Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes, with the elders, came

²and said to him: “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?”

³He answered them, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me,

⁴was the baptism of John from heaven or of human origin?”

⁵They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

⁷So they answered that they did not know its origin.

⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹Now he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time.

¹⁰At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers so that they might give him some fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹He sent yet another servant, but they beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹²And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out.

¹³“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’

¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” But when they heard this they said, “That must never happen!”

¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”

¹⁹Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

²⁰They watched closely and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch him in what he said, to hand him over to the governor’s rule and authority.

²¹They questioned him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and you don’t show partiality but teach truthfully the way of God.

²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³But detecting their craftiness, he said to them,

²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” “Caesar’s,” they said.

²⁵“Well then,” he told them, “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶They were not able to catch him in what he said in public, and being amazed at his answer, they became silent.

²⁷Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up and questioned him:

²⁸“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children.

³⁰Also the second

³¹and the third took her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children.

³²Finally, the woman died too.

³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

³⁴Jesus told them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.

³⁵But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.

³⁷Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

³⁸He is not the God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to him.”

³⁹Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”

⁴⁰And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

⁴¹Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the son of David?

⁴²For David himself says in the Book of Psalms: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand

⁴³ until I make your enemies your footstool.’

⁴⁴David calls him ‘Lord’ how then can the Christ be his son?”

⁴⁵While all the people were listening, he said to his disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁷They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

³Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.

⁴I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

⁶So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him;

⁷he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one.

⁸The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly.

⁹The Egyptians — all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army — chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help.

¹¹They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

¹²Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the LORD’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴The LORD will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

¹⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.

¹⁶As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

¹⁷As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen.

¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

²⁰It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness, it lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided,

²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

²³The Egyptians set out in pursuit — all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen — and went into the sea after them.

²⁴During the morning watch, the LORD looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion.

²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.”

²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the LORD threw them into the sea.

²⁸The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.

²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

¹So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

⁶Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,

⁷and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

⁸But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices

¹⁰and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

¹¹In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

¹³bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

¹⁴Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

¹⁵And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

¹⁸Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them.

²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

²¹Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged.

²²Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.

²³Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,

²⁴knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

²⁵For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

²I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

⁵Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

⁶Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.

⁷The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

⁸But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars  — their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

⁹Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

¹⁰He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

¹¹arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

¹²The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates.

¹³There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

¹⁴The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

¹⁵The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

¹⁶The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.

¹⁷Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used.

¹⁸The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass.

¹⁹The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

²⁰the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

²¹The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

²²I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

²³The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

²⁵Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.

²⁶They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

²⁷Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

¹One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the LORD.

²The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the LORD. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

⁵But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite — heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. [1] God, hear my voice when I am in anguish. Protect my life from the terror of the enemy.

²Hide me from the scheming of wicked people, from the mob of evildoers,

³who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim bitter words like arrows,

⁴shooting from concealed places at the blameless. They shoot at him suddenly and are not afraid.

⁵They adopt an evil plan; they talk about hiding traps and say, “Who will see them?”

⁶They devise crimes and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” The inner man and the heart are mysterious.

⁷But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly, they will be wounded.

⁸They will be made to stumble; their own tongues work against them. All who see them will shake their heads.

⁹Then everyone will fear and will tell about God’s work, for they will understand what he has done.

¹⁰The righteous one rejoices in the LORD and takes refuge in him; all those who are upright in heart will offer praise.

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

²listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;

³furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure,

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity

⁸so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity — every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will rescue you from the way of evil — from anyone who says perverse things,

¹³from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness,

¹⁴from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion,

¹⁵whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.

¹⁶It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,

¹⁷who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.

¹⁹None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.

²⁰So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it.

¹Samuel told Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now, listen to the words of the LORD.

²This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.

³Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

⁴Then Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah.

⁵Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi.

⁶He warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, go on and leave! Get away from the Amalekites, or I’ll sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.

⁷Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt.

⁸He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

⁹Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.

¹⁰Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel,

¹¹“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the LORD all night.

¹²Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.”

¹³When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

¹⁴Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?”

¹⁵Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep, goats, and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we destroyed.”

¹⁶“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” “Tell me,” he replied.

¹⁷Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant, have you not become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel

¹⁸and then sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’

¹⁹So why didn’t you obey the LORD? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the LORD’s sight?”

²⁰“But I did obey the LORD!” Saul answered. “I went on the mission the LORD gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder — the best of what was set apart for destruction — to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

²²Then Samuel said: Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.

²⁴Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned. I have transgressed the LORD’s command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.

²⁵Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.”

²⁶Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

²⁷When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

²⁹Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.”

³⁰Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the LORD your God.”

³¹Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the LORD.

³²Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.”

³³Samuel declared: As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

³⁴Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted he had made Saul king over Israel.

¹If only you would tear the heavens open and come down, so that mountains would quake at your presence  —

²just as fire kindles brushwood, and fire boils water — to make your name known to your enemies, so that nations will tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome works that we did not expect, you who came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened to, no eye has seen any God except you who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.

⁵You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember you in your ways. But we have sinned, and you were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

⁶All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

⁷No one calls on your name, striving to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity.

⁸Yet LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we all are the work of your hands.

⁹LORD, do not be terribly angry or remember our iniquity forever. Please look — all of us are your people!

¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned down, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.

¹²LORD, after all this, will you restrain yourself? Will you keep silent and afflict us severely?

¹Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

²Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

³Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

⁴So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

⁵Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

⁶The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing.

⁷For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸So there was great joy in that city.

⁹A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.

¹⁰They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”

¹¹They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time.

¹²But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

¹³Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

¹⁴When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

¹⁵After they went down there, they prayed for them so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them.

¹⁶(They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. )

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

²¹You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven.

²³For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”

²⁴“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road. )

²⁷So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

²⁸and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

³⁰When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

³⁴The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?”

³⁵Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

³⁶As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

³⁷

³⁸So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.