Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.

⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

¹³“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

¹⁶“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’ ?”

¹⁷And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

¹⁸Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.

¹⁹Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.

²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

²³Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁵John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹“ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹“Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

³²For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

³⁷Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’

³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ ?

⁴³“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

⁴⁴Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.

⁴⁶They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

¹The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

²“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

⁵He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

⁶Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

⁷The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁸From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

⁹Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.

¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

¹³Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.

¹⁵And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.

¹⁶He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

¹I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!

²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

³But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

⁵I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”

⁶I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

⁷Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.

⁹And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.

¹³For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.

¹⁷In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

¹⁸Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.

¹⁹You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.

²¹To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

²⁸Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.

³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.

³³But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

¹“My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

⁴You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

⁵If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

⁶Hear now my argument; listen to the pleas of my lips.

⁷Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

⁹Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?

¹⁰He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.

¹¹Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.

¹⁴Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!

¹⁷Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears.

¹⁸Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰“Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you:

²¹Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.

²²Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.

²³How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

²⁵Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff?

²⁶For you write down bitter things against me and make me reap the sins of my youth.

²⁷You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

²⁸“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

¹For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world,

²both low and high, rich and poor alike:

³My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.

⁴I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle:

⁵Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me—

⁶those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?

⁷No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—

⁸the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—

⁹so that they should live on forever and not see decay.

¹⁰For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others.

¹¹Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves.

¹²People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings.

¹⁴They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.

¹⁵But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.

¹⁶Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases;

¹⁷for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them.

¹⁸Though while they live they count themselves blessed— and people praise you when you prosper—

¹⁹they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life.

²⁰People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.

¹A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.

²From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things, but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.

³Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.

⁴A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

⁵The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves.

⁶Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

¹¹Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it, but whoever respects a command is rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good judgment wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.

¹⁶All who are prudent act with knowledge, but fools expose their folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.

¹⁸Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

¹⁹A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Trouble pursues the sinner, but the righteous are rewarded with good things.

²²A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

²³An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

¹When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem,

²Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you.

³There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God.”

⁴Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

⁵He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah.

⁶He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the LORD, who is with you whenever you give a verdict.

⁷Now let the fear of the LORD be on you. Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

⁸In Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites, priests and heads of Israelite families to administer the law of the LORD and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem.

⁹He gave them these orders: “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD.

¹⁰In every case that comes before you from your people who live in the cities—whether bloodshed or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees or regulations—you are to warn them not to sin against the LORD; otherwise his wrath will come on you and your people. Do this, and you will not sin.

¹¹“Amariah the chief priest will be over you in any matter concerning the LORD, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be over you in any matter concerning the king, and the Levites will serve as officials before you. Act with courage, and may the LORD be with those who do well.”

¹Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand—

²a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

³Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them.

⁴They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.

⁵With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

⁶At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.

⁷They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course.

⁸They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks.

⁹They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.

¹⁰Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

¹¹The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?

¹²“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

¹³Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

¹⁴Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

¹⁶Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

¹⁸Then the LORD was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.

¹⁹The LORD replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.

²⁰“I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things!

²¹Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things!

²²Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

²³Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

²⁴The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you.

²⁶You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

²⁷Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

²⁸“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

²⁹Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

³⁰I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

³¹The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

³²And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

¹One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.

²Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

³When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

⁴Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”

⁵So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

⁶Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

⁷Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

⁸He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

⁹When all the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

¹¹While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹²When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.

¹⁴You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

¹⁵You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

¹⁶By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

¹⁷“Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

¹⁸But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

¹⁹Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

²⁰and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.

²¹Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

²²For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.

²³Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’

²⁴“Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days.

²⁵And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’

²⁶When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”