Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.

³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

⁹When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom

¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

¹²After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

¹³The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

¹⁵And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.

¹⁶And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.”

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

²⁴But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people

²⁵and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

¹The LORD said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.

²Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.”

³And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴So Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt,

⁵and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

⁶There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

⁷But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

⁸And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

⁹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

¹As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

²One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

⁴Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

⁹For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;

¹¹for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

¹²So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

¹⁵For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

¹⁶So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁹So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

²⁰Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

²¹It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

²²The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

²³But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.

²He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,

³and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.

⁴And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”

⁵And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven

⁶and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,

⁷but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

⁸Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

¹⁰And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

¹¹And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

¹Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother — she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.

³His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.

⁸We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

¹²My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

¹Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

²The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

³He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

⁵Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody!

⁶With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!

⁷Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it!

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together

⁹before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

¹The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

²What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?

³Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,

⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;

⁷let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

⁸Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.

¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.

¹⁵She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

²²She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

¹Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.

²The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples.

³All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

⁴For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful.

⁵The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.

⁶In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,

⁷and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha

⁸and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha

⁹and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,

¹⁰the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.

¹¹That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.

¹²And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”

¹³And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.

¹⁵The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.

¹⁶Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.

¹⁷This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁸But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁹Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.

²⁰And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,

²²as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.

²⁵But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them,

²⁷the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,

²⁸that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

²⁹Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.

³⁰Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,

³¹that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.

³²The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

¹“And now, O priests, this command is for you.

²If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

³Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

⁴So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.

⁵My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

⁶True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

⁷For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

⁸But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,

⁹and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

¹⁰Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

¹¹Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

¹²May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

¹³And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

¹⁴But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

¹⁵Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

¹⁷You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

¹And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor their case against Paul.

²And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation,

³in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude.

⁴But, to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.

⁵For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.

¹⁰And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.

¹¹You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem,

¹²and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city.

¹³Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me.

¹⁴But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

¹⁵having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

¹⁶So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

¹⁷Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

¹⁸While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia —

¹⁹they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me.

²⁰Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council,

²¹other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’”

²²But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody but have some liberty, and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.

²⁴After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”

²⁶At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him.

²⁷When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.