Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him.

²Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise.

³They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?”

⁴Looking up, they noticed that the stone — which was very large — had been rolled away.

⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed.

⁶“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.

⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’”

⁸They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid. [Some of the earliest mss conclude with 16:8.] [

⁹Early on the first day of the week, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

¹⁰She went and reported to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping.

¹¹Yet, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.

¹²After this, he appeared in a different form to two of them walking on their way into the country.

¹³And they went and reported it to the rest, who did not believe them either.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

¹⁹So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.]

¹God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

³We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

⁴Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

⁶So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel ) in the land of Canaan.

⁷Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah, died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

⁹God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.

¹²I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.”

¹³Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him — a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

¹⁵Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

¹⁶They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.

¹⁷During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”

¹⁸With her last breath — for she was dying — she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem ).

²⁰Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave still today.

²¹Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.

²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

²³Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron ), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

²⁸Isaac lived 180 years.

²⁹He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

²In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

⁴So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?

⁶Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God’s angels worship him.

⁷And about the angels he says: He makes his angels winds, and his servants a fiery flame,

⁸but to the Son: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions.

¹⁰And: In the beginning, Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands;

¹¹they will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like clothing;

¹²you will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like clothing. But you are the same, and your years will never end.

¹³Now to which of the angels has he ever said: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?

¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?

¹Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.

²Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten.

³Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.

⁴Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁵You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.

⁷Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

⁸You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

⁹Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!

¹⁰Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience.

¹¹See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about — the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹²Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.

¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

¹⁷Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land.

¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back,

²⁰let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

¹Then Elihu continued, saying:

²Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from a distant place and ascribe justice to my Maker.

⁴Indeed, my words are not false; one who has complete knowledge is with you.

⁵Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one; he understands all things.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but he gives justice to the oppressed.

⁷He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous, but he seats them forever with enthroned kings, and they are exalted.

⁸If people are bound with chains and trapped by the cords of affliction,

⁹God tells them what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

¹⁰He opens their ears to correction and tells them to repent from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.

¹²But if they do not listen, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge.

¹³Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

¹⁴They die in their youth; their life ends among male cult prostitutes.

¹⁵God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; he instructs them by their torment.

¹⁶Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food.

¹⁷Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.

¹⁸Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray.

¹⁹Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress?

²⁰Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places.

²¹Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction.

²²Look, God shows himself exalted by his power. Who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has appointed his way for him, and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?

²⁴Remember that you should praise his work, which people have sung about.

²⁵All mankind has seen it; people have looked at it from a distance.

²⁶Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted.

²⁷For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist,

²⁸which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

²⁹Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?

³⁰See how he spreads his lightning around him and covers the depths of the sea.

³¹For he judges the nations with these; he gives food in abundance.

³²He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark.

³³The thunder declares his presence; the cattle also, the approaching storm.

¹Of Solomon. [1] God, give your justice to the king and your righteousness to the king’s son.

²He will judge your people with righteousness and your afflicted ones with justice.

³May the mountains bring well-being to the people and the hills, righteousness.

⁴May he vindicate the afflicted among the people, help the poor, and crush the oppressor.

⁵May they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

⁶May the king be like rain that falls on the cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth.

⁷May the righteous flourish in his days and well-being abound until the moon is no more.

⁸May he rule from sea to sea and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.

⁹May desert tribes kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁰May the kings of Tarshish and the coasts and islands bring tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.

¹¹Let all kings bow in homage to him, all nations serve him.

¹²For he will rescue the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

¹³He will have pity on the poor and helpless and save the lives of the poor.

¹⁴He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious in his sight.

¹⁵May he live long! May gold from Sheba be given to him. May prayer be offered for him continually, and may he be blessed all day long.

¹⁶May there be plenty of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains. May its crops be like Lebanon. May people flourish in the cities like the grass of the field.

¹⁷May his name endure forever; as long as the sun shines, may his fame increase. May all nations be blessed by him and call him blessed.

¹⁸Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does wonders.

¹⁹Blessed be his glorious name forever; the whole earth is filled with his glory. Amen and amen.

²⁰The prayers of David son of Jesse are concluded.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding

²so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

³Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

⁴in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

⁶She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

⁷So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

⁹Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

¹⁰strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

¹¹At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.

¹³I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors.

¹⁴I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares?

¹⁷They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving deer, a graceful doe  — let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.

²⁰Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman?

²¹For a man’s ways are before the LORD’s eyes, and he considers all his paths.

²²A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.

²³He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.

¹King Darius gave the order, and they searched in the library of Babylon in the archives.

²But it was in the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found with this record written on it:

³In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained. Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet,

⁴with three layers of cut stones and one of timber. The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.

⁵The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong and put into the house of God.

⁶Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials in the region.

⁷Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.

⁸I hereby issue a decree concerning what you are to do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop.

⁹Whatever is needed — young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of the heavens, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem — let it be given to them every day without fail,

¹⁰so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of the heavens and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive: Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.

¹²May the God who caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who dares to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.

¹³Then Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed.

¹⁴So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia.

¹⁵This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

¹⁷For the dedication of God’s house they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, as well as twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel — one for each Israelite tribe.

¹⁸They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.

¹⁹The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²⁰All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.

²¹The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land in order to worship the LORD, the God of Israel.

²²They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”