Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the whole assembly got up and brought Him before Pilate.

²They began to accuse Jesus, asserting, "We found this Man misleading and perverting our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and claiming that He Himself is Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), a King."

³So Pilate asked Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And He answered him, "It is just as you say."

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this Man."

⁵But they were insistent and said, "He stirs up the people [to rebel], teaching throughout Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as here [in Jerusalem]."

⁶When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

⁷And when he learned that He belonged to the jurisdiction of Herod [Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee], he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly pleased. He had wanted to see Him for a long time because of what he had heard about Him, and was hoping to see some [miraculous] sign [even something spectacular] done by Him.

⁹And he questioned Him at some length, but Jesus made no reply.

¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes were standing there, continually accusing Him heatedly.

¹¹And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking and ridiculing Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

¹²Now that very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other—before this they had been enemies.

¹³Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, "You brought this man before me as one who corrupts and incites the people to rebellion. After examining Him before you, I have found no guilt in this Man regarding the charges which you make against Him.

¹⁵No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and indeed, He has done nothing to deserve death.

¹⁶Therefore I will punish Him [to teach Him a lesson] and release Him."

¹⁷[Now he was obligated to release to them one prisoner at the Feast.]

¹⁸But they [loudly] shouted out all together, saying, "Away with this Man, and release Barabbas to us!"

¹⁹(He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection that happened in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate addressed them again, wanting to release Jesus,

²¹but they kept shouting out, "Crucify, crucify Him!"

²²A third time he said to them, "Why, what wrong has He done? I have found no guilt [no crime, no offense] in Him demanding death; therefore I will punish Him [to teach Him a lesson] and release Him."

²³But they were insistent and unrelenting, demanding with loud voices that Jesus be crucified. And their voices began to prevail and accomplish their purpose.

²⁴Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

²⁵And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he handed over Jesus to their will.

²⁶When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in [to the city] from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷Following Him was a large crowd of the people, including women who were mourning and wailing for Him.

²⁸But Jesus, turning toward them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have never nursed.'

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'

³¹ For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

³²Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be executed with Him.

³³When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁴And Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.

³⁵Now the people stood by, watching; but even the rulers ridiculed and sneered at Him, saying, "He saved others [from death]; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) of God, His Chosen One."

³⁶The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him and [cruelly] offering Him sour wine,

³⁷and sarcastically saying, "If you are [really] the King of the Jews, save Yourself [from death]!"

³⁸Now there was also an inscription above Him: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."

³⁹One of the criminals who had been hanged [on a cross beside Him] kept hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!"

⁴⁰But the other one rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

⁴¹We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong."

⁴²And he was saying, "Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!"

⁴³Jesus said to him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour (noon), and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.),

⁴⁵because the sun was obscured; and the veil [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two [from top to bottom].

⁴⁶And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!" Having said this, He breathed His last.

⁴⁷Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he began praising and honoring God, saying, "Certainly this Man was innocent."

⁴⁸All the crowds who had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had happened, began to return [to their homes], beating their breasts [as a sign of mourning or repentance].

⁴⁹And all His acquaintances and the women who had accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰A man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), a good and honorable man

⁵¹(he had not consented to the Council's plan and action) a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for and expecting the kingdom of God;

⁵²this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³And [after receiving permission] he took it down and wrapped it in a linen [burial] cloth and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.

⁵⁴It was the day of preparation [for the Sabbath], and the Sabbath was dawning.

⁵⁵Now the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed [closely], and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.

⁵⁶Then they went back and prepared spices and ointments and sweet-smelling herbs. And on the Sabbath they rested in accordance with the commandment [forbidding work].

¹Then all the congregation of the children of Israel moved on from the Wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water so we may [have something to] drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you tempt the LORD and try His patience?"

³But the people were thirsty for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

⁴So Moses cried out to the LORD for help, saying, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."

⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

⁶Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; there you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may [have something to] drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place [where this miracle occurred] Massah (test) and Meribah (contention) because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the [patience of the] LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

⁸Then Amalek [and his people] came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.

⁹So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek [and his people]. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses said, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the hilltop.

¹¹Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand [due to fatigue], Amalek prevailed.

¹²But Moses' hands were heavy and he grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so it was that his hands were steady until the sun set.

¹³So Joshua overwhelmed and defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this in the book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek [and his people] from under heaven."

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner;

¹⁶saying, "The LORD has sworn [an oath]; the LORD will have war against [the people of] Amalek from generation to generation."

¹For this reason [that is, because of God's final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus' superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth.

²For if the message given through angels [the Law given to Moses] was authentic and unalterable, and every violation and disobedient act received an appropriate penalty,

³how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]? For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak],

⁴[and besides this evidence] God also testifying with them [confirming the message of salvation], both by signs and wonders and by various miracles [carried out by Jesus and the apostles] and by [granting to believers the] gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

⁵It was not to angels that God subjected the [inhabited] world of the future [when Christ reigns], about which we are speaking.

⁶But one has [solemnly] testified somewhere [in Scripture], saying, "What is man, that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man, that You graciously care for him?

⁷"You have made him for a little while lower [in status] than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands;

⁸You have put all things in subjection under his feet [confirming his supremacy]." Now in putting all things in subjection to man, He left nothing outside his control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

⁹But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while [by taking on the limitations of humanity], crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering of death, so that by the grace of God [extended to sinners] He might experience death for [the sins of] everyone.

¹⁰For it was fitting for God [that is, an act worthy of His divine nature] that He, for whose sake are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the author and founder of their salvation perfect through suffering [bringing to maturity the human experience necessary for Him to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest].

¹¹Both Jesus who sanctifies and those who are sanctified [that is, spiritually transformed, made holy, and set apart for God's purpose] are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

¹²saying, "I will declare Your (the Father's) name to My brethren (believers), In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise."

¹³And again [ He says], "My trust and confident hope will be placed in Him." And again, "Here I am, I and the children whom God has given Me."

¹⁴Therefore, since [these His] children share in flesh and blood [the physical nature of mankind], He Himself in a similar manner also shared in the same [physical nature, but without sin], so that through [experiencing] death He might make powerless (ineffective, impotent) him who had the power of death—that is, the devil—

¹⁵and [that He] might free all those who through [the haunting] fear of death were held in slavery throughout their lives.

¹⁶For, as we all know, He (Christ) does not take hold of [the fallen] angels [to give them a helping hand], but He does take hold of [the fallen] descendants of Abraham [extending to them His hand of deliverance].

¹⁷Therefore, it was essential that He had to be made like His brothers (mankind) in every respect, so that He might [by experience] become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things related to God, to make atonement (propitiation) for the people's sins [thereby wiping away the sin, satisfying divine justice, and providing a way of reconciliation between God and mankind].

¹⁸Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.

¹"Call now—is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones (angels) will you turn?

²"For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple (naive).

³"I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], But I cursed his dwelling immediately [for his destruction was certain].

⁴"His children are far from safety [and included in their father's ruin], They are oppressed and crushed in the [court of justice in the city's] gate, And there is no one to rescue them.

⁵"The hungry devour his harvest And take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; The trap opens for [his] wealth.

⁶"For affliction does not come forth from the dust, Nor does trouble spring forth from the ground.

⁷"For man is born for trouble, [As naturally] as sparks fly upward.

⁸"As for me, I would seek God and inquire of Him, And I would commit my cause to God;

⁹Who does great and unsearchable things, Marvelous things without number.

¹⁰"He gives rain upon the earth And sends waters upon the fields,

¹¹So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And He lifts to safety those who mourn.

¹²"He frustrates the devices and schemes of the crafty, So that their hands cannot attain success or achieve anything of [lasting] worth.

¹³"He catches the [so-called] wise in their own shrewdness, And the advice of the devious is quickly thwarted.

¹⁴"In the daytime they meet in darkness, And at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵"But God saves [the innocent] from the sword of the mouth of the devious, And the poor from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶"So the helpless have hope, And injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷"Behold, how happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise or reject the discipline of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering].

¹⁸"For He inflicts pain, but He binds up and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.

¹⁹"He will rescue you from six troubles; Even in seven, evil will not touch you.

²⁰"In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword.

²¹"You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²²"You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of the wild beasts of the earth.

²³"For you will be in harmony with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴"You will know also that your tent is secure and at peace, And you will visit your dwelling and fear no loss [nor find anything amiss].

²⁵"You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶"You will come to your grave in old age, Like the stacking of grain [on the threshing floor] in its season.

²⁷"Behold this; we have investigated it, and it is true. Hear and heed it, and know for yourself [for your own good]."

¹To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. God be gracious and kind-hearted to us and bless us, And make His face shine [with favor] on us— Selah.

²That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation and deliverance among all nations.

³Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

⁴Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, For You will judge the people fairly And guide the nations on earth. Selah.

⁵Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

⁶The earth has yielded its harvest [as evidence of His approval]; God, our God, blesses us.

⁷God blesses us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].

¹My son, be attentive to my wisdom [godly wisdom learned by costly experience], Incline your ear to my understanding;

²That you may exercise discrimination and discretion (good judgment), And your lips may reserve knowledge and answer wisely [to temptation].

³For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey [like a honeycomb] And her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴But in the end she is bitter like [the extract of] wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),

⁶So that she does not think [seriously] about the path of life; Her ways are aimless and unstable; you cannot know where her path leads.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not depart from (forget) the words of my mouth.

⁸Let your way [in life] be far from her, And do not go near the door of her house [avoid even being near the places of temptation],

⁹Or you will give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one,

¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength And your hard-earned wealth will go to the house of a foreigner [who does not know God];

¹¹And you will groan when your life is ending, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹²And you say, "How I hated instruction and discipline, And my heart despised correction and reproof!

¹³"I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, Nor have I inclined my ear to those who instructed me.

¹⁴"I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship] And fresh running water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs (children) be dispersed, As streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷[Confine yourself to your own wife.] Let your children be yours alone, And not the children of strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain (wife) be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity], And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹Let her be as a loving hind and graceful doe, Let her breasts refresh and satisfy you at all times; Always be exhilarated and delight in her love.

²⁰Why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an immoral woman And embrace the bosom of an outsider (pagan)?

²¹For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the LORD, And He carefully watches all of his paths [all of his comings and goings].

²²The iniquities done by a wicked man will trap him, And he will be held with the cords of his sin.

²³He will die for lack of instruction (discipline), And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray and be lost.

¹When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bonded to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

²Saul took David that day and did not let him return to his father's house.

³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

⁴Jonathan stripped himself of the outer robe that he was wearing and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword, his bow, and his belt.

⁵So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely and prospered; and Saul appointed him over the men of war. And it pleased all the people and also Saul's servants.

⁶As they were coming [home], when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, [songs of] joy, and musical instruments.

⁷The women sang as they played and danced, saying, "Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands."

⁸Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed [only] thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?"

⁹Saul looked at David with suspicion [and jealously] from that day forward.

¹⁰Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul, and he raved [madly] inside his house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and there was a spear in Saul's hand.

¹¹Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David evaded him twice.

¹²Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul.

¹³So Saul had David removed from his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he publicly associated with the people.

¹⁴David acted wisely and prospered in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he was afraid of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he publicly associated with them.

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, "Behold I will give you my older daughter Merab as a wife; only be brave for me and fight the Lord's battles." For Saul thought, "My hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him."

¹⁸David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my life or my father's family in Israel, that I should be the king's son-in-law?"

¹⁹But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was [instead] given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

²⁰Now Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David; and when they told Saul, it pleased him.

²¹Saul said, "I will give her to him so that she may become a snare (bad influence, source of trouble) to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David for a second time, "You shall be my son-in-law today."

²²Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David secretly, saying, 'Listen, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you; now then, become the king's son-in-law.'"

²³So Saul's servants spoke these words to David. But David said, "Is it a trivial thing in your sight to become a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and insignificant?"

²⁴The servants of Saul told him what David said.

²⁵Then Saul said, "This is what you shall say to David: 'The king wants no dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king's enemies.'" Now Saul's intention was to cause David's death at the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶When his servants told David these words, it pleased him to become the king's son-in-law. Before the time [for the marriage] arrived,

²⁷David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred Philistine men, and David brought their foreskins [as proof of death] and presented every one of them to the king, so that he might become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal, his [younger] daughter, as a wife.

²⁸When Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, his daughter, loved him,

²⁹Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul became David's constant enemy.

³⁰Then the Philistine commanders (princes) came out to battle, and it happened as often as they did, that David acted more wisely and had more success than all Saul's servants. So his name was highly esteemed.

¹The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, [one] of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

²to whom the word of the LORD came during the thirteenth year (627 b.c.) of the reign of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

³It came [to Jeremiah] also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, [continuing] until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, [and continuing] until the exile of [the people of] Jerusalem in the fifth month (July-August, 586 b.c.).

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, For I am [only] a young man."

⁷But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am [only] a young man,' Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

⁸"Do not be afraid of them [or their hostile faces], For I am with you [always] to protect you and deliver you," says the LORD.

⁹Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, "Behold (hear Me), I have put My words in your mouth.

¹⁰"See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To uproot and break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant."

¹¹The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see the branch of an almond tree."

¹²Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am [actively] watching over My word to fulfill it."

¹³The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north [its mouth about to pour out on the south, on Judea]."

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north the evil [which the prophets foretold as the result of national sin] will reveal itself and spill out on all the people of the land.

¹⁵"For, behold, I will call all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north," says the LORD; "and they will come and each one will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah [as My judicial act, the consequence of Judah's deliberate disobedience].

¹⁶"I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

¹⁷"But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins [in preparation]! Get up and tell them all which I command you. Do not be distraught and break down at the sight of their [hostile] faces, or I will bewilder you before them and allow you to be overcome.

¹⁸"Now behold, I have made you today like a fortified city and like an iron pillar and like bronze walls against the whole land—against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its leaders, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome].

¹⁹"They will fight against you, but they will not [ultimately] prevail over you, for I am with you [always] to protect you and deliver you," says the LORD.

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were throughout Judea heard [with astonishment] that the Gentiles also had received and accepted the word of God [the message concerning salvation through Christ].

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision [certain Jewish believers who followed the Law] took issue with him [for violating Jewish customs],

³saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and [even] ate with them!"

⁴But Peter began [at the beginning] and explained [the events] to them step by step, saying,

⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and [it descended until] it came right down to me,

⁶and looking closely at it, I saw all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air [both clean and unclean according to the Law],

⁷and I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'

⁸But I said, 'Not at all, Lord; for nothing common (unholy) or [ceremonially] unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

⁹But the voice from heaven answered a second time, 'What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).'

¹⁰This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹And right then the three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them without the slightest hesitation. So these six brothers also went with me and we went to the man's house.

¹³And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, 'Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;

¹⁴he will bring a message to you by which you will be saved [and granted eternal life], you and all your household.'

¹⁵When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as He did on us at the beginning [at Pentecost].

¹⁶Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷So, if God gave Gentiles the same gift [equally] as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ [as Savior], who was I to interfere or stand in God's way?"

¹⁸When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified and praised God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to eternal life [that is, real life after earthly death]."

¹⁹So then [since they were unaware of these developments] those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with [the stoning of] Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, without telling the message [of salvation through Christ] to anyone except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming [to them] the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹And the hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord [for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior].

²²The news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God [that was bestowed on them], he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with an unwavering heart to stay true and devoted to the Lord.

²⁴For Barnabas was a good man [privately and publicly—his godly character benefited both himself and others] and he was full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith [in Jesus the Messiah, through whom believers have everlasting life]. And a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵And Barnabas left for Tarsus to search for Saul;

²⁶and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For an entire year they met [with others] in the church and instructed large numbers; and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

²⁷Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and prophesied through the [Holy] Spirit that a severe famine would come on the entire world. And this did happen during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹So the disciples decided to send a contribution, each according to his individual ability, to the believers who lived in Judea.

³⁰And this they did, sending the contribution to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.