Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.

³And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

⁵And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

⁷“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?

⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?

¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he said to the paralytic —

¹¹“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

¹⁴And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

¹⁶And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁸Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

²³One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:

²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

²⁷And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

²⁸So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

¹The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.

²And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.

³Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”

⁷And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.

¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

¹¹And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

¹³And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.

¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

¹⁸Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.

²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.

²³Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized,

²⁶Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

²⁸Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.

²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

³⁰He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.

³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

³⁴And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

⁵he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

¹Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers,

²older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

³Honor widows who are truly widows.

⁴But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

⁵She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,

⁶but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

⁷Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.

⁸But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,

¹⁰and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

¹¹But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry

¹²and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.

¹³Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

¹⁴So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.

¹⁵For some have already strayed after Satan.

¹⁶If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.

¹⁷Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

¹⁹Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

²⁰As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

²¹In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

²²Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

²³(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)

²⁴The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.

²⁵So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents,

²⁴if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

²⁶For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly.

³⁰He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

¹Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

⁴They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

⁵so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

⁷Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

⁸Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all.

³The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

⁴The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

⁸Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

⁹Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.

¹²The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the traitor.

¹³The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

¹⁷Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge,

²¹to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,

²³for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

²⁴Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,

²⁵lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done,

²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals,

³and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

⁴And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵Therefore the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.

⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.

⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

⁸The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven.

¹⁰And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God?

¹¹Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.”

¹²Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war

¹³and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.”

¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly.

¹⁵And the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help.

¹⁷For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives.

¹⁸And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there.

¹⁹For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to the LORD.

²⁰So Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him.

²¹For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the LORD and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.

²²In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD — this same King Ahaz.

²³For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

²⁵In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers.

²⁶Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

¹This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

²And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.

³The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord GOD. “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!”

⁴Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,

⁵saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

⁶that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

⁷The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

⁸Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

⁹“And on that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

¹¹“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

¹²They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.

¹³“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

¹⁴Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.”

¹About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

²He killed James the brother of John with the sword,

³and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

⁶Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.

⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

⁸And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

⁹And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

¹³And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!”

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

¹⁹And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

²⁰Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

²¹On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.

²²And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”

²³Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

²⁴But the word of God increased and multiplied.

²⁵And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.