Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).

²A large crowd was following Him, because they were watching the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.

³But Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

⁴Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

⁵So Jesus, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?”

⁶But He was saying this only to test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do.

⁷Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!”

⁸One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him,

⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many people?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people recline to eat.” Now there was plenty of grass in the place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.

¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were reclining; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹²And when they had eaten their fill, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.”

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

¹⁴Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.

¹⁶Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,

¹⁷and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

¹⁸In addition, the sea began getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing.

¹⁹Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat; and they were frightened.

²⁰But He *said to them, “It is I;do not be afraid.”

²¹So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

²²The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had departed alone.

²³Other small boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

²⁵And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you sawsigns, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled.

²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set Hisseal.”

²⁸Therefore they said to Him, “What are we to do, so that we may accomplish the works of God?”

²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

³⁰So they said to Him, “What then are You doing as a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing?

³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’ ”

³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

³³For the bread of God isthat which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.

³⁶But I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe.

³⁷Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it 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 Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹So then the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”

⁴²And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”

⁴³Jesus answered and said to 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 SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard 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.

⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.

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

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

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no 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.

⁵⁵For 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, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

⁵⁸This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?”

⁶¹But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is thisoffensive to you?

⁶²What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?

⁶³It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life.

⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.

⁶⁵And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

⁶⁶As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him.

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?”

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

⁶⁹And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

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

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

³In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, in accordance with everything that the LORD had commanded him to declare to them,

⁴after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in 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, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

⁷Turn and set out on your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

⁸See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants after them.’

⁹“And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to endure you alone.

¹⁰The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

¹¹May the LORD, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, just as He has promised you!

¹²How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife?

¹³Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’

¹⁴And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶“Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him.

¹⁷You are not to show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

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

¹⁹“Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

²⁰And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is about to give us.

²¹See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

²²“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we should enter.’

²³The plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.

²⁴Then they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

²⁵And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the LORD our God is about to give us is good.’

²⁶“Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;

²⁷and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.

²⁸Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.” ’

²⁹But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them.

³⁰The LORD your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

³¹and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’

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

³³who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

³⁴“Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore an oath, saying,

³⁵‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,

³⁶except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the LORD fully.’

³⁷The LORD was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.

³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall himself enter there; encourage him, for he will give it to Israel as an inheritance.

³⁹Moreover, your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it.

⁴⁰But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹“Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴²But the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.” ’

⁴³So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, you rebelled against the command of the LORD, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

⁴⁴And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah.

⁴⁵Then you returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you.

⁴⁶So you remained at Kadesh for many days, the days that you spent there.

¹If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

³And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

⁵It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

⁶it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

⁷it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

⁹For we know in part and prophesy in part;

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.

¹¹When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

¹²For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.

¹³But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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

²The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.

³Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him.

⁵And if someone likewise competes as an athlete, he is not crowned as victor unless he competes according to the rules.

⁶The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

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

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,

⁹for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

¹¹The statement 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 solemnly exhort them in the presence of God not to dispute about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the listeners.

¹⁵Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

¹⁶But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,

¹⁷and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

¹⁸men who have gone astray from the truth, claiming that the resurrection has already taken place; and they are jeopardizing the faith of some.

¹⁹Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His;” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to keep away from wickedness.”

²⁰Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver implements, but also implements of wood and of earthenware, and some are for honor while others are for dishonor.

²¹Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be an implement for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

²²Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

²³But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

²⁴The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged,

²⁵with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

²⁶and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I look at a virgin?

²And what is the portion of God from above, Or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

³Is it not disaster to the criminal, And misfortune to those who practice injustice?

⁴Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with deception, And my foot has hurried after deceit,

⁶Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.

⁷If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway,

¹⁰May my wife grind grain for another, And let others kneel down over her.

¹¹For that would be a lustful crime; Moreover, it would be wrongdoing punishable by judges.

¹²For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon, And would uproot all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me,

¹⁴What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, how am I to answer Him?

¹⁵Did He who made me in the womb not make him, And the same one create us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the orphan has not shared it

¹⁸(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from my infancy I guided her),

¹⁹If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering,

²⁰If his waist has not thanked me, And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, Because I saw I had support in the gate,

²²May my shoulder fall from its socket, And my arm be broken off at the elbow.

²³For disaster from God is a terror to me, And because of His majesty I can do nothing.

²⁴“If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust,

²⁵If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had obtained so much;

²⁶If I have looked at the sun when it shone, Or the moon going in splendor,

²⁷And my heart was secretly enticed, And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

²⁸That too would have been a guilty deed calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.

²⁹“Have I rejoiced at the misfortune of my enemy, Or become excited when evil found him?

³⁰No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking for his life in a curse.

³¹Have the people of my tent not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’?

³²The stranger has not spent the night outside, For I have opened my doors to the traveler.

³³Have I covered my wrongdoings like a man, By hiding my guilt in my shirt pocket,

³⁴Because I feared the great multitude And the contempt of families terrified me, And I kept silent and did not go out of doors?

³⁵Oh that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written,

³⁶I would certainly carry it on my shoulder, I would tie it to myself like a garland.

³⁷I would declare to Him the number of my steps; Like a prince, I would approach Him.

³⁸“If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;

³⁹If I have eaten its fruit without money, Or have caused its owners to lose their lives,

⁴⁰May the thorn-bush grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

¹Blessed is one who considers the helpless; The LORD will save him on a day of trouble.

²The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, And he will be called blessed upon the earth; And do not turn him over to the desire of his enemies.

³The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health.

⁴As for me, I said, “LORD, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

⁵My enemies speak evil against me, “When will he die, and his name perish?”

⁶And when he comes to see me, he speaks empty words; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.

⁷All who hate me whisper together against me; They plot my harm against me, saying,

⁸“A wicked thing is poured out upon him, So that when he lies down, he will not get up again.”

⁹Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁰But You, LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, That I may repay them.

¹¹By this I know that You are pleased with me, Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

¹²As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You place me in Your presence forever.

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

¹The words of King Lemuel, the pronouncement which his mother taught him:

²What, my son? And what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows?

³Do not give your strength to women, Or your ways to that which destroys kings.

⁴It is not for kings, Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire intoxicating drink,

⁵Otherwise they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the needy.

⁶Give intoxicating drink to one who is perishing, And wine to one whose life is bitter.

⁷Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his trouble no more.

⁸Open your mouth for the people who cannot speak, For the rights of all the unfortunate.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰An excellent wife, who can find her? For her worth is far above jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good and not evil All the days of her life.

¹³She looks for wool and linen, And works with her hands in delight.

¹⁴She is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar.

¹⁵And she rises while it is still night And gives food to her household, And portions to her attendants.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She surrounds her waist with strength And makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She senses that her profit is good; Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hands grasp the spindle.

²⁰She extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.

²²She makes coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies belts to the tradesmen.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.

²⁶She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She watches over the activities of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

²⁹“Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

³¹Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.

¹Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, “There were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor.

²The wealthy man had a great many flocks and herds.

³But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nurtured; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat scraps from him and drink from his cup and lie in his lap, And was like a daughter to him.

⁴Now a visitor came to the wealthy man, And he could not bring himself to take any animal from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the traveler who had come to him; So he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this certainly deserves to die!

⁶So he must make restitution for the lamb four times over, since he did this thing and had no compassion.”

⁷Nathan then said to David, “You yourself are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘It is I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it is I who rescued you from the hand of Saul.

⁸I also gave you your master’s house and put your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!

⁹Why have you despised the word of the LORD, by doing evil in His sight? You have struck and killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife as your wife, and you have slaughtered him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

¹⁰Now then, the sword shall never leave your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

¹¹This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.

¹²Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in open daylight.’ ”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die.

¹⁴However, since by this deed you have shown utter disrespect for the LORD, the child himself who is born to you shall certainly die.”

¹⁵Then Nathan went to his house. L ater the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

¹⁶David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.

¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him in order to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.

¹⁸Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to us. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm?”

¹⁹But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”

²⁰So David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and when he asked, they served him food, and he ate.

²¹Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.”

²²And he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’

²³But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.”

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

²⁵and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD’S sake.

²⁶Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and captured the royal city.

²⁷Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters.

²⁸Now then, gather the rest of the people and camp opposite the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.”

²⁹So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it.

³⁰Then he took the crown of their king from his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and it had a precious stone; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the plunder of the city in great amounts.

³¹He also brought out the people who were in it, and put some to work at saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and made others serve at the brick works. And he did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

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

²the word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

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

⁴And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

⁵saying, ‘Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

⁶and do not follow other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.’

⁷Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

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

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins.

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

¹¹This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

¹³I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’ ”

¹⁵For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it.

¹⁶Then they will drink and loudly vomit and act insanely because of the sword that I am going to send among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and gave it to all the nations to whom the LORD sent me, to drink from it:

¹⁸To Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them places of ruins, objects of horror, hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹To Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;

²⁰and to all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹To Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon;

²²and to all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

²³and to Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who trim the corners of their hair;

²⁴and to all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert;

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

²⁶and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; and the king of Sheshach shall drink it after them.

²⁷“And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the sword which I am sending among you.” ’

²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: “You shall certainly drink!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to inflict disaster on this city which is called by My name, so should you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the LORD of armies.’

³⁰“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The LORD will roar from on high And raise His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar forcefully against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with humanity; As for the wicked, He has turned them over to the sword,’ declares the LORD.”

³²This is what the LORD of armies says: “Behold, evil is going out From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth.

³³“Those put to death by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; Wallow in the dust, you masters of the flock; For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a precious vessel.

³⁵There will be no sanctuary for the shepherds, Nor escape for the masters of the flock.

³⁶Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

³⁷And the peaceful grazing places are devastated Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His fierce anger.”

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

²and kept back some of the proceeds for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land?

⁴While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.”

⁵And as he heard these words, Ananias collapsed and died; and great fear came over all who heard about it.

⁶The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

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

⁸And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for this price?” And she said, “Yes, for that price.”

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

¹⁰And immediately she collapsed at his feet and died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

¹²At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all together in Solomon’s portico.

¹³But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.

¹⁴And increasingly believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being added to their number,

¹⁵to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any of them.

¹⁶The people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick or tormented with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

¹⁷But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy.

¹⁸They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public prison.

¹⁹But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said,

²⁰“Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple area the whole message of this Life.”

²¹Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area about daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought.

²²But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported,

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

²⁴Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this.

²⁵But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple area and teaching the people!”

²⁶Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷When they had brought them, they had them stand before the Council. The high priest interrogated them,

²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.”

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

³⁰The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging Him on a cross.

³¹He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

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

³³But when they heard this, they became infuriated and nearly decided to execute them.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.

³⁵And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men.

³⁶For, some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.

³⁷After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.

³⁸And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or movement is men, it will be overthrown;

³⁹but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

⁴⁰They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.

⁴¹So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

⁴²And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and preaching the good news of Jesus as the Christ.