Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

²But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

³To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

⁵However, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

⁶Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.

⁷So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

⁸All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, andhave it abundantly.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock.

¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,

¹⁵just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd.

¹⁷For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back.

¹⁸No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”

¹⁹Dissension occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

²⁰Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”

²¹Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who is demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of those who are blind, can it?”

²²At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem;

²³it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon.

²⁴The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.

²⁶But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.

²⁷My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

²⁸and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

³⁰I and the Father areone.”

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

³²Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

³³The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’?

³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified),

³⁶are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

³⁷If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you mayknow and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

³⁹Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp.

⁴⁰And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there.

⁴¹Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.”

⁴²And many believed in Him there.

¹Now Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today for you to hear, so that you may learn them and be careful to do them.

²The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

³The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are alive here today.

⁴The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire,

⁵while I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain. He said,

⁶‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷‘You shall have no other gods besides Me.

⁸‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

⁹You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁰but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.

¹²‘Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

¹³For six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your resident who stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you.

¹⁵And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to celebrate the Sabbath day.

¹⁶‘Honor your father and your mother, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well for you on the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁷‘You shall not murder.

¹⁸‘You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹‘You shall not steal.

²⁰‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

²²“These words the LORD spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

²³And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

²⁴You said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives.

²⁵Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die!

²⁶For who is there of humanity who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷Go near and listen to everything that the LORD our God says; then speak to us everything that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’

²⁸“Now the LORD heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

²⁹If only they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever!

³⁰Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.”

³¹But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may follow them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

³²So you shall be careful to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.

³³You shall walk entirely in the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

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

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

⁴who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

⁶But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

⁷and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also you are in our comfort.

⁸For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

¹⁰who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

¹¹if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.

¹²For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

¹³For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;

¹⁴just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;

¹⁶that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea.

¹⁷Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I decide, do I decide according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?

¹⁸But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

¹⁹For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but has been yes in Him.

²⁰For as many as the promises of God are, in Him they are yes; therefore through Him also is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

²¹Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

²²who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

²³But I call God as witness to my soul, that it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth.

²⁴Not that we domineer over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

¹But as for you, proclaim the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

²Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

³Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,

⁴so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

⁵to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;

⁷in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

⁸sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹Urge slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be pleasing, not argumentative,

¹⁰not stealing, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people,

¹²instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age,

¹³looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

¹⁴who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.

¹⁵These things speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you.

¹Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Do you think this is in accordance with justice? Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?

³For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You? What benefit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

⁴I will answer you, And your friends with you.

⁵Look at the heavens and see; And look at the clouds—they are higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your wrongdoings are many, what do you do to Him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night,

¹¹Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

¹²There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil people.

¹³God certainly will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴How much less when you say you do not look at Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

¹⁵And now, because He has not avenged His anger, Nor has He acknowledged wrongdoing well,

¹⁶So Job opens his mouth with empty words; He multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹My heart is moved with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

²You are the most handsome of the sons of mankind; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.

³Strap Your sword on Your thigh, Mighty One, In Your splendor and majesty!

⁴And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, For the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness; Let Your right hand teach You awesome things.

⁵Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies.

⁶Your throne, God, is forever and ever; The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

⁷You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your companions.

⁸All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia; From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You joyful.

⁹Kings’ daughters are among Your noble women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

¹⁰Listen, daughter, look and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house;

¹¹Then the King will crave your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.

¹²The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The wealthy among the people will seek your favor.

¹³The King’s daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

¹⁴She will be brought to the King in colorful garments; The virgins, her companions who follow her, Will be brought to You.

¹⁵They will be brought with joy and rejoicing; They will enter into the King’s palace.

¹⁶In place of your fathers will be your sons; You shall make them princes in all the earth.

¹⁷I will make Your name known among all generations; Therefore the peoples will praise You forever and ever.

¹Listen, my sons, to the instruction of a father, And pay attention so that you may gain understanding,

²For I give you good teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

³When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

⁴He taught me and said to me, “Let your heart take hold of my words; Keep my commandments and live;

⁵Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not abandon her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your possessions, acquire understanding.

⁸Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

¹⁰Listen, my son, and accept my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

¹¹I have instructed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths.

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; And if you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil people.

¹⁵Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.

¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.

²⁰My son, pay attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹They are not to escape from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, And healing to all their body.

²³Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

²⁴Rid yourself of a deceitful mouth And keep devious speech far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

²⁶Watch the path of your feet, And all your ways will be established.

²⁷Do not turn to the right or to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

¹Now when David had gone on a little beyond the summit, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a team of saddled donkeys, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a jug of wine.

²And the king said to Ziba, “Why do you have these?” And Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine, for whoever is weary in the wilderness to drink.”

³Then the king said, “And where is your master’s son?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me.’ ”

⁴So the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.” And Ziba said, “I prostrate myself; may I find favor in your sight, my lord, the king!”

⁵When King David came to Bahurim, behold, a man was coming out from there from the family of the house of Saul, and his name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he was coming out, cursing as he came.

⁶He also threw stones at David and all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the warriors were on his right and on his left.

⁷This is what Shimei said when he cursed: “Go away, go away, you man of bloodshed and worthless man!

⁸The LORD has brought back upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have become king; and the LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. And behold, you are caught in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Now let me go over and cut off his head.”

¹⁰But the king said, “What business of mine is yours, you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who should say, ‘Why have you done so?’ ”

¹¹Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son who came out of my own body seeks my life; how much more now this Benjaminite? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him.

¹²Perhaps the LORD will look on my misery and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.”

¹³So David and his men went on the road; and Shimei kept going on the hillside close beside him, and as he went he cursed and threw stones and dirt at him.

¹⁴And the king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted, and he refreshed himself there.

¹⁵Then Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.

¹⁶Now it came about, when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

¹⁷But Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?”

¹⁸So Hushai said to Absalom, “No! For whomever the LORD, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I shall be, and with him I shall remain.

¹⁹Besides, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? Just as I have served in your father’s presence, so I shall be in your presence.”

²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your advice. What should we do?”

²¹Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Have relations with your father’s concubines, whom he has left behind to take care of the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.”

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom had relations with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

²³Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was taken as though one inquired of the word of God; so was all the advice of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom.

¹Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the high officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had departed from Jerusalem.)

³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

⁴“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

⁶Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease.

⁷Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’

⁸For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to their interpretations of your dreams which you dream.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.

¹⁰“For this is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

¹¹For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

¹²Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

¹³And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’—

¹⁶for this is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile—

¹⁷this is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.

¹⁸I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague; and I will make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror and hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹because they have not listened to My words,’ declares the LORD, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the LORD.

²⁰‘You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name: “Behold, I am going to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes.

²²Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,’

²³because they acted foolishly in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and falsely spoke words in My name which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and a witness,” declares the LORD.’ ”

²⁴Now you shall speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶“The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer of the house of the LORD for every insane person who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar.

²⁷So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you,

²⁸seeing that he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce’ ?” ’ ”

²⁹Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹“Send word to all the exiles, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,”

³²therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am going to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am going to do for My people,” declares the LORD, “because he has spoken falsely against the LORD.” ’ ”

¹Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

⁴and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

⁶but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”

⁷The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.

⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

¹²and he has seenin a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem;

¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choseninstrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.”

¹⁷So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

¹⁹and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus,

²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

²²But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

²³When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were also closely watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;

²⁵but his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried repeatedly to associate with the disciples; and yet they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.

³⁰Now when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

³²Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he also came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your own bed.” Immediately he got up.

³⁵And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

³⁷But it happened at that time that she became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”

³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the room upstairs; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.

⁴⁰But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a tanner named Simon.