Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

²Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³“What did Moses command you?” he replied.

⁴They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

⁵“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.

⁶“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’

⁷‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.

¹¹He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.

¹²And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²²At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

³²They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

³³“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,

³⁴who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

³⁹“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,

⁴⁰but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

⁴²Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

⁴⁶Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”

⁵⁰Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵²“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

¹At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.

²There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her;

³she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er.

⁴She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.

⁵She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother.

¹⁰What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death also.

¹¹Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

¹³When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

¹⁴she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

¹⁶Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

¹⁷“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

¹⁸He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

¹⁹After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

²⁰Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her.

²¹He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

²²So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’ ”

²³Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

²⁴About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”

²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

²⁶Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.

²⁷When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

²⁸As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”

²⁹But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.

³⁰Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.

¹As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

²For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

³We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;

⁵in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;

⁶in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

⁸through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;

⁹known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;

¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.

¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

¹⁴Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

¹⁷Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹⁸And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

³All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

⁵But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.

⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

⁸The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

¹¹For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

¹⁵Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:

²⁰If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God

²²and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

²³And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

²⁴The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

²“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

³Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

⁵Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹²“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

¹³that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

¹⁵The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

²⁰Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

²¹Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

²⁶to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,

²⁷to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

³⁰when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

³⁴“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

³⁵Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

³⁸when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?

⁴¹Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

¹A psalm of David. A petition. LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

²Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me.

³Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.

⁴My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

⁶I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.

⁷My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.

⁸I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.

¹¹My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.

¹²Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;

¹⁴I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.

¹⁵LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.

¹⁶For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

¹⁷For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous.

²⁰Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.

²¹LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.

²²Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

¹My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.

²Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and to insight, “You are my relative.”

⁵They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

⁶At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense.

⁸He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house

⁹at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.

¹¹(She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home;

¹²now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)

¹³She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴“Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!

¹⁶I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!

¹⁹My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.

²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose

²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.

²⁶Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

¹Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.

²When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

³His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”

⁴(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

⁵Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

⁶The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

⁷Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

⁸Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey.

⁹He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

¹⁰Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.

¹¹When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

¹²“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.

¹³If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴He replied, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” For three days they could not give the answer.

¹⁵On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

¹⁶Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”

¹⁷She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home.

²⁰And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

¹In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

³“Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:

⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.

⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

⁷“ ‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised:

⁸I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ ” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

¹⁰I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”

¹¹I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.

¹²Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.

¹³I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.

¹⁴I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”

¹⁵But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.

¹⁷Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

¹⁸For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

¹⁹The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.

²⁰The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.

²¹Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

²²Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?”

¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

²He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

³One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.

⁵Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.

⁶He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants.

⁸He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

⁹About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

¹¹He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.

¹²It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.

¹³Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁶This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

¹⁷While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.

¹⁸They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

¹⁹While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.

²⁰So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

²¹Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

²²The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.”

²³Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

²⁴The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

²⁵As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.

²⁶But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

²⁷While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

²⁸He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

³⁰Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me

³¹and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

³²Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’

³³So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism

³⁵but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

³⁷You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—

³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross,

⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.

⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,

⁴⁷“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

⁴⁸So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.