Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.

²Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

³When the foolish took their lamps, they didn’t take oil with them;

⁴but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps.

⁵When the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶“In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him.’

⁷“Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.

⁸The foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’

⁹“The wise ones answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell oil, and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

¹¹Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, ‘Master, master, open up for us!’

¹²“He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you!’

¹³“Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.

¹⁴“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey. He called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them.

¹⁵To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, depending on each one’s ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately

¹⁶the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more.

¹⁷In the same way the man with two earned two more.

¹⁸But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I’ve earned five more talents.’

²¹“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

²²“The man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I’ve earned two more talents.’

²³“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

²⁴“The man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a harsh man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed.

²⁵So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

²⁶“His master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy servant! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered,

²⁷then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and I would have received my money back with interest when I returned.

²⁸“‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.

²⁹For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him

³⁰And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left.

³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵“‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in;

³⁶I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

³⁸When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you?

³⁹When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

⁴⁰“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹“Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink;

⁴³I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’

⁴⁴“Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’

⁴⁵“Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

¹Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar.

²Sarai said to Abram, “Since the LORD has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

³So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.

⁴He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the LORD judge between me and you.”

⁶Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

⁷The angel of the LORD found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹The angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰The angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD said to her, “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives.”

¹³So she named the LORD who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?”

¹⁴That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

¹Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

²I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain.

³But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

⁴This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us.

⁵But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

⁶Now from those recognized as important (what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism ) — they added nothing to me.

⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised,

⁸since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles.

⁹When James, Cephas, and John  — those recognized as pillars  — acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I had made every effort to do.

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

¹²For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.

¹³Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”

¹⁶and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

¹⁷But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!

¹⁸If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

¹My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished. A graveyard awaits me.

²Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

³Accept my pledge! Put up security for me. Who else will be my sponsor?

⁴You have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not honor them.

⁵If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at.

⁷My eyes have grown dim from grief, and my whole body has become but a shadow.

⁸The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are roused against the godless.

⁹Yet the righteous person will hold to his way, and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger.

¹⁰But come back and try again, all of you. I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days have slipped by; my plans have been ruined, even the things dear to my heart.

¹²They turned night into day and made light seem near in the face of darkness.

¹³If I await Sheol as my home, spread out my bed in darkness,

¹⁴and say to corruption, “You are my father,” and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

¹⁶Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust?

¹For the choir director: on . A of David. [1] The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

²God looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God.

³All have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴Will evildoers never understand? They consume my people as they consume bread; they do not call on God.

⁵Then they will be filled with dread — dread like no other  — because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

¹Better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son and share an inheritance among brothers.

³A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold, and the LORD is the tester of hearts.

⁴A wicked person listens to malicious talk; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵The one who mocks the poor insults his Maker, and one who rejoices over calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and the pride of children is their fathers.

⁷Eloquent words are not appropriate on a fool’s lips; how much worse are lies for a ruler.

⁸A bribe seems like a magic stone to its owner; wherever he turns, he succeeds.

⁹Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends.

¹⁰A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person more than a hundred lashes into a fool.

¹¹An evil person desires only rebellion; a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Better for a person to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never depart from his house.

¹⁴To start a conflict is to release a flood; stop the dispute before it breaks out.

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the just  — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹⁶Why does a fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.

¹⁸One without sense enters an agreement and puts up security for his friend.

¹⁹One who loves to offend loves strife; one who builds a high threshold invites injury.

²⁰One with a twisted mind will not succeed, and one with deceitful speech will fall into ruin.

²¹A man fathers a fool to his own sorrow; the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person secretly takes a bribe to subvert the course of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive, but a fool’s eyes roam to the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.

²⁶It is certainly not good to fine an innocent person or to beat a noble for his honesty.

²⁷The one who has knowledge restrains his words, and one who keeps a cool head is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent — discerning, when he seals his lips.

¹Then, in the seventh year, Jehoiada summoned his courage and took the commanders of hundreds into a covenant with him: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

²They made a circuit throughout Judah. They gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the family heads of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

³Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s temple. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son! He will reign, just as the LORD promised concerning David’s sons.

⁴This is what you are to do: a third of you, priests and Levites who are coming on duty on the Sabbath, are to be gatekeepers.

⁵A third are to be at the king’s palace, and a third are to be at the Foundation Gate, and all the troops will be in the courtyards of the LORD’s temple.

⁶No one is to enter the LORD’s temple but the priests and those Levites who serve; they may enter because they are holy, but all the people are to obey the requirement of the LORD.

⁷Completely surround the king with weapons in hand. Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death. Be with the king in all his daily tasks.”

⁸So the commanders of hundreds did everything the priest Jehoiada commanded. They each brought their men — those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty on the Sabbath — for the priest Jehoiada did not release the divisions.

⁹The priest Jehoiada gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears, shields, and quivers that were in God’s temple.

¹⁰Then he stationed all the troops with their weapons in hand surrounding the king — from the right side of the temple to the left side, by the altar and by the temple.

¹¹They brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and cried, “Long live the king!”

¹²When Athaliah heard the noise from the troops, the guards, and those praising the king, she went to the troops in the LORD’s temple.

¹³As she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets while the singers with musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁴Then the priest Jehoiada sent out the commanders of hundreds, those in charge of the army, saying, “Take her out between the ranks, and put anyone who follows her to death by the sword,” for the priest had said, “Don’t put her to death in the LORD’s temple.”

¹⁵So they arrested her, and she went by the entrance of the Horse Gate to the king’s palace, where they put her to death.

¹⁶Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the king, and the people that they would be the LORD’s people.

¹⁷So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altars and images and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.

¹⁸Then Jehoiada put the oversight of the LORD’s temple into the hands of the Levitical priests, whom David had appointed over the LORD’s temple, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and song ordained by David.

¹⁹He stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the LORD’s temple so that nothing unclean could enter for any reason.

²⁰Then he took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the LORD’s temple. They entered the king’s palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.

²¹All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword.

¹Listen to this message that the LORD has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:

²I have known only you out of all the clans of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

³Can two walk together without agreeing to meet?

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion growl from its lair unless it has captured something?

⁵Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there is no bait for it? Does a trap spring from the ground when it has caught nothing?

⁶If a ram’s horn is blown in a city, aren’t people afraid? If a disaster occurs in a city, hasn’t the LORD done it?

⁷Indeed, the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets.

⁸A lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who will not prophesy?

⁹Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt: Assemble on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great turmoil in the city and the acts of oppression within it.

¹⁰The people are incapable of doing right  — this is the LORD’s declaration — those who store up violence and destruction in their citadels.

¹¹Therefore, the Lord GOD says: An enemy will surround the land; he will destroy your strongholds and plunder your citadels.

¹²The LORD says: As the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion’s mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued with only the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

¹³Listen and testify against the house of Jacob — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD, the God of Armies.

¹⁴I will punish the altars of Bethel on the day I punish Israel for its crimes; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will demolish the winter house and the summer house; the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed, and the great houses will come to an end. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹“Are these things true?” the high priest asked.

²“Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

³and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.

⁴“Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.

⁵He didn’t give him an inheritance in it — not even a foot of ground — but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

⁶God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.

⁷I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.

⁸And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him

¹⁰and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.

¹¹Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food.

¹²When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time.

¹³The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,

¹⁵and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,

¹⁶were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt

¹⁸until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.

¹⁹He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.

²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months.

²¹When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.

²²So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.

²³“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.

²⁴When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian.

²⁵He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

²⁶The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other? ’

²⁷“But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹“When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came:

³²I am the God of your ancestors — the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

³³“The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?  — this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and sisters.

³⁸He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

³⁹Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

⁴⁰They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.

⁴¹They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.

⁴²God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship. So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

⁴⁵Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, until the days of David.

⁴⁶He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,

⁴⁸but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:

⁴⁹Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What sort of house will you build for me? says the Lord, or what will be my resting place?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?

⁵¹“You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.

⁵³You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”

⁵⁴When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him.

⁵⁵Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

⁵⁶He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.

⁵⁸They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹While they were stoning Stephen, he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

⁶⁰He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he died.