Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

²But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

³Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

⁵Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

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

⁷saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

⁸And they remembered His words.

⁹Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.

¹¹And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

¹²But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

¹³Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.

¹⁴And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

¹⁵So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

¹⁶But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

¹⁷And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

¹⁸Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

¹⁹And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.

²¹But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

²²Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.

²³When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.

²⁴And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

²⁵Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

²⁶Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

²⁷And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

²⁸Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.

²⁹But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

³⁰Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

³¹Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

³²And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,

³⁴saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

³⁶Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.”

³⁷But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.

³⁸And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

³⁹Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

⁴⁰When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

⁴¹But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?”

⁴²So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.

⁴³And He took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

⁴⁵And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

⁴⁶Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

⁴⁷and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

⁴⁸And you are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

⁵⁰And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

⁵¹Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.

⁵²And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

⁵³and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

¹And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people—that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

²Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

³with her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”)

⁴and the name of the other was Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”);

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

⁶Now he had said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent.

⁸And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.

⁹Then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

¹¹Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.”

¹²Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

¹³And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁴So when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?”

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

¹⁶When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

¹⁷So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good.

¹⁸Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself.

¹⁹Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God.

²⁰And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

²¹Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²²And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.

²³If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”

²⁴So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.

²⁷Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.

¹Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

²who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

³For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.

⁴For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

⁵And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,

⁶but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,

⁸Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,

⁹Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.

¹⁰Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’

¹¹So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

¹²Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

¹³but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,

¹⁵while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

¹⁶For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?

¹⁷Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?

¹⁹So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales!

³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder?

⁶Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me?

¹⁴“To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,

¹⁶Which are dark because of the ice, And into which the snow vanishes.

¹⁷When it is warm, they cease to flow; When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, The travelers of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident; They come there and are confused.

²¹For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid.

²²Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?

²⁶Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind?

²⁷Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend.

²⁸Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face.

²⁹Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands!

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory?

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song. [1] Let God arise, Let His enemies be scattered; Let those also who hate Him flee before Him.

²As smoke is driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

³But let the righteous be glad; Let them rejoice before God; Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.

⁴Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name YAH, And rejoice before Him.

⁵A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

⁶God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

⁷O God, when You went out before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, Selah

⁸The earth shook; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁹You, O God, sent a plentiful rain, Whereby You confirmed Your inheritance, When it was weary.

¹⁰Your congregation dwelt in it; You, O God, provided from Your goodness for the poor.

¹¹The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it:

¹²“Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home divides the spoil.

¹³Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.”

¹⁴When the Almighty scattered kings in it, It was white as snow in Zalmon.

¹⁵A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.

¹⁶Why do you fume with envy, you mountains of many peaks? This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in; Yes, the LORD will dwell in it forever.

¹⁷The chariots of God are twenty thousand, Even thousands of thousands; The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place.

¹⁸You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah

²⁰Our God is the God of salvation; And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death.

²¹But God will wound the head of His enemies, The hairy scalp of the one who still goes on in his trespasses.

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

²³That your foot may crush them in blood, And the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.”

²⁴They have seen Your procession, O God, The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

²⁵The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; Among them were the maidens playing timbrels.

²⁶Bless God in the congregations, The Lord, from the fountain of Israel.

²⁷There is little Benjamin, their leader, The princes of Judah and their company, The princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.

²⁸Your God has commanded your strength; Strengthen, O God, what You have done for us.

²⁹Because of Your temple at Jerusalem, Kings will bring presents to You.

³⁰Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, The herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, Till everyone submits himself with pieces of silver. Scatter the peoples who delight in war.

³¹Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

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

³³To Him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which were of old! Indeed, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice.

³⁴Ascribe strength to God; His excellence is over Israel, And His strength is in the clouds.

³⁵O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places. The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!

¹My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

²You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.

³So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

⁷Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,

⁸Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—

¹¹So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers;

¹⁴Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

¹⁶These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,

¹⁹A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.

²¹Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck.

²²When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.

²⁶For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

²⁷Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

³⁰People do not despise a thief If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.

³¹Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.

³²Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.

³³Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy is a husband’s fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

¹Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David.

²So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide.

³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you.”

⁴Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.

⁵For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

⁶So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed.”

⁷Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

⁸And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.

⁹Now the distressing spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand.

¹⁰Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”

¹²So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.

¹³And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes.

¹⁴So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”

¹⁶And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head.

¹⁷Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “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 all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

¹⁹Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!”

²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

²¹And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

²²Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.”

²³So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.

³Israel was holiness to the LORD, The firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them,” says the LORD.’ ”

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

⁵Thus says the LORD: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters?

⁶Neither did they say, ‘Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?’

⁷I brought you into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination.

⁸The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.

⁹“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the LORD, “And against your children’s children I will bring charges.

¹⁰For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing.

¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.

¹²Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,” says the LORD.

¹³“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁴“Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered?

¹⁵The young lions roared at him, and growled; They made his land waste; His cities are burned, without inhabitant.

¹⁶Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes Have broken the crown of your head.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the LORD your God When He led you in the way?

¹⁸And now why take the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the River?

¹⁹Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

²⁰“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot.

²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?

²²For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord GOD.

²³“How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,

²⁴A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her.

²⁵Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’

²⁶“As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, So is the house of Israel ashamed; They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,

²⁷Saying 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. But in the time of their trouble They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’

²⁸But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹“Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the LORD.

³⁰“In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.

³¹“O generation, see the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are lords; We will come no more to You’?

³²Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

³³“Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways.

³⁴Also on your skirts is found The blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things.

³⁵Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria.

³⁷Indeed you will go forth from him With your hands on your head; For the LORD has rejected your trusted allies, And you will not prosper by them.

¹Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.

²Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

⁵Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

⁶And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.

⁷Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.

⁸Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

⁹So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

¹²So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

¹³And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.

¹⁵But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

¹⁷But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.

¹⁹But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

²⁰Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.

²¹So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.

²²And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

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

²⁴But the word of God grew and multiplied.

²⁵And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.