Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.

²Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

³And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”

⁴But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

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

⁶But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

⁷And he arose and departed to his house.

⁸Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

⁹As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

¹⁰Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.

¹¹And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

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

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.

¹⁷Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

¹⁸While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.”

¹⁹So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.

²⁰And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.

²¹For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.”

²²But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

²³When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing,

²⁴He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.

²⁵But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.

²⁶And the report of this went out into all that land.

²⁷When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸And when He had come into the house, the blind men came 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, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

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

³¹But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

³²As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.

³³And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”

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

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

³⁶But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

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

³⁸Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

¹“If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

²then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows.

³Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.

⁴“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.

⁵“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

⁶And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

⁷But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’

⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’

⁹then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

¹¹“If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals,

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

¹³“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light.

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

¹⁵You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁶For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

¹⁷“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt,

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

¹⁹Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

¹And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

³among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

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

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

⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

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

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

⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast.

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

¹¹Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—

¹²that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

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

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

¹⁵having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

¹⁸For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

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

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

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

¹Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

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

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

⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

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

⁶This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.

⁷For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

⁸And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.

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

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

¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

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

¹⁴Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.

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

¹⁸We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, 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, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

¹The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— For your love is better than wine.

³Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you.

⁴Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept.

⁷Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.

¹⁰Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with chains of gold.

¹¹We will make you ornaments of gold With studs of silver.

¹²While the king is at his table, My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.

¹³A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, That lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms In the vineyards of En Gedi.

¹⁵Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.

¹⁶Behold, you are handsome, my beloved! Yes, pleasant! Also our bed is green.

¹⁷The beams of our houses are cedar, And our rafters of fir.

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song. [1] Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed.

²O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come.

³Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You will provide atonement for them.

⁴Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple.

⁵By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas;

⁶Who established the mountains by His strength, Being clothed with power;

⁷You who still the noise of the seas, The noise of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples.

⁸They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of Your signs; You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice.

⁹You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it.

¹⁰You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.

¹¹You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance.

¹²They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, And the little hills rejoice on every side.

¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.

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

²For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of troublemaking.

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

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

⁵A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;

⁶For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

⁷Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate.

⁸He who plots to do evil Will be called a schemer.

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

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.

¹¹Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

¹³My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;

¹⁴So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not plunder his resting place;

¹⁶For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

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

¹⁸Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him.

¹⁹Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the wicked;

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

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those given to change;

²²For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

²³These things also belong to the wise: It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

²⁴He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” Him the people will curse; Nations will abhor him.

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

²⁶He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, For would you deceive with your lips?

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”

³⁰I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;

³¹And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.

³²When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

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

³⁴So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

²So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt ),

³that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴“Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

⁸But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

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

¹⁰Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’ ”

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.”

¹³Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders 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 chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!” So Israel departed to their tents.

¹⁷But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

²¹And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

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

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

²⁴‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” ’ ” Therefore they obeyed the word of the LORD, and turned back, according to the word of the LORD.

²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel.

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

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

²⁸Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which 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.

³¹He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³²Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.

³³So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

¹Against the Ammonites. Thus says the LORD: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, And his people dwell in its cities?

²Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war In Rabbah of the Ammonites; It shall be a desolate mound, And her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,” says the LORD.

³“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; For Milcom shall go into captivity With his priests and his princes together.

⁴Why do you boast in the valleys, Your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

⁵Behold, I will bring fear upon you,” Says the Lord GOD of hosts, “From all those who are around you; You shall be driven out, everyone headlong, And no one will gather those who wander off.

⁶But afterward I will bring back The captives of the people of Ammon,” says the LORD.

⁷Against Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?

⁸Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, The time that I will punish him.

⁹If grape-gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, Would they not destroy until they have enough?

¹⁰But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, And he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, His brethren and his neighbors, And he is no more.

¹¹Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; And let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For thus says the LORD: “Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it.

¹³For I have sworn by Myself,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

¹⁴I have heard a message from the LORD, And an ambassador has been sent to the nations: “Gather together, come against her, And rise up to battle!

¹⁵“For indeed, I will make you small among nations, Despised among men.

¹⁶Your fierceness has deceived you, The pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD.

¹⁷“Edom also shall be an astonishment; Everyone who goes by it will be astonished And will hiss at all its plagues.

¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors,” says the LORD, “No one shall remain there, Nor shall a son of man dwell in it.

¹⁹“Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan Against the dwelling place of the strong; But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd Who will withstand Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Edom, And His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them.

²¹The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; At the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea.

²²Behold, He shall come up and fly like the eagle, And spread His wings over Bozrah; The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

²³Against Damascus. “Hamath and Arpad are shamed, For they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; There is trouble on the sea; It cannot be quiet.

²⁴Damascus has grown feeble; She turns to flee, And fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.

²⁵Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the LORD of hosts.

²⁷“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”

²⁸Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike. Thus says the LORD: “Arise, go up to Kedar, And devastate the men of the East!

²⁹Their tents and their flocks they shall take away. They shall take for themselves their curtains, All their vessels and their camels; And they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!’

³⁰“Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor!” says the LORD. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, And has conceived a plan against you.

³¹“Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says the LORD, “Which has neither gates nor bars, Dwelling alone.

³²Their camels shall be for booty, And the multitude of their cattle for plunder. I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners, And I will bring their calamity from all its sides,” says the LORD.

³³“Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever; No one shall reside there, Nor son of man dwell in it.”

³⁴The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

³⁵“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, The foremost of their might.

³⁶Against Elam I will bring the four winds From the four quarters of heaven, And scatter them toward all those winds; There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.

³⁷For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies And before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the LORD; ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

³⁸I will set My throne in Elam, And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the LORD.

³⁹‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the LORD.”

¹The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

²until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,

³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

⁴And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

⁵for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

⁸But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

⁹Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

¹⁰And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,

¹¹who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

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

¹³And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said,

¹⁶“Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;

¹⁷for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’

²¹“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

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

²³And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

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

²⁵to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.