Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town.

²Just then some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”

³At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”

⁴Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?

⁵For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”  — then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

⁷So he got up and went home.

⁸When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and gave glory to God, who had given such authority to men.

⁹As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

¹⁰While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples.

¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

¹³Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁴Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse.

¹⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

¹⁸As he was telling them these things, suddenly one of the leaders came and knelt down before him, saying, “My daughter just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

¹⁹So Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him.

²⁰Just then, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years approached from behind and touched the end of his robe,

²¹for she said to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I’ll be made well.”

²²Jesus turned and saw her. “Have courage, daughter,” he said. “Your faith has saved you.” And the woman was made well from that moment.

²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house, he saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.

²⁴“Leave,” he said, “because the girl is not dead but asleep.” And they laughed at him.

²⁵After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

²⁶Then news of this spread throughout that whole area.

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²⁸When he entered the house, the blind men approached him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

²⁹Then he touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”

³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no one finds out.”

³¹But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that whole area.

³²Just as they were going out, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to him.

³³When the demon had been driven out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”

³⁴But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

³⁶When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.

³⁸Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

¹God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

²The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

³Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

⁴However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.

⁵And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.

⁶Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.

⁷But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,

⁹“Understand that I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,

¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you — birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you — all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark.

¹¹I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations:

¹³I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

¹⁴Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,

¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature.

¹⁶The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.”

¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”

¹⁸Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

¹⁹These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.

²⁰Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard.

²¹He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

²³Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

²⁵he said: Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.

²⁶He also said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; Let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

²⁷Let God extend Japheth; let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

²⁸Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

²⁹So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.

¹I speak the truth in Christ  — I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit  —

²that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

³For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

⁴They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

⁵The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

⁶Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

⁷Neither are all of Abraham’s children his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

⁸That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

⁹For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

¹⁰And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac.

¹¹For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand —

¹²not from works but from the one who calls — she was told, The older will serve the younger.

¹³As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

¹⁴What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

¹⁵For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

¹⁶So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

¹⁷For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.

¹⁸So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

¹⁹You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

²⁰But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

²¹Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

²²And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?

²³And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory  —

²⁴on us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

²⁵As it also says in Hosea, I will call Not My People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

²⁶And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

²⁷But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved;

²⁸since the Lord will execute his sentence completely and decisively on the earth.

²⁹And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

³⁰What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness — namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

³¹But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law.

³²Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

³³As it is written, Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

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

³As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine

⁴or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

⁵Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

⁶Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

⁷They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

⁸But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

⁹We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

¹⁰for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

¹²I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry —

¹³even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief,

¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”  — and I am the worst of them.

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight,

¹⁹having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have shipwrecked their faith.

²⁰Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

¹Then Job answered:

²Yes, I know what you’ve said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?

³If one wanted to take him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹¹If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him; if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something, who can stop him? Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”

¹³God does not hold back his anger; Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

¹⁴How then can I answer him or choose my arguments against him?

¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

¹⁷He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He doesn’t let me catch my breath but fills me with bitter experiences.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

²¹Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life.

²²It is all the same. Therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

²³When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.

²⁶They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷If I said, “I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,”

²⁸I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know you will not acquit me.

²⁹Since I will be found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you dip me in a pit of mud, and my own clothes despise me!

³²For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court.

³³There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own.

¹For the choir director: according to . A psalm of David. [1] I will thank the LORD with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous works.

²I will rejoice and boast about you; I will sing about your name, Most High.

³When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before you.

⁴For you have upheld my just cause; you are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.

⁵You have rebuked the nations: You have destroyed the wicked; you have erased their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy has come to eternal ruin. You have uprooted the cities, and the very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for judgment.

⁸And he judges the world with righteousness; he executes judgment on the nations with fairness.

⁹The LORD is a refuge for the persecuted, a refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you because you have not abandoned those who seek you, LORD.

¹¹Sing to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim his deeds among the nations.

¹²For the one who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.

¹³Be gracious to me, LORD; consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me. Lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴so that I may declare all your praises. I will rejoice in your salvation within the gates of Daughter Zion.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they made; their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.

¹⁶The LORD has made himself known; he has executed justice, snaring the wicked by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol  — all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten; the hope of the oppressed will not perish forever.

¹⁹Rise up, LORD! Do not let mere humans prevail; let the nations be judged in your presence.

²⁰Put terror in them, LORD; let the nations know they are only humans. Selah

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹When all the kings heard about Jericho and Ai, those who were west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the Judean foothills, and all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon — the Hethites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites —

²they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.

³When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

⁴they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

⁵They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly.

⁶They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.”

⁷The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?”

⁸They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

⁹They replied to him, “Your servants have come from a faraway land because of the reputation of the LORD your God. For we have heard of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and all that he did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan — King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth.

¹¹So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, “We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.”’

¹²This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you; but see, it is now dry and crumbly.

¹³These wineskins were new when we filled them; but see, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey.”

¹⁴Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the LORD’s decision.

¹⁵So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.

¹⁶Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them.

¹⁷So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

¹⁸But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.

¹⁹All the leaders answered them, “We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

²⁰This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.”

²¹They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

²²Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?

²³Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves — woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

²⁴The Gibeonites answered him, “It was clearly communicated to your servants that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.

²⁵Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is right.”

²⁶This is what Joshua did to them: he rescued them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

²⁷On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers — as they are today — for the community and for the LORD’s altar at the place he would choose.

¹Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.

²The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.

³You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

⁴For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian.

⁵For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.

⁶For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will accomplish this.

⁸The Lord sent a message against Jacob; it came against Israel.

⁹All the people — Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria  — will know it. They will say with pride and arrogance:

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹The LORD has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him and stirred up his enemies.

¹²Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have consumed Israel with open mouths. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

¹³The people did not turn to him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Armies.

¹⁴So the LORD cut off Israel’s head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day.

¹⁵The head is the elder, the honored one; the tail is the prophet, the one teaching lies.

¹⁶The leaders of the people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over Israel’s young men and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

¹⁸For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.

¹⁹The land is scorched by the wrath of the LORD of Armies, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one has compassion on his brother.

²⁰They carve meat on the right, but they are still hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

²¹Manasseh is with Ephraim, and Ephraim with Manasseh; together, both are against Judah. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

¹Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest

²and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

³As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

⁴Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.

⁶“But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

⁹He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.

¹⁰There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Here I am, Lord,” he replied.

¹¹“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.

¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

¹⁷Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

¹⁹And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time.

²⁰Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

²²But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,

²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him,

²⁵but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

²⁷Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him.

³⁰When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²As Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.

³³There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,” and immediately he got up.

³⁵So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated Dorcas). She was always doing good works and acts of charity.

³⁷About that time she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him who urged him, “Don’t delay in coming with us.”

³⁹Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. And all the widows approached him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.

⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. He called the saints and widows and presented her alive.

⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³Peter stayed for some time in Joppa with Simon, a leather tanner.