Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,

²saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;

⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

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

¹¹And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

¹³Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

¹⁴And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

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

²⁰saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.”

²¹And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

²³And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

¹The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.

³“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.

⁴He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

⁵Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁶Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces,

⁷and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

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

⁹but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁰“If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish,

¹¹and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.

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

¹³but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴“If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons.

¹⁵And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar.

¹⁶He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.

¹⁷He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

⁴for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

⁷Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

⁹For the 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 word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

¹²The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹³Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

⁶But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

¹²There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” —

¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

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

¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

¹And Job again took up his discourse, 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 my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

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

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

⁵You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

⁸You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

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

¹⁰no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

¹²On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

¹⁴“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.

¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

¹He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

²When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

⁷A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

⁸Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

⁹If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

¹²If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor meet together; the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

¹⁸Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

¹⁹By mere words a servant is not disciplined, for though he understands, he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹Whoever pampers his servant from childhood will in the end find him his heir.

²²A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

²³One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

²⁴The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.

²⁵The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

²⁶Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice.

²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

¹In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

²It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

³And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

⁴So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.

⁵And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

⁶So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

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

⁸Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.

⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house 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 come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”

¹¹Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

¹²Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

¹³And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

¹⁵In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”

¹⁶And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.

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

¹⁸Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.

¹⁹And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,

²⁰then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

²¹Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast 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 dead also.’”

²²So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

²³The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the 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 dead also.”

²⁵David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

²⁶When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband.

²⁷And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

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

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

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

⁴You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,

⁵saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.

⁶Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’

⁷Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,

⁹behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

¹²Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.

¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

¹⁵Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:

¹⁸Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day;

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

²⁰and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon;

²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;

²³Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;

²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert;

²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, 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 that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

²⁷“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸“And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink!

²⁹For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’

³⁰“You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: “‘The LORD will roar from on high, and from his holy habitation utter his voice; he will roar mightily against his fold, and shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh, and the wicked he will put to the sword, declares the LORD.’

³²“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, disaster is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³“And those pierced by the LORD on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴“Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

³⁵No refuge will remain for the shepherds, nor escape for the lords of the flock.

³⁶A voice — the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the lords of the flock! For the LORD is laying waste their pasture,

³⁷and the peaceful folds are devastated because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸Like a lion he has left his lair, for their land has become a waste because of the sword of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.”

¹And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

²And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’

⁴Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.

⁵Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

⁶And God spoke to this effect — that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.

⁷‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’

⁸And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him

¹⁰and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

¹¹Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

¹³And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.

¹⁵And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers,

¹⁶and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt

¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

²⁰At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house,

²¹and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

²²And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’

²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

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

³⁰“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:

³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ — this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

⁴⁵Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David,

⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

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

⁴⁸Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹“‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?’

⁵¹“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

⁵³you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

⁵⁴Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

⁵⁶And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

⁵⁸Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁶⁰And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.