One Year Bible.

Cornelius Sends for Peter

¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. ²He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. ³One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?”

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. ⁵Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants. ⁸He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

Peter’s Vision

⁹The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

¹¹He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹²It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air. ¹³Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

¹⁴“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁶This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.

Peter Called to Caesarea

¹⁷While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate. ¹⁸They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there.

¹⁹As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰So get up! Go downstairs and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.”

²¹So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”

²²“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”

²³So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

Peter Visits Cornelius

²⁴The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him. ²⁶But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

²⁷As Peter talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered together. ²⁸He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. ²⁹So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”

³⁰Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me ³¹and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God. ³²Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’

³³So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”

Good News for the Gentiles

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, ³⁵but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. ³⁶He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

³⁷You yourselves know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee with the baptism that John proclaimed: ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.

³⁹We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, ⁴⁰God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be seen — ⁴¹not by all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. ⁴²And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message. ⁴⁵All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God.

Then Peter said, ⁴⁷“Can anyone withhold the water to baptize these people? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have!” ⁴⁸So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

The Wages of the Harlot

¹“If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him to marry another,

can he ever return to her?

Would not such a land be completely defiled?

But you have played the harlot with many lovers —

and you would return to Me?”

declares the LORD.

²“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see.

Is there any place where you have not been violated?

You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers,

like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness.

³Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

you refuse to be ashamed.

⁴Have you not just called to Me,

‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

⁵Will He be angry forever?

Will He be indignant to the end?’

This you have spoken,

but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

Judah Follows Israel’s Example

⁶Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

⁸She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. ⁹Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

A Call to Repentance

¹¹And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. ¹²Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD.

‘I will no longer look on you with anger,

for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.

‘I will not be angry forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.

You have scattered your favors to foreign gods

under every green tree

and have not obeyed My voice,’”

declares the LORD.

¹⁴“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you — one from a city and two from a family — and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

¹⁶“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

¹⁹Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritance

of all the nations!’

I thought you would call Me ‘Father’

and never turn away from following Me.

²⁰But as a woman may betray her husband,

so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”

declares the LORD.

²¹A voice is heard on the barren heights,

the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,

because they have perverted their ways

and forgotten the LORD their God.

²²“Return, O faithless children,

and I will heal your faithlessness.”

“Here we are. We come to You,

for You are the LORD our God.

²³Surely deception comes from the hills,

and commotion from the mountains.

Surely the salvation of Israel

is in the LORD our God.

²⁴From our youth, that shameful god

has consumed what our fathers have worked for—

their flocks and herds,

their sons and daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame;

let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against the LORD our God,

both we and our fathers;

from our youth even to this day

we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

A Plea to Return

¹“If you will return, O Israel,

return to Me,” declares the LORD.

“If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight

and no longer waver,

²and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then the nations will be blessed by Him,

and in Him they will glory.”

³For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground,

and do not sow among the thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,

and remove the foreskins of your hearts,

O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.

Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire

and burn with no one to extinguish it,

because of your evil deeds.”

Disaster from the North

⁵Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

“Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.

Cry aloud and say,

‘Assemble yourselves

and let us flee to the fortified cities.’

⁶Raise a signal flag toward Zion.

Seek refuge! Do not delay!

For I am bringing disaster from the north,

and terrible destruction.

⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket,

and a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his lair

to lay waste your land.

Your cities will be reduced to ruins

and lie uninhabited.

⁸So put on sackcloth,

mourn and wail,

for the fierce anger of the LORD

has not turned away from us.”

⁹“In that day,” declares the LORD,

“the king and officials will lose their courage.

The priests will tremble in fear,

and the prophets will be astounded.”

¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift; ¹²a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

¹³Behold, he advances like the clouds,

his chariots like the whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are ruined!

¹⁴Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem,

so that you may be saved.

How long will you harbor

wicked thoughts within you?

¹⁵For a voice resounds from Dan,

proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

¹⁶Warn the nations now!

Proclaim to Jerusalem:

“A besieging army comes from a distant land;

they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷They surround her like men guarding a field,

because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸“Your ways and deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your punishment; how bitter it is,

because it pierces to the heart!”

Lamentation for Judah

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the pain in my chest!

My heart pounds within me;

I cannot be silent.

For I have heard the sound of the horn,

the alarm of battle.

²⁰Disaster after disaster is proclaimed,

for the whole land is laid waste.

My tents are destroyed in an instant,

my curtains in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the horn?

²²“For My people are fools;

they have not known Me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil,

but they know not how to do good.”

²³I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and void;

I looked to the heavens,

and they had no light.

²⁴I looked at the mountains,

and behold, they were quaking;

all the hills were swaying.

²⁵I looked, and no man was left;

all the birds of the air had fled.

²⁶I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert.

All its cities were torn down

before the LORD,

before His fierce anger.

²⁷For this is what the LORD says:

“The whole land will be desolate,

but I will not finish its destruction.

²⁸Therefore the earth will mourn

and the heavens above will grow dark.

I have spoken, I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back.”

²⁹Every city flees

at the sound of the horseman and archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

³⁰And you, O devastated one, what will you do,

though you dress yourself in scarlet,

though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

though you enlarge your eyes with paint?

You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you;

they want to take your life.

³¹For I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child —

the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands to say,

“Woe is me,

for my soul faints before the murderers!”