Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples,

²saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a [donkey's] colt tied, which has never been ridden by anyone; untie it and bring it here.

³If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it'; and immediately he will send it here."

⁴So they went away [to the village] and found a colt tied outside at a gate in the street, and they untied it.

⁵Some of the people who were standing there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?"

⁶They replied to them just as Jesus had directed, and they allowed them to go.

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and He sat on it.

⁸And many [of the people] spread their coats on the road [as an act of tribute and homage before a new king], and others [scattered a layer of] leafy branches which they had cut from the fields [honoring Him as Messiah].

⁹Those who went in front and those who were following [Him] were shouting [in joy and praise], "Hosanna ( Save, I pray)! Blessed (praised, glorified) is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!"

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple [enclosure]; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve [disciples], because it was already late [in the day].

¹²On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He was hungry.

¹³Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if He would find anything on it. But He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴He said to it, "No one will ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening [to what He said].

¹⁵Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple [grounds] and began driving out [with force] the people who were selling and buying [animals for sacrifice] in the temple area, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers [who made a profit exchanging foreign money for temple coinage] and the seats of those who were selling doves;

¹⁶and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise or household wares through the temple [grounds, using the temple area irreverently as a shortcut].

¹⁷He began to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den."

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began searching for a way to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, since the entire crowd was struck with astonishment at His teaching.

¹⁹When evening came, Jesus and His disciples would leave the city.

²⁰In the morning, as they were passing by, the disciples saw that the fig tree had withered away from the roots up.

²¹And remembering, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi (Master), look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered!"

²²Jesus replied, "Have faith in God [constantly].

²³I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea!' and does not doubt in his heart [in God's unlimited power], but believes that what he says is going to take place, it will be done for him [in accordance with God's will].

²⁴For this reason I am telling you, whatever things you ask for in prayer [in accordance with God's will], believe [with confident trust] that you have received them, and they will be given to you.

²⁵Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him [drop the issue, let it go], so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions and wrongdoings [against Him and others].

²⁶["But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions."]

²⁷They came again to Jerusalem. And as Jesus was walking in the [courts and porches of the] temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him,

²⁸and began saying to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?"

²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰Was the baptism of John [the Baptist] from heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men? Answer Me."

³¹They began discussing it with each other, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

³²But shall we say, 'From men?'" —they were afraid [to answer because] of the crowd, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet.

³³So they replied to Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

¹Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the [royal] guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.

²The LORD was with Joseph, and he [even though a slave] became a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

³Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to prosper (succeed) in his hand.

⁴So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight and he served him as his personal servant. He made Joseph overseer over his house, and he put all that he owned in Joseph's charge.

⁵It happened that from the time that he made Joseph overseer in his house and [put him in charge] over all that he owned, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph; so the Lord's blessing was on everything that Potiphar owned, in the house and in the field.

⁶So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph's charge; and with Joseph there he did not [need to] pay attention to anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and attractive in form and appearance.

⁷Then after a time his master's wife looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, "Lie with me."

⁸But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me in the house, my master does not concern himself with anything; he has put everything that he owns in my charge.

⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?"

¹⁰And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her.

¹¹Then it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the household was there in the house.

¹²She caught Joseph by his [outer] robe, saying, "Lie with me!" But he left his robe in her hand and ran, and got outside [the house].

¹³When she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and had run outside,

¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, "Look at this, your master has brought a Hebrew [into the household] to mock and insult us; he came to me to lie with me, and I screamed.

¹⁵When he heard me screaming, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house]."

¹⁶So she left Joseph's [outer] robe beside her until his master came home.

¹⁷Then she told her husband the same story, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you brought among us, came to me to mock and insult me;

¹⁸then as soon as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house]."

¹⁹And when Joseph's master heard the words of his wife, saying, "This is the way your servant treated me," his anger burned.

²⁰So Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison.

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden.

²²The warden committed to Joseph's care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was in charge of it.

²³The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's care because the LORD was with him; whatever Joseph did, the LORD made to prosper.

¹Therefore, since we have these [great and wonderful] promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, completing holiness [living a consecrated life—a life set apart for God's purpose] in the fear of God.

²Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one.

³I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are [nested] in our hearts [and you will remain there] to die together and to live together [with us].

⁴Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride and boasting on your behalf. I am filled [to the brim] with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in spite of all our trouble.

⁵For even when we arrived in Macedonia our bodies had no rest, but we were oppressed at every turn—conflicts and disputes without, fears and dread within.

⁶But God, who comforts and encourages the depressed and the disquieted, comforted us by the arrival of Titus.

⁷And not only by his arrival, but also by [his account of] the encouragement which he received in regard to you. He told us about your longing [for us], your mourning [over sin], and how eagerly you took my part and supported me, so that I rejoiced even more.

⁸For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret it [now]; though I did regret it —for I see that the letter hurt you, though only for a little while—

⁹yet I am glad now, not because you were hurt and made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance [and you turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that you might not suffer loss in anything on our account.

¹⁰For [godly] sorrow that is in accord with the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow [the hopeless sorrow of those who do not believe] produces death.

¹¹For [you can look back and] see what an earnestness and authentic concern this godly sorrow has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves [against charges that you tolerate sin], what indignation [at sin], what fear [of offending God], what longing [for righteousness and justice], what passion [to do what is right], what readiness to punish [those who sin and those who tolerate sin]! At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

¹²So even though I wrote to you [as I did], it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but in order to make evident to you before God how earnestly you do care for us [and your willingness to accept our authority].

¹³It is for this reason that we are comforted and encouraged. And in addition to our comfort, we were especially delighted at the joy of Titus, because you have refreshed his spirit.

¹⁴For if I have boasted to him at all concerning you, I was not disappointed. But just as everything we ever said to you was true, so our boasting [about you] to Titus has proved true also.

¹⁵His affection is greater than ever as he remembers the obedience [to his guidance] that all of you exhibited, and how you received him with the greatest respect.

¹⁶I rejoice that in everything I have [perfect] confidence in you.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world.

²By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source];

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son's true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind].

⁵They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories—demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them.

⁶We [who teach God's word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].

⁷Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience].

⁸The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]

⁹By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God's requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us.

¹³By this we know [with confident assurance] that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us His [Holy] Spirit.

¹⁴We [who were with Him in person] have seen and testify [as eye-witnesses] that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

¹⁶We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him.

¹⁷In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God's judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God's love].

¹⁹We love, because He first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.

¹"Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth [to their young]? Do you observe the calving of the deer?

²"Can you count the months that they carry offspring, Or do you know the time when they give birth?

³"They kneel down, they bring forth their young, They cast out their labor pains.

⁴"Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field; They leave and do not return to them.

⁵"Who sent out the wild donkey free [from dependence on man]? And who has loosed the bonds of the wild donkey [to survive in the wild],

⁶To whom I gave the wilderness as his home And the salt land as his dwelling place?

⁷"He scorns the tumult of the city, And does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.

⁸"He explores the mountains as his pasture And searches after every green thing.

⁹"Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, Or remain beside your manger at night?

¹⁰"Can you bind the wild ox with a harness [to the plow] in the furrow? Or will he plow the valleys for you?

¹¹"Will you trust him because his strength is great And leave your labor to him?

¹²"Will you have faith and depend on him to return your grain And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³"The [flightless] wings of the ostrich wave joyously; With the pinion (shackles, fetters) and plumage of love,

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵Forgetting that a foot may crush them, Or that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶"She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers; Though her labor is in vain because she is unconcerned [for the safety of her brood],

¹⁷For God has made her forget wisdom, And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸"Yet when she lifts herself on high, [So swift is she that] she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹"Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

²⁰"Have you [Job] made him leap like a locust? The majesty of his snorting [nostrils] is terrible.

²¹"He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].

²²"He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; And [in battle] he does not turn back from the sword.

²³"The quiver rattles against him, [As do] the flashing spear and the lance [of his rider].

²⁴"With fierceness and rage he races to devour the ground, And he does not stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.

²⁵"As often as the trumpet sounds he says, 'Aha!' And he smells the battle from far away, And senses the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

²⁶"Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, Stretching his wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?

²⁷"Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up And makes his nest on high [in an inaccessible place]?

²⁸"On the cliff he dwells and remains [securely], Upon the point of the rock and the inaccessible stronghold.

²⁹"From there he spies out the prey; His eyes see it from far away.

³⁰"His young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there is he."

¹To the Chief Musician; for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, "I will guard my ways That I may not sin with my tongue; I will muzzle my mouth While the wicked are in my presence."

²I was mute and silent [before my enemies], I refrained even from good, And my distress grew worse.

³My heart was hot within me. While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴"LORD, let me know my [life's] end And [to appreciate] the extent of my days; Let me know how frail I am [how transient is my stay here].

⁵"Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths, And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]! Selah.

⁶"Surely every man walks around like a shadow [in a charade]; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; Each one builds up riches, not knowing who will receive them.

⁷"And now, Lord, for what do I expectantly wait? My hope [my confident expectation] is in You.

⁸"Save me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the scorn and reproach of the [self-righteous, arrogant] fool.

⁹"I am mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who has done it.

¹⁰"Remove Your plague from me; I am wasting away because of the conflict and opposition of Your hand.

¹¹"With rebukes You discipline man for sin; You consume like a moth what is precious to him; Surely every man is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]. Selah.

¹²"Hear my prayer, O LORD, and listen to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am Your temporary guest, A sojourner like all my fathers.

¹³"O look away from me, that I may smile and again know joy Before I depart and am no more."

¹Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice?

²On the top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, wisdom takes her stand;

³Beside the gates, at the entrance to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

⁴"To you, O men, I call, And my voice is directed to the sons of men.

⁵"O you naive or inexperienced [who are easily misled], understand prudence and seek astute common sense; And, O you [closed-minded, self-confident] fools, understand wisdom [seek the insight and self-discipline that leads to godly living].

⁶"Listen, for I will speak excellent and noble things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.

⁷"For my mouth will utter truth, And wickedness is repulsive and loathsome to my lips.

⁸"All the words of my mouth are in righteousness (upright, in right standing with God); There is nothing contrary to truth or perverted (crooked) in them.

⁹"They are all straightforward to him who understands [with an open and willing mind], And right to those who find knowledge and live by it.

¹⁰"Take my instruction rather than [seeking] silver, And take knowledge rather than choicest gold,

¹¹"For wisdom is better than rubies; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

¹²"I, [godly] wisdom, reside with prudence [good judgment, moral courage and astute common sense], And I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³"The [reverent] fear and worshipful awe of the LORD includes the hatred of evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.

¹⁴"Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power and strength are mine.

¹⁵"By me kings reign And rulers decide and decree justice.

¹⁶"By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge and govern rightly.

¹⁷"I love those who love me; And those who seek me early and diligently will find me.

¹⁸"Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness (right standing with God).

¹⁹"My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, And my yield is better than choicest silver.

²⁰"I, [Wisdom, continuously] walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

²¹That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth and true riches, And that I may fill their treasuries.

²²"The LORD created and possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old [were accomplished].

²³"From everlasting I was established and ordained, From the beginning, before the earth existed, [I, godly wisdom, existed].

²⁴"When there were no ocean depths I was born, When there were no fountains and springs overflowing with water.

²⁵"Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was born;

²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Or the first of the dust of the earth.

²⁷"When He established the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; When He drew a circle upon the face of the deep,

²⁸When He made firm the skies above, When the fountains and springs of the deep became fixed and strong,

²⁹When He set for the sea its boundary So that the waters would not transgress [the boundaries set by] His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth—

³⁰Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight; Rejoicing before Him always,

³¹Rejoicing in the world, His inhabited earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.

³²"Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] are they who keep my ways.

³³"Heed (pay attention to) instruction and be wise, And do not ignore or neglect it.

³⁴"Blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

³⁵"For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds life And obtains favor and grace from the LORD.

³⁶"But he who fails to find me or sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love and court death."

¹But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat [as a gift of reconciliation]; and he said, "I will go in to my wife in her room." But her father would not allow him to go in.

²Her father said, "I really thought you utterly hated her; so I gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not more beautiful than she? Please take her [as your wife] instead."

³Samson said to them, "This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm."

⁴So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches and turning the foxes tail to tail, he put a torch between each pair of tails.

⁵When he had set the torches ablaze, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned up the heap of sheaves and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves.

⁶Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?" And they were told, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took Samson's wife and gave her to his [chief] companion [at the wedding feast]." So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

⁷Samson said to them, "If this is the way you act, be certain that I will take revenge on you, and [only] after that I will stop."

⁸Then he struck them without mercy, a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

⁹Then the [army of the] Philistines came up and camped in [the tribal territory of] Judah, and overran Lehi (Jawbone).

¹⁰The men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?" And they answered, "We have come up to bind Samson, in order to do to him as he has done to us."

¹¹Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Have you not known that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them."

¹²They said to him, "We have come down to bind you, so that we may hand you over to the Philistines." And Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me."

¹³So they said to him, "No, we will [only] bind you securely and place you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock [of Etam].

¹⁴When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and the ropes on his arms were like flax (linen) that had been burned, and his bonds dropped off his hands.

¹⁵He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out his hand and took it and killed a thousand men with it.

¹⁶Then Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men."

¹⁷When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi (hill of the jawbone).

¹⁸Then Samson was very thirsty, and he called out to the LORD and said, "You have given this great victory through the hand of Your servant, and now am I to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised (pagans)?"

¹⁹So God split open the hollow place that was at Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his spirit (strength) returned and he was revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore (spring which is calling), which is at Lehi to this day.

²⁰And Samson judged Israel in the days of [occupation by] the Philistines for twenty years.

¹At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent [messengers with] letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

²Hezekiah was pleased and showed them his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his entire armory and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his area of dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked, "What did these men say? From where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They came to me from a far country, from Babylon."

⁴Then Isaiah said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts,

⁶'Listen carefully, the days are coming when everything that is in your house and everything that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the LORD.

⁷And some of your own sons (descendants) who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

⁸Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and faithfulness [to God's promises to us] in my days."

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were throughout Judea heard [with astonishment] that the Gentiles also had received and accepted the word of God [the message concerning salvation through Christ].

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision [certain Jewish believers who followed the Law] took issue with him [for violating Jewish customs],

³saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and [even] ate with them!"

⁴But Peter began [at the beginning] and explained [the events] to them step by step, saying,

⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and [it descended until] it came right down to me,

⁶and looking closely at it, I saw all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air [both clean and unclean according to the Law],

⁷and I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'

⁸But I said, 'Not at all, Lord; for nothing common (unholy) or [ceremonially] unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

⁹But the voice from heaven answered a second time, 'What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).'

¹⁰This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹And right then the three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them without the slightest hesitation. So these six brothers also went with me and we went to the man's house.

¹³And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, 'Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;

¹⁴he will bring a message to you by which you will be saved [and granted eternal life], you and all your household.'

¹⁵When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as He did on us at the beginning [at Pentecost].

¹⁶Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷So, if God gave Gentiles the same gift [equally] as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ [as Savior], who was I to interfere or stand in God's way?"

¹⁸When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified and praised God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to eternal life [that is, real life after earthly death]."

¹⁹So then [since they were unaware of these developments] those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with [the stoning of] Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, without telling the message [of salvation through Christ] to anyone except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming [to them] the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹And the hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord [for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior].

²²The news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God [that was bestowed on them], he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with an unwavering heart to stay true and devoted to the Lord.

²⁴For Barnabas was a good man [privately and publicly—his godly character benefited both himself and others] and he was full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith [in Jesus the Messiah, through whom believers have everlasting life]. And a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵And Barnabas left for Tarsus to search for Saul;

²⁶and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For an entire year they met [with others] in the church and instructed large numbers; and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

²⁷Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and prophesied through the [Holy] Spirit that a severe famine would come on the entire world. And this did happen during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹So the disciples decided to send a contribution, each according to his individual ability, to the believers who lived in Judea.

³⁰And this they did, sending the contribution to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.