Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus.

²“This is John the Baptist,” he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For Herod had arrested John, chained him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

⁴since John had been telling him, “It’s not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵Though Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd since they regarded John as a prophet.

⁶When Herod’s birthday celebration came, Herodias’s daughter danced before them and pleased Herod.

⁷So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

⁸Prompted by her mother, she answered, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

⁹Although the king regretted it, he commanded that it be granted because of his oaths and his guests.

¹⁰So he sent orders and had John beheaded in the prison.

¹¹His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

¹²Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

¹⁵When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶“They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷“But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him.

¹⁸“Bring them here to me,” he said.

¹⁹Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.

²¹Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

²³After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.

²⁴Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.

²⁵Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning.

²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.

²⁷Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.

³⁰But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴When they had crossed over, they came to shore at Gennesaret.

³⁵When the men of that place recognized him, they alerted the whole vicinity and brought to him all who were sick.

³⁶They begged him that they might only touch the end of his robe, and as many as touched it were healed.

¹This is the document containing the family records of Adam. On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God;

²he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind.

³Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

⁴Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

⁵So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died.

⁶Seth was 105 years old when he fathered Enosh.

⁷Seth lived 807 years after he fathered Enosh, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

⁸So Seth’s life lasted 912 years; then he died.

⁹Enosh was 90 years old when he fathered Kenan.

¹⁰Enosh lived 815 years after he fathered Kenan, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹¹So Enosh’s life lasted 905 years; then he died.

¹²Kenan was 70 years old when he fathered Mahalalel.

¹³Kenan lived 840 years after he fathered Mahalalel, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁴So Kenan’s life lasted 910 years; then he died.

¹⁵Mahalalel was 65 years old when he fathered Jared.

¹⁶Mahalalel lived 830 years after he fathered Jared, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁷So Mahalalel’s life lasted 895 years; then he died.

¹⁸Jared was 162 years old when he fathered Enoch.

¹⁹Jared lived 800 years after he fathered Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁰So Jared’s life lasted 962 years; then he died.

²¹Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.

²²And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

²³So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

²⁵Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech.

²⁶Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁷So Methuselah’s life lasted 969 years; then he died.

²⁸Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son.

²⁹And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

³⁰Lamech lived 595 years after he fathered Noah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

³¹So Lamech’s life lasted 777 years; then he died.

³²Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.

³But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

⁴In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.

⁶For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

⁸We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

⁹we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

¹⁰We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.

¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.

¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.

¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.

¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

¹⁸So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

¹After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,

²because his judgments are true and righteous, because he has judged the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality; and he has avenged the blood of his servants that was on her hands.

³A second time they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke ascends forever and ever!

⁴Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying, Amen! Hallelujah!

⁵A voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all his servants, and the ones who fear him, both small and great!

⁶Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns!

⁷Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.

⁸She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.

⁹Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

¹⁰Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

¹¹Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war with justice.

¹²His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself.

¹³He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

¹⁴The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen.

¹⁵A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.

¹⁶And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,

¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.”

¹⁹Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army.

²⁰But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

²¹The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.

¹Then Job answered:

²If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.

⁴Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Is bland food eaten without salt? Is there flavor in an egg white?

⁷I refuse to touch them; they are like contaminated food.

⁸If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for:

⁹that he would decide to crush me, to unleash his power and cut me off!

¹⁰It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should continue to hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?

¹³Since I cannot help myself, the hope for success has been banished from me.

¹⁴A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow

¹⁶and become darkened because of ice, and the snow melts into them.

¹⁷The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

¹⁸Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for these streams. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water. When they arrive there, they are disappointed.

²¹So this is what you have now become to me. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said: “Give me something” or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

²³or “Deliver me from the enemy’s hand” or “Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?

²⁴Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.

²⁵How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?

²⁶Do you think that you can disprove my words or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?

²⁷No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

²⁸But now, please look at me; I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Reconsider; don’t be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue or can my palate not taste disaster?

¹For the choir director. A of the sons of Korah. [1] As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.

²I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?

³My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?”

⁴I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.

⁵Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

⁶I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.

⁸The LORD will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night — a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

²you have been snared by the words of your mouth trapped by the words from your mouth.

³Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

⁴Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

⁶Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

⁹How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest,

¹¹and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man goes around speaking dishonestly,

¹³winking his eyes, signaling with his feet, and gesturing with his fingers.

¹⁴He always plots evil with perversity in his heart; he stirs up trouble.

¹⁵Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly; he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.

¹⁶The LORD hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him:

¹⁷arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil,

¹⁹a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

²¹Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.

²³For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴They will protect you from an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a wayward woman.

²⁵Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

²⁶For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

²⁷Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?

²⁹So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

³¹Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.

³²The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³He will get a beating and dishonor, and his disgrace will never be removed.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not be appeased by anything or be persuaded by lavish bribes.

¹When Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he abandoned the law of the LORD  — he and all Israel with him.

²Because they were unfaithful to the LORD, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen, and countless people who came with him from Egypt — Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites.

⁴He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

⁵Then the prophet Shemaiah went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them: “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I have abandoned you to Shishak.’”

⁶So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”

⁷When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the LORD’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them but will grant them a little deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

⁸However, they will become his servants so that they may recognize the difference between serving me and serving the kingdoms of other lands.”

⁹So King Shishak of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem. He seized the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took the gold shields that Solomon had made.

¹⁰King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and committed them into the care of the captains of the guards who protected the entrance to the king’s palace.

¹¹Whenever the king entered the LORD’s temple, the guards would carry the shields and take them back to the armory.

¹²When Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned away from him, and he did not destroy him completely. Besides that, conditions were good in Judah.

¹³King Rehoboam established his royal power in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

¹⁴Rehoboam did what was evil, because he did not determine in his heart to seek the LORD.

¹⁵The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of the Prophet Shemaiah and of the Seer Iddo concerning genealogies. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns.

¹⁶Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

¹Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You love the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor.

²Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them.

³They will not stay in the land of the LORD. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They will not pour out their wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the LORD.

⁵What will you do on a festival day, on the day of the LORD’s feast?

⁶For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility.

⁸Ephraim’s watchman is with my God. Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap on all his pathways. Hostility is in the house of his God!

⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.

¹⁰I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became abhorrent, like the thing they loved.

¹¹Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.

¹²Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!

¹³I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner.

¹⁴Give them, LORD  — What should you give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry!

¹⁵All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

¹⁶Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.

¹⁷My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they will become wanderers among the nations.

¹Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.

³We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing.

⁵For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him. By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁷

⁸

⁹The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.

¹¹You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.

¹⁷After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people.

¹⁸While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

¹⁹It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

²¹other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

²²Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.

²⁴Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money. So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.