Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes, with the elders, came

²and said to him: “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?”

³He answered them, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me,

⁴was the baptism of John from heaven or of human origin?”

⁵They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

⁷So they answered that they did not know its origin.

⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹Now he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time.

¹⁰At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers so that they might give him some fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹He sent yet another servant, but they beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹²And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out.

¹³“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’

¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” But when they heard this they said, “That must never happen!”

¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”

¹⁹Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

²⁰They watched closely and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch him in what he said, to hand him over to the governor’s rule and authority.

²¹They questioned him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and you don’t show partiality but teach truthfully the way of God.

²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³But detecting their craftiness, he said to them,

²⁴“Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” “Caesar’s,” they said.

²⁵“Well then,” he told them, “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶They were not able to catch him in what he said in public, and being amazed at his answer, they became silent.

²⁷Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up and questioned him:

²⁸“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children.

³⁰Also the second

³¹and the third took her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children.

³²Finally, the woman died too.

³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

³⁴Jesus told them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.

³⁵But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.

³⁷Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

³⁸He is not the God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to him.”

³⁹Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”

⁴⁰And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

⁴¹Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the son of David?

⁴²For David himself says in the Book of Psalms: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand

⁴³ until I make your enemies your footstool.’

⁴⁴David calls him ‘Lord’ how then can the Christ be his son?”

⁴⁵While all the people were listening, he said to his disciples,

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁷They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”

¹Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

²But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the LORD that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

⁴The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!”

⁵Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”

⁶That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen:

⁷“Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers — that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”

¹⁰So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw.

¹¹Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’”

¹²So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

¹⁴Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

¹⁵So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?

¹⁶No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.”

²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.

²¹“May the LORD take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek to Pharaoh and his officials — putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²²So Moses went back to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me?

²³Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.”

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

²because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

³What the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,

⁴in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit.

⁶Now the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

⁷The mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.

⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

¹⁰Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

¹²So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

¹³because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”

¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,

¹⁷and if children, also heirs  — heirs of God and coheirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

¹⁹For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.

²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility  — not willingly, but because of him who subjected it  — in the hope

²¹that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

²³Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits  — we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

²⁴Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

²⁵Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

²⁶In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

²⁹For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

³¹What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

³²He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

³³Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.

³⁴Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

³⁵Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

³⁶As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

²Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it.

³The one seated there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.

⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.

⁵Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

⁶Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side.

⁷The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,

¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,

¹¹Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.

¹I am a wildflower of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

²Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the young women.

³Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banquet hall, and he looked on me with love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apricots, for I am lovesick.

⁶May his left hand be under my head, and his right arm embrace me.

⁷Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and the wild does of the field, do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.

⁸Listen! My love is approaching. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹My love is like a gazelle or a young stag. See, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

¹⁰My love calls to me: Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

¹¹For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away.

¹²The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.

¹⁴My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch the foxes for us  — the little foxes that ruin the vineyards — for our vineyards are in bloom.

¹⁶My love is mine and I am his; he feeds among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn around, my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the divided mountains.

¹A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. [1] It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High,

²to declare your faithful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,

³with a ten-stringed harp and the music of a lyre.

⁴For you have made me rejoice, LORD, by what you have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of your hands.

⁵How magnificent are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

⁶A stupid person does not know, a fool does not understand this:

⁷though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be eternally destroyed.

⁸But you, LORD, are exalted forever.

⁹For indeed, LORD, your enemies — indeed, your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.

¹⁰You have lifted up my horn like that of a wild ox; I have been anointed with the finest oil.

¹¹My eyes look at my enemies; when evildoers rise against me, my ears hear them.

¹²The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

¹³Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courts of our God.

¹⁴They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,

¹⁵to declare: “The LORD is just; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

¹These too are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of King Hezekiah of Judah, copied.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

³As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings cannot be investigated.

⁴Remove impurities from silver, and material will be produced for a silversmith.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Don’t boast about yourself before the king, and don’t stand in the place of the great;

⁷for it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here!” than to demote you in plain view of a noble.

⁸Don’t take a matter to court hastily. Otherwise, what will you do afterward if your opponent humiliates you?

⁹Make your case with your opponent without revealing another’s secret;

¹⁰otherwise, the one who hears will disgrace you, and you’ll never live it down.

¹¹A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings.

¹²A wise correction to a receptive ear is like a gold ring or an ornament of gold.

¹³To those who send him, a trustworthy envoy is like the coolness of snow on a harvest day; he refreshes the life of his masters.

¹⁴The one who boasts about a gift that does not exist is like clouds and wind without rain.

¹⁵A ruler can be persuaded through patience, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

¹⁶If you find honey, eat only what you need; otherwise, you’ll get sick from it and vomit.

¹⁷Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house; otherwise, he’ll get sick of you and hate you.

¹⁸A person giving false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Trusting an unreliable person in a difficult time is like a rotten tooth or a faltering foot.

²⁰Singing songs to a troubled heart is like taking off clothing on a cold day or like pouring vinegar on soda.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

²²for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

²³The north wind produces rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

²⁴Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.

²⁵Good news from a distant land is like cold water to a parched throat.

²⁶A righteous person who yields to the wicked is like a muddied spring or a polluted well.

²⁷It is not good to eat too much honey or to seek glory after glory.

²⁸A person who does not control his temper is like a city whose wall is broken down.

¹After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials.

²The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

³The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?”

⁴When they had warned him day after day and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.

⁶And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.

⁷In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, the Pur — that is, the lot — was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar.

⁸Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom, keeping themselves separate. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

⁹If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”

¹⁰The king removed his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.

¹¹Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”

¹²The royal scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps, the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹³Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people — young and old, women and children — and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

¹⁴A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day.

¹⁵The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was in confusion.

¹Ask the LORD for rain in the season of spring rain. The LORD makes the rain clouds, and he will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.

²For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

³My anger burns against the shepherds, so I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Armies has tended his flock, the house of Judah; he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah. The tent peg will come from them and also the battle bow and every ruler. Together

⁵they will be like warriors in battle trampling down the mud of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put horsemen to shame.

⁶I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had never rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will be glad as if with wine. Their children will see it and be glad; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.

⁸I will whistle and gather them because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they once were.

⁹Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember me in the distant lands; they and their children will live and return.

¹⁰I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them.

¹¹The LORD will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

¹²I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will march in his name — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.