Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

²These are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

⁴Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

⁵Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town.

⁶Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

⁷As you go, proclaim: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

⁹Don’t acquire gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts.

¹⁰Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food.

¹¹When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave.

¹²Greet a household when you enter it,

¹³and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it; but if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you.

¹⁴If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

¹⁶“Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.

¹⁷Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts and flog you in their synagogues.

¹⁸You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles.

¹⁹But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour,

²⁰because it isn’t you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.

²¹“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

²²You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master.

²⁵It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household!

²⁶“Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known.

²⁷What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops.

²⁸Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

²⁹Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.

³⁰But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.

³¹So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³²“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

³³But whoever denies me before others, I will also deny him before my Father in heaven.

³⁴Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

³⁶ and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

³⁷The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

³⁸And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

³⁹Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.

⁴⁰“The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes him who sent me.

⁴¹Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. And anyone who welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous will receive a righteous person’s reward.

⁴²And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

⁴God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.

⁶Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”

⁷So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.

⁸God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

⁹Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

¹⁰God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the water he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so.

¹²The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

¹³Evening came and then morning: the third day.

¹⁴Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.

¹⁵They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so.

¹⁶God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night — as well as the stars.

¹⁷God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth,

¹⁸to rule the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.

²⁰Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

²¹So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²²God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

²³Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.

²⁴Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

²⁵So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

²⁷So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

²⁹God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you,

³⁰for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth — everything having the breath of life in it — I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

¹Now about the collection for the saints: Do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches.

²On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come.

³When I arrive, I will send with letters those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

⁴If it is suitable for me to go as well, they will travel with me.

⁵I will come to you after I pass through Macedonia  — for I will be traveling through Macedonia —

⁶and perhaps I will remain with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I go.

⁷I don’t want to see you now just in passing, since I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows.

⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

⁹because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me  — yet many oppose me.

¹⁰If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear while with you, because he is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am.

¹¹So let no one look down on him. Send him on his way in peace so that he can come to me, because I am expecting him with the brothers.

¹²Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. However, he will come when he has an opportunity.

¹³Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.

¹⁴Do everything in love.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, you know the household of Stephanas: They are the firstfruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the saints. I urge you

¹⁶also to submit to such people, and to everyone who works and labors with them.

¹⁷I am delighted to have Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus present, because these men have made up for your absence.

¹⁸For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore recognize such people.

¹⁹The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord, along with the church that meets in their home.

²⁰All the brothers and sisters send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹This greeting is in my own hand  — Paul.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Our Lord, come!

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

¹Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven last plagues; for with them God’s wrath will be completed.

²I also saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had won the victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name, were standing on the sea of glass with harps from God.

³They sang the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the Lamb: Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God, the Almighty; just and true are your ways, King of the nations.

⁴Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.

⁵After this I looked, and the heavenly temple — the tabernacle of testimony  — was opened.

⁶Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes wrapped around their chests.

⁷One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

⁸Then the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

¹One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the LORD.

²The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the LORD. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

⁵But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite — heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

¹A psalm of David for remembrance. [1] LORD, do not punish me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

²For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has pressed down on me.

³There is no soundness in my body because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have flooded over my head; they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.

⁵My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.

⁶I am bent over and brought very low; all day long I go around in mourning.

⁷For my insides are full of burning pain, and there is no soundness in my body.

⁸I am faint and severely crushed; I groan because of the anguish of my heart.

⁹Lord, my every desire is in front of you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart races, my strength leaves me, and even the light of my eyes has faded.

¹¹My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction, and my relatives stand at a distance.

¹²Those who intend to kill me set traps, and those who want to harm me threaten to destroy me; they plot treachery all day long.

¹³I am like a deaf person; I do not hear. I am like a speechless person who does not open his mouth.

¹⁴I am like a man who does not hear and has no arguments in his mouth.

¹⁵For I put my hope in you, LORD; you will answer me, my Lord, my God.

¹⁶For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me — those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble.”

¹⁷For I am about to fall, and my pain is constantly with me.

¹⁸So I confess my iniquity; I am anxious because of my sin.

¹⁹But my enemies are vigorous and powerful; many hate me for no reason.

²⁰Those who repay evil for good attack me for pursuing good.

²¹LORD, do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me.

²²Hurry to help me, my Lord, my salvation.

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

²listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;

³furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure,

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity

⁸so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity — every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will rescue you from the way of evil — from anyone who says perverse things,

¹³from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness,

¹⁴from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion,

¹⁵whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.

¹⁶It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,

¹⁷who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.

¹⁹None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.

²⁰So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it.

¹At the end of twenty years during which Solomon had built the LORD’s temple and his own palace —

²Solomon had rebuilt the cities Hiram gave him and settled Israelites there —

³Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath.

⁵He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon  — fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars  —

⁶Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the peoples who remained of the Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not from Israel  —

⁸their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today.

⁹But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to be slaves for his work; they were soldiers, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.

¹⁰These were King Solomon’s deputies: 250 who supervised the people.

¹¹Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house of King David of Israel because the places the ark of the LORD has come into are holy.”

¹²At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar he had made in front of the portico.

¹³He followed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters.

¹⁴According to the ordinances of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, of the Levites over their responsibilities to offer praise and to minister before the priests following the daily requirement, and of the gatekeepers by their divisions with respect to each temple gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God.

¹⁵They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests and the Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries.

¹⁶All of Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation was laid for the LORD’s temple until it was finished. So the LORD’s temple was completed.

¹⁷At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸So Hiram sent ships to him by his servants along with crews of experienced seamen. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took from there seventeen tons of gold, and delivered it to King Solomon.

¹Hear this, priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, royal house! For the judgment applies to you because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread out on Tabor.

²Rebels are deeply involved in slaughter; I will be a punishment for all of them.

³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. For now, Ephraim, you have acted promiscuously; Israel is defiled.

⁴Their actions do not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of promiscuity is among them, and they do not know the LORD.

⁵Israel’s arrogance testifies against them. Both Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their iniquity; even Judah will stumble with them.

⁶They go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD but do not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

⁷They betrayed the LORD; indeed, they gave birth to illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their fields.

⁸Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the war cry in Beth-aven: Look behind you, Benjamin!

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation on the day of punishment; I announce what is certain among the tribes of Israel.

¹⁰The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary markers; I will pour out my fury on them like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow what is worthless.

¹²So I am like rot to Ephraim and like decay to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent a delegation to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

¹⁴For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. Yes, I will tear them to pieces and depart. I will carry them off, and no one can rescue them.

¹⁵I will depart and return to my place until they recognize their guilt and seek my face; they will search for me in their distress.

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.

²And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

⁹and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”

¹¹After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

¹²They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

²³except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,

²⁷because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³²“And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.

³⁵In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

³⁷There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.