Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him.

²And when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?

³Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they took offense at Him.

⁴Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except inhis hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.”

⁵And He could not do any miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages, teaching.

⁷And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;

⁸and He instructed them that they were to take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—

⁹but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not wear twotunics.”

¹⁰And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until youleave town.

¹¹Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dustoff the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹²And they went out and preached that people are to repent.

¹³And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

¹⁴And King Herod heard about it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”

¹⁵But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard about it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.

¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹And Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so;

²⁰for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he used to enjoy listening to him.

²¹An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people of Galilee;

²²and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”

²³And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.

²⁷Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison,

²⁸and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.

³¹And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)

³²And they went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

³³The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

³⁴When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

³⁵And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “This place is secluded and it is already late;

³⁶send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²And they all ate and were satisfied;

⁴³and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish.

⁴⁴There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

⁴⁵And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He Himself *dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶And after saying goodbye to them, He left for the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.

⁴⁸Seeing them straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the fourth watch of the night, He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.

⁴⁹But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out;

⁵⁰for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.”

⁵¹Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,

⁵²for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored at the shore.

⁵⁴And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,

⁵⁵and ran about that entire country and began carrying here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to wherever they heard He was.

⁵⁶And wherever He entered villages, or cities, or a countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were being healed.

¹Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

²When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her.

³But he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.

⁴So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in.

⁶Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

⁷Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

⁸But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.

⁹And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰So you will live with us, and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.”

¹¹Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me.

¹²Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

¹³But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

¹⁴They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised,

¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

¹⁷But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

¹⁹The young man did not delay to do this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying,

²¹“These men are friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. We will take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them.

²²Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

²³Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let’s just consent to them, and they will live with us.”

²⁴All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons—Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left.

²⁷Jacob’s sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.

²⁸They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field;

²⁹and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!”

³¹But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

¹But I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.

²For if I cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

³This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all.

⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

⁵But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—not to say too much—for all of you.

⁶Sufficient for such a person is this punishment which was imposed by the majority,

⁷so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹For to this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

¹⁰But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

¹¹so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,

¹³I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but saying goodbye to them, I went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.

¹⁵For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:

¹⁶to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

¹⁷For we are not like the many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

¹But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

²Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

³and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment;

⁵and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

⁶and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly;

⁷and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people

⁸(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

⁹then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

¹⁰and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority. Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling,

¹¹whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord.

¹²But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

¹³suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you,

¹⁴having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in greed, accursed children;

¹⁵abandoning the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness;

¹⁶but he received a rebuke for his own offense, for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.

¹⁷These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

¹⁸For, while speaking out arrogant words of no value they entice by fleshly desires, by indecent behavior, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,

¹⁹promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

²⁰For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

²¹For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

²²It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

¹Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Hear my words, you wise men, And listen to me, you who understand.

³For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food.

⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is right; Let us understand among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, But God has taken away my right;

⁶Should I lie about my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without wrongdoing.’

⁷What man is like Job, Who drinks up derision like water,

⁸Who goes in company with the workers of injustice, And walks with wicked people?

⁹For he has said, ‘It is of no use to a man When he becomes friends with God.’

¹⁰“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, And from the Almighty to do wrong.

¹¹For He repays a person for his work, And lets things happen in correspondence to a man’s behavior.

¹²God certainly will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

¹³Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has placed the whole world on Him?

¹⁴If He were to determine to do so, If He were to gather His spirit and His breath to Himself,

¹⁵Humanity would perish together, And mankind would return to dust.

¹⁶“But if you have understanding, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words.

¹⁷Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty One,

¹⁸Who says to a king, ‘You worthless one,’ To nobles, ‘You wicked one’;

¹⁹Who shows no partiality to the prominent, Nor regards the rich as above the poor, Since they are all the work of His hands?

²⁰In a moment they die, and at midnight People are shaken and pass away, And the powerful are taken away without a hand.

²¹“For His eyes are upon the ways of a person, And He sees all his steps.

²²There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of injustice can hide themselves.

²³For He does not need to consider a person further, That he should go before God in judgment.

²⁴He breaks in pieces the mighty without investigation, And sets others in their place.

²⁵Therefore He knows their deeds, And He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed.

²⁶He strikes them like the wicked In a public place,

²⁷Because they turned aside from following Him, And had no regard for any of His ways,

²⁸So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He would hear the cry of the afflicted—

²⁹When He keeps quiet, who can condemn? And when He hides His face, who then can look at Him, That is, regarding both nation and a person?—

³⁰So that godless people would not rule, Nor be snares for the people.

³¹“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend anymore;

³²Teach me what I do not see; If I have done wrong, I will not do it again’?

³³Shall God repay on your terms, because you have rejected His? For you must choose, and not I; Therefore declare what you know.

³⁴Men of understanding will say to me, And a wise man who hears me,

³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom.

³⁶Oh that Job were tested to the limit, Because he answers like sinners.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his words against God.’ ”

¹I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

²My soul will make its boast in the LORD; The humble will hear it and rejoice.

³Exalt the LORD with me, And let’s exalt His name together.

⁴I sought the LORD and He answered me, And rescued me from all my fears.

⁵They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.

⁶This wretched man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.

⁸Taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

⁹Fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no lack of anything.

¹⁰The young lions do without and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.

¹¹Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹²Who is the person who desires life And loves length of days, that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.

¹⁴Turn from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are toward their cry for help.

¹⁶The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To eliminate the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears And rescues them from all their troubles.

¹⁸The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹The afflictions of the righteous are many, But the LORD rescues him from them all.

²⁰He protects all his bones, Not one of them is broken.

²¹Evil will bring death to the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will suffer for their guilt.

²²The LORD redeems the souls of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will suffer for their guilt.

¹My son, do not forget my teaching, But have your heart comply with my commandments;

²For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.

³Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will find favor and a good reputation In the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

⁸It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce;

¹⁰Then your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His rebuke,

¹²For whom the LORD loves He disciplines, Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

¹³Blessed is a person who finds wisdom, And one who obtains understanding.

¹⁴For her profit is better than the profit of silver, And her produce better than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than jewels, And nothing you desire compares with her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant ways, And all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are those who hold on to her.

¹⁹The LORD founded the earth by wisdom, He established the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By His knowledge the ocean depths were burst open, And the clouds drip with dew.

²¹My son, see that they do not escape from your sight; Comply with sound wisdom and discretion,

²²And they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck.

²³Then you will walk in your way securely, And your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden danger, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;

²⁶For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it to you,” When you have it with you.

²⁹Do not devise harm against your neighbor, While he lives securely beside you.

³⁰Do not contend with a person for no reason, If he has done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy a violent person, And do not choose any of his ways.

³²For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright.

³³The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the righteous.

³⁴Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the needy.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, But fools increase dishonor.

¹Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, rose up to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

²He judged Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³After him, Jair the Gileadite rose up and judged Israel for twenty-two years.

⁴And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities in the land of Gilead that are called Havvoth-jair to this day.

⁵And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

⁶Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; so they abandoned the LORD and did not serve Him.

⁷And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the sons of Ammon.

⁸And they afflicted and oppressed the sons of Israel that year; for eighteen years they oppressed all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan, in Gilead in the land of the Amorites.

⁹And the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great difficulty.

¹⁰Then the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have abandoned our God and served the Baals.”

¹¹And the LORD said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines?

¹²And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hands.

¹³Yet you abandoned Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you.

¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”

¹⁵Then the sons of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please save us this day.”

¹⁶So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

¹⁷Then the sons of Ammon were summoned, and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered together and camped in Mizpah.

¹⁸And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

¹Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

²For the LORD’S anger is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them, He has turned them over to slaughter.

³So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

⁴And all the heavenly lights will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All its lights will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.

⁵For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven; Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction.

⁶The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; So their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat.

⁸For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of retribution for the cause of Zion.

⁹Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

¹⁰It will not be extinguished night or day; Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be desolate; None will pass through it forever and ever.

¹¹But pelican and hedgehog will possess it, And owl and raven will dwell in it; And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.

¹²Its nobles—there is no one there Whom they may proclaim king— And all its officials will be nothing.

¹³Thorns will come up in its fortified towers, Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of jackals And a habitat of ostriches.

¹⁴The desert creatures will meet with the wolves, The goat also will cry to its kind. Yes, the night-bird will settle there And will find herself a resting place.

¹⁵The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its protection. Yes, the hawks will be gathered there, Every one with its kind.

¹⁶Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.

¹⁷He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by the measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

¹Now at this time, as the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint developed on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

²So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.

³Instead, brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵The announcement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

⁶And they brought these men before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

⁷The word of God kept spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.

¹⁰But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Council.

¹³They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking against this holy place and the Law;

¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵And all who were sitting in the Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.