Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

²He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

³Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.

¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can 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.

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

²²After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized.

²³John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized

²⁴— John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.

²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

²⁷John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’

²⁹He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

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

³³Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true.

³⁴He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

¹These are the ordinances that you shall set before them:

²When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt.

³If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out alone.

⁵But if the slave declares, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person,”

⁶then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.

⁷When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

⁸If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her.

⁹If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

¹⁰If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.

¹²Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death.

¹³If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.

¹⁴But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.

¹⁵Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.

¹⁷Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁸When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed,

¹⁹but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery.

²⁰When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished.

²¹But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property.

²²When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.

²³If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

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

²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶When a slaveowner strikes the eye of a male or female slave, destroying it, the owner shall let the slave go, a free person, to compensate for the eye.

²⁷If the owner knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, the slave shall be let go, a free person, to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

²⁹If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not restrained it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰If a ransom is imposed on the owner, then the owner shall pay whatever is imposed for the redemption of the victim’s life.

³¹If it gores a boy or a girl, the owner shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall pay to the slaveowner thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³If someone leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution, giving money to its owner, but keeping the dead animal.

³⁵If someone’s ox hurts the ox of another, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead animal they shall also divide.

³⁶But if it was known that the ox was accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not restrained it, the owner shall restore ox for ox, but keep the dead animal.

¹Therefore let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God,

²instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

³And we will do this, if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

⁶and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt.

⁷Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

⁸But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.

⁹Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation.

¹⁰For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

¹¹And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end,

¹²so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

¹³When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

¹⁴saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.”

¹⁵And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise.

¹⁶Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute.

¹⁷In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath,

¹⁸so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

¹⁹We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain,

²⁰where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹Then Job answered:

²“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?

³If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has resisted him, and succeeded? —

⁵he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;

⁶who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

⁸who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea;

⁹who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

¹⁰who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

¹¹Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

¹²He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

¹⁴How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

¹⁵Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

¹⁸he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

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

²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

²¹I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

²³When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges — if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’

²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

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

³¹yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me.

³²For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

³³There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

³⁴If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,

³⁵then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.

¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.

¹¹They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”

¹²O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.

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

¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.

¹⁶I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.

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

¹⁸So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power

¹⁹and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

²⁰You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

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

²²I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.

²⁴All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.

¹Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

²She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

⁴“You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,

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

⁶Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

⁷Whoever corrects a scoffer wins abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt.

⁸A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you.

⁹Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still; teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

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

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

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud; she is ignorant and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,

¹⁶“You who are simple, turn in here!” And to those without sense she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; when his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they went down there to him.

²Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Those who were with him numbered about four hundred.

³David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come to you, until I know what God will do for me.”

⁴He left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

⁵Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left, and went into the forest of Hereth.

⁶Saul heard that David and those who were with him had been located. Saul was sitting at Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him.

⁷Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, you Benjaminites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?

⁸Is that why all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as he is doing today.”

⁹Doeg the Edomite, who was in charge of Saul’s servants, answered, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub;

¹⁰he inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹The king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and for all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob; and all of them came to the king.

¹²Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”

¹³Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, by giving him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as he is doing today?”

¹⁴Then Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David? He is the king’s son-in-law, and is quick to do your bidding, and is honored in your house.

¹⁵Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? By no means! Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any member of my father’s house; for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.”

¹⁶The king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.”

¹⁷The king said to the guard who stood around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David; they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not raise their hand to attack the priests of the LORD.

¹⁸Then the king said to Doeg, “You, Doeg, turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod.

¹⁹Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword.

²⁰But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.

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

²²David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the lives of all your father’s house.

²³Stay with me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your life; you will be safe with me.”

¹Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth — so that I may pardon Jerusalem.

²Although they say, “As the LORD lives,” yet they swear falsely.

³O LORD, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.

⁵Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces — because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.

⁷How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.

⁸They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? — says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

¹⁰Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but do not make a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, — says the LORD.

¹²They have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, “He will do nothing. No evil will come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.”

¹³The prophets are nothing but wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!

¹⁴Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: Because they have spoken this word, I am now making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.

¹⁵I am going to bring upon you a nation from far away, O house of Israel, — says the LORD. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is like an open tomb; all of them are mighty warriors.

¹⁷They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸But even in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

¹⁹And when your people say, “Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?” you shall say to them, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”

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

²¹Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but do not see, who have ears, but do not hear.

²²Do you not fear me? says the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

²³But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴They do not say in their hearts, “Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.”

²⁵Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have deprived you of good.

²⁶For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich,

²⁸they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

²⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? — says the LORD, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

³⁰An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

³¹the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

¹Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.

³So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers.

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

⁵But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.

⁸And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us;

⁹and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.

¹⁰Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

¹²The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they finished speaking, James replied, “My brothers, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name.

¹⁵This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written,

¹⁶‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up,

¹⁷so that all other peoples may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called. Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things

¹⁸known from long ago.’

¹⁹Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God,

²⁰but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.

²¹For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every sabbath in the synagogues.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers,

²³with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,

²⁵we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

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

²⁷We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials:

²⁹that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

³⁰So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

³¹When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation.

³²Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

³³After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the believers to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.

³⁸But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

³⁹The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord.

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