Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

²Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.

³Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁴So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁵“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

⁶But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷“What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.

⁸So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.

⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

¹⁰“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

¹¹

¹²“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!

¹⁴In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

¹⁶But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

¹⁷If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

¹⁸“I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

¹⁹“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.

²⁰For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

²²“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

²³“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.

²⁴In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

²⁵He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold — along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned — to pay the debt.

²⁶“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’

²⁷Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

²⁸“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

²⁹“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded.

³⁰But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

³¹“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.

³²Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

³³Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’

³⁴Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

³⁵“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.

²All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power.

³I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.

⁴But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

⁵“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.

⁶If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.

⁷Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”

⁸Then God told Noah and his sons,

⁹“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants,

¹⁰and with all the animals that were on the boat with you — the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals — every living creature on earth.

¹¹Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

¹²Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.

¹³I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.

¹⁴When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds,

¹⁵and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.

¹⁶When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”

¹⁷Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.)

¹⁹From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.

²⁰After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.

²¹One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.

²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.

²³Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.

²⁴When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done.

²⁵Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: “May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”

²⁶Then Noah said, “May the LORD, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!

²⁷May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood.

²⁹He lived 950 years, and then he died.

¹Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia.

²They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

³For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

⁴They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.

⁵They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

⁶So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving.

⁷Since you excel in so many ways — in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us — I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.

⁸I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.

⁹You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

¹⁰Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it.

¹¹Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have.

¹²Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

¹³Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

¹⁴Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal.

¹⁵As the Scriptures say, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.”

¹⁶But thank God! He has given Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have.

¹⁷Titus welcomed our request that he visit you again. In fact, he himself was very eager to go and see you.

¹⁸We are also sending another brother with Titus. All the churches praise him as a preacher of the Good News.

¹⁹He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem — a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help.

²⁰We are traveling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift.

²¹We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honorable.

²²We are also sending with them another of our brothers who has proven himself many times and has shown on many occasions how eager he is. He is now even more enthusiastic because of his great confidence in you.

²³If anyone asks about Titus, say that he is my partner who works with me to help you. And the brothers with him have been sent by the churches, and they bring honor to Christ.

²⁴So show them your love, and prove to all the churches that our boasting about you is justified.

¹“I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain.

²I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me — tell me the charge you are bringing against me.

³What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked?

⁴Are your eyes like those of a human? Do you see things only as people see them?

⁵Is your lifetime only as long as ours? Is your life so short

⁶that you must quickly probe for my guilt and search for my sin?

⁷Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands.

⁸“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me.

⁹Remember that you made me from dust — will you turn me back to dust so soon?

¹⁰You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together.

¹²You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care.

¹³“‘Yet your real motive — your true intent —

¹⁴was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my guilt.

¹⁵If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery.

¹⁶And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me.

¹⁷Again and again you witness against me. You pour out your growing anger on me and bring fresh armies against me.

¹⁸“‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb? Why didn’t you let me die at birth?

¹⁹It would be as though I had never existed, going directly from the womb to the grave.

²⁰I have only a few days left, so leave me alone, that I may have a moment of comfort

²¹before I leave — never to return — for the land of darkness and utter gloom.

²²It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of gloom and confusion, where even the light is dark as midnight.’”

¹God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

²So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

³Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude

⁴A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High.

⁵God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.

⁶The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble! God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts!

⁷The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude

⁸Come, see the glorious works of the LORD: See how he brings destruction upon the world.

⁹He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”

¹¹The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.

²Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.

³The LORD will not let the godly go hungry, but he refuses to satisfy the craving of the wicked.

⁴Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.

⁵A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.

⁶The godly are showered with blessings; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

⁷We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.

⁸The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces.

⁹People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.

¹⁰People who wink at wrong cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace.

¹¹The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.

¹²Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.

¹³Wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod.

¹⁴Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their destruction.

¹⁶The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin.

¹⁷People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.

¹⁸Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool.

¹⁹Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

²⁰The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless.

²¹The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.

²²The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

²³Doing wrong is fun for a fool, but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible.

²⁴The fears of the wicked will be fulfilled; the hopes of the godly will be granted.

²⁵When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.

²⁶Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.

²⁷Fear of the LORD lengthens one’s life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked.

³⁰The godly will never be disturbed, but the wicked will be removed from the land.

³¹The mouth of the godly person gives wise advice, but the tongue that deceives will be cut off.

³²The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words.

¹In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah.

²Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of the LORD and the royal palace. He sent it to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message:

³“Let there be a treaty between you and me like the one between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”

⁴Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and sent the commanders of his army to attack the towns of Israel. They conquered the towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all the store cities in Naphtali.

⁵As soon as Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he abandoned his project of fortifying Ramah and stopped all work on it.

⁶Then King Asa called out all the men of Judah to carry away the building stones and timbers that Baasha had been using to fortify Ramah. Asa used these materials to fortify the towns of Geba and Mizpah.

⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram.

⁸Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers? At that time you relied on the LORD, and he handed them over to you.

⁹The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”

¹⁰Asa became so angry with Hanani for saying this that he threw him into prison and put him in stocks. At that time Asa also began to oppress some of his people.

¹¹The rest of the events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹²In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the LORD’s help but turned only to his physicians.

¹³So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

¹⁴He was buried in the tomb he had carved out for himself in the City of David. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and fragrant ointments, and the people built a huge funeral fire in his honor.

¹When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction.

²Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully with human hands. “Sacrifice to these,” they cry, “and kiss the calf idols!”

³Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney.

⁴“I have been the LORD your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior.

⁵I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.

⁶But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me.

⁷So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.

⁸Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, I will tear out your heart. I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal.

⁹“You are about to be destroyed, O Israel — yes, by me, your only helper.

¹⁰Now where is your king? Let him save you! Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials you demanded of me?

¹¹In my anger I gave you kings, and in my fury I took them away.

¹²“Ephraim’s guilt has been collected, and his sin has been stored up for punishment.

¹³Pain has come to the people like the pain of childbirth, but they are like a child who resists being born. The moment of birth has arrived, but they stay in the womb!

¹⁴“Should I ransom them from the grave ? Should I redeem them from death? O death, bring on your terrors! O grave, bring on your plagues! For I will not take pity on them.

¹⁵Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind — a blast from the LORD — will arise in the desert. All their flowing springs will run dry, and all their wells will disappear. Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away.

¹⁶The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”

¹Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.

²The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.

³As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.

⁴The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”

⁵But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.

⁶The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

⁷Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days.

⁸As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

⁹Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.

¹⁰As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.

¹¹It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island — an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

¹²Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.

¹³From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli.

¹⁴There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.

¹⁵The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

¹⁶When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷Three days after Paul’s arrival, he called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors.

¹⁸The Romans tried me and wanted to release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence.

¹⁹But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my own people.

²⁰I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of Israel — the Messiah — has already come.”

²¹They replied, “We have had no letters from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here.

²²But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced everywhere.”

²³So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.

²⁴Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.

²⁵And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,

²⁶‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

²⁷For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes — so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

²⁸So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”

²⁹

³⁰For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,

³¹boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.