Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.

²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

³They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes.

⁵So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men.

⁶“He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee,

⁷saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?”

⁸And they remembered his words.

⁹Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest.

¹⁰Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things.

¹¹But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.

¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went away, amazed at what had happened.

¹³Now that same day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.

¹⁴Together they were discussing everything that had taken place.

¹⁵And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them.

¹⁶But they were prevented from recognizing him.

¹⁷Then he asked them, “What is this dispute that you’re having with each other as you are walking?” And they stopped walking and looked discouraged.

¹⁸The one named Cleopas answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?”

¹⁹“What things?” he asked them. So they said to him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people,

²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.

²¹But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened.

²²Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb,

²³and when they didn’t find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

²⁵He said to them, “How foolish and slow you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

²⁶Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

²⁸They came near the village where they were going, and he gave the impression that he was going farther.

²⁹But they urged him, “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰It was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.

³²They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”

³³That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together,

³⁴who said, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

³⁶As they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst. He said to them, “Peace to you!”

³⁷But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.

³⁸“Why are you troubled?” he asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

³⁹Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”

⁴⁰Having said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

⁴¹But while they still were amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

⁴²So they gave him a piece of a broiled fish,

⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

⁴⁶He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day,

⁴⁷and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

⁵⁰Then he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.

⁵¹And while he was blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵²After worshiping him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

⁵³And they were continually in the temple praising God.

¹Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt.

²Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’s wife, after he had sent her back,

³along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land”)

⁴and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).

⁵Moses’s father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’s wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.

⁶He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent.

⁸Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the LORD rescued them.

⁹Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians.

¹⁰“Blessed be the LORD,” Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt!

¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”

¹²Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’s father-in-law in God’s presence.

¹³The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁴When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

¹⁶Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

¹⁷“What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him.

¹⁸“You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him.

²⁰Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.

²¹But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²²They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you.

²³If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

²⁴Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

²⁵So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²⁶They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.

²⁷Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.

¹Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household.

³For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.

⁴Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

⁶But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works

¹⁰for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.”

¹¹So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”

¹²Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

¹³But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

¹⁴For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

¹⁵As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

¹⁶For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

¹⁷With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed?

¹⁹So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

¹Then Job answered:

²If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.

⁴Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Is bland food eaten without salt? Is there flavor in an egg white?

⁷I refuse to touch them; they are like contaminated food.

⁸If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for:

⁹that he would decide to crush me, to unleash his power and cut me off!

¹⁰It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Since I cannot help myself, the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow

¹⁶and become darkened because of ice, and the snow melts into them.

¹⁷The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

¹⁸Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for these streams. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water. When they arrive there, they are disappointed.

²¹So this is what you have now become to me. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said: “Give me something” or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

²³or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand” or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.

²⁵How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?

²⁶Do you think that you can disprove my words or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?

²⁷No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

²⁸But now, please look at me; I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Reconsider; don’t be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue or can my palate not taste disaster?

¹For the choir director. A psalm of David. A song. [1] God arises. His enemies scatter, and those who hate him flee from his presence.

²As smoke is blown away, so you blow them away. As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

³But the righteous are glad; they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.

⁴Sing to God! Sing praises to his name. Exalt him who rides on the clouds  —  his name is the LORD  — and celebrate before him.

⁵God in his holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows.

⁶God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land.

⁷God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the desert, Selah

⁸the earth trembled and the skies poured rain before God, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

⁹You, God, showered abundant rain; you revived your inheritance when it languished.

¹⁰Your people settled in it; God, you provided for the poor by your goodness.

¹¹The Lord gave the command; a great company of women brought the good news:

¹²“The kings of the armies flee — they flee!” She who stays at home divides the spoil.

¹³While you lie among the sheep pens, the wings of a dove are covered with silver, and its feathers with glistening gold.

¹⁴When the Almighty scattered kings in the land, it snowed on Zalmon.

¹⁵Mount Bashan is God’s towering mountain; Mount Bashan is a mountain of many peaks.

¹⁶Why gaze with envy, you mountain peaks, at the mountain God desired for his abode? The LORD will dwell there forever!

¹⁷God’s chariots are tens of thousands, thousands and thousands; the Lord is among them in the sanctuary as he was at Sinai.

¹⁸You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the LORD God might dwell there.

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord! Day after day he bears our burdens; God is our salvation. Selah

²⁰Our God is a God of salvation, and escape from death belongs to the LORD my Lord.

²¹Surely God crushes the heads of his enemies, the hairy brow of one who goes on in his guilty acts.

²²The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan; I will bring them back from the depths of the sea

²³so that your foot may wade in blood and your dogs’ tongues may have their share from the enemies.”

²⁴People have seen your procession, God, the procession of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

²⁵Singers lead the way, with musicians following; among them are young women playing tambourines.

²⁶Bless God in the assemblies; bless the LORD from the fountain of Israel.

²⁷There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them, the rulers of Judah in their assembly, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali.

²⁸Your God has decreed your strength. Show your strength, God, you who have acted on our behalf.

²⁹Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring tribute to you.

³⁰Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those with bars of silver. Scatter the peoples who take pleasure in war.

³¹Ambassadors will come from Egypt; Cush will stretch out its hands to God.

³²Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; sing praise to the Lord, Selah

³³to him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens. Look, he thunders with his powerful voice!

³⁴Ascribe power to God. His majesty is over Israel, his power is among the clouds.

³⁵God, you are awe-inspiring in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much,

²so he told him: “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there.

³I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and talk to him about you. When I see what he says, I’ll tell you.”

⁴Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him: “The king should not sin against his servant David. He hasn’t sinned against you; in fact, his actions have been a great advantage to you.

⁵He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be killed.”

⁷So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he did before.

⁸When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such great force that they fled from him.

⁹Now an evil spirit sent from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David was playing the lyre,

¹⁰and Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. As the spear struck the wall, David eluded Saul, ran away, and escaped that night.

¹¹Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!”

¹²So she lowered David from the window, and he fled and escaped.

¹³Then Michal took the household idol and put it on the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

¹⁴When Saul sent agents to seize David, Michal said, “He’s sick.”

¹⁵Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.”

¹⁶When the agents arrived, to their surprise, the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head.

¹⁷Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you? ’”

¹⁸So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel left and stayed at Naioth.

¹⁹When it was reported to Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah,

²⁰he sent agents to seize David. However, when they saw the group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s agents, and they also started prophesying.

²¹When they reported to Saul, he sent other agents, and they also began prophesying. So Saul tried again and sent a third group of agents, and even they began prophesying.

²²Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the large cistern at Secu and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “At Naioth in Ramah,” someone said.

²³So he went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God also came on him, and as he walked along, he prophesied until he entered Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴Saul then removed his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel; he collapsed and lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride — how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.

⁵This is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in me that they went so far from me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

⁶They stopped asking, “Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?”

⁷I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled my land; you made my inheritance detestable.

⁸The priests quit asking, “Where is the LORD?” The experts in the law no longer knew me, and the rulers rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods! ) Yet my people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

¹²Be appalled at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly desolated! This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹³For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves —  cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why else has he become a prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him; they have roared loudly. They have laid waste his land. His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have also broken your skull.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself by abandoning the LORD your God while he was leading you along the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain by traveling along the way to Egypt to drink the water of the Nile? What will you gain by traveling along the way to Assyria to drink the water of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Recognize how evil and bitter it is for you to abandon the LORD your God and to have no fear of me. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies.

²⁰For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your chains. You insisted, “I will not serve!” On every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.

²¹I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?

²²Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of bleach, the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me. This is the Lord GOD’s declaration.

²³How can you protest, “I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals”? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way,

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness. She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can control her passion? All who look for her will not become weary; they will find her in her mating season.

²⁵Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say, “It’s hopeless; I love strangers, and I will continue to follow them.”

²⁶Like the shame of a thief when he is caught, so the house of Israel has been put to shame. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets

²⁷say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.” For they have turned their back to me and not their face, yet in their time of disaster they beg, “Rise up and save us!”

²⁸But where are your gods you made for yourself? Let them rise up and save you in your time of disaster if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

²⁹Why do you bring a case against me? All of you have rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁰I have struck down your children in vain; they would not accept discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion.

³¹Evil generation, pay attention to the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do my people claim, “We will go where we want; we will no longer come to you”?

³²Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me for countless days.

³³How skillfully you pursue love; you also teach evil women your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor. You did not catch them breaking and entering. But in spite of all these things

³⁵you claim, “I am innocent. His anger is sure to turn away from me.” But I will certainly judge you because you have said, “I have not sinned.”

³⁶How unstable you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be put to shame by Egypt just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will be led out from here with your hands on your head since the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not succeed even with their help.

¹About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

²and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

⁴After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

⁶When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”

⁹So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

¹²As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

¹³He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

¹⁵“You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

¹⁷Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.

¹⁸At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

¹⁹After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.

²²The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

²⁵After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.