Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead.

²So they gave a dinner for him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.

³Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said,

⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

⁶He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.

⁷Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial.

⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also,

¹¹because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.

¹²The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord — the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:

¹⁵Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify.

¹⁸This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign.

¹⁹Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

²⁰Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival.

²¹So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

²³Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

²⁴Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.

²⁵The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. What should I say — Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour.

²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for me, but for you.

³¹Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

³²As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.

³⁴Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.” Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.

³⁷Even though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.

³⁸This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said: Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

³⁹This is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said:

⁴⁰He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Nevertheless, many did believe in him even among the rulers, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue.

⁴³For they loved human praise more than praise from God.

⁴⁴Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And the one who sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

⁴⁷If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said.

⁵⁰I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

¹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and he drives out many nations before you — the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you  —

²and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

³You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.

⁵Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.

⁶For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷“The LORD had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

⁸But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Know that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.

¹⁰But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.

¹¹So keep the command — the statutes and ordinances — that I am giving you to follow today.

¹²“If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the LORD your God will keep his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your fathers.

¹³He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring, and the produce of your land — your grain, new wine, and fresh oil — the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your fathers that he would give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

¹⁵The LORD will remove all sickness from you; he will not put on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷“If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’

¹⁸do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

¹⁹the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.

²⁰The LORD your God will also send hornets against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.

²¹Don’t be terrified of them, for the LORD your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

²²The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

²³The LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

²⁵Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.

²⁶Do not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

³You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God  — not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God.

⁵It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

⁶He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

⁹For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory.

¹⁰In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it.

¹¹For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹²Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness.

¹³We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside,

¹⁴but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.

¹⁵Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,

¹⁶but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

¹⁸We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dear friend and coworker,

²to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home.

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers,

⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus.

⁶I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ.

⁷For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

⁸For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right,

⁹I appeal to you, instead, on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus,

¹⁰appeal to you for my son, Onesimus. I became his father while I was in chains.

¹¹Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.

¹²I am sending him back to you — I am sending my very own heart.

¹³I wanted to keep him with me, so that in my imprisonment for the gospel he might serve me in your place.

¹⁴But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will.

¹⁵For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a brief time, so that you might get him back permanently,

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but more than a slave — as a dearly loved brother. He is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would me.

¹⁸And if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it — not to mention to you that you owe me even your very self.

²⁰Yes, brother, may I benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

²²Meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, since I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do

²⁴Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers.

²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

¹My heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest.

²Just listen to his thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; his lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when his rumbling voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,” and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,

⁷serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work.

⁸The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens.

⁹The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.

¹⁰Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen.

¹¹He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.

¹²They swirl about, turning round and round at his direction, accomplishing everything he commands them over the surface of the inhabited world.

¹³He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God’s wonders.

¹⁵Do you know how God directs his clouds or makes their lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?

¹⁷You whose clothes get hot when the south wind brings calm to the land,

¹⁸can you help God spread out the skies as hard as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak? Can a man speak when he is confused?

²¹Now no one can even look at the sun when it is in the skies, after a wind has swept through and cleared the clouds away.

²²Yet out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow; awesome majesty surrounds him.

²³The Almighty — we cannot reach him — he is exalted in power! He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,

²⁴therefore, men fear him. He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of the sons of Korah. [1] Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry.

²For the LORD, the Most High, is awe-inspiring, a great King over the whole earth.

³He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet.

⁴He chooses for us our inheritance — the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah

⁵God ascends among shouts of joy, the LORD, with the sound of trumpets.

⁶Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise!

⁷Sing a song of wisdom, for God is King of the whole earth.

⁸God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

⁹The nobles of the peoples have assembled with the people of the God of Abraham. For the leaders of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹David reviewed his troops and appointed commanders of thousands and of hundreds over them.

²He then sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai of Gath. The king said to the troops, “I must also march out with you.”

³“You must not go!” the people pleaded. “If we have to flee, they will not pay any attention to us. Even if half of us die, they will not pay any attention to us because you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore, it is better if you support us from the city.”

⁴“I will do whatever you think is best,” the king replied to them. So he stood beside the city gate while all the troops marched out by hundreds and thousands.

⁵The king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” All the people heard the king’s orders to all the commanders about Absalom.

⁶Then David’s forces marched into the field to engage Israel in battle, which took place in the forest of Ephraim.

⁷Israel’s army was defeated by David’s soldiers, and the slaughter there was vast that day — twenty thousand dead.

⁸The battle spread over the entire area, and that day the forest claimed more people than the sword.

⁹Absalom was riding on his mule when he happened to meet David’s soldiers. When the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so he was suspended in midair.

¹⁰One of the men saw him and informed Joab. He said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”

¹¹“You just saw him!” Joab exclaimed. “Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you ten silver pieces and a belt!”

¹²The man replied to Joab, “Even if I had the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son. For we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for me.’

¹³If I had jeopardized my own life — and nothing is hidden from the king — you would have abandoned me.”

¹⁴Joab said, “I’m not going to waste time with you!” He then took three spears in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s chest. While Absalom was still alive in the oak tree,

¹⁵ten young men who were Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

¹⁶Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab restrained them.

¹⁷They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and raised up a huge mound of stones over him. And all Israel fled, each to his tent.

¹⁸When he was alive, Absalom had taken a pillar and raised it up for himself in the King’s Valley, since he thought, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he named the pillar after himself. It is still called Absalom’s Monument today.

¹⁹Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the LORD has vindicated him by freeing him from his enemies.”

²⁰Joab replied to him, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but today you aren’t taking good news, because the king’s son is dead.”

²¹Joab then said to a Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

²²However, Ahimaaz son of Zadok persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to run since you won’t get a reward?”

²³“No matter what, I want to run!” “Then run!” Joab said to him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

²⁴David was sitting between the city gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the city gate and over to the wall. The watchman looked out and saw a man running alone.

²⁵He called out and told the king. The king said, “If he’s alone, he bears good news.” As the first runner came closer,

²⁶the watchman saw another man running. He called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one is also bringing good news,” said the king.

²⁷The watchman said, “The way the first man runs looks to me like the way Ahimaaz son of Zadok runs.” “This is a good man; he comes with good news,” the king commented.

²⁸Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well,” and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. He continued, “Blessed be the LORD your God! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king.”

²⁹The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a big disturbance, but I don’t know what it was.”

³⁰The king said, “Move aside and stand here.” So he stood to one side.

³¹Just then the Cushite came and said, “May my lord the king hear the good news: The LORD has vindicated you today by freeing you from all who rise against you!”

³²The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” The Cushite replied, “I wish that the enemies of my lord the king, along with all who rise up against you with evil intent, would become like that young man.”

³³The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber above the city gate and wept. As he walked, he cried, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!”

¹“At that time” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

²This is what the LORD says: The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness. When Israel went to find rest,

³the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.

⁴Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. You will take up your tambourines again and go out in joyful dancing.

⁵You will plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit.

⁶For there will be a day when watchmen will call out in the hill country of Ephraim, “Come, let’s go up to Zion, to the LORD our God!”

⁷For this is what the LORD says: Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations! Proclaim, praise, and say, “LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!”

⁸Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land. I will gather them from remote regions of the earth  — the blind and the lame will be with them, along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth. They will return here as a great assembly!

⁹They will come weeping, but I will bring them back with consolation. I will lead them to wadis filled with water, by a smooth way where they will not stumble, for I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

¹⁰Nations, hear the word of the LORD, and tell it among the far off coasts and islands! Say, “The one who scattered Israel will gather him. He will watch over him as a shepherd guards his flock,

¹¹for the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the power of one stronger than he.”

¹²They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant with joy because of the LORD’s goodness, because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil, and because of the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like an irrigated garden, and they will no longer grow weak from hunger.

¹³Then the young women will rejoice with dancing, while young and old men rejoice together. I will turn their mourning into joy, give them consolation, and bring happiness out of grief.

¹⁴I will refresh the priests with an abundance, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁵This is what the LORD says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping — Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come — this is the LORD’s declaration — and your children will return from the enemy’s land.

¹⁷There is hope for your future  — this is the LORD’s declaration — and your children will return to their own territory.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim moaning, “You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined like an untrained calf. Take me back, so that I can return, for you, LORD, are my God.

¹⁹After my return, I felt regret; After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”

²⁰Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, my inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹Set up road markers for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours.

²²How long will you turn here and there, faithless daughter? For the LORD creates something new in the land  — a female will shelter a man.

²³This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: ‘May the LORD bless you, righteous settlement, holy mountain.’

²⁴Judah and all its cities will live in it together — also farmers and those who move with the flocks —

²⁵for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.

²⁷“Look, the days are coming” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and the seed of animals.

²⁸Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I watch over them to build and to plant them”  — this is the LORD’s declaration.

²⁹“In those days, it will never again be said, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰Rather, each will die for his own iniquity. Anyone who eats sour grapes — his own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹“Look, the days are coming”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

³²This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt — my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”  — the LORD’s declaration.

³³“Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” — the LORD’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

³⁴No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”  — this is the LORD’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

³⁵“This is what the LORD says: The one who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar  — the LORD of Armies is his name:

³⁶If this fixed order departs from before me — this is the LORD’s declaration — only then will Israel’s descendants cease to be a nation before me forever.

³⁷“This is what the LORD says: Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below explored, will I reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they have done — this is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁸“Look, the days are coming” — the LORD’s declaration — “when the city from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate will be rebuilt for the LORD.

³⁹A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.

⁴⁰The whole valley — the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east — will be holy to the LORD. It will never be uprooted or demolished again.”

¹The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step:

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.

¹³He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

³⁰They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.