Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;

⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.

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

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

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”

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

¹²Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

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

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry

¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?”

¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

²¹Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.

²²Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

²³When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.”

²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

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

³⁰The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.

³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.

³⁴When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.

³⁵But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

³⁶Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.

³⁷Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’

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

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

⁴¹They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.

⁴⁴The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.

⁴⁶They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

¹Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

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

⁵Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

⁶Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

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

⁸From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD.

⁹And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.

¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance;

¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

¹³Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.”

¹⁴When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁶And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

¹⁸So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.”

²⁰And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him; and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had.

¹I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

²I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.

⁵I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

⁶I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

⁷Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about.

¹³For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.

¹⁶I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool;

¹⁸since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast.

¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves!

²⁰For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face.

²¹To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares to boast of — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast of that.

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

²³Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman — I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.

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

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;

²⁷in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.

²⁸And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

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

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie.

³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

³³but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

¹“Look, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

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

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

⁴As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians.

⁵If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!

⁶Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

⁷Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?

⁹Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?

¹⁰He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.

¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?

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

¹³“Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.

¹⁴I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.

¹⁵See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.

¹⁸I have indeed prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated.

¹⁹Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.

²⁰Only grant two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face:

²¹withdraw your hand far from me, and do not let dread of you terrify me.

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

²³How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy?

²⁵Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?

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

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks, and watch all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.

²⁸One wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

¹Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,

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

⁷Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it.

⁸For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice,

⁹that one should live on forever and never see the grave.

¹⁰When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands their own.

¹²Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.

¹³Such is the fate of the foolhardy, the end of those who are pleased with their lot. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away; Sheol shall be their home.

¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Do not be afraid when some become rich, when the wealth of their houses increases.

¹⁷For when they die they will carry nothing away; their wealth will not go down after them.

¹⁸Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy — for you are praised when you do well for yourself —

¹⁹they will go to the company of their ancestors, who will never again see the light.

²⁰Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.

¹A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.

³Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.

⁴The appetite of the lazy craves, and gets nothing, while the appetite of the diligent is richly supplied.

⁵The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.

⁶Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.

⁷Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life, but the poor get no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

¹⁰By insolence the heedless make strife, but wisdom is with those who take advice.

¹¹Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.

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

¹³Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death.

¹⁵Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.

¹⁶The clever do all things intelligently, but the fool displays folly.

¹⁷A bad messenger brings trouble, but a faithful envoy, healing.

¹⁸Poverty and disgrace are for the one who ignores instruction, but one who heeds reproof is honored.

¹⁹A desire realized is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

²³The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

²⁴Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.

²⁵The righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty.

¹King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.

²Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD.

³Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the sacred poles out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”

⁴Jehoshaphat resided at Jerusalem; then he went out again among the people, from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

⁵He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,

⁶and said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for you judge not on behalf of human beings but on the LORD’s behalf; he is with you in giving judgment.

⁷Now, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care what you do, for there is no perversion of justice with the LORD our God, or partiality, or taking of bribes.”

⁸Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed certain Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel, to give judgment for the LORD and to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem.

⁹He charged them: “This is how you shall act: in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, and with your whole heart;

¹⁰whenever a case comes to you from your kindred who live in their cities, concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or ordinances, then you shall instruct them, so that they may not incur guilt before the LORD and wrath may not come on you and your kindred. Do so, and you will not incur guilt.

¹¹See, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king’s matters; and the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously, and may the LORD be with the good!”

¹Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near —

²a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

³Fire devours in front of them, and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

⁴They have the appearance of horses, and like war-horses they charge.

⁵As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.

⁶Before them peoples are in anguish, all faces grow pale.

⁷Like warriors they charge, like soldiers they scale the wall. Each keeps to its own course, they do not swerve from their paths.

⁸They do not jostle one another, each keeps to its own track; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.

⁹They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls; they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹¹The LORD utters his voice at the head of his army; how vast is his host! Numberless are those who obey his command. Truly the day of the LORD is great; terrible indeed — who can endure it?

¹²Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God?

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly;

¹⁶gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.

¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

¹⁸Then the LORD became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.

¹⁹In response to his people the LORD said: I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations.

²⁰I will remove the northern army far from you, and drive it into a parched and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its rear into the western sea; its stench and foul smell will rise up. Surely he has done great things!

²¹Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!

²²Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

²³O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.

²⁴The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

²⁵I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you.

²⁶You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

²⁷You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

²⁸Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

²⁹Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

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

³¹The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

³²Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

¹One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

²And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.

³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.

⁴Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”

⁵And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

⁸Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished.

¹²When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

¹⁴But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you,

¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

¹⁶And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

¹⁷“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.

¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,

²⁰so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus,

²¹who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.

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

²³And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.’

²⁴And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days.

²⁵You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall 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.”