Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

³Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

⁶He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

⁸You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

⁹Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,

¹¹for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

¹²The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

¹³They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”

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

¹⁵“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.

¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

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

²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

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

²⁴Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

²⁵Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

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

²⁹The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

³⁰Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.

³¹Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴The crowd spoke up, “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’?”

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.

³⁶Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

³⁷Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

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

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

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

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

⁴⁵The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

⁴⁷“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.

⁴⁹For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

⁵⁰I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

¹When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

²and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.

⁵This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.

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

⁷The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

⁸But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

¹⁰But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.

¹¹Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

¹²If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors.

¹³He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.

¹⁵The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.

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

¹⁷You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?”

¹⁸But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.

¹⁹You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.

²⁰Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.

²¹Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

²²The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.

²³But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.

²⁵The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.

²⁶Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, 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 a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴Such confidence we have through Christ before God.

⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

⁶He has made us competent as 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, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,

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

⁹If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

¹¹And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.

¹⁴But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

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

¹⁸And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—

²also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

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

⁴I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,

⁵because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

⁶I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

⁷Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

⁸Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,

⁹yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—

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

¹¹Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

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

¹³I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.

¹⁴But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary.

¹⁵Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

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

¹⁸If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.

¹⁹I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.

²⁰I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

²²And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings.

²⁴And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

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

¹“At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place.

²Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth.

⁴After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back.

⁵God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.

⁶He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’

⁷So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor.

⁸The animals take cover; they remain in their dens.

⁹The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds.

¹⁰The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen.

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

¹²At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.

¹³He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love.

¹⁴“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.

¹⁵Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?

¹⁷You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind,

¹⁸can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

¹⁹“Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?

²¹Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean.

²²Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty.

²³The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

²⁴Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

¹For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

²For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth.

³He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet.

⁴He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

⁵God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

⁷For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

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

⁹The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

²you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.

³So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest!

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

⁷It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

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

¹¹and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

¹³who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,

¹⁴who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict.

¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

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

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

²¹Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,

²⁴keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.

²⁵Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

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

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

³¹Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

³²But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

¹David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

²David sent out his troops, a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”

³But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”

⁴The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.” So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands.

⁵The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

⁶David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

⁷There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men.

⁸The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

⁹Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

¹⁰When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

¹¹Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

¹²But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

¹³And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

¹⁴Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.

¹⁵And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

¹⁶Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them.

¹⁷They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

¹⁸During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

¹⁹Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”

²⁰“You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”

²¹Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.

²²Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.” But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”

²³He said, “Come what may, I want to run.” So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

²⁴While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone.

²⁵The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.

²⁶Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!” The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”

²⁷The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”

²⁸Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the LORD your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”

²⁹The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”

³⁰The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.

³¹Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The LORD has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

³²The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”

³³The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”

¹“At that time,” declares the LORD, “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 survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.”

³The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

⁴I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.

⁵Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.

⁶There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’ ”

⁷This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’

⁸See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.

⁹They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the LORD, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’

¹¹For the LORD will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.

¹²They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.

¹³Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

¹⁴I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the LORD.

¹⁵This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own land.

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God.

¹⁹After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

²⁰Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

²¹“Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, Virgin Israel, return to your towns.

²²How long will you wander, unfaithful Daughter Israel? The LORD will create a new thing on earth— the woman will return to the man.”

²³This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The LORD bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain.’

²⁴People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks.

²⁵I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

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

²⁷“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals.

²⁸Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.

²⁹“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

³²It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

³³“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

³⁴No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

³⁵This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name:

³⁶“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.”

³⁷This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.

³⁸“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

³⁹The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.

⁴⁰The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

¹The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him

³and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.

⁶I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.

⁷Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

⁸“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

¹¹“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.

¹²The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

¹⁴He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.

²⁰Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²²News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

²⁴He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

²⁷During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

³⁰This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.