Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹"Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me.

²In My Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.

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

⁴And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way."

⁵Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?"

⁶Jesus said to him, " I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

⁷If you had [really] known Me, you would also have known My Father. From now on you know Him, and have seen Him."

⁸Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and then we will be satisfied."

⁹Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me yet, Philip, nor recognize clearly who I am? Anyone who 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 I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power].

¹¹Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe [Me] because of the [very] works themselves [which you have witnessed].

¹²I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father.

¹³And I will do whatever you ask in My name [ as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son.

¹⁴If you ask Me anything in My name [as My representative], I will do it.

¹⁵"If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—

¹⁷the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.

¹⁸"I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, bereaved, and helpless]; I will come [back] to you.

¹⁹After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

²⁰On that day [when that time comes] you will know for yourselves that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

²¹The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him]."

²²Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, "Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?"

²³Jesus answered, "If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.

²⁴One who does not [really] love Me does not keep My words. And the word (teaching) which you hear is not Mine, but is the Father's who sent Me.

²⁵"I have told you these things while I am still with you.

²⁶But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.

²⁷Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]

²⁸You heard Me tell you, 'I am going away, and I am coming back to you.' If you [really] loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going [back] to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

²⁹I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does take place, you may believe and have faith [in Me].

³⁰I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me];

³¹but so that the world may know [without any doubt] that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father has commanded Me [and act in full agreement with Him]. Get up, let us go from here.

¹"Hear, O Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and more powerful than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

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

³So know today [with confident assurance] that the LORD your God is crossing [the Jordan] before you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, and you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has promised you.

⁴"Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD is dispossessing them before you.

⁵It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out before you, and to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶"Know [without any doubt], that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

⁷Remember [with remorse] and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸And at Horeb (Sinai) you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

⁹When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water.

¹⁰The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were written all the words which the LORD had spoken to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹It came about at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made (cast) a molten image for themselves.'

¹³Furthermore, the LORD said to me, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, they are stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

¹⁴Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

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

¹⁶And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf (idol). You had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands and smashed them before your very eyes!

¹⁸Then, as before, I fell down before the LORD for [another] forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water, because of all the sin you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and absolute fury which the LORD held against you, [enough divine fury] to destroy you, but the LORD listened to me that time also.

²⁰The LORD was very angry with Aaron, angry [enough] to destroy him, so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

²¹I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it in the fire and thoroughly crushed it, grinding the metal thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came 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 which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God, and you did not believe and rely on Him, nor did you obey His voice.

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

²⁵"So I fell down and lay face down before the LORD forty days and nights because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

²⁶Then I prayed to the LORD and said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought from Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember [with compassion] Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or at their sin,

²⁸so that the [people of the] land from which You brought us will not say, "Because the LORD was not capable of bringing them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to the wilderness [in order] to kill them."

²⁹Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.'

¹For we know that if the earthly tent [our physical body] which is our house is torn down [through death], we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our [immortal, eternal] celestial dwelling,

³so that by putting it on we will not be found naked.

⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened [often weighed down, oppressed], not that we want to be unclothed [separated by death from the body], but to be clothed, so that what is mortal [the body] will be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection].

⁵Now He who has made us and prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the [Holy] Spirit as a pledge [a guarantee, a down payment on the fulfillment of His promise].

⁶So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—

⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God's promises]—

⁸we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth] or away from home [and with Him], it is our [constant] ambition to be pleasing to Him.

¹⁰For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad [that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities].

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment].

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an occasion to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances [the virtues they pretend to have] rather than what is [actually] in heart.

¹³If we are out of our mind [just unstable fanatics as some critics say], it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

¹⁸But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him],

¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ's representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

²¹He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].

¹My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery].

²For if a man comes into your meeting place wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

³and you pay special attention to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say to him, "You sit here in this good seat," and you tell the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down [on the floor] by my footstool,"

⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves, and become judges with wrong motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and [as believers to be] heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you [in contrast] have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress and exploit you, and personally drag you into the courts of law?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the precious name [of Christ] by which you are called?

⁸If, however, you are [really] fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit]" you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality [prejudice, favoritism], you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as offenders.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.

¹¹For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become guilty of transgressing the [entire] Law.

¹²Speak and act [consistently] as people who are going to be judged by the law of liberty [that moral law that frees obedient Christians from the bondage of sin].

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; but [to the one who has shown mercy] mercy triumphs [victoriously] over judgment.

¹⁴What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.]

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, "Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves," but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

¹⁷So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

¹⁸But someone may say, "You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do]."

¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath]!

²⁰But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless?

²¹Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]?

²²You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience].

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and this [faith] was credited to him [by God] as righteousness and as conformity to His will," and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith].

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works too, when she received the [Hebrew] spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away [to escape] by a different route?

²⁶For just as the [human] body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works [of obedience] is also dead.

¹"Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth [to their young]? Do you observe the calving of the deer?

²"Can you count the months that they carry offspring, Or do you know the time when they give birth?

³"They kneel down, they bring forth their young, They cast out their labor pains.

⁴"Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field; They leave and do not return to them.

⁵"Who sent out the wild donkey free [from dependence on man]? And who has loosed the bonds of the wild donkey [to survive in the wild],

⁶To whom I gave the wilderness as his home And the salt land as his dwelling place?

⁷"He scorns the tumult of the city, And does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.

⁸"He explores the mountains as his pasture And searches after every green thing.

⁹"Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, Or remain beside your manger at night?

¹⁰"Can you bind the wild ox with a harness [to the plow] in the furrow? Or will he plow the valleys for you?

¹¹"Will you trust him because his strength is great And leave your labor to him?

¹²"Will you have faith and depend on him to return your grain And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³"The [flightless] wings of the ostrich wave joyously; With the pinion (shackles, fetters) and plumage of love,

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵Forgetting that a foot may crush them, Or that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶"She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers; Though her labor is in vain because she is unconcerned [for the safety of her brood],

¹⁷For God has made her forget wisdom, And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸"Yet when she lifts herself on high, [So swift is she that] she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹"Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

²⁰"Have you [Job] made him leap like a locust? The majesty of his snorting [nostrils] is terrible.

²¹"He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].

²²"He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; And [in battle] he does not turn back from the sword.

²³"The quiver rattles against him, [As do] the flashing spear and the lance [of his rider].

²⁴"With fierceness and rage he races to devour the ground, And he does not stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.

²⁵"As often as the trumpet sounds he says, 'Aha!' And he smells the battle from far away, And senses the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

²⁶"Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, Stretching his wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?

²⁷"Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up And makes his nest on high [in an inaccessible place]?

²⁸"On the cliff he dwells and remains [securely], Upon the point of the rock and the inaccessible stronghold.

²⁹"From there he spies out the prey; His eyes see it from far away.

³⁰"His young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there is he."

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all peoples; Listen carefully, all inhabitants of the world,

²Both low and high, Rich and poor together:

³My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear and consent to a proverb; On the lyre I will unfold my riddle.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil, When the wickedness of those who would betray me surrounds me [on every side],

⁶Even those who trust in and rely on their wealth And boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him—

⁸For the ransom of his soul is too costly, And he should cease trying forever—

⁹So that he should live on eternally, That he should never see the pit (grave) and undergo decay.

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

¹¹Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, And their dwelling places to all generations; They have named their lands after their own names [ignoring God].

¹²But man, with all his [self] honor and pomp, will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident, And of those after them who approve [and are influenced by] their words. Selah.

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead); Death will be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning, And their form and beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, So that they have no dwelling [on earth].

¹⁵But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.

¹⁶Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich, When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;

¹⁷For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous— And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never again see the light.

²⁰A man [who is held] in honor, Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.

¹Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice?

²On the top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, wisdom takes her stand;

³Beside the gates, at the entrance to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

⁴"To you, O men, I call, And my voice is directed to the sons of men.

⁵"O you naive or inexperienced [who are easily misled], understand prudence and seek astute common sense; And, O you [closed-minded, self-confident] fools, understand wisdom [seek the insight and self-discipline that leads to godly living].

⁶"Listen, for I will speak excellent and noble things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.

⁷"For my mouth will utter truth, And wickedness is repulsive and loathsome to my lips.

⁸"All the words of my mouth are in righteousness (upright, in right standing with God); There is nothing contrary to truth or perverted (crooked) in them.

⁹"They are all straightforward to him who understands [with an open and willing mind], And right to those who find knowledge and live by it.

¹⁰"Take my instruction rather than [seeking] silver, And take knowledge rather than choicest gold,

¹¹"For wisdom is better than rubies; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

¹²"I, [godly] wisdom, reside with prudence [good judgment, moral courage and astute common sense], And I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³"The [reverent] fear and worshipful awe of the LORD includes the hatred of evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.

¹⁴"Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power and strength are mine.

¹⁵"By me kings reign And rulers decide and decree justice.

¹⁶"By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge and govern rightly.

¹⁷"I love those who love me; And those who seek me early and diligently will find me.

¹⁸"Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness (right standing with God).

¹⁹"My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, And my yield is better than choicest silver.

²⁰"I, [Wisdom, continuously] walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

²¹That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth and true riches, And that I may fill their treasuries.

²²"The LORD created and possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old [were accomplished].

²³"From everlasting I was established and ordained, From the beginning, before the earth existed, [I, godly wisdom, existed].

²⁴"When there were no ocean depths I was born, When there were no fountains and springs overflowing with water.

²⁵"Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was born;

²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Or the first of the dust of the earth.

²⁷"When He established the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; When He drew a circle upon the face of the deep,

²⁸When He made firm the skies above, When the fountains and springs of the deep became fixed and strong,

²⁹When He set for the sea its boundary So that the waters would not transgress [the boundaries set by] His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth—

³⁰Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight; Rejoicing before Him always,

³¹Rejoicing in the world, His inhabited earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.

³²"Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] are they who keep my ways.

³³"Heed (pay attention to) instruction and be wise, And do not ignore or neglect it.

³⁴"Blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

³⁵"For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds life And obtains favor and grace from the LORD.

³⁶"But he who fails to find me or sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love and court death."

¹There happened to be there a worthless and wicked man named Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. He blew a trumpet [to call Israel to revolt] and said, "We have no portion in David And no inheritance in the son of Jesse, Every man to his tents, O Israel!"

²So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah stayed faithfully with their king, from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³Then David came to his house (palace) at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to take care of the house, and placed them under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were confined, and lived as widows until the day of their death.

⁴Now the king said to Amasa [the commander of his army], "Summon the [fighting] men of Judah to me within three days, and be present here yourself."

⁵So Amasa went to summon [the fighting men of] Judah, but he delayed longer than the time which David had set for him.

⁶And David said to Abishai [his nephew], "Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, so that he does not find fortified cities for himself and escape from our sight."

⁷So Joab's men went after him, along with [David's bodyguards] the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the warriors; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

⁸When they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing his military uniform, and over it he had a belt with a sheathed sword strapped around his hips; and as he went forward, it fell out.

⁹Joab said to Amasa, "Is it going well with you, my brother?" And with his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa by the beard [as if] to kiss him [in greeting].

¹⁰But Amasa [who had replaced Joab as David's commander] was off guard and not attentive to the sword in Joab's hand. So Joab struck Amasa in the abdomen with the sword, spilling his intestines to the ground. Without another blow Amasa died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹Now one of Joab's young men stood by him and said, "Whoever favors Joab and is for David, let him follow Joab!"

¹²But Amasa was wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people who came by stopped [to look], he moved Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by Amasa stopped.

¹³When [the body of] Amasa was removed from the highway, everyone followed after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴Now Joab went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they assembled and also went after Sheba.

¹⁵And the army of Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth-maacah, and they built up an assault ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction to make the wall fall.

¹⁶Then a wise woman cried out from the city, "Hear, hear! Tell Joab, 'Come here so that I may speak to you.'"

¹⁷So when he approached her, the woman asked, "Are you Joab?" He answered, "I am." Then she said to him, "Listen to the words of your maidservant." He answered, "I am listening."

¹⁸Then she said, "In the past people used to say, 'They will certainly ask advice at Abel,' and so they settled the dispute.

¹⁹I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up (devour) the inheritance of the LORD?"

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

²¹That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand [in rebellion] against King David. Only hand him over, and I will leave the city." And the woman said to Joab, "Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall."

²²Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people [to inform them of the agreement]. And they beheaded Sheba the son of Bichri and threw his head [down] to Joab. So he blew the trumpet [signaling the end of the attack], and they dispersed from the city, every man to his own tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to [David] the king.

²³Now Joab was [commander] over the entire army of Israel; Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was [commander] over the Cherethites and Pelethites [the king's bodyguards];

²⁴Adoram was over the forced labor; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;

²⁵Sheva was the scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

²⁶also Ira the Jairite was a priest to David.

¹Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard, saying,

²"Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is His name,

³'Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.'

⁴For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword,

⁵'While they (the besieged Jews) are coming to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, for I have hidden My face [in disgust] from this city because of all their wickedness.

⁶Behold, [in the restored Jerusalem] I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace (prosperity, security, stability) and truth.

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

⁸I will cleanse them from all their wickedness (guilt) by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon (forgive) all their sins by which they rebelled against Me.

⁹Jerusalem will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for it, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace (prosperity, security, stability) that I provide for it.'

¹⁰"Thus says the LORD, 'Yet again there will be heard in this place of which you say, "It is a [desolate] waste, without man and without animal"—even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal—

¹¹the [sound of the] voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the [song-filled] voice of those who say, "Give praise and thanks to the LORD of hosts, For the LORD is good; For His [steadfast] lovingkindness (mercy) endures forever"; and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,' says the LORD.

¹²"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'There will again be in this desolate place—[a place] without man or animal—and in all its cities, pastures for shepherds who rest their flocks.

¹³In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South (the Negev), in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,' says the LORD.

¹⁴'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good word and promise which I have made regarding the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He (the Messiah) shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved and [the people of] Jerusalem will live in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD Our Righteousness (Justice).'

¹⁷For thus says the LORD, 'David shall never lack a man (descendant) to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

¹⁸and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man (descendant) to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices all day long.'"

¹⁹The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰"Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night do not take place at their appointed times,

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

²²As the host of [the stars of] heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'"

²³And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴"Have you not noticed what this people have spoken, saying, 'The two families [Israel the northern kingdom, and Judah the southern kingdom] which the LORD chose, He has rejected'? Thus they despise My [chosen] people, no longer are they [considered] as a nation in their sight.

²⁵Thus says the LORD, 'If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not established the fixed patterns of heaven and earth, [the whole order of nature,]

²⁶then I would [also] reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy on them.'"

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets [who spoke a new message of God to the people] and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch, and Saul.

²While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them."

³Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them [in approval and dedication] and sent them away [on their first journey].

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

⁵When Barnabas and Saul arrived at Salamis, they began to preach the word of God [proclaiming the message of eternal salvation through faith in Christ] in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John [Mark] as their assistant.

⁶When they had traveled through the entire island [of Cyprus] as far as Paphos, they found a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus,

⁷who was [closely associated] with the proconsul [of the province], Sergius Paulus, an intelligent and sensible man. He called for Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God [concerning eternal salvation through faith in Christ].

⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is how his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from accepting the faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and led by Him, looked steadily at Elymas,

¹⁰and said, " You [Elymas] who are full of every [kind of] deceit, and every [kind of] fraud, you son of the devil, enemy of everything that is right and good, will you never stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord?

¹¹Now, watch! The hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, [so blind that you will be] unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he groped around, seeking people to lead him by the hand.

¹²The proconsul believed [the message of salvation] when he saw what had happened, being astonished at the teaching concerning the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John [Mark] left them and went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁴Now they went on from Perga and arrived at Antioch in Pisidia, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, "Brothers (kinsmen), if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it."

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, he said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen!

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great and numerous during their stay [as foreigners] in the land of Egypt, and then with an uplifted arm He led them out of there.

¹⁸For a period of about forty years He put up with their behavior in the wilderness.

¹⁹When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave their land [to our ancestors] as an inheritance—this took about four hundred and fifty years.

²⁰After this, He gave them judges until the prophet Samuel.

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 him He testified and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart [conforming to My will and purposes], who will do all My will.'

²³From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel a Savior, [in the person of] Jesus, according to His promise.

²⁴Before His coming John [the Baptist] had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵And as John was finishing his course [of ministry], he kept saying, 'What or who do you think that I am? I am not He [the Christ]; but be aware, One is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie [even as His slave]!'

²⁶"Brothers, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation [obtained through faith in Jesus Christ].

²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, who failed to recognize or understand both Jesus and the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled these [very prophecies] by condemning Him.

²⁸And though they found no cause or charge deserving death, they asked Pilate to have Him executed.

²⁹And when they had finished carrying out everything that was written [in Scripture] about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised Him from the dead;

³¹and for many days (forty) He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

³²And we are bringing you the good news of the promise made to our fathers (ancestors),

³³that God has completely fulfilled this promise to our children by raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'You are My Son; today I have begotten (fathered) You.'

³⁴And [as for the fact] that He raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay [in the grave], He has spoken in this way: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David [those blessings and mercies that were promised to him].'

³⁵For this reason He also says in another Psalm, 'You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay.'

³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was buried among his fathers and experienced decay [in the grave];

³⁷but He whom God raised [to life] did not experience decay [in the grave].

³⁸So let it be clearly known by you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you;

³⁹and through Him everyone who believes [who acknowledges Jesus as Lord and Savior and follows Him] is justified and declared free of guilt from all things, from which you could not be justified and freed of guilt through the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰Therefore be careful, so that the thing spoken of in the [writings of the] Prophets does not come upon you:

⁴¹'Look, you mockers, and marvel, and perish and vanish away; For I am doing a work in your days, A work which you will never believe, even if someone describes it to you [telling you about it in detail].'"

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were leaving [the synagogue], the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them on the next Sabbath.

⁴³When the congregation of the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, talking to them were urging them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴On the next Sabbath almost the entire city gathered together to hear the word of the Lord [about salvation through faith in Christ].

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things said by Paul, and were slandering him.

⁴⁶And [at the same time] Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and confidently, saying, "It was necessary that God's message [of salvation through faith in Christ] be spoken to you [Jews] first. Since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, now we turn to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For that is what the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, So that You may bring [the message of eternal] salvation to the end of the earth.'"

⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying [praising and giving thanks for] the word of the Lord; and all those who had been appointed (designated, ordained) to eternal life [by God] believed [in Jesus as the Christ and their Savior].

⁴⁹And so the word of the Lord [regarding salvation] was being spread through the entire region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout, prominent women and the leading men of the city, and instigated persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them forcibly out of their district.

⁵¹But they shook its dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

⁵²And the disciples were continually filled [throughout their hearts and souls] with joy and with the Holy Spirit.