Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus,

²and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

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

⁵Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.

⁶On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much

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

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

⁹The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted

¹⁰and had John beheaded in the prison.

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

¹²John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.

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

¹⁵As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

¹⁶Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

¹⁸“Bring them here to me,” he said.

¹⁹And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

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

²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

²⁴and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

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

²⁷But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

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

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

³²And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

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

³⁴When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret.

³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him

³⁶and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

¹This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.

²He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

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

⁴After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

⁵Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

⁶When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.

⁷After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

⁸Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

⁹When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.

¹⁰After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹¹Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

¹²When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.

¹³After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.

¹⁶After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁷Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.

¹⁹After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

²²After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

²³Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.

²⁶After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁷Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

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

²⁹He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

³⁰After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters.

³¹Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

¹Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

²Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we 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.

⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

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

¹¹For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

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

¹³It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,

¹⁴because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

¹⁵All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

¹After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

²for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

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

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

⁶Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

⁸Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

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

¹⁰At this 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 with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

¹¹I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war.

¹²His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.

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

¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

¹⁷And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,

¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

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

²⁰But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²¹The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

¹Then Job replied:

²“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!

³It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas— no wonder my words have been impetuous.

⁴The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

⁶Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?

⁷I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,

⁹that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

¹⁰Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain— that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?

¹²Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?

¹³Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?

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

¹⁵But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow

¹⁶when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,

¹⁷but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.

¹⁸Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

²⁰They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

²¹Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.

²²Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

²³deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.

²⁵How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?

²⁶Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat my desperate words as wind?

²⁷You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.

²⁸“But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?

²⁹Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.

³⁰Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?

¹For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

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

⁴These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

⁵Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

⁶My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

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

⁸By day the LORD directs his love, 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 must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”

¹⁰My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

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

²you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.

³So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest!

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.

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

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

⁷It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

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

¹¹and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

¹³who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers,

¹⁴who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict.

¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

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

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

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

²⁰My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

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

²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,

²⁴keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.

²⁵Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

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

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

³¹Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

³²But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

³³Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

¹After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD.

²Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.

³With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt,

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

⁵Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’ ”

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

⁷When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

⁸They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

⁹When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.

¹⁰So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.

¹¹Whenever the king went to the LORD’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

¹²Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

¹³King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.

¹⁴He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD.

¹⁵As for the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

¹⁶Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.

¹Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.

²Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them.

³They will not remain in the LORD’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the LORD.

⁵What will you do on the day of your appointed festivals, on the feast days of the LORD?

⁶Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.

⁷The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac.

⁸The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.

⁹They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.

¹⁰“When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.

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

¹²Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them!

¹³I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer.”

¹⁴Give them, LORD— what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry.

¹⁵“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

¹⁶Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.”

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

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.

²When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.

³Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.

⁴But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

⁵“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect

⁶and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.

¹¹You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

¹²My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.

¹³And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.

¹⁴However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,

¹⁵and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

¹⁶So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

¹⁷“After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.

¹⁸I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance.

¹⁹But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin—

²¹unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’ ”

²²Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.”

²³He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

²⁴Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

²⁶At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.

²⁷When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison.