Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,

²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.

³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”

⁵Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

⁶And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.

⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

⁹Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,

¹⁰for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’

¹¹and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

¹²Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

¹⁴Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.

¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

²¹Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

²³He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”

²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.

²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land;

²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

³¹He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath.

³²They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.

³³In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

³⁴“Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm.

³⁶They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!”

³⁷And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.

³⁸After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her.

³⁹Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.

⁴⁰As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them.

⁴¹Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.

⁴²At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them.

⁴³But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.

¹The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.

²Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron.

³The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the LORD!

⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

⁵Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

⁸Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.

⁹So Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he had commanded him.

¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

¹³These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and by which he showed his holiness.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us:

¹⁵how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors;

¹⁶and when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

¹⁷Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King’s Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you.”

¹⁹The Israelites said to him, “We will stay on the highway; and if we drink of your water, we and our livestock, then we will pay for it. It is only a small matter; just let us pass through on foot.”

²⁰But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large force, heavily armed.

²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through their territory; so Israel turned away from them.

²²They set out from Kadesh, and the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

²³Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom,

²⁴“Let Aaron be gathered to his people. For he shall not enter the land that I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor;

²⁶strip Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar. But Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there.”

²⁷Moses did as the LORD had commanded; they went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation.

²⁸Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.

¹If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,

²make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,

⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

¹³for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without murmuring and arguing,

¹⁵so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.

¹⁶It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you —

¹⁸and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

¹⁹I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you.

²⁰I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

²¹All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

²²But Timothy’s worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.

²³I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me;

²⁴and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.

²⁵Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus — my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need;

²⁶for he has been longing for all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.

²⁷He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.

²⁸I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.

²⁹Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people,

³⁰because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me.

¹“Look, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.

⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians.

⁵If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?

⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?

¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

¹⁴I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.

¹⁵See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let dread of you terrify me.

²²Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?

²⁶For you write bitter things against me, and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

²⁸One wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹By the rivers of Babylon — there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows there we hung up our harps.

³For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴How could we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!

⁶Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

⁷Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!”

⁸O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!

⁹Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!

¹A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.

³Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.

⁴The appetite of the lazy craves, and gets nothing, while the appetite of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.

⁶Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.

¹⁶The clever do all things intelligently, but the fool displays folly.

¹⁷A bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy, healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace are for the one who ignores instruction, but one who heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire realized is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty.

¹Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family.

²But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter, Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus she hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed;

³he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD; then he showed them the king’s son.

⁵He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the sabbath and guard the king’s house

⁶(another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace;

⁷and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of the LORD

⁸shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.”

⁹The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada.

¹⁰The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD;

¹¹the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side.

¹²Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the LORD to the people;

¹⁴when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the LORD.”

¹⁶So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.

¹⁷Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD’s people; also between the king and the people.

¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the LORD.

¹⁹He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings.

²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.

²¹Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

¹Certain elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.

²And the word of the LORD came to me:

³Mortal, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and placed their iniquity as a stumbling block before them; shall I let myself be consulted by them?

⁴Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any of those of the house of Israel who take their idols into their hearts and place their iniquity as a stumbling block before them, and yet come to the prophet — I the LORD will answer those who come with the multitude of their idols,

⁵in order that I may take hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom are estranged from me through their idols.

⁶Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷For any of those of the house of Israel, or of the aliens who reside in Israel, who separate themselves from me, taking their idols into their hearts and placing their iniquity as a stumbling block before them, and yet come to a prophet to inquire of me by him, I the LORD will answer them myself.

⁸I will set my face against them; I will make them a sign and a byword and cut them off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the LORD.

⁹If a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

¹⁰And they shall bear their punishment — the punishment of the inquirer and the punishment of the prophet shall be the same —

¹¹so that the house of Israel may no longer go astray from me, nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord GOD.

¹²The word of the LORD came to me:

¹³Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it human beings and animals,

¹⁴even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵If I send wild animals through the land to ravage it, so that it is made desolate, and no one may pass through because of the animals;

¹⁶even if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword pass through the land,” and I cut off human beings and animals from it;

¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved.

¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it;

²⁰even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!

²²Yet, survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.

²³They shall console you, when you see their ways and their deeds; and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.

¹Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem

²where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews gave him a report against Paul. They appealed to him

³and requested, as a favor to them against Paul, to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, planning an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

⁵“So,” he said, “let those of you who have the authority come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶After he had stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

⁷When he arrived, the Jews who had gone down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.

⁸Paul said in his defense, “I have in no way committed an offense against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against the emperor.”

⁹But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?”

¹⁰Paul said, “I am appealing to the emperor’s tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know.

¹¹Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.”

¹²Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.”

¹³After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus.

¹⁴Since they were staying there several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix.

¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him and asked for a sentence against him.

¹⁶I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met the accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the charge.

¹⁷So when they met here, I lost no time, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I was expecting.

¹⁹Instead they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.

²⁰Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.

²¹But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor.”

²²Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”

²³So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then Festus gave the order and Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

²⁵But I found that he had done nothing deserving death; and when he appealed to his Imperial Majesty, I decided to send him.

²⁶But I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write —

²⁷for it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”