Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, since he did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him.

²The Jewish Festival of Shelters was near.

³So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples can see your works that you are doing.

⁴For no one does anything in secret while he’s seeking public recognition. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

⁵(For not even his brothers believed in him.)

⁶Jesus told them, “My time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand.

⁷The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify about it — that its works are evil.

⁸Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”

⁹After he had said these things, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰After his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but secretly.

¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?”

¹²And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, he’s deceiving the people.”

¹³Still, nobody was talking publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.

¹⁵Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How is this man so learned, since he hasn’t been trained?”

¹⁶Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me.

¹⁷If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.

¹⁸The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

¹⁹Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰“You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹“I performed one work, and you are all amazed,” Jesus answered.

²²“This is why Moses has given you circumcision — not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers — and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

²³If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath?

²⁴Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”

²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

²⁶Yet, look, he’s speaking publicly and they’re saying nothing to him. Can it be true that the authorities know he is the Messiah?

²⁷But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from.”

²⁸As he was teaching in the temple, Jesus cried out, “You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is true. You don’t know him;

²⁹I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰Then they tried to seize him. Yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

³¹However, many from the crowd believed in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he won’t perform more signs than this man has done, will he?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants to arrest him.

³³Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. Then I’m going to the one who sent me.

³⁴You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

³⁵Then the Jews said to one another, “Where does he intend to go so we won’t find him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he?

³⁶What is this remark he made: ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come’ ?”

³⁷On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

³⁸The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

³⁹He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.”

⁴¹Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he?

⁴²Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived?”

⁴³So the crowd was divided because of him.

⁴⁴Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵Then the servants came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

⁴⁶The servants answered, “No man ever spoke like this!”

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees responded to them: “Are you fooled too?

⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him?

⁴⁹But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus  — the one who came to him previously and who was one of them — said to them,

⁵¹“Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”

⁵²“You aren’t from Galilee too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” [The earliest mss do not include 7:53–8:11.]

⁵³Then each one went to his house.

¹“Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.

²The LORD then said to me,

³‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.

⁴Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful.

⁵Don’t provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot of it, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.

⁶You may purchase food from them, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.

⁷For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you this past forty years, and you have lacked nothing.’

⁸“So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.

⁹The LORD said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”

¹⁰The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.

¹¹They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.

¹²The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the LORD gave them.

¹³“The LORD said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.

¹⁴The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

¹⁵Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.

¹⁶“When all the fighting men had died among the people,

¹⁷the LORD spoke to me,

¹⁸‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.

¹⁹When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”

²⁰This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,

²¹a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The LORD destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.

²²This was just as he had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now.

²³The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.

²⁴“The LORD also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites’ King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.

²⁵Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶“So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to King Sihon of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,

²⁷‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.

²⁸You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,

²⁹just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.’

³⁰But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.

³¹“Then the LORD said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’

³²So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.

³³The LORD our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army.

³⁴At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.

³⁵We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves.

³⁶There was no city that was inaccessible to us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The LORD our God gave everything to us.

³⁷But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

¹Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

²For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

⁴The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

⁶So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds — whether flute or harp  — if they don’t make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized?

⁸In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

⁹In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, none is without meaning.

¹¹Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

¹²So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

¹⁵What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you;

¹⁹yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.

²⁰Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

²¹It is written in the law, I will speak to this people by people of other tongues and by the lips of foreigners, and even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

²²Speaking in other tongues, then, is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

²⁴But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all.

²⁵The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”

²⁶What then, brothers and sisters? Whenever you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, another tongue, or an interpretation. Everything is to be done for building up.

²⁷If anyone speaks in another tongue, there are to be only two, or at the most three, each in turn, and let someone interpret.

²⁸But if there is no interpreter, that person is to keep silent in the church and speak to himself and God.

²⁹Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate.

³⁰But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent.

³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged.

³²And the prophets’ spirits are subject to the prophets,

³³since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says.

³⁵If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

³⁶Or did the word of God originate from you, or did it come to you only?

³⁷If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord’s command.

³⁸If anyone ignores this, he will be ignored.

³⁹So then, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other tongues.

⁴⁰But everything is to be done decently and in order.

¹But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.

²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,

⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.

⁶For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,

⁷always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance,

¹¹along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured — and yet the Lord rescued me from them all.

¹²In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,

¹⁵and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

¹⁷so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

¹So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified himself rather than God.

³He was also angry at Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute him and yet had condemned him.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he.

⁵But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

⁶So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied: I am young in years, while you are old; therefore I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.

⁷I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach wisdom.

⁸But it is the spirit in a person— the breath from the Almighty— that gives anyone understanding.

⁹It is not only the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.

¹⁰Therefore I say, “Listen to me. I too will declare what I know.”

¹¹Look, I waited for your conclusions; I listened to your insights as you sought for words.

¹²I paid close attention to you. Yet no one proved Job wrong; not one of you refuted his arguments.

¹³So do not claim, “We have found wisdom; let God deal with him, not man.”

¹⁴But Job has not directed his argument to me, and I will not respond to him with your arguments.

¹⁵Job’s friends are dismayed and can no longer answer; words have left them.

¹⁶Should I continue to wait now that they are silent, now that they stand there and no longer answer?

¹⁷I too will answer; yes, I will tell what I know.

¹⁸For I am full of words, and my spirit compels me to speak.

¹⁹My heart is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like new wineskins.

²⁰I must speak so that I can find relief; I must open my lips and respond.

²¹I will be partial to no one, and I will not give anyone an undeserved title.

²²For I do not know how to give such titles; otherwise, my Maker would remove me in an instant.

¹For the choir director. A of the sons of Korah. [1] As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.

²I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?

³My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”

⁴I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.

⁵Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

⁶I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.

⁸The LORD will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night — a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

²For learning wisdom and discipline; for understanding insightful sayings;

³for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity;

⁴for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced, knowledge and discretion to a young man —

⁵let a wise person listen and increase learning, and let a discerning person obtain guidance —

⁶for understanding a proverb or a parable, the words of the wise, and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,

⁹for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded.

¹¹If they say — “Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun!

¹²Let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³We’ll find all kinds of valuable property and fill our houses with plunder.

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us, and we’ll all share the loot”  —

¹⁵my son, don’t travel that road with them or set foot on their path,

¹⁶because their feet run toward evil and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷It is useless to spread a net where any bird can see it,

¹⁸but they set an ambush to kill themselves; they attack their own lives.

¹⁹Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly; it takes the lives of those who receive it.

²⁰Wisdom calls out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares.

²¹She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates:

²²“How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?

²³If you respond to my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words.

²⁴Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention,

²⁵since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction,

²⁶I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you,

²⁷when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you.

²⁸Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the LORD,

³⁰were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction,

³¹they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes.

³²For the apostasy of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger.”

¹Some time passed. David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and David’s son Amnon was infatuated with her.

²Amnon was frustrated to the point of making himself sick over his sister Tamar because she was a virgin, but it seemed impossible to do anything to her.

³Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, a son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,

⁴and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the king’s son, so miserable every morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

⁵Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare a meal in my presence so I can watch and eat from her hand.’”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my presence so I can eat from her hand.”

⁷David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare a meal for him.”

⁸Then Tamar went to his house while Amnon was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his presence, and baked them.

⁹She brought the pan and set it down in front of him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Everyone leave me!” And everyone left him.

¹⁰“Bring the meal to the bedroom,” Amnon told Tamar, “so I can eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom.

¹¹When she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come sleep with me, my sister!”

¹²“Don’t, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t disgrace me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Don’t commit this outrage!

¹³Where could I ever go with my humiliation? And you — you would be like one of the outrageous fools in Israel! Please, speak to the king, for he won’t keep me from you.”

¹⁴But he refused to listen to her, and because he was stronger than she was, he disgraced her by raping her.

¹⁵So Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that the hatred he hated her with was greater than the love he had loved her with. “Get out of here!” he said.

¹⁶“No,” she cried, “sending me away is much worse than the great wrong you’ve already done to me!” But he refused to listen to her.

¹⁷Instead, he called to the servant who waited on him: “Get this away from me, throw her out, and bolt the door behind her!”

¹⁸Amnon’s servant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a long-sleeved garment, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore.

¹⁹Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved garment she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away crying out.

²⁰Her brother Absalom said to her: “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

²¹When King David heard about all these things, he was furious.

²²Absalom didn’t say anything to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon since he disgraced his sister Tamar.

²³Two years later, Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

²⁴Then he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired sheepshearers. Will the king and his servants please come with your servant?”

²⁵The king replied to Absalom, “No, my son, we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he wasn’t willing to go, though he did bless him.

²⁶“If not,” Absalom said, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?”

²⁷But Absalom urged him, so he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons.

²⁸Now Absalom commanded his young men, “Watch Amnon until he is in a good mood from the wine. When I order you to strike Amnon, then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Am I not the one who has commanded you? Be strong and valiant!”

²⁹So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. Then all the rest of the king’s sons got up, and each fled on his mule.

³⁰While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom struck down all the king’s sons; not even one of them survived!”

³¹In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

³²But Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, because only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this ever since the day Amnon disgraced his sister Tamar.

³³So now, my lord the king, don’t take seriously the report that says all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

³⁴Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man who was standing watch looked up, there were many people coming from the road west of him from the side of the mountain.

³⁵Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king’s sons have come! It’s exactly like your servant said.”

³⁶Just as he finished speaking, the king’s sons entered and wept loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.

³⁷But Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.

³⁸After Absalom had fled to Geshur and had been there three years,

³⁹King David longed to go to Absalom, for David had finished grieving over Amnon’s death.

¹At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

²“This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah’s cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word.

³Perhaps they will listen and turn — each from his evil way of life — so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

⁴You are to say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me by living according to my instruction that I set before you

⁵and by listening to the words of my servants the prophets  — whom I have been sending to you time and time again, though you did not listen —

⁶I will make this temple like Shiloh. I will make this city an example for cursing for all the nations of the earth.’”

⁷The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of the LORD.

⁸When he finished the address the LORD had commanded him to deliver to all the people, immediately the priests, the prophets, and all the people took hold of him, yelling, “You must surely die!

⁹How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD, ‘This temple will become like Shiloh and this city will become an uninhabited ruin’!” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah at the LORD’s temple.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went from the king’s palace to the LORD’s temple and sat at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’s temple.

¹¹Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man deserves the death sentence because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

¹²Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy all the words that you have heard against this temple and city.

¹³So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the LORD your God so that he might relent concerning the disaster he had pronounced against you.

¹⁴As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.

¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its residents, for it is certain the LORD has sent me to speak all these things directly to you.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man doesn’t deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”

¹⁷Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to all the assembled people,

¹⁸“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.’

¹⁹Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah put him to death? Did not the king fear the LORD and plead for the LORD’s favor, and did not the LORD relent concerning the disaster he had pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”

²⁰Another man was also prophesying in the name of the LORD  — Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.

²¹King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, and the king tried to put him to death. When Uriah heard, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.

²²But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor and certain other men with him went to Egypt.

²³They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

¹In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

²The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.

³Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.

⁶They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen.

¹⁰But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

¹³They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law.

¹⁴For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.