Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

²And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.

³He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain;

⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.

⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.

⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him;

⁷and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

⁸For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

¹⁰He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

¹¹Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding;

¹²and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.”

¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened.

¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid.

¹⁶Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it.

¹⁷Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.

¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.

¹⁹But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”

²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

²¹When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.

²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet

²³and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”

²⁴So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.

²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.

²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.

²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,

²⁸for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”

²⁹Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

³²He looked all around to see who had done it.

³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

³⁵While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?”

³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”

⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.

⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.

²He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

³He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down;

⁷Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.

⁸Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor with my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰Jacob said, “No, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God — since you have received me with such favor.

¹¹Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything I want.” So he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go alongside you.”

¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

¹⁵So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why should my lord be so kind to me?”

¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram; and he camped before the city.

¹⁹And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money the plot of land on which he had pitched his tent.

²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation,

⁴who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.

⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.

⁶If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.

⁷Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.

⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

¹⁰He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again,

¹¹as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

¹²Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God — and all the more toward you.

¹³For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end —

¹⁴as you have already understood us in part — that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.

¹⁵Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor;

¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea.

¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?

¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been “Yes and No.”

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.”

²⁰For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.

²¹But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us,

²²by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

²³But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth.

²⁴I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith.

¹Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

²May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

⁴Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

⁵For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,

⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,

⁷and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

⁸For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.

¹¹For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

¹²Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you.

¹³I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory,

¹⁴since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

¹⁵And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

²⁰First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

²¹because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

²See, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶See, before God I am as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay.

⁷No fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy on you.

⁸“Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Look, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy;

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks, and watches all my paths.’

¹²“But in this you are not right. I will answer you: God is greater than any mortal.

¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though people do not perceive it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens their ears, and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn them aside from their deeds, and keep them from pride,

¹⁸to spare their souls from the Pit, their lives from traversing the River.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds, and with continual strife in their bones,

²⁰so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food.

²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.

²²Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death.

²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel, a mediator, one of a thousand, one who declares a person upright,

²⁴and he is gracious to that person, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit; I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then he prays to God, and is accepted by him, he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness.

²⁷That person sings to others and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was right, and it was not paid back to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and my life shall see the light.’

²⁹“God indeed does all these things, twice, three times, with mortals,

³⁰to bring back their souls from the Pit, so that they may see the light of life.

³¹Pay heed, Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright.

²Praise the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.

³Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

⁵He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

⁶By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

⁷He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

⁹For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

¹²Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

¹³The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind.

¹⁴From where he sits enthroned he watches all the inhabitants of the earth —

¹⁵he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds.

¹⁶A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

¹⁷The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.

¹⁸Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

¹⁹to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield.

²¹Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

²²Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

¹My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you,

²making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

³if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;

⁴if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures —

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,

⁸guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

¹¹prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely,

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵those whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

¹⁷who forsakes the partner of her youth and forgets her sacred covenant;

¹⁸for her way leads down to death, and her paths to the shades;

¹⁹those who go to her never come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰Therefore walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the just.

²¹For the upright will abide in the land, and the innocent will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

¹Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s kinsfolk and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family,

²“Say in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

³So his mother’s kinsfolk spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem; and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

⁴They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the temple of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.

⁵He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone; but Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, for he hid himself.

⁶Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

⁷When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.

⁸The trees once went out to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

⁹The olive tree answered them, ‘Shall I stop producing my rich oil by which gods and mortals are honored, and go to sway over the trees?’

¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’

¹¹But the fig tree answered them, ‘Shall I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, and go to sway over the trees?’

¹²Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’

¹³But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I stop producing my wine that cheers gods and mortals, and go to sway over the trees?’

¹⁴So all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’

¹⁵And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶“Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and honor when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as his actions deserved —

¹⁷for my father fought for you, and risked his life, and rescued you from the hand of Midian;

¹⁸but you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your kinsman —

¹⁹if, I say, you have acted in good faith and honor with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;

²⁰but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the lords of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the lords of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.”

²¹Then Jotham ran away and fled, going to Beer, where he remained for fear of his brother Abimelech.

²²Abimelech ruled over Israel three years.

²³But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem; and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.

²⁴This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

²⁵So, out of hostility to him, the lords of Shechem set ambushes on the mountain tops. They robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁶When Gaal son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his kinsfolk, the lords of Shechem put confidence in him.

²⁷They went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards, trod them, and celebrated. Then they went into the temple of their god, ate and drank, and ridiculed Abimelech.

²⁸Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Did not the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him?

²⁹If only this people were under my command! Then I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’”

³⁰When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

³¹He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah, saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his kinsfolk have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up the city against you.

³²Now therefore, go by night, you and the troops that are with you, and lie in wait in the fields.

³³Then early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, get up and rush on the city; and when he and the troops that are with him come out against you, you may deal with them as best you can.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all the troops with him got up by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.

³⁵When Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, Abimelech and the troops with him rose from the ambush.

³⁶And when Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountain tops!” And Zebul said to him, “The shadows on the mountains look like people to you.”

³⁷Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from Tabbur-erez, and one company is coming from the direction of Elon-meonenim.”

³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your boast now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the troops you made light of? Go out now and fight with them.”

³⁹So Gaal went out at the head of the lords of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

⁴⁰Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. Many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate.

⁴¹So Abimelech resided at Arumah; and Zebul drove out Gaal and his kinsfolk, so that they could not live on at Shechem.

⁴²On the following day the people went out into the fields. When Abimelech was told,

⁴³he took his troops and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he looked and saw the people coming out of the city, he rose against them and killed them.

⁴⁴Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed on all who were in the fields and killed them.

⁴⁵Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city, and killed the people that were in it; and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶When all the lords of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.

⁴⁷Abimelech was told that all the lords of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together.

⁴⁸So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the troops that were with him. Abimelech took an ax in his hand, cut down a bundle of brushwood, and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the troops with him, “What you have seen me do, do quickly, as I have done.”

⁴⁹So every one of the troops cut down a bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

⁵¹But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the lords of the city fled to it and shut themselves in; and they went to the roof of the tower.

⁵²Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and came near to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire.

⁵³But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and crushed his skull.

⁵⁴Immediately he called to the young man who carried his armor and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so people will not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man thrust him through, and he died.

⁵⁵When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

⁵⁶Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers;

⁵⁷and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal.

¹Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed; you treacherous one, with whom no one has dealt treacherously! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have stopped dealing treacherously, you will be dealt with treacherously.

²O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

³At the sound of tumult, peoples fled; before your majesty, nations scattered.

⁴Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, they leaped upon it.

⁵The LORD is exalted, he dwells on high; he filled Zion with justice and righteousness;

⁶he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

⁷Listen! the valiant cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

⁸The highways are deserted, travelers have quit the road. The treaty is broken, its oaths are despised, its obligation is disregarded.

⁹The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰“Now I will arise,” says the LORD, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.

¹¹You conceive chaff, you bring forth stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.

¹²And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

¹³Hear, you who are far away, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”

¹⁵Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, who despise the gain of oppression, who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it, who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut their eyes from looking on evil,

¹⁶they will live on the heights; their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks; their food will be supplied, their water assured.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that stretches far away.

¹⁸Your mind will muse on the terror: “Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?”

¹⁹No longer will you see the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a language that you cannot understand.

²⁰Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be pulled up, and none of whose ropes will be broken.

²¹But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor stately ship can pass.

²²For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our ruler, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

²³Your rigging hangs loose; it cannot hold the mast firm in its place, or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will fall to plundering.

²⁴And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who live there will be forgiven their iniquity.

¹But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property;

²with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

⁴While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!”

⁵Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it.

⁶The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

⁷After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.”

⁹Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

¹⁰Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.

¹²Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

¹³None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

¹⁴Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women,

¹⁵so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by.

¹⁶A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

¹⁷Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy,

¹⁸arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

¹⁹But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said,

²⁰“Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.”

²¹When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

²²But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported,

²³“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

²⁴Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on.

²⁵Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”

²⁶Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

²⁷When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them,

²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”

²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.

³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

³¹God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

³²And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

³⁴But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.

³⁵Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.

³⁶For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared.

³⁷After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

³⁸So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail;

³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them — in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” They were convinced by him,

⁴⁰and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

⁴¹As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

⁴²And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.