Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹ “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

²In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

⁴And you know the way to where I am going.”

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

²⁹And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

³⁰I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

³¹but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

¹“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

³Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

⁴“Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

⁵Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶“Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

⁷Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

⁹When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

¹⁰And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

¹³“Furthermore, the LORD said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people.

¹⁴Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

²⁰And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

²²“At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

²³And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.

²⁴You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

²⁵“So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

²⁶And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,

²⁸lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.”

²⁹For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

¹For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,

³if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

⁴For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened — not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

⁵He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,

⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

⁹So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,

³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”

⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

¹³For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!

²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” — and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

¹“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?

²Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,

³when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?

⁴Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

⁵“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

⁸He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?

¹⁰Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?

¹²Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,

¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

¹⁷because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.

¹⁸When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.

²¹He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.

²²He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.

²³Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.

²⁴With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?

²⁸On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.

²⁹From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.

³⁰His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

¹Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor together!

³My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

⁶those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,

⁸for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,

⁹that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

¹⁰For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names.

¹²Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.

¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

¹⁸For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed — and though you get praise when you do well for yourself —

¹⁹his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.

²⁰Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

¹Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:

⁴“To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.

⁵O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.

⁶Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right,

⁷for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

⁹They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,

¹¹for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

¹⁴I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;

¹⁶by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice,

²¹granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.

²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,

²⁶before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

³²“And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.

³⁴Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,

³⁶but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

¹Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

⁴Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.”

⁵So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him.

⁶And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.”

⁷And there went out after him Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

⁸When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out.

⁹And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.”

¹²And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him.

¹³When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in.

¹⁵And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.

¹⁶Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’”

¹⁷And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”

¹⁸Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter.

¹⁹I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?”

²⁰Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!

²¹That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.”

²²Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

²³Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites;

²⁴and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;

²⁵and Sheva was secretary; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

²⁶and Ira the Jairite was also David's priest.

¹The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard:

²“Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it — the LORD is his name:

³Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

⁴For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and against the sword:

⁵They are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil.

⁶Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.

⁷I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.

⁸I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.

⁹And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰“Thus says the LORD: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again

¹¹the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: “‘Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!’ For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD.

¹²“Thus says the LORD of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks.

¹³In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

¹⁴“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

¹⁷“For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,

¹⁸and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

¹⁹The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

²⁰“Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time,

²¹then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers.

²²As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

²³The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

²⁴“Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.

²⁵Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,

²⁶then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

¹Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

⁷He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

¹⁰and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

¹⁸And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

²⁰All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

²³Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

²⁴Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

²⁸And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

²⁹And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead,

³¹and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

³³this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

³⁴And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,

³⁷but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴¹“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

⁴²As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

⁴³And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

⁴⁶And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

⁵¹But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.