Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.

²At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from them.

³But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴Again he sent another servant to them, and they hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.

⁵Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed.

⁶He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’

⁸So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰Haven’t you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

¹¹ This came about from the Lord and is wonderful in our eyes?”

¹²They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.

¹³Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Jesus to trap him in his words.

¹⁴When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

¹⁵But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.”

¹⁶They brought a coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them. “Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

¹⁸Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him:

¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child, that man should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁰There were seven brothers. The first married a woman, and dying, left no offspring.

²¹The second also took her, and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.

²²None of the seven left offspring. Last of all, the woman died too.

²³In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be, since the seven had married her?”

²⁴Jesus spoke to them, “Isn’t this the reason why you’re mistaken: you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?

²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.

²⁶And as for the dead being raised — haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

²⁷He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”

²⁸One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

³¹The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”

³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him.

³³And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.

³⁵While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?

³⁶David himself says by the Holy Spirit: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’

³⁷David himself calls him ‘Lord’; how then can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.

³⁸He also said in his teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who want greetings in the marketplaces,

³⁹the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”

⁴¹Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums.

⁴²Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little.

⁴³Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

⁴⁴For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had  — all she had to live on.”

¹After this, the king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.

²Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

³and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guards in the prison where Joseph was confined.

⁴The captain of the guards assigned Joseph to them as their personal attendant, and they were in custody for some time.

⁵The king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.

⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸“We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me.

¹⁰On the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters ripened into grapes.

¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹²“This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days.

¹³In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.

¹⁵For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head.

¹⁷In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸“This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days.

¹⁹In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head — from off you — and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh from your body.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He elevated the chief cupbearer and the chief baker among his servants.

²¹Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

²²But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

¹We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia:

²During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

³I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord,

⁴they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints,

⁵and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.

⁶So we urged Titus that just as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this act of grace.

⁷Now as you excel in everything — in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us  — excel also in this act of grace.

⁸I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.

⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

¹⁰And in this matter I am giving advice because it is profitable for you, who began last year not only to do something but also to want to do it.

¹¹Now also finish the task, so that just as there was an eager desire, there may also be a completion, according to what you have.

¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

¹³It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality.

¹⁴At the present time your surplus is available for their need, so that their abundance may in turn meet your need, in order that there may be equality.

¹⁵As it is written: The person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little.

¹⁶Thanks be to God, who put the same concern for you into the heart of Titus.

¹⁷For he welcomed our appeal and, being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.

¹⁸We have sent with him the brother who is praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.

¹⁹And not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to accompany us with this gracious gift that we are administering for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help.

²⁰We are taking this precaution so that no one will criticize us about this large sum that we are administering.

²¹Indeed, we are giving careful thought to do what is right, not only before the Lord but also before people.

²²We have also sent with them our brother. We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent — and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

²³As for Titus, he is my partner and coworker for you; as for our brothers, they are the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

²⁴Therefore, show them proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.

²This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands.

³For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

⁴because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

⁵Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶Jesus Christ — he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood  — and these three are in agreement.

⁹If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son.

¹⁰The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.

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

¹²The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

¹⁶If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life to him — to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that.

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.

¹⁸We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

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

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one — that is, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

¹The LORD answered Job:

²Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who argues with God give an answer.

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷Get ready to answer me like a man; When I question you, you will inform me.

⁸Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him.

¹²Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

¹³Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.

¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle.

¹⁶Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

¹⁸His bones are bronze tubes; his limbs are like iron rods.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield food for him, while all sorts of wild animals play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants, hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.

²²Lotus plants cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him while he looks on, or pierce his nose with snares?

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] I waited patiently for the LORD, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.

²He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.

³He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the LORD.

⁴How happy is anyone who has put his trust in the LORD and has not turned to the proud or to those who run after lies!

⁵LORD my God, you have done many things — your wondrous works and your plans for us; none can compare with you. If I were to report and speak of them, they are more than can be told.

⁶You do not delight in sacrifice and offering; you open my ears to listen. You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.

⁷Then I said, “See, I have come; in the scroll it is written about me.

⁸I delight to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me.”

⁹I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; see, I do not keep my mouth closed  — as you know, LORD.

¹⁰I did not hide your righteousness in my heart; I spoke about your faithfulness and salvation; I did not conceal your constant love and truth from the great assembly.

¹¹LORD, you do not withhold your compassion from me. Your constant love and truth will always guard me.

¹²For troubles without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me; I am unable to see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my courage leaves me.

¹³LORD, be pleased to rescue me; hurry to help me, LORD.

¹⁴Let those who intend to take my life be disgraced and confounded. Let those who wish me harm be turned back and humiliated.

¹⁵Let those who say to me, “Aha, aha!” be appalled because of their shame.

¹⁶Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation continually say, “The LORD is great!”

¹⁷I am oppressed and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my helper and my deliverer; my God, do not delay.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.

²When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let’s wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”

³But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

⁴Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.

⁵The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

⁷Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

⁸The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.

⁹While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. The secret of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies! Won’t you please tell me how you can be tied up?”

¹¹He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹²Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom — ”

¹⁴She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

¹⁵“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

¹⁶Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out,

¹⁷he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the silver with them.

¹⁹Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him.

²⁰Then she cried, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When he awoke from his sleep, he said, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

²¹The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

²²But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

²³Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead.

²⁵When they were in good spirits, they said, “Bring Samson here to entertain us.” So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.

²⁶Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”

²⁷The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

²⁸He called out to the LORD: “Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

²⁹Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left.

³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

³¹Then his brothers and all his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he judged Israel twenty years.

¹“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

³A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

⁴Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain.

⁵And the glory of the LORD will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

⁶A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”

⁹Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

¹⁰See, the Lord GOD comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.

¹¹He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales?

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or who gave him counsel?

¹⁴Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness.

¹⁸With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?

¹⁹An idol? — something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for?

²⁰A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.

²¹Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?

²²God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²³He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.

²⁴They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

²⁷Jacob, why do you say, and, Israel, why do you assert: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.

²⁹He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall,

³¹but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.

¹About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

²and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

⁴After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

⁶When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”

⁹So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

¹²As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

¹³He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

¹⁵“You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

¹⁷Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.

¹⁸At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

¹⁹After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.

²²The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

²⁵After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.