Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

²And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

³And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

⁴Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.

⁷And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

⁸And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

⁹When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

¹⁰And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

¹²but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but didto him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to sufferat their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,

¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed at once.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁰And He *said to them, “Because of your meager faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faiththe size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²¹

²²And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to behanded over to men;

²³and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

²⁴Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”

²⁵He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs orpoll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”

²⁶When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons areexempt.

²⁷However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find astater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

¹Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.

²I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

⁷I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

⁸And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.

¹³A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

²²When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.

²⁷And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

¹Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,

⁶just as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸who will also confirm you to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.

¹²Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.”

¹³Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized in my name!

¹⁶But I did baptize the household of Stephanas also; beyond that, I do not know if I baptized anyone else.

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.

¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.”

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

²²For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

²³but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

²⁷but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

²⁸and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

²⁹so that no human may boast before God.

³⁰But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

³¹so that, just as it is written: “LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.

⁶For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.

⁹But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

¹¹persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

¹²Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;

¹⁷so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

¹“My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.

²Mockers are certainly with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

³“Make a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor?

⁴For You have kept their hearts away from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

⁵He who informs against friends for a share of the spoils, The eyes of his children also will perish.

⁶“But He has made me a proverb among the people, And I am one at whom people spit.

⁷My eye has also become inexpressive because of grief, And all my body parts are like a shadow.

⁸The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

⁹Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past, my plans are torn apart, The wishes of my heart.

¹²They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

¹³If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness;

¹⁴If I call to the grave, ‘You are my father’; To the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;

¹⁵Where then is my hope? And who looks at my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

¹Hear a just cause, LORD, give Your attention to my cry; Listen to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.

²Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with integrity.

³You have put my heart to the test; You have visited me by night; You have sifted me and You find nothing; My intent is that my mouth will not offend.

⁴As for the works of mankind, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.

⁶I have called upon You, for You will answer me, God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech.

⁷Show Your wonderful faithfulness, Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand From those who rise up against them.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings

⁹From the wicked who deal violently with me, My deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have closed their unfeeling hearts, With their mouths they speak proudly.

¹¹They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast us down to the ground.

¹²He is like a lion that is eager to tear, And as a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³Arise, LORD, confront him, make him bow down; Save my soul from the wicked with Your sword,

¹⁴From people by Your hand, LORD, From people of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with children, And leave their abundance to their babies.

¹⁵As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Now this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war.

²So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer, the sons of Helek, the sons of Asriel, the sons of Shechem, the sons of Hepher, and the sons of Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.

³However, Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

⁴They approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So in accordance with the command of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers.

⁵So ten portions fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan,

⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.

⁷The border of Manasseh ran from Asher to Michmethath which was east of Shechem; then the border went southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.

⁸The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim.

⁹And the border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and it ended at the sea.

¹⁰The south side belonged to Ephraim and the north side to Manasseh, and the sea was their border; and they reached to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east.

¹¹In Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the third is Napheth.

¹²But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites persisted in living in this land.

¹³And it came about when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

¹⁴Then the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me only one lot and one portion as an inheritance, though I am a numerous people whom the LORD has blessed up to this point?”

¹⁵And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”

¹⁶The sons of Joseph then said, “The hill country is not enough for us, but all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have iron chariots, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the Valley of Jezreel.”

¹⁷But Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only,

¹⁸but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and though they are strong.”

¹The pronouncement concerning Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin.

²The cities of Aroer are abandoned; They will be for herds to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them.

³The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,” Declares the LORD of armies.

⁴Now on that day the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

⁵It will be like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the Valley of Rephaim.

⁶Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁷On that day man will look to his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, Even the Asherim and incense altars.

⁹On that day their strong cities will be like abandoned places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.

¹¹On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will flee On a day of illness and incurable pain.

¹²Oh, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!

¹³The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.

¹⁴At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are gone. This will be the fate of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.

¹Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And according to Paul’s custom, he visited them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”

⁴And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a significant number of the leading women.

⁵But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and they attacked the house of Jason and were seeking to bring them out to the people.

⁶When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also;

⁷and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

⁸They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.

⁹And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them.

¹⁰The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore, many of them believed, along with a significant number of prominent Greek women and men.

¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately the brothers sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there.

¹⁵Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present.

¹⁸And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers as well were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What could this scavenger of tidbits want to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?

²⁰For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹(Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

²²So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

²³For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands;

²⁵nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

²⁶and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

²⁷that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’

²⁹Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.

³⁰So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent,

³¹because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”

³²Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We shall hear from you again concerning this.”

³³So Paul went out from among them.

³⁴But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.