is not from woman, but woman from man.

⁹Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.

¹⁰For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord.

¹²For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.

¹³Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

¹⁵But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.

¹⁶But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

¹⁹For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

²⁰Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

²¹For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.

²²What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

²⁷Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

²⁹For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

³⁰For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

³¹For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

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

³³Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

³⁴But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

¹Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed.

²And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

³If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness,

⁴he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,

⁵useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.

⁶Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

⁸And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

⁹But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹¹But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate,

¹⁴that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing,

¹⁵which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

¹⁶who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

¹⁸Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,

¹⁹storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

²⁰O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—

²¹by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

¹Job further continued his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me;

³When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴Just as I was in the days of my prime, When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;

⁵When the Almighty was yet with me, When my children were around me;

⁶When my steps were bathed with cream, And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷“When I went out to the gate by the city, When I took my seat in the open square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid, And the aged arose and stood;

⁹The princes refrained from talking, And put their hand on their mouth;

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

¹¹When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me;

¹²Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper.

¹³The blessing of a perishing man 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 I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, And multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters, And the dew lies all night on my branch.

²⁰My glory is fresh within me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

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

²²After my words they did not speak again, And my speech settled on them as dew.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.

²⁴If I mocked at them, they did not believe it, And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; So I dwelt as a king in the army, As one who comforts mourners.

¹To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. [1] I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.”

²I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up.

³My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am.

⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them.

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

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

⁹I was mute, I did not open my mouth, Because it was You who did it.

¹⁰Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, O LORD, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

¹³Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, Before I go away and am no more.”

¹He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

²When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

³Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice, But a companion of harlots wastes his wealth.

⁴The king establishes the land by justice, But he who receives bribes overthrows it.

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

⁶By transgression an evil man is snared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.

⁷The righteous considers the cause of the poor, But the wicked does not understand such knowledge.

⁸Scoffers set a city aflame, But wise men turn away wrath.

⁹If a wise man contends with a foolish man, Whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate the blameless, But the upright seek his well-being.

¹¹A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to lies, All his servants become wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴The king who judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

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

¹⁶When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases; But the righteous will see their fall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you rest; Yes, he will give delight to your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

¹⁹A servant will not be corrected by mere words; For though he understands, he will not respond.

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

²¹He who pampers his servant from childhood Will have him as a son in the end.

²²An angry man stirs up strife, And a furious man abounds in transgression.

²³A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

²⁴Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He swears to tell the truth, but reveals nothing.

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

¹It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.

²Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the people of Ammon.

³And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?”

⁴Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away.

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

⁶When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, the people of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand foot soldiers; and from the king of Maacah one thousand men, and from Ish-Tob twelve thousand men.

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

⁸Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zoba, Beth Rehob, Ish-Tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

⁹When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians.

¹⁰And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, that he might set them in battle array against the people of Ammon.

¹¹Then he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

¹²Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight.”

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

¹⁴When the people of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai, and entered the city. So Joab returned from the people of Ammon and went to Jerusalem.

¹⁵When the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered together.

¹⁶Then Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam. And Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army went before them.

¹⁷When it was told David, he gathered all Israel, crossed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in battle array against David and fought with him.

¹⁸Then the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen of the Syrians, and struck Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.

¹⁹And when all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the people of Ammon anymore.

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

²Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.

³“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD.

⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

⁶In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

⁸but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

⁹My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD, And because of His holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right.

¹¹“For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD.

¹²“Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the LORD.

¹³“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err.

¹⁴Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness 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. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

¹⁸For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?

¹⁹Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.

²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

²¹“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

²²But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.

²³“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off?

²⁴Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

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

²⁶How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

²⁷who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

²⁸“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.

²⁹“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁰“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.

³¹Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’

³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the LORD.

³³“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD.

³⁴“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house.

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

³⁶And the oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted 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?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

³⁸But since you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ ”

³⁹therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence.

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

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

²And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;

³who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

⁴And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”

⁵So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

⁷And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

⁸So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.

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

¹⁰Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

¹¹Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.

¹²So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.

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

¹⁵and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

¹⁶And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

¹⁸But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

¹⁹Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

²⁰and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,

²¹whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

²²For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.

²³And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

²⁴Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

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

²⁶To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”