Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

²He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.

³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,

⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”

⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.

⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:

¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them.

¹⁶But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁷Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

²¹“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

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

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God

³⁰will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

³²He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;

³³they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

³⁵As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

³⁶When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.

³⁷They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

³⁸He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,

⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,

²“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

⁴If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.

⁵The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

⁶Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

⁷Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

⁸That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.

⁹Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.

¹⁰Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.

¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

¹²“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.

¹⁵For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

¹⁷“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

¹⁸In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

¹⁹For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.

²⁰Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.

²²Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.

²³When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.

²⁵When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.

²⁶And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’

²⁷then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

²⁸The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

³⁰Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

³¹During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.

³²Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

³³The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”

³⁴So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.

³⁵The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.

³⁶The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.

³⁸Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

³⁹With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.

⁴¹At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt.

⁴²Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

⁴³The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it.

⁴⁴Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him,

⁴⁵but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.

⁴⁶“It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

⁴⁷The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

⁴⁸“A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it.

⁴⁹The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”

⁵⁰All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

⁵¹And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—

⁵the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

⁶that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

⁷You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

⁸and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,

¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,

¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

¹⁶For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

²²But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

²³if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

²⁴Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

²⁵I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

²⁶the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.

²⁷To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²⁸He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

²⁹To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

¹After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

²for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

⁴The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!”

⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!”

⁶Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

⁸Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

⁹Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁰At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

¹¹I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.

¹²His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.

¹³He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.

¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

¹⁷And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,

¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.

²⁰But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²¹The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

¹If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house— she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

³His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.

⁴Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.

⁶Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a little sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver.

¹²But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

¹⁴Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.

¹For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.

²Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

³How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

⁴Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.

⁵Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

⁶Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

⁹Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.

¹⁰Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God,

¹²and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

¹The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.

²Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!

³Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.

⁴It is not for kings, Lemuel— it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer,

⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

⁶Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish!

⁷Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

⁸Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

¹²She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²²She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

¹Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty- two years.

²Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.

³Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!”

⁴So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven.

⁶When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.

⁷Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.

⁸He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter.

⁹So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

¹⁰Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

¹¹“What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash,

¹²I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.

¹⁴But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.”

¹⁵Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.

¹⁶Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash.

¹⁷Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual,

¹⁸another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.

¹⁹Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!”

²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened.

²¹The price was two-thirds of a shekel for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

²²So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

²³Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Mikmash.

¹For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

²The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

³You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁴No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.

⁵As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

⁶I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest,

⁷and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled;

⁹but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

¹⁰Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.

¹¹The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’ ”

¹²They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.

¹In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

²So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them

⁴and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

⁶They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

¹¹Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

¹²So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

¹³They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

¹⁴For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.