Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

²Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.

³And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?”

⁴But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away.

⁵Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?”

⁶And they could not reply to this.

⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.

⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;

⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.

¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

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

¹⁵One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many.

¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’

¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’

¹⁹Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’

²⁰Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’

²¹So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

²²And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

²³Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them,

²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

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

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

³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

³⁴“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

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

²Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my vigor, excelling in rank and excelling in power.

⁴Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel because you went up onto your father’s bed; then you defiled it — you went up onto my couch!

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

⁶May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company — for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness — who dares rouse him up?

¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes;

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

¹³Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea; he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds;

¹⁵he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to the burden, and became a slave at forced labor.

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

¹⁷Dan shall be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

¹⁹Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.

²⁰Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall provide royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears lovely fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.

²³The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard.

²⁴Yet his bow remained taut, and his 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 will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.”

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing.

²⁹Then he charged them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors — in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah —

³²the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

³³When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

¹Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

²You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.”

³Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

⁵But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁶For he will repay according to each one’s deeds:

⁷to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

⁸while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

⁹There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

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

¹¹For God shows no partiality.

¹²All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

¹⁴When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.

¹⁵They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them

¹⁶on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God

¹⁸and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law,

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

²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,

²¹you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

²²You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples?

²³You that 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 indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

²⁷Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical.

²⁹Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart — it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others 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 abides 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 Father’s Son, in truth and love.

⁴I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father.

⁵But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.

⁶And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning — you must walk in it.

⁷Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

⁸Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward.

⁹Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching;

¹¹for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.

¹²Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

¹³The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.

¹Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? Wisdom makes one’s face shine, and the hardness of one’s countenance is changed.

²Keep the king’s command because of your sacred oath.

³Do not be terrified; go from his presence, do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases.

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

⁵Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way.

⁶For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them.

⁷Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be?

⁸No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it.

⁹All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.

¹¹Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil.

¹²Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him,

¹³but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night,

¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.

¹Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

²Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;

³be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long.

⁴Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

⁵For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.

⁶Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.

⁷In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.

⁸There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

⁹All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

¹⁰For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

¹¹Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

¹²I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

¹³For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.

¹⁵But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.

¹⁷Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

¹Better the poor walking in integrity than one perverse of speech who is a fool.

²Desire without knowledge is not good, and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.

³One’s own folly leads to ruin, yet the heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth brings many friends, but the poor are left friendless.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and a liar will not escape.

⁶Many seek the favor of the generous, and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.

⁷If the poor are hated even by their kin, how much more are they shunned by their friends! When they call after them, they are not there.

⁸To get wisdom is to love oneself; to keep understanding is to prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and the liar will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

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

¹³A stupid child is ruin to a father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep; an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶Those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.

¹⁸Discipline your children while there is hope; do not set your heart on their destruction.

¹⁹A violent tempered person will pay the penalty; if you effect a rescue, you will only have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.

²¹The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.

²²What is desirable in a person is loyalty, and it is better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.

²⁴The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and will not even bring it back to the mouth.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

²⁷Cease straying, my child, from the words of knowledge, in order that you may hear instruction.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and flogging for the backs of fools.

¹Upon the sealed document are the names of Nehemiah the governor, 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, Shemaiah; these are the priests.

⁹And the Levites: Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;

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

¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

¹³Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

¹⁴The leaders of the people: 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,

²⁶Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

²⁷Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

²⁸The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to adhere to the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding,

²⁹join with their kin, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord and his ordinances and his statutes.

³⁰We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons;

³¹and if the peoples of the land bring in merchandise or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy it from them on the sabbath or on a holy day; and we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.

³²We also lay on ourselves the obligation to charge ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

³³for the rows of bread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed festivals, the sacred donations, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

³⁴We have also cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, by ancestral houses, at appointed times, year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law.

³⁵We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our soil and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the LORD;

³⁶also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks;

³⁷and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our soil, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our rural towns.

³⁸And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.

³⁹For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and where the priests that minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers are. We will not neglect the house of our God.

¹The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep.

²He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.

³And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶He said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁸Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

¹⁰For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth.”

¹¹Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”

¹²And a second time I said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil through the two golden pipes?”

¹³He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”

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

¹About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church.

²He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.

³After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

⁶The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.

⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

⁹Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.

¹⁰After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

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

¹³When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the believers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

²¹On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them.

²²The people kept shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!”

²³And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.

²⁵Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.