Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town.

²Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”

³But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”

⁴Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?

⁵Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?

⁶So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

⁷And the man jumped up and went home!

⁸Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for giving humans such authority.

⁹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

¹¹But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum? ”

¹²When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do.”

¹³Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

¹⁴One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”

¹⁵Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶“Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

¹⁷“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

¹⁸As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.”

¹⁹So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him.

²⁰Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe,

²¹for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

²²Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

²³When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music.

²⁴“Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him.

²⁵After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up!

²⁶The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.

²⁷After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

²⁸They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?” “Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”

²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”

³⁰Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.”

³¹But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.

³²When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus.

³³So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. “Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel!” they exclaimed.

³⁴But the Pharisees said, “He can cast out demons because he is empowered by the prince of demons.”

³⁵Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.

³⁸So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Bring Aaron and his sons, along with their sacred garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of bread made without yeast,

³and call the entire community of Israel together at the entrance of the Tabernacle. ”

⁴So Moses followed the LORD’s instructions, and the whole community assembled at the Tabernacle entrance.

⁵Moses announced to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded us to do!”

⁶Then he presented Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.

⁷He put the official tunic on Aaron and tied the sash around his waist. He dressed him in the robe, placed the ephod on him, and attached the ephod securely with its decorative sash.

⁸Then Moses placed the chestpiece on Aaron and put the Urim and the Thummim inside it.

⁹He placed the turban on Aaron’s head and attached the gold medallion — the badge of holiness — to the front of the turban, just as the LORD had commanded him.

¹⁰Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and everything in it, making them holy.

¹¹He sprinkled the oil on the altar seven times, anointing it and all its utensils, as well as the washbasin and its stand, making them holy.

¹²Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, anointing him and making him holy for his work.

¹³Next Moses presented Aaron’s sons. He clothed them in their tunics, tied their sashes around them, and put their special head coverings on them, just as the LORD had commanded him.

¹⁴Then Moses presented the bull for the sin offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull’s head,

¹⁵and Moses slaughtered it. Moses took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on the four horns of the altar to purify it. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Through this process, he made the altar holy by purifying it.

¹⁶Then Moses took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, and he burned it all on the altar.

¹⁷He took the rest of the bull, including its hide, meat, and dung, and burned it on a fire outside the camp, just as the LORD had commanded him.

¹⁸Then Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head,

¹⁹and Moses slaughtered it. Then Moses took the ram’s blood and splattered it against all sides of the altar.

²⁰Then he cut the ram into pieces, and he burned the head, some of its pieces, and the fat on the altar.

²¹After washing the internal organs and the legs with water, Moses burned the entire ram on the altar as a burnt offering. It was a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him.

²²Then Moses presented the other ram, which was the ram of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head,

²³and Moses slaughtered it. Then Moses took some of its blood and applied it to the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.

²⁴Next Moses presented Aaron’s sons and applied some of the blood to the lobes of their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet. He then splattered the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar.

²⁵Next Moses took the fat, including the fat of the broad tail, the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, along with the right thigh.

²⁶On top of these he placed a thin cake of bread made without yeast, a cake of bread mixed with olive oil, and a wafer spread with olive oil. All these were taken from the basket of bread made without yeast that was placed in the LORD’s presence.

²⁷He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and he lifted these gifts as a special offering to the LORD.

²⁸Moses then took all the offerings back from them and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. This was the ordination offering. It was a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the LORD.

²⁹Then Moses took the breast and lifted it up as a special offering to the LORD. This was Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination, just as the LORD had commanded him.

³⁰Next Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar, and he sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. In this way, he made Aaron and his sons and their garments holy.

³¹Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the remaining meat of the offerings at the Tabernacle entrance, and eat it there, along with the bread that is in the basket of offerings for the ordination, just as I commanded when I said, ‘Aaron and his sons will eat it.’

³²Any meat or bread that is left over must then be burned up.

³³You must not leave the Tabernacle entrance for seven days, for that is when the ordination ceremony will be completed.

³⁴Everything we have done today was commanded by the LORD in order to purify you, making you right with him.

³⁵Now stay at the entrance of the Tabernacle day and night for seven days, and do everything the LORD requires. If you fail to do this, you will die, for this is what the LORD has commanded.”

³⁶So Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.

¹So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries.

²Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.

³As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.

⁴My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.

⁵So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time — before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

⁶Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.

⁷For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

⁸You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you.

⁹Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world — to people and angels alike.

¹⁰Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed.

¹¹Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home.

¹²We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us.

¹³We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash — right up to the present moment.

¹⁴I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children.

¹⁵For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you.

¹⁶So I urge you to imitate me.

¹⁷That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.

¹⁸Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again.

¹⁹But I will come — and soon — if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power.

²⁰For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

²¹Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?

¹This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.

²May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

³By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

⁴And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

⁵In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,

⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,

⁷and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

⁸The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

¹⁰So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.

¹¹Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹²Therefore, I will always remind you about these things — even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.

¹³And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live.

¹⁴For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life,

¹⁵so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.

¹⁶For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes

¹⁷when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

¹⁸We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place — until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.

²⁰Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding,

²¹or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

¹Elihu continued speaking:

²“Let me go on, and I will show you the truth. For I have not finished defending God!

³I will present profound arguments for the righteousness of my Creator.

⁴I am telling you nothing but the truth, for I am a man of great knowledge.

⁵“God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding.

⁶He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.

⁷He never takes his eyes off the innocent, but he sets them on thrones with kings and exalts them forever.

⁸If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble,

⁹he shows them the reason. He shows them their sins of pride.

¹⁰He gets their attention and commands that they turn from evil.

¹¹“If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant.

¹²But if they refuse to listen to him, they will cross over the river of death, dying from lack of understanding.

¹³For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help.

¹⁴They die when they are young, after wasting their lives in immoral living.

¹⁵But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity.

¹⁶“God is leading you away from danger, Job, to a place free from distress. He is setting your table with the best food.

¹⁷But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld.

¹⁸But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth. Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin.

¹⁹Could all your wealth or all your mighty efforts keep you from distress?

²⁰Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed.

²¹Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.

²²“Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him?

²³No one can tell him what to do, or say to him, ‘You have done wrong.’

²⁴Instead, glorify his mighty works, singing songs of praise.

²⁵Everyone has seen these things, though only from a distance.

²⁶“Look, God is greater than we can understand. His years cannot be counted.

²⁷He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain.

²⁸The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits.

²⁹Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?

³⁰See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea.

³¹By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance.

³²He fills his hands with lightning bolts and hurls each at its target.

³³The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.

¹Sing a new song to the LORD, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his saving power!

²The LORD has announced his victory and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!

³He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel. The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

⁴Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!

⁵Sing your praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song,

⁶with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn. Make a joyful symphony before the LORD, the King!

⁷Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in.

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy

⁹before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.

²Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned.

³For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.

⁶For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

⁷So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say:

⁸Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house!

⁹If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.

¹⁰Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.

¹¹In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.

¹²You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!

¹³Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own well — share your love only with your wife.

¹⁶Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?

¹⁷You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers.

¹⁸Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.

²⁰Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?

²¹For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.

²²An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.

²³He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.

¹David now mustered the men who were with him and appointed generals and captains to lead them.

²He sent the troops out in three groups, placing one group under Joab, one under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one under Ittai, the man from Gath. The king told his troops, “I am going out with you.”

³But his men objected strongly. “You must not go,” they urged. “If we have to turn and run — and even if half of us die — it will make no difference to Absalom’s troops; they will be looking only for you. You are worth 10,000 of us, and it is better that you stay here in the town and send help if we need it.”

⁴“If you think that’s the best plan, I’ll do it,” the king answered. So he stood alongside the gate of the town as all the troops marched out in groups of hundreds and of thousands.

⁵And the king gave this command to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake, deal gently with young Absalom.” And all the troops heard the king give this order to his commanders.

⁶So the battle began in the forest of Ephraim,

⁷and the Israelite troops were beaten back by David’s men. There was a great slaughter that day, and 20,000 men laid down their lives.

⁸The battle raged all across the countryside, and more men died because of the forest than were killed by the sword.

⁹During the battle, Absalom happened to come upon some of David’s men. He tried to escape on his mule, but as he rode beneath the thick branches of a great tree, his hair got caught in the tree. His mule kept going and left him dangling in the air.

¹⁰One of David’s men saw what had happened and told Joab, “I saw Absalom dangling from a great tree.”

¹¹“What?” Joab demanded. “You saw him there and didn’t kill him? I would have rewarded you with ten pieces of silver and a hero’s belt!”

¹²“I would not kill the king’s son for even a thousand pieces of silver, ” the man replied to Joab. “We all heard the king say to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake, please spare young Absalom.’

¹³And if I had betrayed the king by killing his son — and the king would certainly find out who did it — you yourself would be the first to abandon me.”

¹⁴“Enough of this nonsense,” Joab said. Then he took three daggers and plunged them into Absalom’s heart as he dangled, still alive, in the great tree.

¹⁵Ten of Joab’s young armor bearers then surrounded Absalom and killed him.

¹⁶Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men returned from chasing the army of Israel.

¹⁷They threw Absalom’s body into a deep pit in the forest and piled a great heap of stones over it. And all Israel fled to their homes.

¹⁸During his lifetime, Absalom had built a monument to himself in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and it is known as Absalom’s Monument to this day.

¹⁹Then Zadok’s son Ahimaaz said, “Let me run to the king with the good news that the LORD has rescued him from his enemies.”

²⁰“No,” Joab told him, “it wouldn’t be good news to the king that his son is dead. You can be my messenger another time, but not today.”

²¹Then Joab said to a man from Ethiopia, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The man bowed and ran off.

²²But Ahimaaz continued to plead with Joab, “Whatever happens, please let me go, too.” “Why should you go, my son?” Joab replied. “There will be no reward for your news.”

²³“Yes, but let me go anyway,” he begged. Joab finally said, “All right, go ahead.” So Ahimaaz took the less demanding route by way of the plain and ran to Mahanaim ahead of the Ethiopian.

²⁴While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the town, the watchman climbed to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked, he saw a lone man running toward them.

²⁵He shouted the news down to David, and the king replied, “If he is alone, he has news.” As the messenger came closer,

²⁶the watchman saw another man running toward them. He shouted down, “Here comes another one!” The king replied, “He also will have news.”

²⁷“The first man runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok,” the watchman said. “He is a good man and comes with good news,” the king replied.

²⁸Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “Everything is all right!” He bowed before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise to the LORD your God, who has handed over the rebels who dared to stand against my lord the king.”

²⁹“What about young Absalom?” the king demanded. “Is he all right?” Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab told me to come, there was a lot of commotion. But I didn’t know what was happening.”

³⁰“Wait here,” the king told him. So Ahimaaz stepped aside.

³¹Then the man from Ethiopia arrived and said, “I have good news for my lord the king. Today the LORD has rescued you from all those who rebelled against you.”

³²“What about young Absalom?” the king demanded. “Is he all right?” And the Ethiopian replied, “May all of your enemies, my lord the king, both now and in the future, share the fate of that young man!”

³³The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.”

¹The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.

²Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.

³King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.

⁴King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face.

⁵He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the LORD. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”

⁶At that time the LORD sent me a message. He said,

⁷“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”

⁸Then, just as the LORD had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the LORD.

⁹So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.

¹⁰I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.

¹¹Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,

¹²and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

¹³Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,

¹⁴“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’

¹⁵For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”

¹⁶Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the LORD:

¹⁷“O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

¹⁸You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁹You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve.

²⁰You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt — things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.

²¹“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror.

²²You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before — a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.

²⁴“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said.

²⁵And yet, O Sovereign LORD, you have told me to buy the field — paying good money for it before these witnesses — even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”

²⁶Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²⁷“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

²⁸Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

²⁹The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods.

³⁰Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the LORD.

³¹“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.

³²“The sins of Israel and Judah — the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets — have stirred up my anger.

³³My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.

³⁴They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.

³⁵They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

³⁶“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:

³⁷I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety.

³⁸They will be my people, and I will be their God.

³⁹And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.

⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.

⁴¹I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.

⁴²“This is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.

⁴³Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’

⁴⁴Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold — deeds signed and sealed and witnessed — in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.

²Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.

³But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

⁵Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.

⁶When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia — to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area.

⁷And there they preached the Good News.

⁸While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting

⁹and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.

¹⁰So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.

¹¹When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!”

¹²They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker.

¹³Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting,

¹⁵“Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings — just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways,

¹⁷but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.”

¹⁸But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.

²⁰But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia,

²²where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.

²³Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

²⁴Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia.

²⁵They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia.

²⁶Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun. The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed.

²⁷Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too.

²⁸And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.