Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

²And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

³“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.

⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

⁹And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,

¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

¹⁴ The sower sows the word.

¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.

¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,

¹⁹but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

²¹And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

²² For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light.

²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

²⁵ For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

²⁶And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.

²⁸The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

³¹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth,

³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

³⁴He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

³⁶And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.

³⁷And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

¹Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

²And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,

⁴“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵The Hittites answered Abraham,

⁶“Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.”

⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land.

⁸And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,

⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,

¹¹“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

¹³And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham,

¹⁵“My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over

¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

²⁰The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

¹For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles —

²assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,

³how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

⁴When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

⁵which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

⁶This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

⁷Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

⁸To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

⁹and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

¹⁰so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

¹¹This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

¹²in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

¹³So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

¹⁶that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

⁴As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.

⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,

⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

⁸Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

⁹who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

¹⁰and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

¹¹for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,

¹²which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

¹³Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

¹⁵You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains,

¹⁷but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me —

¹⁸may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day! — and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

¹“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?

²Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

⁷They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

⁹(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

¹¹among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

¹⁷For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

²¹“They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

²²Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

²³He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

²⁵If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

¹O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.

²You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.

³You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

⁴You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah

⁵That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

⁶God has spoken in his holiness: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

⁸Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.

¹¹Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!

¹²With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

¹Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them,

²for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.

³By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,

⁶for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

⁸Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer.

⁹The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home;

¹⁶for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

¹⁸lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

¹⁹Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked,

²⁰for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

²¹My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise,

²²for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

²³These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good.

²⁴Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

²⁵but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.

²⁶Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

²⁸Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

³⁰I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

³¹and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

³²Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.

³³A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

³⁴and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

¹Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.

²For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month —

³for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem —

⁴and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly.

⁵So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed.

⁶So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

⁷Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see.

⁸Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

⁹For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

¹⁰So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.

¹¹However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

¹²The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD.

¹³And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.

¹⁴They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the brook Kidron.

¹⁵And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

¹⁶They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the LORD.

¹⁸For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone

¹⁹who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness.”

²⁰And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might to the LORD.

²²And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the LORD. So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

²³Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness.

²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings, and the princes gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And the priests consecrated themselves in great numbers.

²⁵The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced.

²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

²⁷Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.

¹Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

⁴But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,

⁶they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,

⁷and there they continued to preach the gospel.

⁸Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.

⁹He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,

¹⁰said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

¹¹And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out,

¹⁵“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

¹⁷Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

¹⁸Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

²⁰But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

²¹When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

²³And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia,

²⁶and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.

²⁷And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they remained no little time with the disciples.