Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

²And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

⁴And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

⁵And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

⁶And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

⁷And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

⁸He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts —

⁹but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

¹⁰And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.

¹¹And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

¹³And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

¹⁷For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.

¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.”

¹⁹And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not,

²⁰for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

²¹But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.

²²For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.”

²³And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.

²⁷And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison

²⁸and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

³¹And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

³²And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

³⁴When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

³⁵And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.

³⁶Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.

⁴¹And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²And they all ate and were satisfied.

⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.

⁴⁴And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,

⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out,

⁵⁰for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

⁵¹And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded,

⁵²for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore.

⁵⁴And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him

⁵⁵and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,

³he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.

⁴All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

⁵“All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

⁶“All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.

⁷Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.

⁸All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

⁹“And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.

¹⁰On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting,

¹¹and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day

¹²and separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

¹³“And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,

¹⁴and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering,

¹⁵and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings.

¹⁶And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering,

¹⁷and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering.

¹⁸And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

¹⁹And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration,

²⁰and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹“This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the LORD above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”

²²The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²³“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

²⁴The LORD bless you and keep you;

²⁵the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

²⁶the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

²⁷“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

²I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them —

³since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.

⁴For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

⁵Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

⁶I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

⁷But we pray to God that you may not do wrong — not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.

⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

⁹For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.

¹⁰For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss.

¹³All the saints greet you.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

¹Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

²And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire — and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

³And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

⁴Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁵After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,

⁶and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.

⁷And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,

⁸and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

¹How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.

²Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.

³Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

⁴Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.

⁵Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

⁶How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!

⁷Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.

⁸I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

⁹and your mouth like the best wine. She It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;

¹²let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

¹To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

²Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us.

³Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

⁴Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.

²Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!

⁵Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,

⁹lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those — how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”:

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”

²¹Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:

²²a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;

²³an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;

²⁶the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride:

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;

³¹the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.

¹Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

³Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

⁵And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

⁶And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”

⁸And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

⁹There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

¹¹And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

¹²And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

¹³And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

¹⁵And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

¹⁶And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.

¹⁷And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.

¹⁸Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

¹⁹So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.

²⁰And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

²¹And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

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

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying,

³“You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴But Peter began and explained it to them in order:

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me.

⁶Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.

⁷And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’

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

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

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

¹¹And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea.

¹²And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.

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

¹⁴he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

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

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

¹⁷If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”

¹⁸When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

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

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

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

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

²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,

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

²⁵So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

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

²⁸And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).

²⁹So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

³⁰And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.