Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee and came to His own city.

²And they brought to Him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man who was paralyzed, “Take courage,son; your sins are forgiven.”

³And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”

⁴And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

⁵For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.”

⁷And he got up and went home.

⁸But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

⁹As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s office; and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁰Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and began dining with Jesus and His disciples.

¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³Now go and learnwhat this means: ‘I DESIRECOMPASSION,RATHER THAN SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁴Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Theattendants of the groom cannot mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; forthe patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

¹⁷Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

¹⁸While He was saying these things to them, behold, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will become alive again.”

¹⁹Jesus got up from the table and began to accompany him, along with His disciples.

²⁰And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him, and touched the border of His cloak;

²¹for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His cloak, I will get well.”

²²But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith hasmade you well.” And at once the woman was made well.

²³When Jesus came into the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd in noisy disorder,

²⁴He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him.

²⁵But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

²⁶And this news spread throughout that land.

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two men who were blind followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²⁸And after He entered the house, the men who were blind came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done for you according to your faith.”

³⁰And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!”

³¹But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout that land.

³²And as they were going out, behold, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him.

³³And after the demon was cast out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

³⁴But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

³⁶Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

³⁸Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

¹“If there is a dispute between people and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty,

²then it shall be if the wicked person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his wrongful act.

³He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not become contemptible in your eyes.

⁴“You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

⁵“When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

⁶It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that his name will not be wiped out from Israel.

⁷But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’

⁸Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’

⁹then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’

¹⁰And in Israel his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

¹¹“If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps that man’s genitals,

¹²then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

¹³“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small.

¹⁴You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

¹⁵You shall have a correct and honest weight; you shall have a correct and honest measure, so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁶For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the LORD your God.

¹⁷“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt,

¹⁸how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.

¹⁹So it shall come about, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

¹And you were dead in your offenses and sins,

²in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

³Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

⁵even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

¹¹Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—

¹²remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace;

¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility.

¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

¹⁸for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone,

²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

⁴For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

⁵Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

⁹If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.

¹⁰The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.

¹¹And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹²The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that.

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

¹⁸We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

¹The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

²“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is sweeter than wine.

³Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like purified oil; Therefore the young women love you.

⁴Draw me after you and let’s run together! The king has brought me into his chambers.” “We will rejoice in you and be joyful; We will praise your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.”

⁵“I am black and beautiful, You daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not stare at me because I am dark, For the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me caretaker of the vineyards, But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock, Where do you have it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself Beside the flocks of your companions?”

⁸“If you yourself do not know, Most beautiful among women, Go out on the trail of the flock, And pasture your young goats By the tents of the shepherds.

⁹“To me, my darling, you are like My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

¹⁰Your cheeks are delightful with jewelry, Your neck with strings of beads.”

¹¹“We will make for you jewelry of gold With beads of silver.”

¹²“While the king was at his table, My perfume gave forth its fragrance.

¹³My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh Which lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms In the vineyards of Engedi.”

¹⁵“How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves.”

¹⁶“How handsome you are, my beloved, And so delightful! Indeed, our bed is luxuriant!

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars, Our rafters, junipers.

¹There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, God, And the vow will be fulfilled for You.

²You who hear prayer, To You all mankind comes.

³Wrongdoings prevail against me; As for our offenses, You forgive them.

⁴Blessed is the one You choose and allow to approach You; He will dwell in Your courtyards. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

⁵By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and the farthest sea;

⁶Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Who is encircled with might;

⁷Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the turmoil of the nations.

⁸They who dwell at the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for so You prepare the earth.

¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.

¹¹You have crowned the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with fatness.

¹²The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.

¹³The meadows are clothed with flocks And the valleys are covered with grain; They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

¹Do not be envious of evil people, Nor desire to be with them;

²For their minds plot violence, And their lips talk of trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established;

⁴And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵A wise man is strong, And a person of knowledge increases power.

⁶For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in an abundance of counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth at the gate.

⁸One who plans to do evil, People will call a schemer.

⁹The devising of foolishness is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to humanity.

¹⁰If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meager.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh hold them back!

¹²If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He who weighs the hearts not consider it? And does He who watches over your soul not know it? And will He not repay a person according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good; Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴Know that wisdom is the same for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in ambush, you wicked person, against the home of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸Otherwise, the LORD will see and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.

¹⁹Do not get upset because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked;

²⁰For there will be no future for the evil person; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not get involved with those of high rank,

²²For their disaster will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?

²³These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁴One who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Peoples will curse him, nations will scold him;

²⁵But for those who rebuke the wicked there will be delight, And a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶One who gives a right answer Kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside, And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterward, then, build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor for no reason, And do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I shall do the same to him as he has done to me; I will repay the person according to his work.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a lazy one, And by the vineyard of a person lacking sense,

³¹And behold, it was completely overgrown with weeds; Its surface was covered with weeds, And its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction.

³³“A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,”

³⁴Then your poverty will come like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

¹Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

²Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about this, he was living in Egypt (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon).

³Then they sent word and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴“Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵Then he said to them, “Depart for three days, then return to me.” So the people departed.

⁶And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

⁷Then they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their request, and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always.”

⁸But he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him.

⁹He said to them, “What advice do you give, so that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “This is what you should say to this people who spoke to you, saying: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!’ You should speak this way to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹Now then, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke; yet I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’ ”

¹²Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had directed, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”

¹³And the king answered the people harshly, for he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him,

¹⁴and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; because it was a turn of events from the LORD, in order to establish His word which the LORD spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel went away to their tents.

¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has broken with the house of David to this day.

²⁰And it came about, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent word and called him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel. None except the tribe of Judah alone followed the house of David.

²¹Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²²But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

²³“Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying,

²⁴‘This is what the LORD says: “You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return, every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me.” ’ ” So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned to go their way in accordance with the word of the LORD.

²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

²⁷If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

²⁸So the king consulted, and he made two golden calves; and he said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

²⁹And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

³⁰Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

³¹And he made houses on high places, and appointed priests from all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

³²Jeroboam also instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

³³Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, the month that he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

¹Concerning the sons of Ammon. This is what the LORD says: “Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no heirs? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad, And his people settled in its cities?

²Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will cause an alarm of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; And it will become a desolate heap, And her towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take possession of his possessors,” Says the LORD.

³“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah, Put on sackcloth and mourn, And move about inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his leaders.

⁴How you boast about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, You backsliding daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who can come against me?’

⁵Behold, I am going to bring terror upon you,” Declares the Lord GOD of armies, “From all directions around you; And you will be driven away one after another, With no one to gather the fugitives together.

⁶But afterward I will restore The fortunes of the sons of Ammon,” Declares the LORD.

⁷Concerning Edom. This is what the LORD of armies says: “Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has good advice been lost by the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸Flee away, turn back, dwell in the depths, You inhabitants of Dedan, For I will bring the disaster of Esau upon him At the time I punish him.

⁹If grape pickers came to you, Would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, They would destroy only what was sufficient for them.

¹⁰But I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his hiding places So that he will not be able to conceal himself; His offspring have been destroyed along with his brothers And his neighbors, and he no longer exists.

¹¹Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; And let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup will certainly drink it, so are you the one who will be held completely blameless? You will not be held blameless, but you will certainly drink it.

¹³For I have sworn by Myself,” declares the LORD, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a disgrace, a wasteland, and a curse; and all its cities will become permanent ruins.”

¹⁴I have heard a message from the LORD, And a messenger is being sent among the nations, saying, “Gather yourselves together and come against her, And rise up for battle!”

¹⁵“For behold, I have made you small among the nations, Despised among people.

¹⁶As for the terror you cause, The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, Who occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as an eagle’s, I will bring you down from there,” declares the LORD.

¹⁷“Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and will hiss at all its wounds.

¹⁸Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will live there, nor will anyone of mankind reside in it.

¹⁹Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will chase him away from it, and I will appoint over it whoever is chosen. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the plan of the LORD which He has planned against Edom, and His purposes which He has in mind against the inhabitants of Teman: they will certainly drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; He will certainly make their pasture desolate because of them.

²¹The earth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The noise of it has been heard at the Red Sea.

²²Behold, He will mount up and swoop like an eagle, and spread out His wings against Bozrah; and the hearts of the warriors of Edom on that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

²³Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, For they have heard bad news; They despair. There is anxiety at the sea, It cannot be calmed.

²⁴Damascus has become helpless; She has turned away to flee, And panic has gripped her; Distress and labor pains have seized her Like a woman in childbirth.

²⁵How the city of praise has not been deserted, The town of My joy!

²⁶Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets, And all the men of war will perish on that day,” declares the LORD of armies.

²⁷“I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, And it will devour the fortified palace of Ben-hadad.”

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. This is what the LORD says: “Arise, go up to Kedar And devastate the people of the east.

²⁹They will take away their tents and their flocks; They will carry off for themselves Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels, And they will call out to one another, ‘Horror on every side!’

³⁰Run away, flee! Dwell in the depths, You inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the LORD; “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you And devised a scheme against you.

³¹Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease, Which lives securely,” declares the LORD. “It has no gates or bars; They dwell alone.

³²Their camels will become plunder, And their many livestock for spoils, And I will scatter to all the winds those who cut the corners of their hair; And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the LORD.

³³“Hazor will become a haunt of jackals, A desolation forever; No one will live there, Nor will anyone of mankind reside in it.”

³⁴The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

³⁵“This is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam, The finest of their might.

³⁶I will bring upon Elam the four winds From the four ends of heaven, And will scatter them to all these winds; And there will be no nation To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

³⁷So I will shatter Elam before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring disaster upon them, Even My fierce anger,’ declares the LORD, ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

³⁸Then I will set My throne in Elam, And eliminate from there the king and officials,’ Declares the LORD.

³⁹‘But it will come about in the last days That I will restore the fortunes of Elam,’ ” Declares the LORD.

¹The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,

²until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.

³To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.

⁴Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

⁵for John baptizedwith water, but you will be baptizedwith the Holy Spiritnot many days from now.”

⁶So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority;

⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

⁹And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight.

¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them,

¹¹and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵At this time Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 people was there together), and said,

¹⁶“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in their own language, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘MAY HIS RESIDENCE BE MADE DESOLATE, AND MAY THERE BE NONE LIVING IN IT’; and, ‘MAY ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE.’

²¹Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—

²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen

²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.