Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

²Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

³And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

⁴So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.

⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

⁶So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.

⁷But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

⁸Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;

¹⁰for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

¹¹Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

¹²Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

¹³So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’

¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

¹⁶Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’

¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’

¹⁹Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.

²¹For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

²²And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

²³Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’

²⁵(But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’)

²⁶‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

²⁷But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

²⁸When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples,

³⁰saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.

³¹And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”

³²So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.

³³But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”

³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”

³⁵Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.

³⁶And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.

³⁷Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,

³⁸saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

⁴⁰But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

⁴¹Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

⁴²saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴³For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

⁴⁴and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

⁴⁵Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,

⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

⁴⁷And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him,

⁴⁸and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”

³And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.

⁴On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.

⁵And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.

⁶Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.

⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.

⁸And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.’

⁹It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.

¹⁰You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.

¹¹“And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you,

¹²that you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD’s.

¹³But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

¹⁴So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹⁵And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

¹⁶It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

¹⁷Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

¹⁸So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

²⁰So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.

²¹And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

²²He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

¹For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

²that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.

⁵For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

⁷rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

⁸Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

⁹For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

¹¹In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

¹²buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

¹³And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

¹⁴having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

¹⁵Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

¹⁷which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

¹⁹and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

²¹“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

²²which all concern things which perish with the using— according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

²³These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

²He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

³and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

⁷Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

⁹They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

¹⁰The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

¹³The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

¹⁴Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

¹There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.

²And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

³Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

⁴And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

⁵So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

⁷And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

⁸Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

⁹So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

¹⁰Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

¹¹But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

¹²And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

¹³Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house;

¹⁴and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

¹⁵when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

¹⁹and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

²⁰Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

²¹And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

²²In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

¹A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. [1] O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

²So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.

³Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.

⁴Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

⁶When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.

⁷Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

⁸My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.

⁹But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰They shall fall by the sword; They shall be a portion for jackals.

¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding,

³To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity;

⁴To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion—

⁵A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

⁶To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;

⁹For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

¹²Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;

¹³We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil;

¹⁴Cast in your lot among us, Let us all have one purse”—

¹⁵My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;

¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.

²⁰Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.

²¹She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:

²²“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.

²³Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,

²⁵Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,

²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,

²⁷When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,

³⁰They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.

³¹Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.

³²For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

³³But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.”

¹Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.

²And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men.

³Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

⁴Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

⁵The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah.

⁶Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.”

⁷So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”

⁸Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.

⁹If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them.

¹⁰But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.”

¹¹So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.”

¹²Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.” Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”

¹³And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them.

¹⁴That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.

¹⁵And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling.

¹⁶Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there.

¹⁷Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there.

¹⁸And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God here” (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel).

¹⁹Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”

²⁰Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion.

²¹Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²²Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle.

²³So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.

²⁴And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.

²⁵Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground.

²⁶And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his countenance brightened.

²⁸Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food this day.’ ” And the people were faint.

²⁹But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”

³¹Now they had driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint.

³²And the people rushed on the spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.

³³Then they told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood!” So he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a large stone to me this day.”

³⁴Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, ‘Bring me here every man’s ox and every man’s sheep, slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there.

³⁵Then Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

³⁶Now Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” Then the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”

³⁷So Saul asked counsel of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But He did not answer him that day.

³⁸And Saul said, “Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today.

³⁹For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But not a man among all the people answered him.

⁴⁰Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”

⁴¹Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, “Give a perfect lot.” So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped.

⁴²And Saul said, “Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me.” So Jonathan was taken.

⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, and said, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!”

⁴⁴Saul answered, “God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

⁴⁵But the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

⁴⁶Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

⁴⁷So Saul established his sovereignty over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the people of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he harassed them.

⁴⁸And he gathered an army and attacked the Amalekites, and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.

⁴⁹The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Jishui, and Malchishua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal.

⁵⁰The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.

⁵¹Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

⁵²Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him for himself.

¹Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

²Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

³“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.

⁴For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me.

⁶I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.”

⁷I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD And the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.

⁸For He said, “Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior.

⁹In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the Angel of His Presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them All the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying: “Where is He who brought them up out of the sea With the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them,

¹²Who led them by the right hand of Moses, With His glorious arm, Dividing the water before them To make for Himself an everlasting name,

¹³Who led them through the deep, As a horse in the wilderness, That they might not stumble?”

¹⁴As a beast goes down into the valley, And the Spirit of the LORD causes him to rest, So You lead Your people, To make Yourself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?

¹⁶Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

¹⁷O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, The tribes of Your inheritance.

¹⁸Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were never called by Your name.

¹Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

²And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

³and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’

⁴Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.

⁵And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.

⁶But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years.

⁷‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’

⁸Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him

¹⁰and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

¹³And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.

¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.

¹⁶And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

¹⁷“But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt

¹⁸till another king arose who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.

²⁰At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.

²¹But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.

²²And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

²³“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

²⁴And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.

²⁵For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.

²⁶And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’

²⁷But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’

²⁹Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

³⁰“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

³¹When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,

³²saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look.

³³‘Then the LORD said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’

³⁵“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’

³⁸“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

³⁹whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴²Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,

⁴⁵which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

⁴⁶who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?

⁵⁰Has My hand not made all these things?’

⁵¹“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

⁵³who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

⁵⁴When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

⁵⁶and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;

⁵⁸and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁶⁰Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.