Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

²And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

³Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

⁴Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

⁵Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

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

⁹“There is 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.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹²And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

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

¹⁵Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus 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. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

²¹Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

²²On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

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

²⁴So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

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

²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

³⁰So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

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

³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever 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.

³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

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

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

⁴²They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble 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 heard and learned from the Father comes to me —

⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸ I am the bread of life.

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

⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one 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. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

⁵⁴Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

⁵⁶Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

⁶¹But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?

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

⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

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

⁶⁶After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

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

⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

¹Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.

²Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.

⁶And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.

⁷Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

⁸And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,

¹⁰and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.

¹¹And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

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

¹³So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

¹⁴And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

¹⁵Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

¹⁷Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

¹⁸Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

¹Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

²For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.

³Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,

⁴having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

⁵Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,

⁷but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

⁸By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing

⁹(which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,

¹⁰but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

¹¹But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)

¹²he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, 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, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

¹⁵Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.

¹⁷For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

¹⁹For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”

²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.

²²Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

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

²⁴For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,

²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

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

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

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

³As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,

⁴nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

⁵The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

⁶Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,

⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

⁸Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,

⁹understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

¹¹in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

¹²I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,

¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,

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

¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

¹⁹holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,

²⁰among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

¹Then Job answered and said:

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

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

⁵In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.

⁷“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

⁸or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

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

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

¹³“With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.

¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.

¹⁸He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.

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

²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

¹O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.

³Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.

⁵They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees.

⁶And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.

⁸They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.

¹⁰How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

¹²Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

¹⁵You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

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

¹⁸Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

²¹Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

²A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but a man of evil devices he condemns.

³No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

⁴An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.

⁸A man is commended according to his good sense, but one of twisted mind is despised.

⁹Better to be lowly and have a servant than to play the great man and lack bread.

¹⁰Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

¹¹Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

¹²Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

¹³An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

¹⁴From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

¹⁶The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.

¹⁷Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.

¹⁸There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

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

²⁰Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy.

²¹No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.

²²Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

²³A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

²⁴The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

²⁶One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

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

¹Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. David and Abigail Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

³Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.

⁴David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

⁵So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.

⁶And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

⁷I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.

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

⁹When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.

¹⁰And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.

¹¹Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”

¹²So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this.

¹³And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them.

¹⁵Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them.

¹⁶They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

¹⁷Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

¹⁸Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

¹⁹And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

²¹Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good.

²²God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

²³When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.

²⁴She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.

²⁵Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

²⁶Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.

²⁷And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.

²⁹If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

³⁰And when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel,

³¹my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

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

³³Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!

³⁴For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

³⁵Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

³⁶And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

³⁷In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

³⁸And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

⁴⁰When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”

⁴¹And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

⁴²And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

⁴⁴Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

¹“At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs.

²And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.

³Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the LORD of hosts.

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?

⁵Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.

⁶I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.

⁷Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD.

⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.

⁹The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?

¹⁰Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹¹They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.

¹³When I would gather them, declares the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

¹⁴Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

¹⁶“The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.

¹⁷For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.

¹⁹Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

²¹For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

¹After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,

³and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

⁴And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

⁶And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

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

⁸Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

⁹And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,

¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

¹¹And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,

¹³saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.

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

¹⁶And he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

¹⁸After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

¹⁹And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

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

²¹But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

²²When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

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

²⁷And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,

²⁸for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.