Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.

²When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

³He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

⁴He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.

⁵Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?

⁶I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.

⁷If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

¹⁰and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

¹²How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

¹⁵Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.

¹⁶He warned them not to tell others about him.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.

²⁰A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.

²¹In his name the nations will put their hope.”

²²Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

²³All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

²⁵Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

²⁷And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

²⁸But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

³⁰“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

³¹And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

³²Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

³⁵A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

³⁶But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

³⁸Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

³⁹He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

⁴²The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.

⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.

⁴⁵Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

⁴⁶While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

⁴⁷Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

⁴⁸He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

⁴⁹Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.

⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

⁴“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

⁵“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

²⁰Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

²²And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

²³So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

²⁴After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.

²For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?

³I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.

⁴For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

⁵If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely.

⁶The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient.

⁷Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

⁸I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.

¹⁰Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake,

¹¹in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

¹²Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,

¹³I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

¹⁵For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

¹⁶To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

¹⁷Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

¹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.

²With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

³Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

⁵The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.

⁶I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

⁷Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.

⁸The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

⁹“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.

¹⁰They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.

¹¹The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

¹²“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.

¹³They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.

¹⁴They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

¹⁵Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.

¹⁶The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.

¹⁸The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?

³Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.

⁴Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.

⁵But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

⁶Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

⁷“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

⁸As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.

⁹At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more.

¹⁰The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

¹¹The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.

¹³Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people,

¹⁴fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

¹⁶It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,

¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!

²⁰Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.

²¹Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’

¹For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

³He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.

⁴Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

⁵Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

⁶Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

⁷Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll.

⁸I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”

⁹I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, LORD, as you know.

¹⁰I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.

¹¹Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.

¹²For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.

¹³Be pleased to save me, LORD; come quickly, LORD, to help me.

¹⁴May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.

¹⁵May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame.

¹⁶But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The LORD is great!”

¹⁷But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.

¹Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

²I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.

³For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother.

⁴Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.

⁵Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.

⁶Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

⁸Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.

⁹She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.”

¹⁰Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.

¹¹I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

¹⁴Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.

¹⁵Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.

¹⁶For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.

¹⁷They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

²⁰My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.

²¹Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;

²²for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

²³Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

²⁴Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.

²⁶Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.

²⁷Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt.

³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:

⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.

⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.

¹¹My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”

¹³The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,

¹⁴he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So all the Israelites went home.

¹⁷But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

¹⁸King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

¹whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;

²but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me.

³“They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises.

⁵On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers.

⁶Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.

⁸“Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.

⁹Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him.

¹¹“Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless— now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.

¹²When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull them down like the birds in the sky. When I hear them flocking together, I will catch them.

¹³Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely.

¹⁴They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail on their beds. They slash themselves, appealing to their gods for grain and new wine, but they turn away from me.

¹⁵I trained them and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against me.

¹⁶They do not turn to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

²When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

⁴I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

⁵as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.

⁹My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹²“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.

¹³He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

¹⁵You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

²⁰And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

³⁰The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.