Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.

²When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard.

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

⁴And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted.

⁵Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed.

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

⁷But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us 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 destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰Have you not read this scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

¹¹this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

¹²When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

¹³Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said.

¹⁴And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?

¹⁵Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.”

¹⁶And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.”

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

¹⁸Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying,

¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.

²⁰There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children;

²¹and the second married the widow and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise;

²²none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died.

²³In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor 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, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

²⁷He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”

²⁸One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’;

³³and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ — this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

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

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

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

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

³⁸As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,

³⁹and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!

⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.

⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.

⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.

⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

¹Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt.

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

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

⁴The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody.

⁵One night they both dreamed — the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison — each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.

⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?”

⁸They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me,

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

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

¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days;

¹³within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place.

¹⁵For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head,

¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸And Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days;

¹⁹within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head — from you! — and hang you on a pole; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

²⁰On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

²¹He restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand;

²²but the chief baker he hanged, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

¹We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia;

²for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

³For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means,

⁴begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints —

⁵and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us,

⁶so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you.

⁷Now as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you — so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

⁸I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others.

⁹For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

¹⁰And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something —

¹¹now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.

¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has — not according to what one does not have.

¹³I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between

¹⁴your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.

¹⁵As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”

¹⁶But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have.

¹⁷For he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you of his own accord.

¹⁸With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming the good news;

¹⁹and not only that, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill.

²⁰We intend that no one should blame us about this generous gift that we are administering,

²¹for we intend to do what is right not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of others.

²²And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found eager in many matters, but who is now more eager than ever because of his great confidence in you.

²³As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker in your service; as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

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

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,

⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

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

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

⁷There are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.

⁹If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.

¹⁰Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.

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

¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

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

¹⁴And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

¹⁶If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one — to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that.

¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

¹⁸We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.

¹⁹We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.

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

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

¹And the LORD said to Job:

²“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Anyone who argues with God must respond.”

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴“See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but will proceed no further.”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

⁷“Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me.

⁸Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?

⁹Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰“Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.

¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on all who are proud, and abase them.

¹²Look on all who are proud, and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand.

¹³Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below.

¹⁴Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can give you victory.

¹⁵“Look at Behemoth, which I made just as I made you; it eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶Its strength is in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷It makes its tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are knit together.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron.

¹⁹“It is the first of the great acts of God — only its Maker can approach it with the sword.

²⁰For the mountains yield food for it where all the wild animals play.

²¹Under the lotus plants it lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover it for shade; the willows of the wadi surround it.

²³Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened; it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.

²⁴Can one take it with hooks or pierce its nose with a snare?

¹I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

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

⁴Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

⁵You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

⁶Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

⁷Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

⁸I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

¹⁰I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

¹¹Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.

¹²For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.

¹⁴Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt.

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

¹⁶But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

¹⁷As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.

¹Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

²She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

⁴“You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,

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

⁶Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

⁷Whoever corrects a scoffer wins abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt.

⁸A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you.

⁹Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still; teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

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

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

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud; she is ignorant and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,

¹⁶“You who are simple, turn in here!” And to those without sense she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to her.

²The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” So they circled around and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, thinking, “Let us wait until the light of the morning; then we will kill him.”

³But Samson lay only until midnight. Then at midnight he rose up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

⁴After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

⁵The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.”

⁷Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else.”

⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them.

⁹While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies; please tell me how you could be bound.”

¹¹He said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else.”

¹²So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” (The men lying in wait were in an inner chamber.) But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me how you could be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else.”

¹⁴So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web, and made them tight with the pin. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

¹⁵Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.”

¹⁶Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death.

¹⁷So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else.”

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands.

¹⁹She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him.

²⁰Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

²¹So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

²²But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”

²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”

²⁵And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, and let him entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars;

²⁶and Samson said to the attendant who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean against them.”

²⁷Now the house was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women, who looked on while Samson performed.

²⁸Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “Lord GOD, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

²⁹And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.

³⁰Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might; and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.

³¹Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.

¹Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.

²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

⁵Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

¹⁰See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

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

¹³Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him?

¹⁴Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

¹⁹An idol? — A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.

²⁰As a gift one chooses mulberry wood — wood that will not rot — then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;

²³who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

³¹but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

¹About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church.

²He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.

³After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

⁶The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

⁹Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

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

¹³When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the believers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

²¹On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them.

²²The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!”

²³And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.

²⁵Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.