Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

¹⁰Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

¹⁵but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;

²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light;

²³but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,

²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith?

³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’

³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

¹When any of you sin in that you have heard a public adjuration to testify and — though able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter — do not speak up, you are subject to punishment.

²Or when any of you touch any unclean thing — whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing — and are unaware of it, you have become unclean, and are guilty.

³Or when you touch human uncleanness — any uncleanness by which one can become unclean — and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall be guilty.

⁴Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath, and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty.

⁵When you realize your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed.

⁶And you shall bring to the LORD, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for your sin.

⁷But if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall bring to the LORD, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

⁸You shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering, wringing its head at the nape without severing it.

⁹He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering.

¹⁰And the second he shall offer for a burnt offering according to the regulation. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the sin that you have committed, and you shall be forgiven.

¹¹But if you cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, you shall bring as your offering for the sin that you have committed one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering; you shall not put oil on it or lay frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.

¹²You shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop up a handful of it as its memorial portion, and turn this into smoke on the altar, with the offerings by fire to the LORD; it is a sin offering.

¹³Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for whichever of these sins you have committed, and you shall be forgiven. Like the grain offering, the rest shall be for the priest.

¹⁴The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

¹⁵When any of you commit a trespass and sin unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, you shall bring, as your guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into silver by the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.

¹⁶And you shall make restitution for the holy thing in which you were remiss, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement on your behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and you shall be forgiven.

¹⁷If any of you sin without knowing it, doing any of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, you have incurred guilt, and are subject to punishment.

¹⁸You shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, or the equivalent, as a guilt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the error that you committed unintentionally, and you shall be forgiven.

¹⁹It is a guilt offering; you have incurred guilt before the LORD.

¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind —

⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you —

⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.

¹²What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

¹³Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

¹⁸For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,

²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,

²⁹so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

³⁰He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

³¹in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

¹Wives, in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands, so that, even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct,

²when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

³Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing;

⁴rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.

⁵It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by accepting the authority of their husbands.

⁶Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you.

⁷Husbands, in the same way, show consideration for your wives in your life together, paying honor to the woman as the weaker sex, since they too are also heirs of the gracious gift of life — so that nothing may hinder your prayers.

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

⁹Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called — that you might inherit a blessing.

¹⁰For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?

¹⁴But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated,

¹⁵but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;

¹⁶yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,

²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you — not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

²See, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶See, before God I am as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay.

⁷No fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy on you.

⁸“Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Look, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy;

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks, and watches all my paths.’

¹²“But in this you are not right. I will answer you: God is greater than any mortal.

¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though people do not perceive it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens their ears, and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn them aside from their deeds, and keep them from pride,

¹⁸to spare their souls from the Pit, their lives from traversing the River.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds, and with continual strife in their bones,

²⁰so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food.

²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.

²²Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death.

²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel, a mediator, one of a thousand, one who declares a person upright,

²⁴and he is gracious to that person, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit; I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then he prays to God, and is accepted by him, he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness.

²⁷That person sings to others and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was right, and it was not paid back to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and my life shall see the light.’

²⁹“God indeed does all these things, twice, three times, with mortals,

³⁰to bring back their souls from the Pit, so that they may see the light of life.

³¹Pay heed, Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

³For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.

⁵The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

⁷For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!

⁸Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

⁹when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

¹⁰For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.”

¹¹Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”

¹My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you,

²making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

³if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;

⁴if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures —

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,

⁸guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

¹¹prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely,

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵those whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

¹⁷who forsakes the partner of her youth and forgets her sacred covenant;

¹⁸for her way leads down to death, and her paths to the shades;

¹⁹those who go to her never come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰Therefore walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the just.

²¹For the upright will abide in the land, and the innocent will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

¹After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him.

²Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate; and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out and say, “From what city are you?” When the person said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,”

³Absalom would say, “See, your claims are good and right; but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you.”

⁴Absalom said moreover, “If only I were judge in the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.”

⁵Whenever people came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of them, and kiss them.

⁶Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

⁷At the end of four years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow that I have made to the LORD.

⁸For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram: If the LORD will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship the LORD in Hebron.”

⁹The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up, and went to Hebron.

¹⁰But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: Absalom has become king at Hebron!”

¹¹Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they were invited guests, and they went in their innocence, knowing nothing of the matter.

¹²While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

¹³A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.”

¹⁴Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon us, and attack the city with the edge of the sword.”

¹⁵The king’s officials said to the king, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king decides.”

¹⁶So the king left, followed by all his household, except ten concubines whom he left behind to look after the house.

¹⁷The king left, followed by all the people; and they stopped at the last house.

¹⁸All his officials passed by him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.

¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home.

²⁰You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your kinsfolk with you; and may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you.”

²¹But Ittai answered the king, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.”

²²David said to Ittai, “Go then, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

²³The whole country wept aloud as all the people passed by; the king crossed the Wadi Kidron, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness.

²⁴Abiathar came up, and Zadok also, with all the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, until the people had all passed out of the city.

²⁵Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays.

²⁶But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”

²⁷The king also said to the priest Zadok, “Look, go back to the city in peace, you and Abiathar, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan son of Abiathar.

²⁸See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

²⁹So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.

³⁰But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

³¹David was told that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, “O LORD, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

³²When David came to the summit, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head.

³³David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.

³⁴But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.

³⁵The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you there. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, tell it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar.

³⁶Their two sons are with them there, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; and by them you shall report to me everything you hear.”

³⁷So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

¹These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.

³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said:

⁴Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

⁸For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,

⁹for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.

¹⁰For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

¹¹For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

¹²Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.

¹³When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,

¹⁴I will let you find me, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵Because you have said, “The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” —

¹⁶Thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your kinsfolk who did not go out with you into exile:

¹⁷Thus says the LORD of hosts, I am going to let loose on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

¹⁸I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of cursing, and horror, and hissing, and a derision among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹because they did not heed my words, says the LORD, when I persistently sent to you my servants the prophets, but they would not listen, says the LORD.

²⁰But now, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of the LORD:

²¹Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: I am going to deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes.

²²And on account of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,”

²³because they have perpetrated outrage in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them; I am the one who knows and bears witness, says the LORD.

²⁴To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say:

²⁵Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: In your own name you sent a letter to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶The LORD himself has made you priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, so that there may be officers in the house of the LORD to control any madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the collar.

²⁷So now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who plays the prophet for you?

²⁸For he has actually sent to us in Babylon, saying, “It will be a long time; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat what they produce.”

²⁹The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah.

³⁰Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

³¹Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has led you to trust in a lie,

³²therefore thus says the LORD: I am going to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; he shall not have anyone living among this people to see the good that I am going to do to my people, says the LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,

³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.

⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.

⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’

¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;

¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord.

²²News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion;

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea;

³⁰this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.