Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.

²The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?”

³Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

⁴Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.”

⁵And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Disciples Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people.

⁷And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.

⁸He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick — no food, no traveler’s bag, no money.

⁹He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.

¹⁰“Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town.

¹¹But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

¹²So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God.

¹³And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.

¹⁴Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.”

¹⁵Others said, “He’s the prophet Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet like the other great prophets of the past.”

¹⁶When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead.”

¹⁷For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her.

¹⁸John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless,

²⁰for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.

²¹Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee.

²²Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.”

²³He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”

²⁴She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!”

²⁵So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”

²⁶Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her.

²⁷So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison,

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

²⁹When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came to get his body and buried it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.

³¹Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

³²So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.

³³But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.

³⁴Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.

³⁶Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”

³⁷But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

³⁸“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

⁴¹Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.

⁴²They all ate as much as they wanted,

⁴³and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.

⁴⁴A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.

⁴⁵Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.

⁴⁶After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

⁴⁷Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land.

⁴⁸He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them,

⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost.

⁵⁰They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here! ”

⁵¹Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed,

⁵²for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

⁵³After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore

⁵⁴and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once,

⁵⁵and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶Wherever he went — in villages, cities, or the countryside — they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “If any of the people, either men or women, take the special vow of a Nazirite, setting themselves apart to the LORD in a special way,

³they must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks. They must not use vinegar made from wine or from other alcoholic drinks, they must not drink fresh grape juice, and they must not eat grapes or raisins.

⁴As long as they are bound by their Nazirite vow, they are not allowed to eat or drink anything that comes from a grapevine — not even the grape seeds or skins.

⁵“They must never cut their hair throughout the time of their vow, for they are holy and set apart to the LORD. Until the time of their vow has been fulfilled, they must let their hair grow long.

⁶And they must not go near a dead body during the entire period of their vow to the LORD.

⁷Even if the dead person is their own father, mother, brother, or sister, they must not defile themselves, for the hair on their head is the symbol of their separation to God.

⁸This requirement applies as long as they are set apart to the LORD.

⁹“If someone falls dead beside them, the hair they have dedicated will be defiled. They must wait for seven days and then shave their heads. Then they will be cleansed from their defilement.

¹⁰On the eighth day they must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

¹¹The priest will offer one of the birds for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way, he will purify them from the guilt they incurred through contact with the dead body. Then they must reaffirm their commitment and let their hair begin to grow again.

¹²The days of their vow that were completed before their defilement no longer count. They must rededicate themselves to the LORD as a Nazirite for the full term of their vow, and each must bring a one-year-old male lamb for a guilt offering.

¹³“This is the ritual law for Nazirites. At the conclusion of their time of separation as Nazirites, they must each go to the entrance of the Tabernacle

¹⁴and offer their sacrifices to the LORD: a one-year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a peace offering,

¹⁵a basket of bread made without yeast — cakes of choice flour mixed with olive oil and wafers spread with olive oil — along with their prescribed grain offerings and liquid offerings.

¹⁶The priest will present these offerings before the LORD: first the sin offering and the burnt offering;

¹⁷then the ram for a peace offering, along with the basket of bread made without yeast. The priest must also present the prescribed grain offering and liquid offering to the LORD.

¹⁸“Then the Nazirites will shave their heads at the entrance of the Tabernacle. They will take the hair that had been dedicated and place it on the fire beneath the peace-offering sacrifice.

¹⁹After the Nazirite’s head has been shaved, the priest will take for each of them the boiled shoulder of the ram, and he will take from the basket a cake and a wafer made without yeast. He will put them all into the Nazirite’s hands.

²⁰Then the priest will lift them up as a special offering before the LORD. These are holy portions for the priest, along with the breast of the special offering and the thigh of the sacred offering that are lifted up before the LORD. After this ceremony the Nazirites may again drink wine.

²¹“This is the ritual law of the Nazirites, who vow to bring these offerings to the LORD. They may also bring additional offerings if they can afford it. And they must be careful to do whatever they vowed when they set themselves apart as Nazirites.”

²²Then the LORD said to Moses,

²³“Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

²⁴‘May the LORD bless you and protect you.

²⁵May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.

²⁶May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’

²⁷Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

¹This is the third time I am coming to visit you (and as the Scriptures say, “The facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” ).

²I have already warned those who had been sinning when I was there on my second visit. Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before, that next time I will not spare them.

³I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you.

⁴Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power.

⁵Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you ; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

⁶As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.

⁷We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come — even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority.

⁸For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth.

⁹We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature.

¹⁰I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down.

¹¹Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet each other with a sacred kiss.

¹³All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

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

¹Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.

²I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them.

³And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

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

⁵Then I looked and saw that the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was thrown wide open.

⁶The seven angels who were holding the seven plagues came out of the Temple. They were clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chests.

⁷Then one of the four living beings handed each of the seven angels a gold bowl filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

⁸The Temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and power. No one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.

¹How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O queenly maiden. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman.

²Your navel is perfectly formed like a goblet filled with mixed wine. Between your thighs lies a mound of wheat bordered with lilies.

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

⁴Your neck is as beautiful as an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.

⁵Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel, and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty. The king is held captive by its tresses.

⁶Oh, how beautiful you are! How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!

⁷You are slender like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.

⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like grape clusters, and the fragrance of your breath like apples.

⁹May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine — Young Woman Yes, wine that goes down smoothly for my lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth.

¹⁰I am my lover’s, and he claims me as his own.

¹¹Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers.

¹²Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love.

¹³There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover.

¹I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.

²We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

³Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt.

⁴We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.

¹The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message. I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God.

²I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.

³I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One.

⁴Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name — and his son’s name? Tell me if you know!

⁵Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.

⁶Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

⁷O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die.

⁸First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

⁹For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.

¹⁰Never slander a worker to the employer, or the person will curse you, and you will pay for it.

¹¹Some people curse their father and do not thank their mother.

¹²They are pure in their own eyes, but they are filthy and unwashed.

¹³They look proudly around, casting disdainful glances.

¹⁴They have teeth like swords and fangs like knives. They devour the poor from the earth and the needy from among humanity.

¹⁵The leech has two suckers that cry out, “More, more!” There are three things that are never satisfied — no, four that never say, “Enough!”:

¹⁶the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father and despises a mother’s instructions will be plucked out by ravens of the valley and eaten by vultures.

¹⁸There are three things that amaze me — no, four things that I don’t understand:

¹⁹how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman.

²⁰An adulterous woman consumes a man, then wipes her mouth and says, “What’s wrong with that?”

²¹There are three things that make the earth tremble — no, four it cannot endure:

²²a slave who becomes a king, an overbearing fool who prospers,

²³a bitter woman who finally gets a husband, a servant girl who supplants her mistress.

²⁴There are four things on earth that are small but unusually wise:

²⁵Ants — they aren’t strong, but they store up food all summer.

²⁶Hyraxes — they aren’t powerful, but they make their homes among the rocks.

²⁷Locusts — they have no king, but they march in formation.

²⁸Lizards — they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces.

²⁹There are three things that walk with stately stride — no, four that strut about:

³⁰the lion, king of animals, who won’t turn aside for anything,

³¹the strutting rooster, the male goat, a king as he leads his army.

³²If you have been a fool by being proud or plotting evil, cover your mouth in shame.

³³As the beating of cream yields butter and striking the nose causes bleeding, so stirring up anger causes quarrels.

¹When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal.

²So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

³Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.

⁴Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

⁵Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!”

⁶He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

⁸So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

⁹There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. The LORD Speaks to Elijah But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

¹¹“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

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

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

¹⁴He replied again, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

¹⁵Then the LORD told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.

¹⁶Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet.

¹⁷Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha!

¹⁸Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

¹⁹So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away.

²⁰Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!” Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.”

²¹So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.

¹Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

²But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.

³“You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

⁴Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

⁶When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds.

⁷And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

⁸“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. ’

⁹“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

¹¹“Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us.

¹³He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

¹⁴He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

¹⁵“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

¹⁹Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

²⁰However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

²²When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

²⁷During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

³⁰This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.