Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.

²He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

³Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

⁶And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

⁷A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

⁸When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me — I’m such a sinful man.”

⁹For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.

¹⁰His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

¹¹And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

¹²In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

¹³Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

¹⁴Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

¹⁵But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.

¹⁶But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

¹⁷One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.

¹⁸Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,

¹⁹but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

²²Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?

²³Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?

²⁴So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

²⁵And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.

²⁶Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

²⁷Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him.

²⁸So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

²⁹Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them.

³⁰But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum? ”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do.

³²I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

³³One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”

³⁴Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not.

³⁵But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

³⁶Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

³⁷“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.

³⁸New wine must be stored in new wineskins.

³⁹But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

¹The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that the Israelites were approaching on the road through Atharim. So he attacked the Israelites and took some of them as prisoners.

²Then the people of Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will hand these people over to us, we will completely destroy all their towns.”

³The LORD heard the Israelites’ request and gave them victory over the Canaanites. The Israelites completely destroyed them and their towns, and the place has been called Hormah ever since.

⁴Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey,

⁵and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

⁶So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.

⁷Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”

⁹So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

¹⁰The Israelites traveled next to Oboth and camped there.

¹¹Then they went on to Iye-abarim, in the wilderness on the eastern border of Moab.

¹²From there they traveled to the valley of Zered Brook and set up camp.

¹³Then they moved out and camped on the far side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness adjacent to the territory of the Amorites. The Arnon is the boundary line between the Moabites and the Amorites.

¹⁴For this reason The Book of the Wars of the LORD speaks of “the town of Waheb in the area of Suphah, and the ravines of the Arnon River,

¹⁵and the ravines that extend as far as the settlement of Ar on the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there the Israelites traveled to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Assemble the people, and I will give them water.”

¹⁷There the Israelites sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Yes, sing its praises!

¹⁸Sing of this well, which princes dug, which great leaders hollowed out with their scepters and staffs.” Then the Israelites left the wilderness and proceeded on through Mattanah,

¹⁹Nahaliel, and Bamoth.

²⁰After that they went to the valley in Moab where Pisgah Peak overlooks the wasteland.

²¹The Israelites sent ambassadors to King Sihon of the Amorites with this message:

²²“Let us travel through your land. We will be careful not to go through your fields and vineyards. We won’t even drink water from your wells. We will stay on the king’s road until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But King Sihon refused to let them cross his territory. Instead, he mobilized his entire army and attacked Israel in the wilderness, engaging them in battle at Jahaz.

²⁴But the Israelites slaughtered them with their swords and occupied their land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River. They went only as far as the Ammonite border because the boundary of the Ammonites was fortified.

²⁵So Israel captured all the towns of the Amorites and settled in them, including the city of Heshbon and its surrounding villages.

²⁶Heshbon had been the capital of King Sihon of the Amorites. He had defeated a former Moabite king and seized all his land as far as the Arnon River.

²⁷Therefore, the ancient poets wrote this about him: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt! Let the city of Sihon be restored.

²⁸A fire flamed forth from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It burned the city of Ar in Moab; it destroyed the rulers of the Arnon heights.

²⁹What sorrow awaits you, O people of Moab! You are finished, O worshipers of Chemosh! Chemosh has left his sons as refugees, his daughters as captives of Sihon, the Amorite king.

³⁰We have utterly destroyed them, from Heshbon to Dibon. We have completely wiped them out as far away as Nophah and Medeba. ”

³¹So the people of Israel occupied the territory of the Amorites.

³²After Moses sent men to explore the Jazer area, they captured all the towns in the region and drove out the Amorites who lived there.

³³Then they turned and marched up the road to Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and all his people attacked them at Edrei.

³⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, along with all his people and his land. Do the same to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.”

³⁵And Israel killed King Og, his sons, and all his subjects; not a single survivor remained. Then Israel occupied their land.

¹Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

²Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.

³For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,

⁴though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

⁵I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin — a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

⁶I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

⁷I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

⁸Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ

⁹and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,

¹¹so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

¹²I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

¹³No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

¹⁴I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

¹⁵Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.

¹⁶But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.

¹⁷Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.

¹⁸For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.

¹⁹They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

²⁰But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

²¹He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

¹“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!

²We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

³Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me?

⁴Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one!

⁵You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.

⁶So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.

⁷“Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.

⁸Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays,

⁹at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.

¹⁰“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?

¹¹As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,

¹²people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.

¹³“I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again!

¹⁴Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.

¹⁵You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.

¹⁶For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins.

¹⁷My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt.

¹⁸“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff,

¹⁹as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people’s hope.

²⁰You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away.

²¹They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance.

²²They suffer painfully; their life is full of trouble.”

¹I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.

²I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

³As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.

⁴Every king in all the earth will thank you, LORD, for all of them will hear your words.

⁵Yes, they will sing about the LORD’s ways, for the glory of the LORD is very great.

⁶Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

⁷Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies. You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.

⁸The LORD will work out his plans for my life — for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

¹A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

²Those who follow the right path fear the LORD; those who take the wrong path despise him.

³A fool’s proud talk becomes a rod that beats him, but the words of the wise keep them safe.

⁴Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

⁵An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding.

⁷Stay away from fools, for you won’t find knowledge on their lips.

⁸The prudent understand where they are going, but fools deceive themselves.

⁹Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.

¹⁰Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy.

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

¹²There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

¹³Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains.

¹⁴Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.

¹⁵Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.

¹⁶The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.

¹⁷Short-tempered people do foolish things, and schemers are hated.

¹⁸Simpletons are clothed with foolishness, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹Evil people will bow before good people; the wicked will bow at the gates of the godly.

²⁰The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many “friends.”

²¹It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.

²²If you plan to do evil, you will be lost; if you plan to do good, you will receive unfailing love and faithfulness.

²³Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!

²⁴Wealth is a crown for the wise; the effort of fools yields only foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is a traitor.

²⁶Those who fear the LORD are secure; he will be a refuge for their children.

²⁷Fear of the LORD is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death.

²⁸A growing population is a king’s glory; a prince without subjects has nothing.

²⁹People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

³⁰A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

³¹Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors him.

³²The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.

³³Wisdom is enshrined in an understanding heart; wisdom is not found among fools.

³⁴Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵A king rejoices in wise servants but is angry with those who disgrace him.

¹Joash began to rule over Judah in the seventh year of King Jehu’s reign in Israel. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba.

²All his life Joash did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

³Yet even so, he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.

⁴One day King Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as a sacred offering to the LORD’s Temple, whether it is a regular assessment, a payment of vows, or a voluntary gift.

⁵Let the priests take some of that money to pay for whatever repairs are needed at the Temple.”

⁶But by the twenty-third year of Joash’s reign, the priests still had not repaired the Temple.

⁷So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Don’t use any more money for your own needs. From now on, it must all be spent on Temple repairs.”

⁸So the priests agreed not to accept any more money from the people, and they also agreed to let others take responsibility for repairing the Temple.

⁹Then Jehoiada the priest bored a hole in the lid of a large chest and set it on the right-hand side of the altar at the entrance of the Temple of the LORD. The priests guarding the entrance put all of the people’s contributions into the chest.

¹⁰Whenever the chest became full, the court secretary and the high priest counted the money that had been brought to the LORD’s Temple and put it into bags.

¹¹Then they gave the money to the construction supervisors, who used it to pay the people working on the LORD’s Temple — the carpenters, the builders,

¹²the masons, and the stonecutters. They also used the money to buy the timber and the finished stone needed for repairing the LORD’s Temple, and they paid any other expenses related to the Temple’s restoration.

¹³The money brought to the Temple was not used for making silver bowls, lamp snuffers, basins, trumpets, or other articles of gold or silver for the Temple of the LORD.

¹⁴It was paid to the workmen, who used it for the Temple repairs.

¹⁵No accounting of this money was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and trustworthy men.

¹⁶However, the money that was contributed for guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the LORD’s Temple. It was given to the priests for their own use.

¹⁷About this time King Hazael of Aram went to war against Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem.

¹⁸King Joash collected all the sacred objects that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the previous kings of Judah, had dedicated, along with what he himself had dedicated. He sent them all to Hazael, along with all the gold in the treasuries of the LORD’s Temple and the royal palace. So Hazael called off his attack on Jerusalem.

¹⁹The rest of the events in Joash’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.

²⁰Joash’s officers plotted against him and assassinated him at Beth-millo on the road to Silla.

²¹The assassins were Jozacar son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer — both trusted advisers. Joash was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Amaziah became the next king.

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

²“Son of man, how does a grapevine compare to a tree? Is a vine’s wood as useful as the wood of a tree?

³Can its wood be used for making things, like pegs to hang up pots and pans?

⁴No, it can only be used for fuel, and even as fuel, it burns too quickly.

⁵Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire!

⁶“And this is what the Sovereign LORD says: The people of Jerusalem are like grapevines growing among the trees of the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned.

⁷And I will see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another. When I turn against them, you will know that I am the LORD.

⁸And I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak in your defense.” So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense:

²“I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders,

³for I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!

⁴“As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.

⁶Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors.

⁷In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me for having this hope!

⁸Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?

⁹“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.

¹⁰Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.

¹¹Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.

¹²“One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.

¹³About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.

¹⁴We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. ’

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

¹⁶Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.

¹⁷And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles

¹⁸to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

¹⁹“And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.

²⁰I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God — and prove they have changed by the good things they do.

²¹Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me.

²²But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen —

²³that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”

²⁴Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth.

²⁶And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner!

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

²⁸Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?”

²⁹Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left.

³¹As they went out, they talked it over and agreed, “This man hasn’t done anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, “He could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”