Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.

²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.

³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.

⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

¹⁰And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things;

¹²but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him,

¹⁵and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁰He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²¹

²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands,

²³and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.

²⁴When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?”

²⁵He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?”

²⁶When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free.

²⁷However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”

¹But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided;

²the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained,

³and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated;

⁴and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

⁵The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

⁶At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made

⁷and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

⁸Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground;

⁹but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him.

¹⁰He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark;

¹¹and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.

¹²Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.

¹³In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying.

¹⁴In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah,

¹⁶“Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁷Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh — birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth — so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

¹⁸So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.

¹⁹And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

²¹And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.

²²As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

¹Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.

²Make room in your hearts for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

³I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

⁴I often boast about you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with consolation; I am overjoyed in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way — disputes without and fears within.

⁶But God, who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus,

⁷and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was consoled about you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

⁸For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, though only briefly).

⁹Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance; for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.

¹⁰For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.

¹¹For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.

¹²So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who was wronged, but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God.

¹³In this we find comfort. In addition to our own consolation, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by all of you.

¹⁴For if I have been somewhat boastful about you to him, I was not disgraced; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well.

¹⁵And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

¹⁶I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.

¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;

⁴they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

⁶And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

⁷“See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me;

⁹but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

¹⁰And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

¹¹Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

¹²“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

¹⁵Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book;

¹⁹if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

¹Then Job answered:

²“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?

³If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has resisted him, and succeeded? —

⁵he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;

⁶who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

⁸who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea;

⁹who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

¹⁰who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

¹¹Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

¹²He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

¹⁴How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

¹⁵Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

¹⁸he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

²¹I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

²³When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges — if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’

²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me.

³²For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

³³There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

³⁴If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,

³⁵then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

¹My heart overflows with a goodly theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

³Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your glory and majesty.

⁴In your majesty ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and to defend the right; let your right hand teach you dread deeds.

⁵Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you.

⁶Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;

⁷you love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

⁸your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

⁹daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him;

¹²the people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people

¹³with all kinds of wealth. The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;

¹⁴in many-colored robes she is led to the king; behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.

¹⁵With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.

¹⁷I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

¹Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

²She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

⁴“You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,

⁵“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

⁶Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

⁷Whoever corrects a scoffer wins abuse; whoever rebukes the wicked gets hurt.

⁸A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you.

⁹Give instruction to the wise, and they will become wiser still; teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud; she is ignorant and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,

¹⁶“You who are simple, turn in here!” And to those without sense she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.

²He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.

³For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;

⁴but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

⁵In those times it was not safe for anyone to go or come, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.

⁶They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.

⁷But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

⁸When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD.

⁹He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing as aliens with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

¹⁰They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹They sacrificed to the LORD on that day, from the booty that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

¹²They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul.

¹³Whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

¹⁴They took an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns.

¹⁵All Judah rejoiced over the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.

¹⁶King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.

¹⁷But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was true all his days.

¹⁸He brought into the house of God the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts — silver, gold, and utensils.

¹⁹And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

¹Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a treaty with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

²The LORD has an indictment against Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, and repay him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he tried to supplant his brother, and in his manhood he strove with God.

⁴He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor; he met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him.

⁵The LORD the God of hosts, the LORD is his name!

⁶But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.

⁷A trader, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.

⁸Ephraim has said, “Ah, I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself; in all of my gain no offense has been found in me that would be sin.”

⁹I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets I will bring destruction.

¹¹In Gilead there is iniquity, they shall surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls, so their altars shall be like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.

¹²Jacob fled to the land of Aram, there Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep.

¹³By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded.

¹⁴Ephraim has given bitter offense, so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him and pay him back for his insults.

¹When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius.

²Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.

³The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.

⁴Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.

⁵After we had sailed across the sea that is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board.

⁷We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.

⁸Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them,

¹⁰saying, “Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

¹¹But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

¹²Since the harbor was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favor of putting to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest.

¹³When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore.

¹⁴But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete.

¹⁵Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven.

¹⁶By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control.

¹⁷After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven.

¹⁸We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,

¹⁹and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard.

²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.

²²I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,

²⁴and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’

²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

²⁶But we will have to run aground on some island.”

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

²⁸So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms.

²⁹Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

³⁰But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.

³³Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing.

³⁴Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive; for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”

³⁵After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.

³⁷(We were in all two hundred seventy-six persons in the ship.)

³⁸After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.

³⁹In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.

⁴⁰So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

⁴¹But striking a reef, they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;

⁴³but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land,

⁴⁴and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.