Day 34 of 365

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

²When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him,

³saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!"

⁴But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying,

⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me.

⁶When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat!'

⁸But I said, 'Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.'

⁹But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, 'What God has cleansed, do not call unclean.'

¹⁰This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying to him, 'Send to Joppa, and get Simon, whose surname is Peter,

¹⁴who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.'

¹⁵As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?"

¹⁸When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!"

¹⁹They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

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

²²The report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. They sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch,

²³who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.

²⁴For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. It happened, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.

²⁹As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea;

³⁰which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

¹Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hands to oppress some of the church.

²He killed Jacob, the brother of John, with the sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jewish people, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.

⁴When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the church to God for him.

⁶The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.

⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, "Stand up quickly!" His chains fell off from his hands.

⁸The angel said to him, "Get dressed and put on your sandals." He did so. He said to him, "Put on your cloak, and follow me."

⁹And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.

¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹When Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting."

¹²Thinking about that, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

¹³When Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴When she recognized Peter's voice, she did not open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, "You are crazy!" But she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel."

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed.

¹⁷But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, "Tell these things to Jacob, and to the brothers." Then he departed, and went to another place.

¹⁸Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.

¹⁹When Herod had sought for him, and did not find him, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

²⁰Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

²¹On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them.

²²The people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"

²³Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God grew and multiplied.

²⁵Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their service, also taking with them John whose surname was Mark.

¹Now in the church that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them."

³Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

⁴So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had also John as their attendant.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus,

⁷who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn aside the proconsul from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,

¹⁰and said, "Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

¹¹Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!" Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.

¹⁵After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak."

¹⁶Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as foreigners in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it.

¹⁸For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance

²⁰for about four hundred fifty years. After these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'

²³From this man's seed, according to his promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

²⁴before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'

²⁶Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to us.

²⁷For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

²⁸Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.

²⁹When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and placed him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead,

³¹and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.

³²We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,

³³that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son. Today I have become your father.'

³⁴"Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'

³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm, 'You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.'

³⁶For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was placed with his fathers, and saw decay.

³⁷But he whom God raised up saw no decay.

³⁸Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins,

³⁹and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the Prophets:

⁴¹'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.'"

⁴²So when they went out they begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

⁴³Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.

⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, "It was necessary that God's word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, 'I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"

⁴⁸As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹The Lord's word was spread abroad throughout all the region.

⁵⁰But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders.

⁵¹But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium.

⁵²The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.

¹ALEPH I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.

²My soul shall boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad.

³Oh magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.

⁴I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

⁵They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

⁶This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

⁸Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

⁹Oh fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for there is no lack with those who fear him.

¹⁰The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

¹¹Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

¹²Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.

¹⁴Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.

¹⁵The Lord's eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

¹⁶The Lord's face is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷They cried, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

²⁰He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.

²¹Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

²²The Lord redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

¹My son, do not forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:

²for length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you.

³Do not let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

⁸It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.

⁹Honor the Lord with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase:

¹⁰so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:

¹²for whom the Lord loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding.

¹⁴For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.

¹⁹By wisdom the Lord founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.

²⁰By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

²¹My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

²²so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck.

²³Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:

²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you," when you have it by you.

²⁹Do not devise evil against your neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by you.

³⁰Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

³²For the perverse is an abomination to the Lord, but his friendship is with the upright.

³³The Lord's curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

³⁴Surely he is scornful to scoffers, but he gives grace to the humble.

³⁵The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.