Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One Sabbath, when he went in to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, they were watching him closely.

²There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid.

³In response, Jesus asked the law experts and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

⁴But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away.

⁵And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

⁶They could find no answer to these things.

⁷He told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best places for themselves:

⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t recline at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host.

⁹The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.

¹⁰“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests.

¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹²He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid.

¹³On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.

¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶Then he told him: “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many.

¹⁷At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’

¹⁸“But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

¹⁹“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’

²⁰“And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’

²¹“So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’

²²“‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’

²³“Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’”

²⁵Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them:

²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, and even his own life — he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹“Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

³³In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

³⁴“Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty?

³⁵It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

¹Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

²Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel:

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power.

⁴Turbulent as water, you will not excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it — he got into my bed.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons.

⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen.

⁷Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.

⁹Judah is a young lion  — my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness — who dares to rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

¹¹He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags.

¹⁵He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer.

¹⁶Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horses’ heels so that its rider falls backward.

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, LORD.

¹⁹Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.

²⁰Asher’s food will be rich, and he will produce royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall.

²³The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him.

²⁴Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

²⁵by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the ancient hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey. In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁸These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

²⁹Then he commanded them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hethite.

³⁰The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hethite as burial property.

³¹Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.

³²The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hethites.”

³³When Jacob had finished giving charges to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, took his last breath, and was gathered to his people.

¹Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.

²We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.

³Do you really think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God’s judgment?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

⁵Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

⁶He will repay each one according to his works:

⁷eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;

⁸but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.

⁹There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;

¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

¹¹For there is no favoritism with God.

¹²All who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

¹⁴So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them

¹⁶on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

¹⁷Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,

¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,

¹⁹and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,

²⁰an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law —

²¹you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal?

²²You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?

²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

²⁴For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

²⁵Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

²⁷A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.

²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

²⁹On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

¹The elder: To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth — and not only I, but also all who know the truth  —

²because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever.

³Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

⁴I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father.

⁵So now I ask you, dear lady — not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning — that we love one another.

⁶This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.

⁷Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

⁸Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.

⁹Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t greet him;

¹¹for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.

¹²Though I have many things to write to you, I don’t want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.

¹³The children of your elect sister send you greetings.

¹Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

²Keep the king’s command because of your oath made before God.

³Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants.

⁴For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

⁶For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him.

⁷Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen?

⁸No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did those things. This too is futile.

¹¹Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before him.

¹³However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹⁵So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night),

¹⁷I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

¹A prayer of David. [1] Listen, LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

²Protect my life, for I am faithful. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.

³Be gracious to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.

⁴Bring joy to your servant’s life, because I appeal to you, Lord.

⁵For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.

⁶LORD, hear my prayer; listen to my plea for mercy.

⁷I call on you in the day of my distress, for you will answer me.

⁸Lord, there is no one like you among the gods, and there are no works like yours.

⁹All the nations you have made will come and bow down before you, Lord, and will honor your name.

¹⁰For you are great and perform wonders; you alone are God.

¹¹Teach me your way, LORD, and I will live by your truth. Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.

¹²I will praise you with all my heart, Lord my God, and will honor your name forever.

¹³For your faithful love for me is great, and you rescue my life from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴God, arrogant people have attacked me; a gang of ruthless men intends to kill me. They do not let you guide them.

¹⁵But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me. Give your strength to your servant; save the son of your female servant.

¹⁷Show me a sign of your goodness; my enemies will see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped and comforted me.

¹Better a poor person who lives with integrity than someone who has deceitful lips and is a fool.

²Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins.

³A person’s own foolishness leads him astray, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor person is separated from his friend.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.

⁶Many seek a ruler’s favor, and everyone is a friend of one who gives gifts.

⁷All the brothers of a poor person hate him; how much more do his friends keep their distance from him! He may pursue them with words, but they are not there.

⁸The one who acquires good sense loves himself; one who safeguards understanding finds success.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies perishes.

¹⁰Luxury is not appropriate for a fool —  how much less for a slave to rule over princes!

¹¹A person’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s rage is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a wife’s nagging is an endless dripping.

¹⁴A house and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.

¹⁶The one who keeps commands preserves himself; one who disregards his ways will die.

¹⁷Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and he will give a reward to the lender.

¹⁸Discipline your son while there is hope; don’t set your heart on being the cause of his death.

¹⁹A person with intense anger bears the penalty; if you rescue him, you’ll have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life.

²¹Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the LORD’s decree will prevail.

²²What is desirable in a person is his fidelity; better to be a poor person than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life; one will sleep at night without danger.

²⁴The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth!

²⁵Strike a mocker, and the inexperienced learn a lesson; rebuke the discerning, and he gains knowledge.

²⁶The one who plunders his father and evicts his mother is a disgraceful and shameful son.

²⁷If you stop listening to correction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks justice, and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity.

²⁹Judgments are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

¹Those whose seals were on the document were the governor Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

²Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

⁹The Levites were Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel,

¹⁰and their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

¹³Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.

¹⁴The heads of the people were Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

¹⁸Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

²⁶Ahijah, Hanan, Anan,

²⁷Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

²⁸The rest of the people — the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with their wives, sons, and daughters, everyone who is able to understand and who has separated themselves from the surrounding peoples to obey the law of God —

²⁹join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the law of God given through God’s servant Moses and to obey carefully all the commands, ordinances, and statutes of the LORD our Lord.

³⁰We will not give our daughters in marriage to the surrounding peoples and will not take their daughters as wives for our sons.

³¹When the surrounding peoples bring merchandise or any kind of grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or a holy day. We will also leave the land uncultivated in the seventh year and will cancel every debt.

³²We will impose the following commands on ourselves: To give an eighth of an ounce of silver yearly for the service of the house of our God:

³³the bread displayed before the LORD, the daily grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbath and New Moon offerings, the appointed festivals, the holy things, the sin offerings to atone for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

³⁴We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God’s house to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law.

³⁵We will bring the firstfruits of our land and of every fruit tree to the LORD’s house year by year.

³⁶We will also bring the firstborn of our sons and our livestock, as prescribed by the law, and will bring the firstborn of our herds and flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who serve in our God’s house.

³⁷We will bring a loaf from our first batch of dough to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God. We will also bring the firstfruits of our grain offerings, of every fruit tree, and of the new wine and fresh oil. A tenth of our land’s produce belongs to the Levites, for the Levites are to collect the one-tenth offering in all our agricultural towns.

³⁸A priest from Aaron’s descendants is to accompany the Levites when they collect the tenth, and the Levites are to take a tenth of this offering to the storerooms of the treasury in the house of our God.

³⁹For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and fresh oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the priests who minister are, along with the gatekeepers and singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.

¹The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep.

²He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. The lampstand also has seven lamps at the top with seven spouts for each of the lamps.

³There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me. I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶So he answered me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Armies.

⁷‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it! ’”

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.

¹⁰For who despises the day of small things? These seven eyes of the LORD, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

¹¹I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”

¹²And I questioned him further, “What are the two streams of the olive trees, from which the golden oil is pouring through the two golden conduits?”

¹³Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴“These are the two anointed ones,” he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

¹About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

²and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.

³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

⁴After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

⁶When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”

⁹So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

¹²As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

¹³He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

¹⁵“You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

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

¹⁸At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

¹⁹After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.

²²The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

²⁵After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.