Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.

²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.

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

⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

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

⁷Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread 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 among so many people?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.

¹¹Then Jesus 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.

¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

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

¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵When 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. 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 terrified.

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

²¹Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

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

²³Then some 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 neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves 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 come here?”

²⁶Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

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

²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform 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, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?

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

³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

³³For the bread of God is that which 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 will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

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

³⁷Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;

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.

⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

⁴¹Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴²They were saying, “Is not 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, “Do not complain among yourselves.

⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.

⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard 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.

⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever 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 one may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread 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, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

⁵⁴Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;

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

⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

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

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?

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

⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.

⁶⁵And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

⁶⁶Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

⁶⁷So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can 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 answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though 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 at a distance.

²Moses alone shall come near 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 ordinances; 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 set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the LORD.

⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed 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.”

⁸Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “See 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. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.

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

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

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

¹⁴To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

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

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 out 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. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

¹Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.

²For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place.

³Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies.

⁴In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

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

⁶Such preparations having been made, the priests go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties;

⁷but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.

⁸By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent is still standing.

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

¹⁰but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.

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

¹²he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,

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 worship the living God!

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

¹⁶Where 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.

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

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

²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained 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 sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

²⁵Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own;

²⁶for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the 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 the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

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

³I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine,

⁴and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith.

⁵But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

⁶Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk,

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

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

⁹This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers,

¹⁰fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

¹²I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service,

¹³even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. 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 sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the foremost.

¹⁶But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come 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.

¹⁸I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,

¹⁹having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith;

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

¹Then Job answered:

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 upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.

⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

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

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ask the plants 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 every human being.

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

¹²Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days?

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

¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.

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

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

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

¹⁸He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.

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 looses the belt of the strong.

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

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

²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

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 acquired long ago, which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.

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

⁴Your foes have roared within your holy place; they set up their emblems there.

⁵At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.

⁶And then, with hatchets and hammers, they smashed all its carved work.

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it 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 emblems; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one 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; why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

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

¹³You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

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

¹⁵You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.

¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries and the sun.

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

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

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

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

²¹Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid.

²The good obtain favor from the LORD, but those who devise evil he condemns.

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

⁴A good 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 advice of the wicked is treacherous.

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

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

⁸One is commended for good sense, but a perverse mind is despised.

⁹Better to be despised and have a servant, than to be self-important and lack food.

¹⁰The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

¹¹Those who till their land will have plenty of food, but those who follow worthless pursuits have no sense.

¹²The wicked covet the proceeds of wickedness, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

¹³The evil are ensnared by the transgression of their lips, but the righteous escape from trouble.

¹⁴From the fruit of the mouth one is filled with good things, and manual labor has its reward.

¹⁵Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice.

¹⁶Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent ignore an insult.

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

¹⁸Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

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

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

²¹No harm happens to 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.

²³One who is clever conceals knowledge, but the mind of a fool broadcasts folly.

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

²⁵Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.

²⁶The righteous gives good advice to friends, but the way of the wicked leads astray.

²⁷The lazy do not roast their game, but the diligent obtain precious wealth.

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

¹Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²There was a man in Maon, whose property 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 clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; 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.

⁶Thus you shall salute 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 sight; for we have 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.

¹⁰But Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters.

¹¹Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered 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.

¹³David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every one 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, “David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted insults at them.

¹⁵Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long as we were 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 evil has been decided against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one can speak to him.”

¹⁸Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

¹⁹and said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

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

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

²²God do so to 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 alighted from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground.

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

²⁵My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured 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.

²⁶“Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, since the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like 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 anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

³⁰When 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 having saved himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

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

³³Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by 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 would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

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

³⁶Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. 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; he became like a stone.

³⁸About 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 judged the case of Nabal’s insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife.

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

⁴¹She rose and bowed down, with her face to the ground, and said, “Your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

⁴²Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

⁴³David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel; both of them became his wives.

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

¹At that time, says 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 followed, and which they have inquired of and worshiped; and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be like 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, says the LORD of hosts.

⁴You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When people fall, do they not get up again? If they go astray, do they not turn back?

⁵Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They have held fast to deceit, they have refused to return.

⁶I have given heed and listened, but they do not speak honestly; no one repents of wickedness, saying, “What have I done!” All of them turn to their own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.

⁷Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the ordinance of the LORD.

⁸How can you say, “We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us,” when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie?

⁹The wise shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; since they have rejected the word of the LORD, 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 treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

¹²They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not at all ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, — says the LORD.

¹³When I wanted to gather them, says 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 look for peace, but find no good, for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

¹⁶The 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 live in it.

¹⁷See, I am letting snakes loose among you, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you, — says the LORD.

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

¹⁹Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”)

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

²¹For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

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

¹After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²There 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 Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

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

⁴Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.

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

⁶When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷Then he left the synagogue 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 official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized.

⁹One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;

¹⁰for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.”

¹¹He stayed there 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.

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

¹⁴Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews;

¹⁵but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.”

¹⁶And he dismissed them from the tribunal.

¹⁷Then all of them seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.

¹⁸After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the believers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, but first he himself went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay longer, he declined;

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

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

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

²⁴Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures.

²⁵He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm 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 the Way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers,

²⁸for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.