Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

²Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

³Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”

⁴He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

⁷They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?”

⁸He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

⁹And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”

¹³Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them;

¹⁴but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

¹⁶Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁷And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;

¹⁹Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁰The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

²²When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

¹These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; children were born to them after the flood.

²The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

³The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

⁵From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the descendants of Japheth in their lands, with their own language, by their families, in their nations.

⁶The descendants of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

⁷The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior.

⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar.

¹¹From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and

¹²Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

¹³Egypt became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,

¹⁴Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, from which the Philistines come.

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,

¹⁶and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

¹⁹And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the descendants of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.

²²The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

²³The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.

²⁵To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.

²⁶Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the descendants of Joktan.

³⁰The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east.

³¹These are the descendants of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³²These are the families of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

¹Now it is not necessary for me to write you about the ministry to the saints,

²for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

⁴otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated — to say nothing of you — in this undertaking.

⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.

⁶The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

⁷Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

⁸And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

⁹As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

¹¹You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us;

¹²for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.

¹³Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others,

¹⁴while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.

¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

²“Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated?

³Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

⁴For you say, ‘My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God’s sight.’

⁵But O that God would speak, and open his lips to you,

⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

⁸It is higher than heaven — what can you do? Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If he passes through, and imprisons, and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?

¹¹For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹²But a stupid person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born human.

¹³“If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.

¹⁵Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear.

¹⁶You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

¹⁷And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

¹Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.

²For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.

³He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

⁴He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

⁵God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

⁷For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm.

⁸God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.

¹A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright saves them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their schemes.

⁷When the wicked die, their hope perishes, and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

⁸The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead.

⁹With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.

¹³A gossip goes about telling secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a confidence.

¹⁴Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

¹⁶A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches.

¹⁷Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm.

¹⁸The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.

¹⁹Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die.

²⁰Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

²¹Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

²³The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

²⁴Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.

²⁵A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.

²⁶The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.

²⁷Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.

²⁸Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

²⁹Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

³¹If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him, and strengthened himself against Israel.

²He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken.

³The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father; he did not seek the Baals,

⁴but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the ways of Israel.

⁵Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.

⁶His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD; and furthermore he removed the high places and the sacred poles from Judah.

⁷In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

⁸With them were the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

⁹They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; they went around through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

¹⁰The fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

¹¹Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; and the Arabs also brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.

¹²Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah.

¹³He carried out great works in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty warriors, in Jerusalem.

¹⁴This was the muster of them by ancestral houses: Of Judah, the commanders of the thousands: Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty warriors,

¹⁵and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred eighty thousand,

¹⁶and next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the LORD, with two hundred thousand mighty warriors.

¹⁷Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty warrior, with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield,

¹⁸and next to him Jehozabad with one hundred eighty thousand armed for war.

¹⁹These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

¹Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

²Take words with you and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all guilt; accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our lips.

³Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”

⁴I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily, he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.

⁶His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.

⁷They shall again live beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom like the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; your faithfulness comes from me.

⁹Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

¹In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning

²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me;

⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.

¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

¹⁴All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said,

¹⁶“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus —

¹⁷for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

¹⁹This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

²³So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen

²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.