Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret.

²He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

³He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

⁶When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

⁹For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken,

¹⁰and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”

¹¹Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

¹²While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴Then he ordered him to tell no one: “But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.”

¹⁵But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

¹⁶Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

¹⁷On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him.

¹⁸Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him.

¹⁹Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves: “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?

²³Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

²⁴But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”  — he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

²⁵Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

²⁶Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁸So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him.

²⁹Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.

³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

³³Then they said to him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but yours eat and drink.”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?

³⁵But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them — then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old.

³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined.

³⁸No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.

³⁹And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’”

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the Atharim road, he fought against Israel and captured some prisoners.

²Then Israel made a vow to the LORD, “If you will hand this people over to us, we will completely destroy their cities.”

³The LORD listened to Israel’s request and handed the Canaanites over to them, and Israel completely destroyed them and their cities. So they named the place Hormah.

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.

⁵The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

⁶Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.

⁷The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

¹⁰The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.

¹¹They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness that borders Moab on the east.

¹²From there they went and camped at Zered Valley.

¹³They set out from there and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness that extends from the Amorite border, because the Arnon was the Moabite border between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴Therefore it is stated in the Book of the LORD’s Wars: Waheb in Suphah and the ravines of the Arnon,

¹⁵even the slopes of the ravines that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.

¹⁶From there they went to Beer, the well the LORD told Moses about, “Gather the people so I may give them water.”

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well — sing to it!

¹⁸The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with a scepter and with their staffs. They went from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of Moab near the Pisgah highlands that overlook the wasteland.

²¹Israel sent messengers to say to King Sihon of the Amorites:

²²“Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.

²⁶Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷Therefore the poets say: Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.

²⁸For fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon the Amorite king.

³⁰We threw them down; Heshbon has been destroyed as far as Dibon. We caused desolation as far as Nophah, which reaches as far as Medeba.

³¹So Israel lived in the Amorites’ land.

³²After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its surrounding villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came out against them with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.

³⁴But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left, and they took possession of his land.

¹In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

³For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh —

⁴although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

⁵circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee;

⁶regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

⁷But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

⁸More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ  — the righteousness from God based on faith.

¹⁰My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,

¹¹assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

¹²Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

¹⁴I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

¹⁶In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

¹⁷Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.

¹⁸For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things,

²⁰but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

¹Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.

²He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

³Do you really take notice of one like this? Will you bring me into judgment against you?

⁴Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one!

⁵Since a person’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on you, and since you have set limits he cannot pass,

⁶look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

⁷There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die.

⁸If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump starts to die in the soil,

⁹the scent of water makes it thrive and produce twigs like a sapling.

¹⁰But a person dies and fades away; he breathes his last — where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from a lake and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹²so people lie down never to rise again. They will not wake up until the heavens are no more; they will not stir from their sleep.

¹³If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes. If only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me.

¹⁴When a person dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes.

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands.

¹⁶For then you would count my steps but would not take note of my sin.

¹⁷My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸But as a mountain collapses and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil from the land, so you destroy a man’s hope.

²⁰You completely overpower him, and he passes on; you change his appearance and send him away.

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.

¹Of David. [1] I will give you thanks with all my heart; I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.

²I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your constant love and truth. You have exalted your name and your promise above everything else.

³On the day I called, you answered me; you increased strength within me.

⁴All the kings on earth will give you thanks, LORD, when they hear what you have promised.

⁵They will sing of the LORD’s ways, for the LORD’s glory is great.

⁶Though the LORD is exalted, he takes note of the humble; but he knows the haughty from a distance.

⁷If I walk into the thick of danger, you will preserve my life from the anger of my enemies. You will extend your hand; your right hand will save me.

⁸The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me. LORD, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands.

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²Whoever lives with integrity fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises him.

³The proud speech of a fool brings a rod of discipline, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of an ox.

⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness utters lies.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to the perceptive.

⁷Stay away from a foolish person; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

⁸The sensible person’s wisdom is to consider his way, but the stupidity of fools deceives them.

⁹Fools mock at making reparation, but there is goodwill among the upright.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, and no outsider shares in its joy.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

¹³Even in laughter a heart may be sad, and joy may end in grief.

¹⁴The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves, and a good one, what his deeds deserve.

¹⁵The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps.

¹⁶A wise person is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered and is careless.

¹⁷A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and one who schemes is hated.

¹⁸The inexperienced inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow before those who are good, and the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰A poor person is hated even by his neighbor, but there are many who love the rich.

²¹The one who despises his neighbor sins, but whoever shows kindness to the poor will be happy.

²²Don’t those who plan evil go astray? But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.

²³There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the foolishness of fools produces foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness rescues lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence and his children have a refuge.

²⁷The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

²⁸A large population is a king’s splendor, but a shortage of people is a ruler’s devastation.

²⁹A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.

³⁰A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

³¹The one who oppresses the poor person insults his Maker, but one who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked one is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous one has a refuge in his death.

³³Wisdom resides in the heart of the discerning; she is known even among fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵A king favors a prudent servant, but his anger falls on a disgraceful one.

¹In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba.

²Throughout the time the priest Jehoiada instructed him, Joash did what was right in the LORD’s sight.

³Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

⁴Then Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated silver brought to the LORD’s temple, census silver, silver from vows, and all silver voluntarily given for the LORD’s temple —

⁵each priest is to take it from his assessor and repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”

⁶But by the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the temple.

⁷So King Joash called the priest Jehoiada and the other priests and asked, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any silver from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.”

⁸So the priests agreed that they would receive no silver from the people and would not be the ones to repair the temple’s damage.

⁹Then the priest Jehoiada took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the LORD’s temple; the priests who guarded the threshold put into the chest all the silver that was brought to the LORD’s temple.

¹⁰Whenever they saw there was a large amount of silver in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest would go bag up and tally the silver found in the LORD’s temple.

¹¹Then they would give the weighed silver to those doing the work — those who oversaw the LORD’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the LORD’s temple — the carpenters, the builders,

¹²the masons, and the stonecutters — and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the LORD’s temple and for all expenses for temple repairs.

¹³However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver were made for the LORD’s temple from the contributions brought to the LORD’s temple.

¹⁴Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the LORD’s temple with it.

¹⁵No accounting was required from the men who received the silver to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity.

¹⁶The silver from the guilt offering and the sin offering was not brought to the LORD’s temple since it belonged to the priests.

¹⁷At that time King Hazael of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he planned to attack Jerusalem.

¹⁸So King Joash of Judah took all the items consecrated by himself and by his ancestors — Judah’s kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah — as well as all the gold found in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and in the king’s palace, and he sent them to King Hazael of Aram. Then Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

¹⁹The rest of the events of Joash’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

²⁰Joash’s servants conspired against him and attacked him at Beth-millo on the road that goes down to Silla.

²¹It was his servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer who attacked him. He died and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Amaziah became king in his place.

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?

³Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?

⁴In fact, it is put into the fire as fuel. The fire devours both of its ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?

⁵Even when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!”

⁶Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says, “Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I will give up the residents of Jerusalem.

⁷I will turn against them. They may have escaped from the fire, but it will still consume them. And you will know that I am the LORD when I turn against them.

⁸I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”