Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king (Herod the Great), magi (wise men) from the east came to Jerusalem, asking,

²"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

³When Herod the king heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴So he called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people and [anxiously] asked them where the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) was to be born.

⁵They replied to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet [Micah]:

⁶'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not in any way least among the leaders of Judah; For from you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

⁷Then Herod secretly sent for the magi and learned from them the [exact] time the star [had first] appeared.

⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him."

⁹After hearing the king, they went their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them [continually leading the way] until it came and stood over the place where the young Child was.

¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

¹¹And after entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, after opening their treasure chests, they presented to Him gifts [fit for a king, gifts] of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹²And having been warned [by God] in a dream not to go back to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

¹³Now when they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him."

¹⁴So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.

¹⁵He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet [Hosea]: "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

¹⁶Then Herod, when he realized that he had been tricked by the magi, was extremely angry, and he sent [soldiers] and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that area who were two years old and under, according to the date which he had learned from the magi.

¹⁷Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

¹⁸"A voice was heard inRamah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; She refused to be comforted, Because they were no more."

¹⁹But when Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said,

²⁰"Get up! Take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."

²¹Then Joseph got up, and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod [the Great], he was afraid to go there. Then being warned by God in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee,

²³and went and settled in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

¹The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of [domestic] animals from the herd (cattle, oxen) or from the flock (sheep, goats).

³If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting so that he may be accepted before the LORD.

⁴He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering [transferring symbolically his guilt to the sacrifice], that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.

⁵He shall kill the young bull before the LORD; and Aaron's sons the priests shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.

⁶Then he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.

⁷The sons of Aaron the [high] priest shall put fire on the altar [of burnt offering] and arrange wood on the fire.

⁸Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head and the fat, on the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar.

⁹But he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. The priest shall offer all of it up in smoke on the altar as a burnt offering. It is an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁰'But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, as a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without blemish.

¹¹He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.

¹²He shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar.

¹³But he shall wash the entrails and legs with water. The priest shall offer all of it, and offer it up in smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴'But if his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring turtledoves or young pigeons as his offering.

¹⁵The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and offer it up in smoke on the altar; and its blood is to be drained out on the side of the altar.

¹⁶He shall remove its crop with its feathers and throw it next to the east side of the altar, in the place for ashes.

¹⁷Then he shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a sweet and soothing aroma to the LORD.

¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God [granted by His permission and sanction], and those which exist have been put in place by God.

²Therefore whoever resists [governmental] authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who have resisted it will bring judgment (civil penalty) on themselves.

³For [civil] authorities are not a source of fear for [people of] good behavior, but for [those who do] evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will receive approval and commendation.

⁴For he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, [you should] be afraid; for he does not carry the [executioner's] sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an avenger who brings punishment on the wrongdoer.

⁵Therefore one must be subject [to civil authorities], not only to escape the punishment [that comes with wrongdoing], but also as a matter of principle [knowing what is right before God].

⁶For this same reason you pay taxes, for civil authorities are God's servants, devoting themselves to governance.

⁷Pay to all what is due: tax to whom tax is due, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.

⁸Owe nothing to anyone except to love and seek the best for one another; for he who [unselfishly] loves his neighbor has fulfilled the [essence of the] law [relating to one's fellowman].

⁹The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and any other commandment are summed up in this statement: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor [it never hurts anyone]. Therefore [unselfish] love is the fulfillment of the Law.

¹¹Do this, knowing that this is a critical time. It is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep [of spiritual complacency]; for our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed [in Christ].

¹²The night [this present evil age] is almost gone and the day [of Christ's return] is almost here. So let us fling away the works of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light.

¹³Let us conduct ourselves properly and honorably as in the [light of] day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and irresponsibility, not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for [nor even think about gratifying] the flesh in regard to its improper desires.

¹What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]?

²You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].

³You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.

⁴You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?

⁶But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, "God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness]."

⁷So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.

⁸Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people].

⁹Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose].

¹¹Believers, do not speak against or slander one another. He who speaks [self-righteously] against a brother or judges his brother [hypocritically], speaks against the Law and judges the Law. If you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it.

¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?

¹³Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit."

¹⁴Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air].

¹⁵Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and we will do this or that."

¹⁶But as it is, you boast [vainly] in your pretension and arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

¹And Job again took up his discussion and said,

²"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me,

³When His lamp shone upon my head And by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

⁵When the Almighty was still with me And my boys were around me,

⁶When my steps [through rich pastures] were washed with butter and cream [from my livestock], And the rock poured out for me streams of oil [from my olive groves].

⁷"When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat [as a city father] in the square,

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves, The aged arose and stood [respectfully];

⁹The princes stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The voices of the nobles were hushed, And their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹"For when an ear heard [my name mentioned], it called me happy and fortunate; And when an eye saw [me], it testified for me [approvingly],

¹²Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper.

¹³"The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, And I made the widow's heart sing for joy.

¹⁴"I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban!

¹⁵"I was eyes to the blind And I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶"I was a father to the needy; I investigated the case I did not know [and assured justice].

¹⁷"And I smashed the jaws of the wicked And snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸"Then I said, 'I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹'My root is spread out and open to the waters, And the dew lies all night upon my branch.

²⁰'My glory and honor are fresh in me [being constantly renewed], And my bow gains [ever] new strength in my hand.'

²¹"They listened to me and waited And kept silent for my counsel.

²²"After I spoke, they did not speak again, And my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].

²³"They waited for me [and for my words] as for the rain, And they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴"I smiled at them when they did not believe, And they did not diminish the light of my face.

²⁵"I chose a way for them and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king among his soldiers, As one who comforts mourners.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand].

²I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!"

³For He will save you from the trap of the fowler, And from the deadly pestilence.

⁴He will cover you and completely protect you with His pinions, And under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall.

⁵You will not be afraid of the terror of night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Nor of the destruction (sudden death) that lays waste at noon.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But danger will not come near you.

⁸You will only [be a spectator as you] look on with your eyes And witness the [divine] repayment of the wicked [as you watch safely from the shelter of the Most High].

⁹Because you have made the LORD, [who is] my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

¹⁰No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.

¹¹For He will command His angels in regard to you, To protect and defend and guard you in all your ways [of obedience and service].

¹²They will lift you up in their hands, So that you do not [even] strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread upon the lion and cobra; The young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

¹⁴"Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him; I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never].

¹⁵"He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

¹⁶"With a long life I will satisfy him And I will let him see My salvation."

¹He who hardens his neck and refuses instruction after being often reproved (corrected, criticized), Will suddenly be broken beyond repair.

²When the righteous are in authority and become great, the people rejoice; But when the wicked man rules, the people groan and sigh.

³A man who loves [skillful and godly] wisdom makes his father joyful, But he who associates with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

⁴The king establishes (stabilizes) the land by justice, But a man who takes bribes overthrows it.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor [with smooth words intending to do harm] Is spreading a net for his own feet.

⁶By his wicked plan an evil man is trapped, But the righteous man sings and rejoices [for his plan brings good things to him].

⁷The righteous man cares for the rights of the poor, But the wicked man has no interest in such knowledge.

⁸Scoffers set a city afire [by stirring up trouble], But wise men turn away anger [and restore order with their good judgment].

⁹If a wise man has a controversy with a foolish and arrogant man, The foolish man [ignores logic and fairness and] only rages or laughs, and there is no peace (rest, agreement).

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate the blameless [because of his integrity], But the upright are concerned for his life.

¹¹A [shortsighted] fool always loses his temper and displays his anger, But a wise man [uses self-control and] holds it back.

¹²If a ruler pays attention to lies [and encourages corruption], All his officials will become wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king faithfully and truthfully judges the poor, His throne shall be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and reproof (godly instruction) give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked are in authority, transgression increases, But the righteous will see the downfall of the wicked.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; Yes, he will delight your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; But happy and blessed is he who keeps the law [of God].

¹⁹A servant will not be corrected by words alone; For though he understands, he will not respond [nor pay attention].

²⁰Do you see a [conceited] man who speaks quickly [offering his opinions or answering without thinking]? There is more hope for a [thickheaded] fool than for him.

²¹He who pampers his slave from childhood Will find him to be a son in the end.

²²An angry man stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered and undisciplined man commits many transgressions.

²³A man's pride and sense of self-importance will bring him down, But he who has a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴Whoever is partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the curse [when swearing an oath to testify], but discloses nothing [and commits perjury by omission].

²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in and puts his confidence in the LORD will be exalted and safe.

²⁶Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.

²⁷An unjust man is repulsive to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way [of the LORD] is repulsive to the wicked.

¹Then it happened in the spring, at the time when the kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all [the fighting men of] Israel, and they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

²One evening David got up from his couch and was walking on the [flat] roof of the king's palace, and from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very beautiful in appearance.

³David sent word and inquired about the woman. Someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

⁴David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. And when she was purified from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.

⁵The woman conceived; and she sent word and told David, "I am pregnant."

⁶Then David sent word to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the people were doing, and how the war was progressing.

⁸Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet (spend time at home)." Uriah left the king's palace, and a gift from the king was sent out after him.

⁹But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's palace with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not [just] come from a [long] journey? Why did you not go to your house?"

¹¹Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in huts (temporary shelters), and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing."

¹²Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today as well, and tomorrow I will let you leave." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

¹³Now David called him [to dinner], and he ate and drank with him, so that he made Uriah drunk; in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, and [still] did not go down to his house.

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

¹⁵He wrote in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and leave him, so that he may be struck down and die."

¹⁶So it happened that as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew the [enemy's] valiant men were positioned.

¹⁷And the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.

¹⁸Then Joab sent word and informed David of all the events of the war.

¹⁹And he commanded the messenger, "When you have finished reporting all the events of the war to the king,

²⁰then if the king becomes angry and he says to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot [arrows] from the wall?

²¹Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth (Gideon)? Was it not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.'"

²²So the messenger left, and he came and told David everything that Joab had sent him to report.

²³The messenger said to David, "The men indeed prevailed against us and came out to us in the field, but we were on them and pushed them as far as the entrance of the [city] gate.

²⁴Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead."

²⁵Then David said to the messenger, "Tell Joab this, 'Do not let this thing disturb you, for the sword devours one [side] as well as another. Strengthen your battle against the city and overthrow it'; and so encourage Joab."

²⁶When Uriah's wife [Bathsheba] heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.

²⁷And when the time of mourning was past, David sent word and had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done [with Bathsheba] was evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah in regard to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

³"For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened.

⁴Although the LORD has persistently sent to you all His servants the prophets, you have not listened nor [even] inclined your ear to hear [His message],

⁵saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

⁶and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.'

⁷Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD, "so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

⁸"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].

¹¹This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

¹²'Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),' says the LORD, 'for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.

¹³I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)'"

¹⁵For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

¹⁶They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷Then I (Jeremiah) took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me drink it:

¹⁸Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people,

²⁰and all the foreign (mixed) population, all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;

²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea;

²³Dedan, Tema, Buz [the neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the side-growth of their hair;

²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign population who live in the desert;

²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media;

²⁶all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another—and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach (Babylon) shall drink after them.

²⁷"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you."'

²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "You shall surely drink!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'

³⁰"Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them: 'The LORD will roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture. He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press], Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹'A noise has come to the end of the earth, For the LORD has a controversy with and an indictment against the nations. He is entering into judgment with all mankind; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' says the LORD."

³²Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great whirling tempest is rising From the remotest part of the earth.

³³"And those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented (mourned over with expressions of grief) or gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the ground.

³⁴"Wail, you shepherds, and cry; And roll in ashes, you masters of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have come in full, And you will fall and be broken into pieces like a choice vessel.

³⁵"The shepherds will have no way to flee, Nor the masters of the flock any [way of] escape.

³⁶"A voice! The cry of the shepherds And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

³⁷"And the peaceful folds are devastated and made silent Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸"He has left His lair like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressor And because of the Lord's fierce anger."

¹Now the high priest asked [Stephen], "Are these charges true?"

²And he answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory [the Shekinah, the radiance of God] appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and He said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.'

⁴Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God sent him to this country in which you now live.

⁵But He did not give him inheritable property, not even enough ground to take a step on, yet He promised that He would give it to Him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.

⁶And this is, in effect, what God spoke [to him]: That his descendants would be aliens (strangers) in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷'And I will judge any nation to whom they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that they will come out and serve Me [in worship] in this place.'

⁸And God gave Abraham a covenant [a formal agreement to be strictly observed] of [which] circumcision [was the sign]; and so [under these circumstances] Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [became the father] of Jacob, and Jacob [became the father] of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹"The [ten elder] patriarchs, overwhelmed with jealousy, sold [their younger brother] Joseph into [slavery in] Egypt; but God was with him,

¹⁰and He rescued him from all his suffering, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made Joseph governor over Egypt and over his entire household.

¹¹"Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great distress and our fathers could not find food [for their households and livestock].

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

¹³And on the second visit Joseph identified himself to his brothers, and Joseph's family and background were revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.

¹⁵And Jacob (Israel) went down into Egypt, and there he died, as did our fathers;

¹⁶and [from Egypt] their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷"But as the time [for the fulfillment] of the promise which God had made to Abraham was approaching, the [Hebrew] people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until [the time when] there arose another king over egypt who did not know joseph [nor his history and the merit of his service to Egypt].

¹⁹He shrewdly exploited our race and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to expose their [male] babies so that they would die.

²⁰It was at this [critical] time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and for three months he was nourished in his father's house.

²¹Then when he was set outside [to die], Pharaoh's daughter rescued him and claimed him for herself, and cared for him as her own son.

²²So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

²³But when he reached the age of forty, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.

²⁴And when he saw one [of them] being treated unfairly, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking and killing the Egyptian.

²⁵He expected his countrymen to understand that God was granting them freedom through him [assuming that they would accept him], but they did not understand.

²⁶Then on the next day he suddenly appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?'

²⁷But the man who was injuring his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying, 'Who appointed you ruler and judge over us?

²⁸Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

²⁹At this remark Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.

³⁰"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; but as he went near to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came [to him, saying]:

³²'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

³³Then the Lord said to him, 'Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground [worthy of reverence and respect].

³⁴I have most certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, and I will send you to Egypt [as My messenger].'

³⁵"This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the very one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

³⁶This man led them out [of Egypt] after performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'God will raise up for you a Prophetlike me from your countrymen.'

³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles [divine words that still live] to be handed down to you.

³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to be subject to him [and refused to listen to him]. They rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

⁴⁰They said to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

⁴¹In those days they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced and celebrated over the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, 'It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?

⁴³You also took along the tabernacle (portable temple) of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon [carrying you away into exile].'

⁴⁴"Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God directed Moses to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

⁴⁵Our fathers also brought it in [with them into the land] with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, [and so it remained here] until the time of David,

⁴⁶who found favor (grace, spiritual blessing) in the sight of God and asked that he might [be allowed to] find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

⁴⁸However, the Most High [the One infinitely exalted above humanity] does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet [Isaiah] says,

⁴⁹'Heaven is My throne, And the earth is the footstool for My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?' says the Lord, 'Or what place is there for My rest?

⁵⁰'Was it not My hand that made all these things?'

⁵¹"You stiff-necked and stubborn people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always actively resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did.

⁵²Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;

⁵³you who received the law as ordained and delivered to you by angels, and yet you did not obey it!"

⁵⁴Now when they heard this [accusation and understood its implication], they were cut to the heart, and they began grinding their teeth [in rage] at him.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory [the great splendor and majesty] of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

⁵⁶and he said, "Look! I see the heavens opened up [in welcome] and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

⁵⁷But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and together rushed at him [considering him guilty of blasphemy].

⁵⁸Then they drove him out of the city and began stoning him; and the witnesses placed their outer robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They continued stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!"

⁶⁰Then falling on his knees [in worship], he cried out loudly, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them [do not charge them]!" When he had said this, he fell asleep [in death].