Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,

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

³For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

⁴because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.

⁶But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,

⁷so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

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

⁹And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.

¹⁰He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

¹¹and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

¹²And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

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

¹⁵Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

¹⁷They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

¹⁸And he said, “Bring them here to me.”

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

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

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

²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

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

²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

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

²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

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

³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

³⁵And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick

³⁶and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

¹This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

²Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

³When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

⁴The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.

⁵Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

⁶When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.

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

⁸Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

⁹When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.

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

¹¹Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

¹²When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.

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

¹⁴Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared.

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

¹⁷Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.

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

²⁰Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

²¹When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.

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

²³Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.

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

²⁷Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

²⁸When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son

²⁹and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

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

³¹Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

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

¹Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

²But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

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

⁴In their case the god of this world 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 what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

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

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

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

¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

¹After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

²for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

⁴And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

⁵And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

⁶Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;

⁸it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁰Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

¹¹Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

¹²His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

¹³He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

¹⁴And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

¹⁵From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,

¹⁸to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

¹⁹And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

²⁰And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

²¹And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?

⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?

⁷My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me.

⁸“Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope,

⁹that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

¹⁰This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?

¹⁴“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away,

¹⁶which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself.

¹⁷When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope.

²⁰They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed.

²¹For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.

²⁵How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove?

²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?

²⁷You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

³⁰Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

¹As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

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

⁴These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation

⁶and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

⁸By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,

²if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,

³then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

⁴Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;

⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

⁷Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

⁸she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

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

¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,

¹³winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,

¹⁴with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;

¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,

¹⁹a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.

²¹Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;

²⁶for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.

²⁷Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

³¹but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.

³²He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

¹When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.

²In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

³with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt — Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.

⁴And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

⁵Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’”

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

⁷When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

⁸Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made,

¹⁰and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.

¹¹And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

¹²And when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.

¹³So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.

¹⁴And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer? There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

¹Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors.

²Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them.

³They shall not remain in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

⁵What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD?

⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred.

⁸The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, and hatred 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.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

¹¹Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird — no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

¹²Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them!

¹³Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow; but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.

¹⁴Give them, O LORD — what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death.

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

¹And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor their case against Paul.

²And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation,

³in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude.

⁴But, to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.

⁵For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.

¹⁰And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.

¹¹You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem,

¹²and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me.

¹⁴But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

¹⁵having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

¹⁶So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

¹⁷Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

¹⁸While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia —

¹⁹they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me.

²⁰Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council,

²¹other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’”

²²But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody but have some liberty, and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.

²⁴After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”

²⁶At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him.

²⁷When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.