Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.”

²After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them,

³and his clothes became dazzling — extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.

⁴Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let us set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —

⁶because he did not know what to say, since they were terrified.

⁷A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!”

⁸Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰They kept this word to themselves, questioning what “rising from the dead” meant.

¹¹Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written about him.”

¹⁴When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.

¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.

¹⁶He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”

¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.

¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”

¹⁹He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”

²⁰So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.

²²“And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.”

²⁷But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

²⁸After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

³⁰Then they left that place and made their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it.

³¹For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.”

³²But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.

³³They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”

³⁴But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.

³⁵Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”

³⁶He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

³⁷“Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.”

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”

³⁹“Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me.

⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us.

⁴¹And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ — truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

⁴²“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away  — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

⁴³“And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

⁴⁸wheretheir worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

²These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

⁴When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

⁵Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

⁷There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

¹¹His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹²His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

¹³Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

¹⁷“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!

²⁰So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

²²Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him” — intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.

²³When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

²⁴Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.

²⁵They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

²⁷Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.

²⁸When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

³⁰He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.

³²They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”

³³His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.

¹For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.

²Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling,

³since, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked.

⁴Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

⁶So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart.

¹³For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died.

¹⁵And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

¹⁸Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

¹⁹That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

²¹He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.

²He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

³This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.

⁴The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

⁵But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:

⁶The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.

⁸Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

⁹The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

¹⁰The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, little children, since your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁴I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, God’s word remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world.

¹⁷And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

²¹I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

²²Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.

²³No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

²⁴What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

²⁶I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²⁸So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

¹My heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest.

²Just listen to his thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; his lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when his rumbling voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,” and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,

⁷serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work.

⁸The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens.

⁹The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.

¹⁰Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen.

¹¹He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.

¹²They swirl about, turning round and round at his direction, accomplishing everything he commands them over the surface of the inhabited world.

¹³He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God’s wonders.

¹⁵Do you know how God directs his clouds or makes their lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?

¹⁷You whose clothes get hot when the south wind brings calm to the land,

¹⁸can you help God spread out the skies as hard as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak? Can a man speak when he is confused?

²¹Now no one can even look at the sun when it is in the skies, after a wind has swept through and cleared the clouds away.

²²Yet out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow; awesome majesty surrounds him.

²³The Almighty — we cannot reach him — he is exalted in power! He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,

²⁴therefore, men fear him. He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.

¹Of David. [1] Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.

²For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants.

³Trust in the LORD and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely.

⁴Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act,

⁶making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.

⁷Be silent before the LORD and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.

⁸Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated — it can only bring harm.

⁹For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹⁰A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there.

¹¹But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity.

¹²The wicked person schemes against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him.

¹³The Lord laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn the sword and strung the bow to bring down the poor and needy and to slaughter those whose way is upright.

¹⁵Their swords will enter their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶The little that the righteous person has is better than the abundance of many wicked people.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD supports the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD watches over the blameless all their days, and their inheritance will last forever.

¹⁹They will not be disgraced in times of adversity; they will be satisfied in days of hunger.

²⁰But the wicked will perish; the LORD’s enemies, like the glory of the pastures, will fade away — they will fade away like smoke.

²¹The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving.

²²Those who are blessed by the LORD will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be destroyed.

²³A person’s steps are established by the LORD, and he takes pleasure in his way.

²⁴Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, because the LORD supports him with his hand.

²⁵I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.

²⁶He is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing.

²⁷Turn away from evil, do what is good, and settle permanently.

²⁸For the LORD loves justice and will not abandon his faithful ones. They are kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked will be destroyed.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it permanently.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom; his tongue speaks what is just.

³¹The instruction of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.

³²The wicked one lies in wait for the righteous and intends to kill him;

³³the LORD will not leave him in the power of the wicked one or allow him to be condemned when he is judged.

³⁴Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, violent person well-rooted, like a flourishing native tree.

³⁶Then I passed by and noticed he was gone; I searched for him, but he could not be found.

³⁷Watch the blameless and observe the upright, for the person of peace will have a future.

³⁸But transgressors will all be eliminated; the future of the wicked will be destroyed.

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD, their refuge in a time of distress.

⁴⁰The LORD helps and delivers them; he will deliver them from the wicked and will save them because they take refuge in him.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹The Israelites again did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines forty years.

²There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children.

³The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

⁴Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean;

⁵for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

⁶Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.

⁷He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

⁸Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

⁹God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her.

¹⁰The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

¹²Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what will be the boy’s responsibilities and work?”

¹³The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her.

¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵“Please stay here,” Manoah told him, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶The angel of the LORD said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” (Manoah did not know he was the angel of the LORD.)

¹⁷Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

¹⁸“Why do you ask my name,” the angel of the LORD asked him, “since it is beyond understanding.”

¹⁹Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD, who did something miraculous while Manoah and his wife were watching.

²⁰When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground.

²¹The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.

²²“We’re certainly going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”

²³But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

²⁴So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵Then the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the LORD’s temple.

²He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

³They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

⁶who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The LORD says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.

⁷I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

⁸When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish, he left and found him fighting against Libnah.

⁹The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.

¹¹Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?

¹²Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’”

¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:

¹⁶LORD of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God  — you alone  — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁷Listen closely, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

¹⁸LORD, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.

¹⁹They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made from wood and stone by human hands. So they have destroyed them.

²⁰Now, LORD our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are God  — you alone.

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria,

²²this is the word the LORD has spoken against him: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.

²³Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴You have mocked the LORD through your servants. You have said, “With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its distant heights, its densest forest.

²⁵I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.”

²⁶Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.

²⁷Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.

²⁸But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against me.

²⁹Because your raging against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.

³⁰“‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³¹The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

³²For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will accomplish this.’

³³“Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city, shoot an arrow here, come before it with a shield, or build up a siege ramp against it.

³⁴He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁵I will defend this city and rescue it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁶Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies!

³⁷So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.

¹Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest

²and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

⁴Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.

⁶“But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

⁹He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.

¹⁰There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Here I am, Lord,” he replied.

¹¹“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.

¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

¹⁷Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

¹⁹And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time.

²⁰Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,

²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him,

²⁵but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

²⁷Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.

³⁰When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²As Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,” and immediately he got up.

³⁵So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated Dorcas). She was always doing good works and acts of charity.

³⁷About that time she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him who urged him, “Don’t delay in coming with us.”

³⁹Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. And all the widows approached him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.

⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. He called the saints and widows and presented her alive.

⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³Peter stayed for some time in Joppa with Simon, a leather tanner.