Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

²Then he began to teach them, saying:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. j

⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

¹¹“You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

¹²Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.

¹⁵No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.

¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.

¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

²¹“You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.

²²But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.

²³So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,

²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

²⁵Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.

²⁶Truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.

²⁸But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

³¹“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.

³²But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors,  You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.

³⁴But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne;

³⁵or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.

³⁶Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

³⁷But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

³⁹But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

⁴⁰As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.

⁴¹And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?

⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

¹This is the document containing the family records of Adam. On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God;

²he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind.

³Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

⁴Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

⁵So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died.

⁶Seth was 105 years old when he fathered Enosh.

⁷Seth lived 807 years after he fathered Enosh, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

⁸So Seth’s life lasted 912 years; then he died.

⁹Enosh was 90 years old when he fathered Kenan.

¹⁰Enosh lived 815 years after he fathered Kenan, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹¹So Enosh’s life lasted 905 years; then he died.

¹²Kenan was 70 years old when he fathered Mahalalel.

¹³Kenan lived 840 years after he fathered Mahalalel, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁴So Kenan’s life lasted 910 years; then he died.

¹⁵Mahalalel was 65 years old when he fathered Jared.

¹⁶Mahalalel lived 830 years after he fathered Jared, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁷So Mahalalel’s life lasted 895 years; then he died.

¹⁸Jared was 162 years old when he fathered Enoch.

¹⁹Jared lived 800 years after he fathered Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁰So Jared’s life lasted 962 years; then he died.

²¹Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.

²²And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

²³So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

²⁵Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech.

²⁶Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁷So Methuselah’s life lasted 969 years; then he died.

²⁸Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son.

²⁹And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

³⁰Lamech lived 595 years after he fathered Noah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

³¹So Lamech’s life lasted 777 years; then he died.

³²Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

²We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

³And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,

⁴endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

⁵This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.

⁸But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.

¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

¹¹And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

¹³In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.

¹⁶And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

¹⁷Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.

¹⁹For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

²⁰The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more

²¹so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you.

²For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

³When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁴But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.

⁵For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

⁶So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled.

⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

⁹For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.

¹²Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you,

¹³and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

¹⁵See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

¹⁶Rejoice always,

¹⁷pray constantly,

¹⁸give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹Don’t stifle the Spirit.

²⁰Don’t despise prophecies,

²¹but test all things. Hold on to what is good.

²²Stay away from every kind of evil.

²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.

²⁵Brothers and sisters, pray for us also.

²⁶Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

²⁷I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.

²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

¹Call out! Will anyone answer you? Which of the holy ones will you turn to?

²For anger kills a fool, and jealousy slays the gullible.

³I have seen a fool taking root, but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

⁴His children are far from safety. They are crushed at the city gate, with no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest, even taking it out of the thorns. The thirsty pant for his children’s wealth.

⁶For distress does not grow out of the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

⁷But humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and would present my case to him.

⁹He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth and sends water to the fields.

¹¹He sets the lowly on high, and mourners are lifted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the crafty so that they achieve no success.

¹³He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly brought to an end.

¹⁴They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night.

¹⁵He saves the needy from their sharp words and from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷See how happy is the person whom God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death, and in battle, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be safe from slander and not fear destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger and not fear the land’s wild creatures.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure, and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

²⁵You will also know that your offspring will be many and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will approach the grave in full vigor, as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.

²⁷We have investigated this, and it is true! Hear it and understand it for yourself.

¹For the choir director: with the flutes. A psalm of David. [1] Listen to my words, LORD; consider my sighing.

²Pay attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for I pray to you.

³In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.

⁴For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with you.

⁵The boastful cannot stand in your sight; you hate all evildoers.

⁶You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors violent and treacherous people.

⁷But I enter your house by the abundance of your faithful love; I bow down toward your holy temple in reverential awe of you.

⁸LORD, lead me in your righteousness because of my adversaries; make your way straight before me.

⁹For there is nothing reliable in what they say; destruction is within them; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongues.

¹⁰Punish them, God; let them fall by their own schemes. Drive them out because of their many crimes, for they rebel against you.

¹¹But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them shout for joy forever. May you shelter them, and may those who love your name boast about you.

¹²For you, LORD, bless the righteous one; you surround him with favor like a shield.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding

²so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

³Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

⁴in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

⁶She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

⁷So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

⁹Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

¹⁰strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

¹¹At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.

¹³I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors.

¹⁴I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares?

¹⁷They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving deer, a graceful doe  — let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.

²⁰Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman?

²¹For a man’s ways are before the LORD’s eyes, and he considers all his paths.

²²A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.

²³He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.

¹When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea heard how the LORD had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, they lost heart and their courage failed because of the Israelites.

²At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again.”

³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁴This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males — all the men of war — had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt.

⁵Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the wilderness along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt.

⁶For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷He raised up their sons in their place; it was these Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.

⁸After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.

⁹The LORD then said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” Therefore, that place is still called Gilgal today.

¹⁰While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

¹¹The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

¹²And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

¹³When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴“Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the LORD’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?”

¹⁵The commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did that.

¹I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

³So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

⁵Now I will tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness, but heard cries of despair.

⁸Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

⁹I heard the LORD of Armies say: Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

¹⁰For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will yield only one bushel of grain.

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.

¹²At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the LORD’s actions, and they do not see the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people will go into exile because they lack knowledge; her dignitaries are starving, and her masses are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

¹⁵Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.

¹⁶But the LORD of Armies is exalted by his justice, and the holy God shows that he is holy through his righteousness.

¹⁷Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and resident aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

¹⁹to those who say: “Let him hurry up and do his work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!”

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

²¹Woe to those who consider themselves wise and judge themselves clever.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at pouring beer,

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against his people. He raised his hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

²⁶He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look — how quickly and swiftly they come!

²⁷None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

³⁰On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.

¹But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property.

²However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?

⁴Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”

⁵When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.

⁶The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.

⁷About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸“Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?” “Yes,” she said, “for that price.”

⁹Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

¹⁰Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.

¹¹Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.

¹²Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹³No one else dared to join them, but the people spoke well of them.

¹⁴Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers — multitudes of both men and women.

¹⁵As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

¹⁶In addition, a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

¹⁷Then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

¹⁸So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

¹⁹But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said,

²⁰“Go and stand in the temple, and tell the people all about this life.”

²¹Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full council of the Israelites — and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.

²²But when the servants got there, they did not find them in the jail, so they returned and reported,

²³“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing in front of the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

²⁴As the captain of the temple police and the chief priests heard these things, they were baffled about them, wondering what would come of this.

²⁵Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

²⁶Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.

²⁷After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked,

²⁸“Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree.

³¹God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

³²We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

³⁵He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re about to do to these men.

³⁶Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and came to nothing.

³⁷After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.

³⁸So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail;

³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.

⁴⁰After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

⁴¹Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.

⁴²Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.