Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

²This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

⁶Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

⁸The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

¹¹“Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.

¹⁴“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

¹⁹This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

²¹But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.

²³John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized,

²⁴since John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification.

²⁶So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing — and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷John responded, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’

²⁹He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, and yet no one accepts his testimony.

³³The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that God is true.

³⁴For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands.

³⁶The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

¹“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:

²“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.

³If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.

⁵“But if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,’

⁶his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.

⁷“When a man sells his daughter as a concubine, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.

⁸If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.

⁹Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.

¹⁰If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she may leave free of charge, without any payment.

¹²“Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death.

¹³But if he did not intend any harm, and yet God allowed it to happen, I will appoint a place for you where he may flee.

¹⁴If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from my altar to be put to death.

¹⁵“Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.

¹⁶“Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.

¹⁷“Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.

¹⁸“When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or his fist, and the injured man does not die but is confined to bed,

¹⁹if he can later get up and walk around outside leaning on his staff, then the one who struck him will be exempt from punishment. Nevertheless, he must pay for his lost work time and provide for his complete recovery.

²⁰“When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his abuse, the owner must be punished.

²¹However, if the slave can stand up after a day or two, the owner should not be punished because he is his owner’s property.

²²“When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman’s husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment.

²³If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,

²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

²⁶“When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his eye.

²⁷If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his tooth.

²⁸“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its meat may not be eaten, but the ox’s owner is innocent.

²⁹However, if the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and its owner must also be put to death.

³⁰If instead a ransom is demanded of him, he can pay a redemption price for his life in the full amount demanded from him.

³¹If it gores a son or a daughter, he is to be dealt with according to this same law.

³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give thirty shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned.

³³“When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit must give compensation; he must pay to its owner, but the dead animal will become his.

³⁵“When a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live ox and divide its proceeds; they must also divide the dead animal.

³⁶If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not restrained it, he must compensate fully, ox for ox; the dead animal will become his.

¹Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,

²teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

³And we will do this if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,

⁶and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.

⁷For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.

⁸But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.

⁹Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation.

¹⁰For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints — and by continuing to serve them.

¹¹Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end,

¹²so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself:

¹⁴I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.

¹⁵And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.

¹⁶For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.

¹⁷Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,

¹⁸so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

²⁰Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹Then Job answered:

²Yes, I know what you’ve said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?

³If one wanted to take him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹¹If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him; if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something, who can stop him? Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”

¹³God does not hold back his anger; Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

¹⁴How then can I answer him or choose my arguments against him?

¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

¹⁷He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He doesn’t let me catch my breath but fills me with bitter experiences.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

²¹Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life.

²²It is all the same. Therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

²³When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.

²⁶They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷If I said, “I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,”

²⁸I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know you will not acquit me.

²⁹Since I will be found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you dip me in a pit of mud, and my own clothes despise me!

³²For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court.

³³There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own.

¹LORD, I seek refuge in you; let me never be disgraced.

²In your justice, rescue and deliver me; listen closely to me and save me.

³Be a rock of refuge for me, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and fortress.

⁴Deliver me, my God, from the power of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and oppressive.

⁵For you are my hope, Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.

⁶I have leaned on you from birth; you took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always about you.

⁷I am like a miraculous sign to many, and you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is full of praise and honor to you all day long.

⁹Don’t discard me in my old age. As my strength fails, do not abandon me.

¹⁰For my enemies talk about me, and those who spy on me plot together,

¹¹saying, “God has abandoned him; chase him and catch him, for there is no one to rescue him.”

¹²God, do not be far from me; my God, hurry to help me.

¹³May my adversaries be disgraced and destroyed; may those who intend to harm me be covered with disgrace and humiliation.

¹⁴But I will hope continually and will praise you more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell about your righteousness and your salvation all day long, though I cannot sum them up.

¹⁶I come because of the mighty acts of the Lord GOD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷God, you have taught me from my youth, and I still proclaim your wondrous works.

¹⁸Even while I am old and gray, God, do not abandon me, while I proclaim your power to another generation, your strength to all who are to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness reaches the heights, God, you who have done great things; God, who is like you?

²⁰You caused me to experience many troubles and misfortunes, but you will revive me again. You will bring me up again, even from the depths of the earth.

²¹You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.

²²Therefore, I will praise you with a harp for your faithfulness, my God; I will sing to you with a lyre, Holy One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you because you have redeemed me.

²⁴Therefore, my tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long, for those who intend to harm me will be disgraced and confounded.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When David’s brothers and his father’s whole family heard, they went down and joined him there.

²In addition, every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

³From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

⁴So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

⁵Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Leave and return to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree at the high place. His spear was in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him.

⁷Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin: Is Jesse’s son going to give all of you fields and vineyards? Do you think he’ll make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?

⁸That’s why all of you have conspired against me! Nobody tells me when my own son makes a covenant with Jesse’s son. None of you cares about me or tells me that my son has stirred up my own servant to wait in ambush for me, as is the case today.”

⁹Then Doeg the Edomite, who was in charge of Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw Jesse’s son come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

¹⁰Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹The king sent messengers to summon the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub, and his father’s whole family, who were priests in Nob. All of them came to the king.

¹²Then Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub!” “I’m at your service, my lord,” he said.

¹³Saul asked him, “Why did you and Jesse’s son conspire against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him, so he could rise up against me and wait in ambush, as is the case today.”

¹⁴Ahimelech replied to the king: “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David? He is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your house.

¹⁵Was today the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Please don’t let the king make an accusation against your servant or any of my father’s family, for your servant didn’t have any idea about all this.”

¹⁶But the king said, “You will die, Ahimelech — you and your father’s whole family!”

¹⁷Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn’t tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the LORD.

¹⁸So the king said to Doeg, “Go and execute the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite went and executed the priests himself. On that day, he killed eighty-five men who wore linen ephods.

¹⁹He also struck down Nob, the city of the priests, with the sword — both men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

²⁰However, one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David.

²¹Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

²²Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s family.

²³Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. You will be safe with me.”

¹Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Investigate; search in her squares. If you find one person, any who acts justly, who pursues faithfulness, then I will forgive her.

²When they say, “As the LORD lives,” they are swearing falsely.

³LORD, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.

⁴Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have been foolish. For they don’t understand the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

⁶Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from arid plains will ravage them. A leopard stalks their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous.

⁷Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

⁸They are well-fed, eager stallions, each neighing after someone else’s wife.

⁹Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

¹⁰Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹²They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.”

¹³The prophets become only wind, for the LORD’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them.

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD of Armies says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make my words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.

¹⁵I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. This is the LORD’s declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

¹⁶Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all warriors.

¹⁷They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they will destroy your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸“But even in those days” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “I will not finish you off.

¹⁹When people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

²¹Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.

²²Do you not fear me? This is the LORD’s declaration. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.

²³But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away.

²⁴They have not said to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the LORD our God, who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

²⁵Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you. Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,

²⁶for wicked men live among my people. They watch like hunters lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

²⁸They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

²⁹Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

³⁰An appalling, horrible thing has taken place in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?

¹Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

³When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James responded: “Brothers and sisters, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

¹⁵And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

¹⁷so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles who are called by my name — declares the Lord who makes these things

¹⁸known from long ago.

¹⁹Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

²⁰but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

²¹For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

²³They wrote: “From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

²⁵we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements:

²⁹that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”

³⁰So they were sent off and went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

³¹When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

³²Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and sisters and strengthened them with a long message.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark.

³⁸But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.