Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,

²“Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

⁴For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”—

⁶then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

⁷Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

⁸‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

⁹And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

¹⁰When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand:

¹¹Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

¹²Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

¹⁴Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?

¹⁷Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?

¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

²⁰These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

²¹Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

²³But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”

²⁴But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

²⁷And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

²⁹Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.

³⁰Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.

³¹So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

³³Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

³⁵So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

³⁶And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.

³⁷So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.

³⁸Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

¹Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,

²that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

³And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

⁴There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

⁵Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁶And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

⁷So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

⁸But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

¹⁰And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

¹²So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

¹³And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

¹⁴Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

¹⁵And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

¹⁶You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

¹⁷And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.

¹⁸But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

²⁰Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

²¹And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”

²²Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

¹For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

²For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

³if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

⁴For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.

⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

⁹Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

¹²For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

¹⁶Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

¹⁸Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

²¹For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

²He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

³and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

⁷Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

⁹They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

¹⁰The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

¹³The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

¹⁴Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

¹“Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?

²Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,

³So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.

⁵My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh.

⁶“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope.

⁷Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good.

⁸The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.

⁹As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up.

¹⁰He shall never return to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me?

¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’

¹⁴Then You scare me with dreams And terrify me with visions,

¹⁵So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body.

¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, For my days are but a breath.

¹⁷“What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him,

¹⁸That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment?

¹⁹How long? Will You not look away from me, And let me alone till I swallow my saliva?

²⁰Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?

²¹Why then do You not pardon my transgression, And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, And You will seek me diligently, But I will no longer be.”

¹Vindicate me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

²For You are the God of my strength; Why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

¹My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you.

²Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding your nearest kin,

⁵That they may keep you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice,

⁷And saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, A young man devoid of understanding,

⁸Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house

⁹In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night.

¹⁰And there a woman met him, With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.

¹¹She was loud and rebellious, Her feet would not stay at home.

¹²At times she was outside, at times in the open square, Lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him and kissed him; With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴“I have peace offerings with me; Today I have paid my vows.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you, Diligently to seek your face, And I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my bed with tapestry, Colored coverings of Egyptian linen.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; Let us delight ourselves with love.

¹⁹For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey;

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him, And will come home on the appointed day.”

²¹With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, With her flattering lips she seduced him.

²²Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,

²³Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth:

²⁵Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths;

²⁶For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men.

²⁷Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death.

¹In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

³Abijah set the battle in order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men. Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

⁴Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

⁵Should you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?

⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.

⁷Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and could not withstand them.

⁸And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.

⁹Have you not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods?

¹⁰But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties.

¹¹And they burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken Him.

¹²Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

¹⁴And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets.

¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

¹⁶And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁸Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers.

¹⁹And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephrain with its villages.

²⁰So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the LORD struck him, and he died.

²¹But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

²²Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written in the annals of the prophet Iddo.

¹Israel empties his vine; He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his fruit He has increased the altars; According to the bounty of his land They have embellished his sacred pillars.

²Their heart is divided; Now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars.

³For now they say, “We have no king, Because we did not fear the LORD. And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

⁴They have spoken words, Swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

⁵The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it— Because its glory has departed from it.

⁶The idol also shall be carried to Assyria As a present for King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷As for Samaria, her king is cut off Like a twig on the water.

⁸Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed. The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars; They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹“O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah; There they stood. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity Did not overtake them.

¹⁰When it is My desire, I will chasten them. Peoples shall be gathered against them When I bind them for their two transgressions.

¹¹Ephraim is a trained heifer That loves to thresh grain; But I harnessed her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break his clods.”

¹²Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

¹³You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.

¹⁴Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, And all your fortresses shall be plundered As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle— A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.

¹⁵Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, Because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel Shall be cut off utterly.

¹Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

²Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him,

³asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem— while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him.

⁴But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly.

⁵“Therefore,” he said, “let those who have authority among you go down with me and accuse this man, to see if there is any fault in him.”

⁶And when he had remained among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought.

⁷When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove,

⁸while he answered for himself, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.”

⁹But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?”

¹⁰So Paul said, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know.

¹¹For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹²Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!”

¹³And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.

¹⁴When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying: “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix,

¹⁵about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.

¹⁶To them I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.’

¹⁷Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed,

¹⁹but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

²⁰And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar.”

²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”

²³So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.

²⁵But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.

²⁶I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write.

²⁷For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.”