Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.

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

⁴And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back — it was very large.

⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

⁶And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

⁸And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹[8] [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.] Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

¹⁰She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

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

¹²After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.

¹³And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

¹⁴Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

¹⁵And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

¹⁶ Whoever 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 cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸ they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken 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 message by accompanying signs.]]

¹God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.

³Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,

⁷and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.

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

¹⁰And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.

¹¹And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

¹³Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.

¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.

¹⁵So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.

¹⁷And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”

¹⁸And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

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

²⁰and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.

²¹Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²²While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali.

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

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

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.

²⁹And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

³He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

⁵For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?

⁶And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”

⁷Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”

⁸But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

¹⁰And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

¹¹they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,

¹²like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

¹³And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

²Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.

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

⁴Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

⁵You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

⁷Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

⁸You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

⁹Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹²But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

¹⁸Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,

²⁰let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

¹And Elihu continued, and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,

⁹then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.

¹²But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

¹³“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

¹⁶He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

¹⁷“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.

¹⁸Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?

²⁰Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.

²¹Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

²²Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.

²⁵All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.

²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,

²⁸which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.

²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?

³⁰Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.

³²He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

³³Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.

¹Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!

²May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!

³Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!

⁴May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!

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

⁶May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!

⁷In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

⁸May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!

⁹May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust!

¹⁰May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!

¹¹May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!

¹²For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.

¹³He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.

¹⁴From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day!

¹⁶May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field!

¹⁷May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!

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

¹⁹Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

²⁰The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

¹My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

²that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

³For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

⁴but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;

⁶she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,

¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

¹¹and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

¹²and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

¹⁴I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”

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

¹⁶Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

¹⁹a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

²¹For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.

²²The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

²³He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.

¹Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored.

²And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record.

³In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits,

⁴with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

⁵And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”

⁶“Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates the governors who are in the province Beyond the River, keep away.

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

⁸Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River.

⁹And whatever is needed — bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require — let that be given to them day by day without fail,

¹⁰that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.

¹²May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

¹³Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered.

¹⁴And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia;

¹⁵and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

¹⁶And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

¹⁷They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁸And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.

²⁰For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

²¹It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel.

²²And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

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

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

³especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.

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

⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,

⁷to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!

⁸Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles — to whom I am sending you

¹⁸ to 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 place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

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

²²To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:

²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”

²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”

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