Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias ).

²A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick.

³Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

⁴Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near.

⁵So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?”

⁶He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”

⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,

⁹“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish — but what are they for so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated — so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹²When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”

¹³So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,

¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.

¹⁸A high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.

¹⁹After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.

²⁰But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²¹Then they were willing to take him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading.

²²The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone.

²³Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

²⁷Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

²⁸“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.

²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the work of God — that you believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰“What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform?

³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

³²Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

³³For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

³⁶But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe.

³⁷Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

³⁹This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day.

⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴²They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining among yourselves.

⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me — 

⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.

⁴⁷“Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.

⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵²At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.

⁵⁴The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,

⁵⁵because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

⁵⁶The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were complaining about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?

⁶²Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

⁶³The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

⁶⁴But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.)

⁶⁵He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.”

⁶⁶From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.

⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray him.

¹These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

²It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

³In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him to say to them.

⁴This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

⁵Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:

⁶“The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.

⁷Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills, the Negev and the sea coast — to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.

⁸See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the LORD swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.’

⁹“I said to you at that time: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own.

¹⁰The LORD your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.

¹¹May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as he promised you.

¹²But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?

¹³Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.

¹⁴“You replied to me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’

¹⁵“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: commanders for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or his resident alien.

¹⁷Do not show partiality when deciding a case; listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.

¹⁸At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.

¹⁹“We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

²⁰I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.

²¹See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

²²“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’

²³The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe.

²⁴They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.

²⁵They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the LORD our God is giving us is good.’

²⁶“But you were not willing to go up. You rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.

²⁷You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The LORD brought us out of the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites in order to destroy us, because he hates us.

²⁸Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

²⁹“So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them!

³⁰The LORD your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw him do for you in Egypt.

³¹And you saw in the wilderness how the LORD your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.

³²But in spite of this you did not trust the LORD your God,

³³who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

³⁴“When the LORD heard your words, he grew angry and swore an oath:

³⁵‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,

³⁶except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he remained loyal to the LORD.’

³⁷“The LORD was angry with me also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either.

³⁸Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it.

³⁹Your children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t yet know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.

⁴⁰But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹“You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴²“But the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from being defeated by your enemies.’

⁴³So I spoke to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against the LORD’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country.

⁴⁴Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir as far as Hormah.

⁴⁵When you returned, you wept before the LORD, but he didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you.

⁴⁶For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

¹If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

³And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,

⁵is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

⁶Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

¹³Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.

¹You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

²What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

³Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.

⁵Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

⁶The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.

⁷Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, according to my gospel,

⁹for which I suffer to the point of being bound like a criminal. But the word of God is not bound.

¹⁰This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹This saying is trustworthy: For if we died with him, we will also live with him;

¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;

¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

¹⁴Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to fight about words. This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen.

¹⁵Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

¹⁶Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness,

¹⁷and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them.

¹⁸They have departed from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and are ruining the faith of some.

¹⁹Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.

²⁰Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; some for honorable use and some for dishonorable.

²¹So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

²²Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

²³But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels.

²⁴The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient,

²⁵instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.

²⁶Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

¹I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I look at a young woman?

²For what portion would I have from God above, or what inheritance from the Almighty on high?

³Doesn’t disaster come to the unjust and misfortune to evildoers?

⁴Does he not see my ways and number all my steps?

⁵If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

⁶let God weigh me on accurate scales, and he will recognize my integrity.

⁷If my step has turned from the way, my heart has followed my eyes, or impurity has stained my hands,

⁸let someone else eat what I have sown, and let my crops be uprooted.

⁹If my heart has gone astray over a woman or I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,

¹⁰let my own wife grind grain for another man, and let other men sleep with her.

¹¹For that would be a disgrace; it would be an iniquity deserving punishment.

¹²For it is a fire that consumes down to Abaddon; it would destroy my entire harvest.

¹³If I have dismissed the case of my male or female servants when they made a complaint against me,

¹⁴what could I do when God stands up to judge? How should I answer him when he calls me to account?

¹⁵Did not the one who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same God form us both in the womb?

¹⁶If I have refused the wishes of the poor or let the widow’s eyes go blind,

¹⁷if I have eaten my few crumbs alone without letting the fatherless eat any of it —

¹⁸for from my youth, I raised him as his father, and since the day I was born I guided the widow —

¹⁹if I have seen anyone dying for lack of clothing or a needy person without a cloak,

²⁰if he did not bless me while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,

²¹if I ever cast my vote against a fatherless child when I saw that I had support in the city gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my back, and my arm be pulled from its socket.

²³For disaster from God terrifies me, and because of his majesty I could not do these things.

²⁴If I placed my confidence in gold or called fine gold my trust,

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth is great or because my own hand has acquired so much,

²⁶if I have gazed at the sun when it was shining or at the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and I threw them a kiss,

²⁸this would also be an iniquity deserving punishment, for I would have denied God above.

²⁹Have I rejoiced over my enemy’s distress, or become excited when trouble came his way?

³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse.

³¹Haven’t the members of my household said, “Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job’s table?”

³²No stranger had to spend the night on the street, for I opened my door to the traveler.

³³Have I covered my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart

³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and because the contempt of the clans terrified me, so I grew silent and would not go outside?

³⁵If only I had someone to hear my case! Here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me. Let my Opponent compose his indictment.

³⁶I would surely carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps; I would approach him like a prince.

³⁸If my land cries out against me and its furrows join in weeping,

³⁹if I have consumed its produce without payment or shown contempt for its tenants,

⁴⁰then let thorns grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are concluded.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] Happy is one who is considerate of the poor; the LORD will save him in a day of adversity.

²The LORD will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land. You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

³The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed; you will heal him on the bed where he lies.

⁴I said, “LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

⁵My enemies speak maliciously about me: “When will he die and be forgotten?”

⁶When one of them comes to visit, he speaks deceitfully; he stores up evil in his heart; he goes out and talks.

⁷All who hate me whisper together about me; they plan to harm me.

⁸“Something awful has overwhelmed him, and he won’t rise again from where he lies!”

⁹Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.

¹⁰But you, LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up; then I will repay them.

¹¹By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

¹²You supported me because of my integrity and set me in your presence forever.

¹³Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.

¹The words of King Lemuel, a pronouncement that his mother taught him:

²What should I say, my son? What, son of my womb? What, son of my vows?

³Don’t spend your energy on women or your efforts on those who destroy kings.

⁴It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer.

⁵Otherwise, he will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed.

⁶Give beer to one who is dying and wine to one whose life is bitter.

⁷Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.

⁸Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed.

⁹Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.

¹⁰Who can find a wife of noble character? She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will not lack anything good.

¹²She rewards him with good, not evil, all the days of her life.

¹³She selects wool and flax and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from far away.

¹⁵She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and portions for her female servants.

¹⁶She evaluates a field and buys it; she plants a vineyard with her earnings.

¹⁷She draws on her strength and reveals that her arms are strong.

¹⁸She sees that her profits are good, and her lamp never goes out at night.

¹⁹She extends her hands to the spinning staff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰Her hands reach out to the poor, and she extends her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all in her household are doubly clothed.

²²She makes her own bed coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known at the city gates, where he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes and sells linen garments; she delivers belts to the merchants.

²⁵Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come.

²⁶Her mouth speaks wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also praises her:

²⁹“Many women have done noble deeds, but you surpass them all!”

³⁰Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised.

³¹Give her the reward of her labor, and let her works praise her at the city gates.

¹So the LORD sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

²The rich man had very large flocks and herds,

³but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.

⁵David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan: “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

⁶Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”

⁷Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul.

⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

⁹Why then have you despised the LORD’s command by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife — you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.

¹⁰Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.’

¹¹“This is what the LORD says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight.

¹²You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’”

¹³David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Then Nathan replied to David, “And the LORD has taken away your sin; you will not die.

¹⁴However, because you treated the LORD with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”

¹⁵Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the baby that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became deathly ill.

¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground.

¹⁷The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁸On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”

¹⁹When David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the baby was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?” “He is dead,” they replied.

²⁰Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the LORD’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So they served him food, and he ate.

²¹His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food.”

²²He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’

²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.”

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and slept with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The LORD loved him,

²⁵and he sent a message through the prophet Nathan, who named him Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

²⁶Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.

²⁷Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have also captured its water supply.

²⁸Now therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will be the one to capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

²⁹So David assembled all the troops and went to Rabbah; he fought against it and captured it.

³⁰He took the crown from the head of their king, and it was placed on David’s head. The crown weighed seventy-five pounds of gold, and it had a precious stone in it. In addition, David took away a large quantity of plunder from the city.

³¹He removed the people who were in the city and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to labor at brickmaking. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then he and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon).

²The prophet Jeremiah spoke concerning all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day — twenty-three years — the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed.

⁴The LORD sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.

⁵He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever.

⁶Do not follow other gods to serve them and to bow in worship to them, and do not anger me by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.

⁷“‘But you have not obeyed me’ — this is the LORD’s declaration — ‘with the result that you have angered me by the work of your hands and brought disaster on yourselves.’

⁸“Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words,

⁹I am going to send for all the families of the north’  — this is the LORD’s declaration — ‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever.

¹⁰I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them — the voice of the groom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’ — this is the LORD’s declaration — ‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it a ruin forever.

¹³I will bring on that land all my words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.’”

¹⁵This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink from it.

¹⁶They will drink, stagger, and go out of their minds because of the sword I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink from it.

¹⁸Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an example for scorn and cursing — as it is today;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officers, his leaders, all his people,

²⁰and all the mixed peoples; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines — Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coasts and islands;

²³Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all those who clip the hair on their temples;

²⁴all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who have settled in the desert;

²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

²⁶all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another; that is, all the kingdoms of the world throughout the earth. Finally, the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

²⁷“Then you are to say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.’

²⁸If they refuse to accept the cup from your hand and drink, you are to say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: You must drink!

²⁹For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears my name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.’

³⁰“As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them: The LORD roars from on high; he makes his voice heard from his holy dwelling. He roars loudly over his grazing land; he calls out with a shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹The tumult reaches to the ends of the earth because the LORD brings a case against the nations. He enters into judgment with all people. As for the wicked, he hands them over to the sword — this is the LORD’s declaration.

³²“This is what the LORD of Armies says: Pay attention! Disaster spreads from nation to nation. A huge storm is stirred up from the ends of the earth.”

³³Those slain by the LORD on that day will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like manure on the soil’s surface.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. Because the days of your slaughter have come, you will fall and become shattered like a precious vase.

³⁵Flight will be impossible for the shepherds, and escape, for the leaders of the flock.

³⁶Hear the sound of the shepherds’ cry, the wail of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.

³⁷Peaceful grazing land will become lifeless because of the LORD’s burning anger.

³⁸He has left his den like a lion, for their land has become a desolation because of the sword of the oppressor, because of his burning anger.

¹But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property.

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

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

⁴Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”

⁵When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.

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

⁷About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸“Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?” “Yes,” she said, “for that price.”

⁹Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

¹⁰Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.

¹²Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹³No one else dared to join them, but the people spoke well of them.

¹⁴Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers — multitudes of both men and women.

¹⁵As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

¹⁶In addition, a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

¹⁷Then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

¹⁸So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

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

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

²¹Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full council of the Israelites — and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.

²²But when the servants got there, they did not find them in the jail, so they returned and reported,

²³“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing in front of the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

²⁴As the captain of the temple police and the chief priests heard these things, they were baffled about them, wondering what would come of this.

²⁵Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

²⁶Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.

²⁷After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked,

²⁸“Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

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

³¹God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

³²We are witnesses of 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 named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

³⁵He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re about to do to these men.

³⁶Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and came to nothing.

³⁷After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.

³⁸So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail;

³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.

⁴⁰After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

⁴¹Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.

⁴²Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.