Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

Luke 5; Numbers 21; Philippians 3; 2 Thessalonians3; Job 14; Psalms 138; Proverbs 14; 2 Kings 12; Ezekiel 15; Acts 26

Luke 5

1So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,

2and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.

3Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

4When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

5But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

6And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

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

8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

9For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;

10and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”

11So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

12And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

13Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

14And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”

15However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

16So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

17Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

18Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.

19And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

20When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

22But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

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

24But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

25Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

26And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

27After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”

28So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

29Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

30And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

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

33Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

34And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

35But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

36Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.

37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.

38But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

39And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

Numbers 21

1The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

2So Israel made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

3And the LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.

4Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

5And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

6So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

7Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

9So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

10Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth.

11And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise.

12From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered.

13From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: “Waheb in Suphah, The brooks of the Arnon,

15And the slope of the brooks That reaches to the dwelling of Ar, And lies on the border of Moab.”

16From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

17Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it—

18The well the leaders sank, Dug by the nation’s nobles, By the lawgiver, with their staves.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.

21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

22“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

23But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

24Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified.

25So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages.

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

27Therefore those who speak in proverbs say: “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; Let the city of Sihon be repaired.

28“For fire went out from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon; It consumed Ar of Moab, The lords of the heights of the Arnon.

29Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To Sihon king of the Amorites.

30“But we have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. Then we laid waste as far as Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”

31Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

32Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

33And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

34Then the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.”

35So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.

Philippians 3

1Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.

2Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!

3For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,

4though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:

5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;

6concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

16Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

17Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.

18For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

19whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame— who set their mind on earthly things.

20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Job 14

1“Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.

2He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.

3And do You open Your eyes on such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself?

4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!

5Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.

6Look away from him that he may rest, Till like a hired man he finishes his day.

7“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.

8Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground,

9Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant.

10But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?

11As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,

12So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.

13“Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.

15You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.

16For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin.

17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity.

18“But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place;

19As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man.

20You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.

21His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.

22But his flesh will be in pain over it, And his soul will mourn over it.”

Psalms 138

1A Psalm of David. [1] I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You.

2I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

3In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.

4All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, When they hear the words of Your mouth.

5Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, For great is the glory of the LORD.

6Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.

7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.

8The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Proverbs 14

1The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

2He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him.

3In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, But the lips of the wise will preserve them.

4Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox.

5A faithful witness does not lie, But a false witness will utter lies.

6A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, But knowledge is easy to him who understands.

7Go from the presence of a foolish man, When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.

8The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, But the folly of fools is deceit.

9Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor.

10The heart knows its own bitterness, And a stranger does not share its joy.

11The house of the wicked will be overthrown, But the tent of the upright will flourish.

12There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

13Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, And the end of mirth may be grief.

14The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above.

15The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.

16A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.

17A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of wicked intentions is hated.

18The simple inherit folly, But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

19The evil will bow before the good, And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor, But the rich has many friends.

21He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.

22Do they not go astray who devise evil? But mercy and truth belong to those who devise good.

23In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty.

24The crown of the wise is their riches, But the foolishness of fools is folly.

25A true witness delivers souls, But a deceitful witness speaks lies.

26In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge.

27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

28In a multitude of people is a king’s honor, But in the lack of people is the downfall of a prince.

29He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly.

30A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones.

31He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.

32The wicked is banished in his wickedness, But the righteous has a refuge in his death.

33Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known.

34Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.

35The king’s favor is toward a wise servant, But his wrath is against him who causes shame.

2 Kings 12

1In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

3But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

4And Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the LORD—each man’s census money, each man’s assessment money—and all the money that a man purposes in his heart to bring into the house of the LORD,

5let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”

6Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple.

7So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.”

8And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.

9Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD; and the priests who kept the door put there all the money brought into the house of the LORD.

10So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD.

11Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the LORD; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the LORD,

12and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, to repair the damage of the house of the LORD, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple.

13However there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the LORD.

14But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the LORD with it.

15Moreover they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully.

16The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD. It belonged to the priests.

17Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

18And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

19Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20And his servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of the Millo, which goes down to Silla.

21For Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Ezekiel 15

1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

2“Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

3Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on?

4Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work?

5Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

6“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

7and I will set My face against them. They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I set My face against them.

8Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Acts 26

1Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself:

2“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews,

3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

4“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

5They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

6And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.

7To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

8Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?

9“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

11And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

12“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

13at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

14And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

16But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.

17I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

18to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

20but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

21For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

22Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—

23that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

24Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”

25But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.

26For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.

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

28Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

29And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.”

30When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them;

31and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

32Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”