Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.

²For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.

³This is because they have never known the Father or me.

⁴Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.

⁵“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.

⁶Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.

⁷But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

⁸And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

⁹The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

¹⁰Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.

¹¹Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

¹²“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.

¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

¹⁴He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

¹⁶“In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.”

¹⁷Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?

¹⁸And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

¹⁹Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.

²⁰I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.

²¹It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

²²So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

²³At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.

²⁴You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

²⁵“I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father.

²⁶Then you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf,

²⁷for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God.

²⁸Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.”

²⁹Then his disciples said, “At last you are speaking plainly and not figuratively.

³⁰Now we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.”

³¹Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe?

³²But the time is coming — indeed it’s here now — when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.

³³I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

¹“You must love the LORD your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands.

²Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm.

³They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.

⁴They didn’t see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots — how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!

⁵“Your children didn’t see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here.

⁶They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.

⁷But you have seen the LORD perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!

⁸“Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter.

⁹If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants — a land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁰For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.

¹¹Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain —

¹²a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!

¹³“If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul,

¹⁴then he will send the rains in their proper seasons — the early and late rains — so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil.

¹⁵He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

¹⁶“But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods.

¹⁷If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you.

¹⁸“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.

¹⁹Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.

²²“Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.

²³Then the LORD will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land.

²⁴Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

²⁵No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.

²⁶“Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!

²⁷You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today.

²⁸But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.

²⁹“When the LORD your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

³⁰(These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley, near the town of Gilgal, not far from the oaks of Moreh.)

³¹For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it,

³²you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today.

¹Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

²Please open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone, nor led anyone astray, nor taken advantage of anyone.

³I’m not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts, and we live or die together with you.

⁴I have the highest confidence in you, and I take great pride in you. You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all our troubles.

⁵When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside.

⁶But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

⁷His presence was a joy, but so was the news he brought of the encouragement he received from you. When he told us how much you long to see me, and how sorry you are for what happened, and how loyal you are to me, I was filled with joy!

⁸I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while.

⁹Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.

¹⁰For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

¹¹Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

¹²My purpose, then, was not to write about who did the wrong or who was wronged. I wrote to you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how loyal you are to us.

¹³We have been greatly encouraged by this. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was about the way all of you welcomed him and set his mind at ease.

¹⁴I had told him how proud I was of you — and you didn’t disappoint me. I have always told you the truth, and now my boasting to Titus has also proved true!

¹⁵Now he cares for you more than ever when he remembers the way all of you obeyed him and welcomed him with such fear and deep respect.

¹⁶I am very happy now because I have complete confidence in you.

¹What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?

²You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

³And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure.

⁴You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

⁵Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.

⁶And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

⁹Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

¹¹Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.

¹²God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

¹³Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”

¹⁴How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog — it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.

¹⁵What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

¹⁷Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

¹“Can you catch Leviathan with a hook or put a noose around its jaw?

²Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike?

³Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity?

⁴Will it agree to work for you, to be your slave for life?

⁵Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with?

⁶Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops?

⁷Will its hide be hurt by spears or its head by a harpoon?

⁸If you lay a hand on it, you will certainly remember the battle that follows. You won’t try that again!

⁹No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down.

¹⁰And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to me?

¹¹Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.

¹²“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs and its enormous strength and graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?

¹⁴Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible!

¹⁵The scales on its back are like rows of shields tightly sealed together.

¹⁶They are so close together that no air can get between them.

¹⁷Each scale sticks tight to the next. They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

¹⁸“When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

¹⁹Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out.

²⁰Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

²¹Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.

²²“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck strikes terror wherever it goes.

²³Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated.

²⁴Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone.

²⁵When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror.

²⁶No sword can stop it, no spear, dart, or javelin.

²⁷Iron is nothing but straw to that creature, and bronze is like rotten wood.

²⁸Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass.

²⁹Clubs are like a blade of grass, and it laughs at the swish of javelins.

³⁰Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

³¹“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.

³²The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white.

³³Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless.

³⁴Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts.”

¹Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.

²Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

³For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.

⁴Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

⁵For I was born a sinner — yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

⁶But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.

⁷Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me — now let me rejoice.

⁹Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

¹¹Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

¹³Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.

¹⁴Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

¹⁵Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.

¹⁶You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

¹⁸Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit — with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.

²Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.

³The LORD will not let the godly go hungry, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked.

⁴Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.

⁵A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.

⁶The godly are showered with blessings; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

⁷We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.

⁸The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces.

⁹People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.

¹⁰People who wink at wrong cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace.

¹¹The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

¹²Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.

¹³Wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod.

¹⁴Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their destruction.

¹⁶The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin.

¹⁷People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.

¹⁸Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool.

¹⁹Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

²⁰The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless.

²¹The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.

²²The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

²³Doing wrong is fun for a fool, but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible.

²⁴The fears of the wicked will be fulfilled; the hopes of the godly will be granted.

²⁵When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.

²⁶Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.

²⁷Fear of the LORD lengthens one’s life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked.

³⁰The godly will never be disturbed, but the wicked will be removed from the land.

³¹The mouth of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue that deceives will be cut off.

³²The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words.

¹David sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.

²He sang: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;

³my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.

⁴I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.

⁵“The waves of death overwhelmed me; floods of destruction swept over me.

⁶The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.

⁷But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.

⁸“Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the heavens shook; they quaked because of his anger.

⁹Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him.

¹⁰He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.

¹¹Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

¹²He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.

¹³A great brightness shone around him, and burning coals blazed forth.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

¹⁵He shot arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were confused.

¹⁶Then at the command of the LORD, at the blast of his breath, the bottom of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.

¹⁷“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.

¹⁸He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.

¹⁹They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the LORD supported me.

²⁰He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

²¹The LORD rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.

²³I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees.

²⁴I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.

²⁵The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.

²⁶“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.

²⁷To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

²⁸You rescue the humble, but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.

²⁹O LORD, you are my lamp. The LORD lights up my darkness.

³⁰In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.

³¹“God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

³²For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock?

³³God is my strong fortress, and he makes my way perfect.

³⁴He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.

³⁵He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.

³⁶You have given me your shield of victory; your help has made me great.

³⁷You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.

³⁸“I chased my enemies and destroyed them; I did not stop until they were conquered.

³⁹I consumed them; I struck them down so they did not get up; they fell beneath my feet.

⁴⁰You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.

⁴¹You placed my foot on their necks. I have destroyed all who hated me.

⁴²They looked for help, but no one came to their rescue. They even cried to the LORD, but he refused to answer.

⁴³I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trampled them in the gutter like dirt.

⁴⁴“You gave me victory over my accusers. You preserved me as the ruler over nations; people I don’t even know now serve me.

⁴⁵Foreign nations cringe before me; as soon as they hear of me, they submit.

⁴⁶They all lose their courage and come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁷“The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!

⁴⁸He is the God who pays back those who harm me; he brings down the nations under me

⁴⁹and delivers me from my enemies. You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; you save me from violent opponents.

⁵⁰For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.

⁵¹You give great victories to your king; you show unfailing love to your anointed, to David and all his descendants forever.”

¹This is the message the LORD gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah:

²“Go to the settlement where the families of the Recabites live, and invite them to the LORD’s Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms, and offer them some wine.”

³So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah and all his brothers and sons — representing all the Recabite families.

⁴I took them to the Temple, and we went into the room assigned to the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was located next to the one used by the Temple officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the Temple gatekeeper.

⁵I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink,

⁶but they refused. “No,” they said, “we don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jehonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine.

⁷And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.’

⁸So we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine to this day, nor have our wives, our sons, or our daughters.

⁹We haven’t built houses or owned vineyards or farms or planted crops.

¹⁰We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor.

¹¹But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked this country, we were afraid of the Babylonian and Syrian armies. So we decided to move to Jerusalem. That is why we are here.”

¹²Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

¹³“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Come and learn a lesson about how to obey me.

¹⁴The Recabites do not drink wine to this day because their ancestor Jehonadab told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you refuse to obey me.

¹⁵Time after time I sent you prophets, who told you, “Turn from your wicked ways, and start doing things right. Stop worshiping other gods so that you might live in peace here in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you would not listen to me or obey me.

¹⁶The descendants of Jehonadab son of Recab have obeyed their ancestor completely, but you have refused to listen to me.’

¹⁷“Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have threatened.’”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah turned to the Recabites and said, “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed your ancestor Jehonadab in every respect, following all his instructions.’

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Recab will always have descendants who serve me.’”

¹While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers : “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.

³The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them — much to everyone’s joy — that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

⁴When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them.

⁵But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

⁶So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue.

⁷At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.

⁸God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.

¹⁰So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?

¹¹We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

¹²Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me.

¹⁴Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.

¹⁵And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written:

¹⁶‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it,

¹⁷so that the rest of humanity might seek the LORD, including the Gentiles — all those I have called to be mine. The LORD has spoken —

¹⁸he who made these things known so long ago.’

¹⁹“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

²⁰Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.

²¹For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

²²Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders — Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas.

²³This is the letter they took with them: “This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings!

²⁴“We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them!

²⁵So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question.

²⁸“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements:

²⁹You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

³⁰The messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the believers and delivered the letter.

³¹And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.

³²Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke at length to the believers, encouraging and strengthening their faith.

³³They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace.

³⁴

³⁵Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord there.

³⁶After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.”

³⁷Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark.

³⁸But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.

³⁹Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.

⁴⁰Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.

⁴¹Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there.