Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

²And six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter, James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;

³and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

⁴And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here; let’s make three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁶For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified.

⁷Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!”

⁸And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

⁹As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead.

¹⁰They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.

¹¹And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

¹³But I say to you that Elijah hasindeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

¹⁴And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.

¹⁵Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him.

¹⁶And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?”

¹⁷And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak;

¹⁸and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.”

¹⁹And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

²⁰And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.

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

²²It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

²³But Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, Icommand you, come out of him and do not enter himagain!”

²⁶And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”

²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up.

²⁸When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?”

²⁹And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

³⁰And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it.

³¹For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to behanded over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been 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; and when He was in the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?”

³⁴But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.

³⁵And sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

³⁶And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them,

³⁷“Whoeverreceivesone child like this in My namereceives Me; and whoeverreceives Me does notreceive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

³⁸John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.”

³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.

⁴⁰For the one who is not against us isfor us.

⁴¹For whoever gives you a cup of water to drinkbecause of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

⁴²“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him if a heavy millstone is hung around his neck and he is thrown into the sea.

⁴³And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go intohell, into the unquenchable fire.

⁴⁴

⁴⁵And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown intohell.

⁴⁶

⁴⁷And if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown intohell,

⁴⁸where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT EXTINGUISHED.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will youmake it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

²These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a multicolored tunic.

⁴And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

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

⁶He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had;

⁷for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?”

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

¹²Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.

¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.”

¹⁴Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

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

¹⁶He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”

¹⁷Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer!

²⁰Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands by saying, “Let’s not take his life.”

²²Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.

²³So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the multicolored tunic that was on him;

²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying labdanum resin, balsam, and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.

²⁶And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?

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

²⁸Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.

³⁰He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood;

³²and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”

³³Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A vicious animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

³⁴So Jacob tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³⁵Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.

¹For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

²For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,

³since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked.

⁴For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.

⁶Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—

⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight—

⁸but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade people, but we are well known to God; and I hope that we are also well known in your consciences.

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.

¹³For if we have lost our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

¹⁶Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

¹⁸Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

¹⁹namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

²¹He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

²and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

³By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

⁴The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

⁵but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

⁶the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.

⁷Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

⁸On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, 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 that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

¹⁰The one who loves his brother and sister remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause stumbling.

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

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

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

¹⁷The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us.

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

²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

²²Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

²⁴As for you, see that what you heard from the beginning remains in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

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

²⁷And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you remain in Him.

²⁸Now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not draw back from Him in shame at His coming.

²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been born of Him.

¹“At this also my heart trembles, And leaps from its place.

²Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.

³Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, And His lightning travels to the ends of the earth.

⁴After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightning when His voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with His voice, Doing great things which we do not comprehend.

⁶For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’

⁷He seals the hand of every person, So that all people may know His work.

⁸Then the animal goes into its lair And remains in its den.

⁹From the south comes the storm, And from the north wind the cold.

¹⁰From the breath of God ice is made, And the expanse of the waters is frozen.

¹¹He also loads the clouds with moisture; He disperses the cloud of His lightning.

¹²It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth.

¹³Whether for correction, or for His earth, Or for goodness, He causes it to happen.

¹⁴“Listen to this, Job; Stand and consider the wonders of God.

¹⁵Do you know how God establishes them, And makes the lightning of His clouds to shine?

¹⁶Do you know about the hovering of the clouds, The wonders of One who is perfect in knowledge,

¹⁷You whose garments are hot When the land is still because of the south wind?

¹⁸Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we are to say to Him; We cannot present our case because of darkness.

²⁰Shall it be told Him that I would speak? Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

²¹“Now people do not see the light which is bright in the skies; But the wind has passed and cleared them.

²²From the north comes golden splendor; Around God is awesome majesty.

²³The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power And He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness.

²⁴Therefore people fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

¹Do not get upset because of evildoers, Do not be envious of wrongdoers.

²For they will wither quickly like the grass, And decay like the green plants.

³Trust in the LORD and do good; Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

⁴Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

⁶He will bring out your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday.

⁷Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way, Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.

⁸Cease from anger and abandon wrath; Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.

⁹For evildoers will be eliminated, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

¹⁰Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.

¹¹But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

¹²The wicked plots against the righteous, And gnashes at him with his teeth.

¹³The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To take down the afflicted and the needy, To kill off those who are upright in conduct.

¹⁵Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.

¹⁶Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the LORD sustains the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever.

¹⁹They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the days of famine they will have plenty.

²⁰But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the LORD will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

²¹The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives.

²²For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be eliminated.

²³The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

²⁴When he falls, he will not be hurled down, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

²⁵I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging for bread.

²⁶All day long he is gracious and lends, And his descendants are a blessing.

²⁷Turn from evil and do good, So that you will dwell forever.

²⁸For the LORD loves justice And does not abandon His godly ones; They are protected forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be eliminated.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice.

³¹The Law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.

³²The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him.

³³The LORD will not leave him in his hand Or let him be condemned when he is judged.

³⁴Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are eliminated, you will see it.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, violent person Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.

³⁶Then he passed away, and behold, he was no more; I searched for him, but he could not be found.

³⁷Observe the blameless person, and look at the upright; For the person of peace will have a future.

³⁸But wrongdoers will altogether be destroyed; The future of the wicked will be eliminated.

³⁹But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in time of trouble.

⁴⁰The LORD helps them and rescues them; He rescues them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.

¹My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor, Or have given a handshake for a stranger,

²If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth, Or caught by the words of your mouth,

³Then do this, my son, and save yourself: Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and be urgent with your neighbor to free yourself.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids;

⁵Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you lazy one, Observe its ways and be wise,

⁷Which, having no chief, Officer, or ruler,

⁸Prepares its food in the summer And gathers its provision in the harvest.

⁹How long will you lie down, you lazy one? When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁰“A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,”

¹¹Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, Is one who walks with a perverse mouth,

¹³Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who points with his fingers;

¹⁴Who, with perversion in his heart, continually devises evil, Who spreads strife.

¹⁵Therefore his disaster will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates, Seven that are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,

¹⁹A false witness who declares lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

²⁰My son, comply with the commandment of your father, And do not ignore the teaching of your mother;

²¹Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And rebukes for discipline are the way of life

²⁴To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.

²⁶For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for a precious life.

²⁷Can anyone take fire in his lap And his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can a person walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals To satisfy himself when he is hungry;

³¹But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much; He must give up all the property of his house.

³²One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; He who would destroy himself commits it.

³³He will find wounds and disgrace, And his shame will not be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will not accept any settlement, Nor will he be satisfied though you make it a large gift.

¹Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

²And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children.

³Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

⁴And now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.

⁵For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

⁶Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

⁷But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

⁸Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD and said, “Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.”

⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰So the woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came the other day has appeared to me!”

¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.”

¹²Then Manoah said, “Now when your words are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?”

¹³And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “The woman shall pay attention to all that I said.

¹⁴She shall not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶But the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.

¹⁷And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that when your words are fulfilled, we may honor you?”

¹⁸But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is wonderful?”

¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

²²So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God.”

²³But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him when he was in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

²Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

⁹Now he heard them say regarding Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

¹¹Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?

¹²Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?

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

¹⁴Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

¹⁶“LORD of armies, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.

¹⁷Incline Your ear, LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to taunt the living God.

¹⁸Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands,

¹⁹and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

²⁰But now LORD, our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.”

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: “She has shown contempt for you and derided you, The virgin daughter of Zion; The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you!

²³Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily raised your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice junipers. And I will come to its highest peak, its thickest forest.

²⁵I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the canals of Egypt.’

²⁶Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it about That you would turn fortified cities into ruined heaps.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants were powerless, They were shattered and put to shame; They were like the vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.

²⁸But I know your sitting down, Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me.

²⁹Because of your raging against Me And because your complacency has come up to My ears, I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way that you came.

³⁰“Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows from the same, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³¹The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

³²For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of armies will perform this.” ’

³³“Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it.

³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the LORD.

³⁵‘For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”

³⁶Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead.

³⁷So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived in Nineveh.

³⁸Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

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

²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem.

³Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

⁴and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

⁶but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”

⁷The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

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

⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

¹²and he has seenin a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem;

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

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choseninstrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

¹⁶for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.”

¹⁷So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

¹⁹and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus,

²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”

²²But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

²³When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They were also closely watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;

²⁵but his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried repeatedly to associate with the disciples; and yet they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.

³⁰Now when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

³²Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he also came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.

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

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your own bed.” Immediately he got up.

³⁵And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.

³⁷But it happened at that time that she became sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”

³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the room upstairs; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.

⁴⁰But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a tanner named Simon.