Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him.

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

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

⁴And looking up, they *noticed that the stone had been rolled away; for it was extremely large.

⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.

⁶But he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him.

⁷But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of 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 gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹[[ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.

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

¹¹And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹²Now after that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.

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

¹⁴Later He appeared to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead.

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

¹⁶The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.

¹⁷These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

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

¹⁹So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received 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 signs that followed.]] [[ And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. ]]

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to 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, “Remove the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments;

³and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me on the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

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

⁵As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

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

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

⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named Allon-bacuth.

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

¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” So He called him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a multitude of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come from you.

¹²And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

¹³Then God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him.

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

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

¹⁶Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor.

¹⁷And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son!”

¹⁸And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that 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).

²⁰And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day.

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

²²And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

²³the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

²⁴the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali;

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

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

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.

²⁹Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

²in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world.

³And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

⁴having become so much better than the angels, to the extent that He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

⁵For to which of the angels did He ever say, “YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE FATHERED YOU”? And again, “I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE WILL BE A SON TO ME”?

⁶And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

⁷And regarding the angels He says, “HE MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.”

⁸But regarding the Son He says, “YOUR THRONE, GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

⁹YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF JOY ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.”

¹⁰And, “YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

¹¹THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL WEAR OUT LIKE A GARMENT,

¹²AND LIKE A ROBE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

¹³But 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 provide service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

¹Come now, you rich people, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.

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

³Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

⁴Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

⁵You have lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned and put to death the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.

⁷Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

⁸You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

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

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

¹¹We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

¹²But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgment.

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

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

¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.

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

¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

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

²⁰let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

¹Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

³I will bring 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.

⁵Behold, God is mighty but does not reject anyone; He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, But gives justice to the afflicted.

⁷He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, But with kings on the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in shackles, And are caught in the snares of misery,

⁹Then He declares to them their work And their wrongdoings, that they have been arrogant.

¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction, And commands that they return from injustice.

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 perish by the sword, And die without knowledge.

¹³But the godless in heart nurture anger; They do not call for help when He binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵He rescues the afflicted in their misery, And opens their ears in time of oppression.

¹⁶Then indeed, He induced you away from the mouth of distress, And instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; And your table was full of rich food.

¹⁷“But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸Beware that wrath does not entice you to mockery; And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹Will your cry for help keep you from distress, Or all the exertions of your strength?

²⁰Do not long for the night, When people vanish in their places.

²¹Be careful, do not turn to evil, For you preferred this to misery.

²²Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him?

²³Who has appointed Him His way, And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember that you are to exalt His work, Of which people have sung.

²⁵All people have seen it; Mankind looks at it from afar.

²⁶Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable.

²⁷For He draws up the drops of water; They distill rain from its celestial stream,

²⁸Which clouds pour down; They drip upon mankind abundantly.

²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion?

³⁰Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea.

³¹For by them He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.

³²He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the target.

³³Its thundering voice declares His presence; The livestock also, concerning what is coming up.

¹Give the king Your judgments, God, And Your righteousness to the king’s son.

²May he judge Your people with righteousness And Your afflicted with justice.

³May the mountains bring peace to the people, And the hills, in righteousness.

⁴May he vindicate the afflicted of the people, Save the children of the needy, And crush the oppressor.

⁵May they fear You while the sun shines, And as long as the moon shines, throughout all generations.

⁶May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, Like showers that water the earth.

⁷May the righteous flourish in his days, As well as an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

⁸May he also rule from sea to sea, And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

⁹May the nomads of the desert bow before him, And his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁰May the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts; May the kings of Sheba and Seba offer tributes.

¹¹And may all kings bow down before him, All nations serve him.

¹²For he will save the needy when he cries for help, The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

¹³He will have compassion on the poor and needy, And he will save the lives of the needy.

¹⁴He will rescue their life from oppression and violence, And their blood will be precious in his sight;

¹⁵So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him; And they are to pray for him continually; They are to bless him all day long.

¹⁶May there be abundance of grain on the earth on top of the mountains; Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon; And may those from the city flourish like the vegetation of the earth.

¹⁷May his name endure forever; May his name produce descendants as long as the sun shines; And may people wish blessings on themselves by him; May all nations call him blessed.

¹⁸Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders.

¹⁹And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

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

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,

²So that you may maintain discretion And your lips may comply with knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress 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 take hold of Sheol.

⁶She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

⁷Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

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

⁹Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰And strangers will be filled with your strength, And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;

¹¹And you will groan in the end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

¹²And you say, “How I hated instruction! And my heart disdainfully rejected rebuke!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, Nor incline my ear to my instructors!

¹⁴I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you.

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

¹⁹Like a loving doe and a graceful mountain goat, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress, And embrace the breasts of a foreigner?

²¹For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD, And He observes all his paths.

²²His own wrongdoings will trap the wicked, And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.

²³He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.

¹Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was conducted in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.

²And in Ecbatana, in the fortress which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found; and the following was written in it: “Memorandum—

³In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt, and let its foundations be repaired, its height being sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits,

⁴with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. And the cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.

⁵Also the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’

⁶“Now as for you, Tattenai, governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, stay away from there.

⁷Leave that work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild that house of God on its site.

⁸Furthermore, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of that house of God: the full cost is to be paid to those people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and that without interruption.

⁹And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem order, it is to be given to them daily without fail,

¹⁰so that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the lives of the king and his sons.

¹¹And I issued a decree that any person who violates this decree, a timber shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it; and his house shall be turned into a refuse heap on account of this.

¹²May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; it is to be carried out with all diligence!”

¹³Then Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had ordered.

¹⁴And the elders of the Jews were successful in building through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they finished building following the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

¹⁵Now this temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

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

¹⁷They offered for the dedication of this temple of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁸Then they appointed the priests to their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹The exiles held the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.

²⁰For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure. Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

²¹And the sons of Israel who returned from exile and all those who had separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate the Passover.

²²And they held the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them happy, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

¹Now Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul extended his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

²“Regarding all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

³especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“So then, all Jews know my way of life since my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and in Jerusalem,

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

⁶And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;

⁷the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. For this hope, O king, I am being accused by Jews.

⁸Why is it considered incredible among you people if God raises the dead?

⁹“So I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, after receiving authority from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being put to death.

¹¹And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was extremely enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

¹²“While so engaged, as I was journeying 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, shining around me and those who were journeying with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘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 get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a servant and a witness not only to the things in which you have seen Me, but also to the things in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from thepower of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹“For that reason, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but continually proclaimed to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem, and then all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they are to repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.

²¹For these reasons some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me.

²²So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place,

²³as to whether the Christ was to suffer, and whether, as first from the resurrection of the dead, He would proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴While Paul was stating these things in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵But Paul *said, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; on the contrary, I am speaking out with truthful and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I also speak to him with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you are going to persuade me to make a Christian of myself.”

²⁹And Paul said, “I would wish to God that even in a short or long time not only you, but also all who hear me this day would become such as I myself am, except for these chains.”

³⁰The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,

³¹and when they had gone out, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.”

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