Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias ).

²A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick.

³Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

⁴Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near.

⁵So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?”

⁶He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”

⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,

⁹“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish — but what are they for so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated — so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹²When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”

¹³So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,

¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.

¹⁸A high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.

¹⁹After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.

²⁰But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²¹Then they were willing to take him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading.

²²The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone.

²³Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

²⁷Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

²⁸“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.

²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the work of God — that you believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰“What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform?

³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

³²Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

³³For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

³⁶But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe.

³⁷Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

³⁹This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day.

⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴²They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining among yourselves.

⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me — 

⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.

⁴⁷“Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.

⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵²At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.

⁵⁴The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,

⁵⁵because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

⁵⁶The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were complaining about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?

⁶²Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

⁶³The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

⁶⁴But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.)

⁶⁵He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.”

⁶⁶From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.

⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray him.

¹Then he said to Moses, “Go up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and bow in worship at a distance.

²Moses alone is to approach the LORD, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”

³Moses came and told the people all the commands of the LORD and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has commanded.”

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.

⁵Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.

⁶Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar.

⁷He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the LORD has commanded.”

⁸Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.”

⁹Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders,

¹⁰and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.

¹¹God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw him, and they ate and drank.

¹²The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

¹³So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God.

¹⁴He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.”

¹⁵When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it.

¹⁶The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.

¹⁷The appearance of the LORD’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.

¹⁸Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

¹Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary.

²For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

³Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place.

⁴It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

⁵The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

⁶With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.

⁷But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

⁸The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.

⁹This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.

¹⁰They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

¹¹But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation ),

¹²he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

¹⁵Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established.

¹⁷For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living.

¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

¹⁹For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people,

²⁰saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.

²¹In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.

²²According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.

²⁵He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.

²⁶Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷And just as it is appointed for people to die once — and after this, judgment  —

²⁸so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

²To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine

⁴or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

⁵Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

⁶Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

⁷They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

⁸But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

⁹We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

¹²I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry —

¹³even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief,

¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”  — and I am the worst of them.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight,

¹⁹having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have shipwrecked their faith.

²⁰Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

¹Then Job answered:

²No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

³But I also have a mind like you; I am not inferior to you. Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, by calling on God, who answers me. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

⁵The one who is at ease holds calamity in contempt and thinks it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.

⁶The tents of robbers are safe, and those who trouble God are secure; God holds them in his hands.

⁷But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

¹⁰The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.

¹³Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴Whatever he tears down cannot be rebuilt; whoever he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵When he withholds water, everything dries up, and when he releases it, it destroys the land.

¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to him. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad.

¹⁸He releases the bonds put on by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders.

²⁰He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders’ good judgment.

²¹He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong.

²²He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light.

²³He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away.

²⁴He deprives the world’s leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²⁵They grope around in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

¹A of Asaph. [1] Why have you rejected us forever, God? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation, which you purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe for your own possession. Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.

³Make your way to the perpetual ruins, to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.

⁴Your adversaries roared in the meeting place where you met with us. They set up their emblems as signs.

⁵It was like men in a thicket of trees, wielding axes,

⁶then smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire; they utterly desecrated the dwelling place of your name.

⁸They said in their hearts, “Let us oppress them relentlessly.” They burned every place throughout the land where God met with us.

⁹There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer a prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹⁰God, how long will the enemy mock? Will the foe insult your name forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand? Stretch out your right hand and destroy them!

¹²God my King is from ancient times, performing saving acts on the earth.

¹³You divided the sea with your strength; you smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the water;

¹⁴you crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵You opened up springs and streams; you dried up ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶The day is yours, also the night; you established the moon and the sun.

¹⁷You set all the boundaries of the earth; you made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this: the enemy has mocked the LORD, and a foolish people has insulted your name.

¹⁹Do not give to beasts the life of your dove; do not forget the lives of your poor people forever.

²⁰Consider the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence.

²¹Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Rise up, God, champion your cause! Remember the insults that fools bring against you all day long.

²³Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries, the tumult of your opponents that goes up constantly.

¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid.

²One who is good obtains favor from the LORD, but he condemns a person who schemes.

³No one can be made secure by wickedness, but the root of the righteous is immovable.

⁴A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a wife who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just, but guidance from the wicked is deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.

⁸A man is praised for his insight, but a twisted mind is despised.

⁹Better to be disregarded, yet have a servant, than to act important but have no food.

¹⁰The righteous cares about his animal’s health, but even the merciful acts of the wicked are cruel.

¹¹The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense.

¹²The wicked desire what evil people have caught, but the root of the righteous is productive.

¹³By rebellious speech an evil person is trapped, but a righteous person escapes from trouble.

¹⁴A person will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the work of a person’s hands will reward him.

¹⁵A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.

¹⁶A fool’s displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible.

¹⁷Whoever speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

¹⁸There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword; but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁹Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue, only a moment.

²⁰Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.

²¹No disaster overcomes the righteous, but the wicked are full of misery.

²²Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but faithful people are his delight.

²³A shrewd person conceals knowledge, but a foolish heart publicizes stupidity.

²⁴The diligent hand will rule, but laziness will lead to forced labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up.

²⁶A righteous person is careful in dealing with his neighbor, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.

²⁷A lazy hunter doesn’t roast his game, but to a diligent person, his wealth is precious.

²⁸There is life in the path of righteousness, and in its path there is no death.

¹Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

²A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

³The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

⁵so David sent ten young men instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name.

⁶Then say this: ‘Long life to you, and peace to you, peace to your family, and peace to all that is yours.

⁷I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

⁸Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.

¹⁰Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.

¹¹Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”

¹²David’s young men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.

¹³He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords!” So each man put on his sword, and David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.

¹⁵The men treated us very well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them.

¹⁶They were a wall around us, both day and night, the entire time we were with them herding the sheep.

¹⁷Now consider carefully what you should do, because there is certain to be trouble for our master and his entire family. He is such a worthless fool nobody can talk to him!”

¹⁸Abigail hurried, taking two hundred loaves of bread, two clay jars of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

¹⁹Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them.

²¹David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

²²May God punish me and do so severely if I let any of his males survive until morning.”

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David.

²⁴She knelt at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

²⁵My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows. I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

²⁶Now my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live— it is the LORD who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand—may your enemies and those who intend to harm my lord be like Nabal.

²⁷Let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights the LORD’s battles. Throughout your life, may evil not be found in you.

²⁹“Someone is pursuing you and intends to take your life. My lord’s life is tucked safely in the place where the LORD your God protects the living, but he is flinging away your enemies’ lives like stones from a sling.

³⁰When the LORD does for my lord all the good he promised you and appoints you ruler over Israel,

³¹there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord’s revenge. And when the LORD does good things for my lord, may you remember me your servant.”

³²Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

³³May your discernment be blessed, and may you be blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand.

³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the LORD God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn’t have had any males left by morning light.”

³⁵Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”

³⁶Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. Nabal’s heart was cheerful, and he was very drunk, so she didn’t say anything to him until morning light.

³⁷In the morning when Nabal sobered up, his wife told him about these events. His heart died and he became a stone.

³⁸About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained his servant from doing evil. The LORD brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.” Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.

⁴⁰When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

⁴¹She stood up, paid homage with her face to the ground, and said, “Here I am, your servant, a slave to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

⁴²Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

⁴³David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them became his wives.

⁴⁴But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

¹“At that time” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.

²They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky, which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.

³Death will be chosen over life by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁴“You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: Do people fall and not get up again? If they turn away, do they not return?

⁵Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They take hold of deceit; they refuse to return.

⁶I have paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing into battle.

⁷Even storks in the sky know their seasons. Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes are aware of their migration, but my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

⁸“How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the law of the LORD is with us’? In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.

⁹The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they really have?

¹⁰Therefore, I will give their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹¹They have treated the brokenness of my dear people superficially, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.

¹³I will gather them and bring them to an end. This is the LORD’s declaration. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.

¹⁴Why are we just sitting here? Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has destroyed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹⁶From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents.

¹⁷Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸My joy has flown away; grief has settled on me. My heart is sick.

¹⁹Listen — the cry of my dear people from a faraway land, “Is the LORD no longer in Zion, her King not within her?” Why have they angered me with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?

²⁰Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved.

²¹I am broken by the brokenness of my dear people. I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.