Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.

³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’

⁴For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,

⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”

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

⁷And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?

⁸I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:

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

¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’

¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it.

¹⁶But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

¹⁷Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

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

¹⁹Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’”

²¹He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.”

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

²³But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth 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 it said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”

²⁸Then Peter said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.”

²⁹And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

³⁰who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

³²For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.

³³After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

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

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

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

³⁸Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him,

⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.”

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

⁴³Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

²This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.

³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.

⁴If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.

⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

⁸They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.

¹⁰You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

¹¹This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD.

¹²For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

¹⁵Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you.

¹⁷You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance.

¹⁸In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread.

¹⁹For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land.

²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.

²¹Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb.

²²Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning.

²³For the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.

²⁴You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children.

²⁵When you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance.

²⁶And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’

²⁷you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshiped.

²⁸The Israelites went and did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

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

³⁰Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

³¹Then he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD, as you said.

³²Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And bring a blessing on me too!”

³³The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, “We shall all be dead.”

³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders.

³⁵The Israelites had done as Moses told them; they had asked the Egyptians for jewelry of silver and gold, and for clothing,

³⁶and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And so they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.

³⁸A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds.

³⁹They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years.

⁴¹At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

⁴²That was for the LORD a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the LORD by all the Israelites throughout their generations.

⁴³The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,

⁴⁴but any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised;

⁴⁵no bound or hired servant may eat of it.

⁴⁶It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the animal outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

⁴⁷The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it.

⁴⁸If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the passover to the LORD, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it; he shall be regarded as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it;

⁴⁹there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you.

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

⁵¹That very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.

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

²To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel

⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.

⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

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

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

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

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

¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

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

²¹And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

²²he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him —

²³provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

²⁴I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

²⁵I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

²⁶the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.

²⁷To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²⁸It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

²⁹For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

¹After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God,

²for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³Once more they said, “Hallelujah! The smoke goes up from her forever and ever.”

⁴And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

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

⁶Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready;

⁸to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure” — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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

¹⁰Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

¹¹Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

¹²His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself.

¹³He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.

¹⁴And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

¹⁵From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,

¹⁸to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders — flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.”

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

²⁰And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

²¹And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

¹O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of the one who bore me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.

³O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister, on the day when she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

¹²My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it.

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices!

¹For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

²He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

³How long will you assail a person, will you batter your victim, all of you, as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

⁴Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence. They take pleasure in falsehood; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

⁵For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.

⁶He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

⁷On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

⁸Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

⁹Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

¹⁰Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,

¹²and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.

¹The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

²No, my son! No, son of my womb! No, son of my vows!

³Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink;

⁵or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed, and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;

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

⁸Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute.

⁹Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

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

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from far away.

¹⁵She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and tasks for her servant-girls.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She girds herself with strength, and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all her household are clothed in crimson.

²²She makes herself coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the city gates, taking his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them; she supplies the merchant with sashes.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her happy; her husband too, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates.

¹Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign; and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel.

²Saul chose three thousand out of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.

³Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba; and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”

⁴When all Israel heard that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines, the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.

⁶When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns.

⁷Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul.

⁹So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering.

¹⁰As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him.

¹¹Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash,

¹²I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the LORD’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

¹³Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you. The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever,

¹⁴but now your kingdom will not continue; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart; and the LORD has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

¹⁵And Samuel left and went on his way from Gilgal. The rest of the people followed Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal toward Gibeah of Benjamin. Preparations for Battle Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.

¹⁶Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin; but the Philistines encamped at Michmash.

¹⁷And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual,

¹⁸another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the mountain that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now there was no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “The Hebrews must not make swords or spears for themselves”;

²⁰so all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles;

²¹The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.

²²So on the day of the battle neither sword nor spear was to be found in the possession of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

²³Now a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass of Michmash.

¹For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.

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

³You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.

⁵For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels; all day and all night they shall never be silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest,

⁷and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned throughout the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink the wine for which you have labored;

⁹but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in my holy courts.

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign over the peoples.

¹¹The LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, “See, your salvation comes; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

¹²They shall be called, “The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD”; and you shall be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”

¹Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,

⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”

⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

⁶They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.

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

¹²They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

¹³They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law;

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

¹⁵And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.