Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.

³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.

⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

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

¹¹He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things;

¹²but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him,

¹⁵and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.

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

²⁰He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the 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

²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands,

²³and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.

²⁴When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?”

²⁵He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?”

²⁶When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free.

²⁷However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”

¹When 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.

²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”

³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

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

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

⁸And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”

⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

¹²Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.

¹³Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

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

¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!”

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

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

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

²²And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Abraham 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.

²⁶That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised;

²⁷and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

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

²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

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

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind —

⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you —

⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.

¹²What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

¹³Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

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

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

¹⁸For the message about 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 discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

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

²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,

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

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

²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,

²⁹so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

³⁰He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

³¹in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

¹You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come.

²For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good,

⁴treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

⁵holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!

⁶For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires,

⁷who are always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

⁸As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people, of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith, also oppose the truth.

⁹But they will not make much progress, because, as in the case of those two men, their folly will become plain to everyone.

¹⁰Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

¹¹my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

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

¹³But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived.

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,

¹⁵and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

¹⁷so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

¹My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

³“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there that will give surety for me?

⁴Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵Those who denounce friends for reward — the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit.

⁷My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow.

⁸The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.

⁹Yet the righteous hold to their way, and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But you, come back now, all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person among you.

¹¹My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.

¹²They make night into day; ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’

¹³If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,

¹⁴if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

¹Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.

²From you let my vindication come; let your eyes see the right.

³If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress.

⁴As for what others do, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.

⁵My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.

⁶I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words.

⁷Wondrously show your steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.

⁸Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,

⁹from the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly.

¹¹They track me down; now they surround me; they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.

¹²They are like a lion eager to tear, like a young lion lurking in ambush.

¹³Rise up, O LORD, confront them, overthrow them! By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,

¹⁴from mortals — by your hand, O LORD — from mortals whose portion in life is in this world. May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them; may their children have more than enough; may they leave something over to their little ones.

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

¹Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

³The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their parents.

⁷Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a ruler.

⁸A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of those who give it; wherever they turn they prosper.

⁹One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend.

¹⁰A rebuke strikes deeper into a discerning person than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹Evil people seek only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against them.

¹²Better to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly.

¹³Evil will not depart from the house of one who returns evil for good.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so stop before the quarrel breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why should fools have a price in hand to buy wisdom, when they have no mind to learn?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.

¹⁸It is senseless to give a pledge, to become surety for a neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves transgression loves strife; one who builds a high threshold invites broken bones.

²⁰The crooked of mind do not prosper, and the perverse of tongue fall into calamity.

²¹The one who begets a fool gets trouble; the parent of a fool has no joy.

²²A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.

²³The wicked accept a concealed bribe to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴The discerning person looks to wisdom, but the eyes of a fool to the ends of the earth.

²⁵Foolish children are a grief to their father and bitterness to her who bore them.

²⁶To impose a fine on the innocent is not right, or to flog the noble for their integrity.

²⁷One who spares words is knowledgeable; one who is cool in spirit has understanding.

²⁸Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.

¹Then allotment was made to 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 warrior.

²And allotments were made to the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, by their families, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, by their families.

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

⁴They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders, and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our male kin.” So according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen of their father.

⁵Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan,

⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the Manassites.

⁷The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.

⁸The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites.

⁹Then the boundary went down to the Wadi Kanah. The towns here, to the south of the wadi, among the towns of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes along the north side of the wadi and ends at the sea.

¹⁰The land to the south is Ephraim’s and that to the north is Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary; on the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar.

¹¹Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages (the third is Naphath).

¹²Yet the Manassites could not take possession of those towns; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.

¹³But when the Israelites grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

¹⁴The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, whom all along the LORD has blessed?”

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

¹⁶The tribe of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us; yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

¹⁷Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are indeed 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 possess it to its farthest borders; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”

¹An oracle concerning Damascus. See, Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins.

²Her towns will be deserted forever; they will be places for flocks, which will lie down, and no one will make them afraid.

³The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel, — says the LORD of hosts.

⁴On that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.

⁵And it shall be as when reapers gather standing grain and their arms harvest the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

⁶Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten — two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, — says the LORD God of Israel.

⁷On that day people will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel;

⁸they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles or the altars of incense.

⁹On that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and set out slips of an alien god,

¹¹though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow; yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹²Ah, the thunder of many peoples, they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations, they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

¹³The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.

¹⁴At evening time, lo, terror! Before morning, they are no more. This is the fate of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who plunder us.

¹After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures,

³explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.”

⁴Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

⁵But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house.

⁶When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also,

⁷and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”

⁸The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this,

⁹and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go.

¹⁰That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.

¹²Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing.

¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds.

¹⁴Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.

¹⁵Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)

¹⁹So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

²⁰It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.”

²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

²²Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.

²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands,

²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.

²⁶From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,

²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

²⁸For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

²⁹Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.

³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

³²When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

³³At that point Paul left them.

³⁴But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.