Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.

²“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people.

³And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴“For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people,

⁵yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”

⁶Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.

⁷Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them?

⁸I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:

¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people — greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner! ’

¹⁴I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵People were bringing infants to him so he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

¹⁶Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁷Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁸A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.

²⁰You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”

²¹“I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.

²⁴Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁸Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed you.”

²⁹So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God,

³⁰who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”

³¹Then he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.

³²For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on;

³³and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”

³⁴They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

³⁵As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.

³⁶Hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what was happening.

³⁷“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.

³⁸So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Then those in front told him to keep quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. When he came closer, he asked him,

⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see.”

⁴²“Receive your sight.” Jesus told him. “Your faith has saved you.”

⁴³Instantly he could see, and he began to follow him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these borders:

³Your southern side will be from the Wilderness of Zin along the boundary of Edom. Your southern border on the east will begin at the east end of the Dead Sea.

⁴Your border will turn south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceed to Zin, and end south of Kadesh-barnea. It will go to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon.

⁵The border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, where it will end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶Your western border will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea; this will be your western border.

⁷This will be your northern border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Mount Hor;

⁸from Mount Hor draw a line to the entrance of Hamath, and the border will reach Zedad.

⁹Then the border will go to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan. This will be your northern border.

¹⁰For your eastern border, draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham.

¹¹The border will go down from Shepham to Riblah east of Ain. It will continue down and reach the eastern slope of the Sea of Chinnereth.

¹²Then the border will go down to the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your land defined by its borders on all sides.”

¹³So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the LORD commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes.

¹⁴For the tribe of Reuben’s descendants and the tribe of Gad’s descendants have received their inheritance according to their ancestral families, and half the tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance.

¹⁵The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶The LORD spoke to Moses,

¹⁷“These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.

¹⁸Take one leader from each tribe to distribute the land.

¹⁹These are the names of the men: Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;

²⁰Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon’s descendants;

²¹Elidad son of Chislon from the tribe of Benjamin;

²²Bukki son of Jogli, a leader from the tribe of Dan’s descendants;

²³from the sons of Joseph: Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants,

²⁴Kemuel son of Shiphtan, a leader from the tribe of Ephraim’s descendants;

²⁵Eli-zaphan son of Parnach, a leader from the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants;

²⁶Paltiel son of Azzan, a leader from the tribe of Issachar’s descendants;

²⁷Ahihud son of Shelomi, a leader from the tribe of Asher’s descendants;

²⁸Pedahel son of Ammihud, a leader from the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants.”

²⁹These are the ones the LORD commanded to distribute the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

¹Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

²a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.

³For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

⁴Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law.

⁵These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.

⁶But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.

⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one.

⁸But finding fault with his people, he says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —

⁹not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant.

¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹¹And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them.

¹²For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.

¹³By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.

¹Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

²to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people.

³For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

⁵he saved us  —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy  — through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

⁶He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior

⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

⁸This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

⁹But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless.

¹⁰Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.

¹¹For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.

¹²When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me in Nicopolis, because I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, so that they will lack nothing.

¹⁴Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All those who are with me send you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with all of you.

¹Job continued his discourse, saying:

²As God lives, who has deprived me of justice, and the Almighty who has made me bitter,

³as long as my breath is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,

⁴my lips will not speak unjustly, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

⁵I will never affirm that you are right. I will maintain my integrity until I die.

⁶I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go. My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!

⁷May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.

⁸For what hope does the godless person have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes on him?

¹⁰Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.

¹²All of you have seen this for yourselves, why do you keep up this empty talk?

¹³This is a wicked man’s lot from God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword; his descendants will never have enough food.

¹⁵Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, yet their widows will not weep for them.

¹⁶Though he piles up silver like dust and heaps up fine clothing like clay —

¹⁷he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide up his silver.

¹⁸The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon or a shelter set up by a watchman.

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; a storm wind sweeps him away at night.

²¹An east wind picks him up, and he is gone; it carries him away from his place.

²²It blasts at him without mercy, while he flees desperately from its force.

²³It claps its hands at him and scoffs at him from its place.

¹How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!

²Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.

³He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

⁴The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

¹Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth — a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and sand, a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

⁴Fury is cruel, and anger a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

⁵Better an open reprimand than concealed love.

⁶The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.

⁷A person who is full tramples on a honeycomb, but to a hungry person, any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Anyone wandering from his home is like a bird wandering from its nest.

⁹Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.

¹⁰Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and don’t go to your brother’s house in your time of calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy, so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.

¹²A sensible person sees danger and takes cover; the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

¹³Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁴If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse to him.

¹⁵An endless dripping on a rainy day and a nagging wife are alike;

¹⁶the one who controls her controls the wind and grasps oil with his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.

¹⁸Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever looks after his master will be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and people’s eyes are never satisfied.

²¹A crucible refines silver, a smelter refines gold, and a person refines his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, you will not separate his foolishness from him.

²³Know well the condition of your flock, and pay attention to your herds,

²⁴for wealth is not forever; not even a crown lasts for all time.

²⁵When hay is removed and new growth appears and the grain from the hills is gathered in,

²⁶lambs will provide your clothing, and goats, the price of a field;

²⁷there will be enough goat’s milk for your food — food for your household and nourishment for your female servants.

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around.

²The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

³By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.

⁴Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah,

⁵the Chaldean army pursued him and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered.

⁶The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.

⁷They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.

⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month — which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon — Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

⁹He burned the LORD’s temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses.

¹⁰The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

¹¹Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.

¹²But the captain of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

¹³Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars of the LORD’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin, which were in the LORD’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service.

¹⁵The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins — whatever was gold or silver.

¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one basin, and the water carts that Solomon had made for the LORD’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.

¹⁷One pillar was twenty-seven feet tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.

¹⁸The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers.

¹⁹From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city.

²⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²¹The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.

²²King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over the rest of the people he left in the land of Judah.

²³When all the commanders of the armies — they and their men — heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The commanders included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite — they and their men.

²⁴Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”

²⁵In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah, and he died. Also, they killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, and the commanders of the army, left and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

²⁸He spoke kindly to him and set his throne over the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

²⁹So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.

³⁰As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.” Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.

³Yes, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!

⁴By your wisdom and understanding you have acquired wealth for yourself. You have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.

⁵By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has become proud because of your wealth.

⁶“‘Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you regard your heart as that of a god,

⁷I am about to bring strangers against you, ruthless men from the nations. They will draw their swords against your magnificent wisdom and will pierce your splendor.

⁸They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the sea.

⁹Will you still say, “I am a god,” in the presence of those who slay you? Yet you will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who kill you.

¹⁰You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of strangers. For I have spoken. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.’”

¹¹The word of the LORD came to me:

¹²“Son of man, lament for the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone covered you: carnelian, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; they were prepared on the day you were created.

¹⁴You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.

¹⁵From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you.

¹⁶Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

¹⁷Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendor you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the ground; I made you a spectacle before kings.

¹⁸You profaned your sanctuaries by the magnitude of your iniquities in your dishonest trade. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of everyone watching you.

¹⁹All those who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become an object of horror and will never exist again.’”

²⁰The word of the LORD came to me:

²¹“Son of man, face Sidon and prophesy against it.

²²You are to say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Look! I am against you, Sidon, and I will display my glory within you. They will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments against her and demonstrate my holiness through her.

²³I will send a plague against her and bloodshed in her streets; the slain will fall within her, while the sword is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

²⁴“‘The house of Israel will no longer be hurt by prickly briers or painful thorns from all their neighbors who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.

²⁵“‘This is what the Lord GOD says: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are scattered, I will demonstrate my holiness through them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

²⁶They will live there securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will live securely when I execute judgments against all their neighbors who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”

¹The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step:

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.

¹³He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

³⁰They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.