Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead.

²So they gave a dinner for him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.

³Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said,

⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

⁶He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.

⁷Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial.

⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also,

¹¹because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.

¹²The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord — the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:

¹⁵Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify.

¹⁸This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign.

¹⁹Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

²⁰Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival.

²¹So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

²³Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

²⁴Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.

²⁵The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. What should I say — Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour.

²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for me, but for you.

³¹Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

³²As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.

³⁴Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.” Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.

³⁷Even though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.

³⁸This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said: Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

³⁹This is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said:

⁴⁰He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Nevertheless, many did believe in him even among the rulers, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue.

⁴³For they loved human praise more than praise from God.

⁴⁴Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And the one who sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

⁴⁷If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said.

⁵⁰I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

¹“These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:

²“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.

³If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.

⁵“But if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,’

⁶his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.

⁷“When a man sells his daughter as a concubine, she is not to leave as the male slaves do.

⁸If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.

⁹Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.

¹⁰If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she may leave free of charge, without any payment.

¹²“Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death.

¹³But if he did not intend any harm, and yet God allowed it to happen, I will appoint a place for you where he may flee.

¹⁴If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from my altar to be put to death.

¹⁵“Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.

¹⁶“Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession.

¹⁷“Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.

¹⁸“When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or his fist, and the injured man does not die but is confined to bed,

¹⁹if he can later get up and walk around outside leaning on his staff, then the one who struck him will be exempt from punishment. Nevertheless, he must pay for his lost work time and provide for his complete recovery.

²⁰“When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his abuse, the owner must be punished.

²¹However, if the slave can stand up after a day or two, the owner should not be punished because he is his owner’s property.

²²“When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman’s husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment.

²³If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,

²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

²⁶“When a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his eye.

²⁷If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free in compensation for his tooth.

²⁸“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its meat may not be eaten, but the ox’s owner is innocent.

²⁹However, if the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned, and its owner must also be put to death.

³⁰If instead a ransom is demanded of him, he can pay a redemption price for his life in the full amount demanded from him.

³¹If it gores a son or a daughter, he is to be dealt with according to this same law.

³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give thirty shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned.

³³“When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit must give compensation; he must pay to its owner, but the dead animal will become his.

³⁵“When a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live ox and divide its proceeds; they must also divide the dead animal.

³⁶If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not restrained it, he must compensate fully, ox for ox; the dead animal will become his.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

³But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

⁴About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

⁹But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.

¹²Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

³He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

⁴Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

⁷When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

¹⁰The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

¹²I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

¹³Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.

¹⁴Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

¹⁵And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹I am disgusted with my life. I will give vent to my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, “Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why you prosecute me.

³Is it good for you to oppress, to reject the work of your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human sees?

⁵Are your days like those of a human, or your years like those of a man,

⁶that you look for my iniquity and search for my sin,

⁷even though you know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can rescue from your power?

⁸“Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will you now turn and destroy me?

⁹Please remember that you formed me like clay. Will you now return me to dust?

¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons.

¹²You gave me life and faithful love, and your care has guarded my life.

¹³“Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart; I know that this was your hidden plan:

¹⁴if I sin, you would notice, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and have drunk deeply of my affliction.

¹⁶If I am proud, you hunt me like a lion and again display your miraculous power against me.

¹⁷You produce new witnesses against me and multiply your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave.

¹⁸“Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen.

¹⁹I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are my days not few? Stop it! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little

²¹before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.

²²It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.”

¹A song. A psalm of David. [1] My heart is confident, God; I will sing; I will sing praises with the whole of my being.

²Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn.

³I will praise you, LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

⁴For your faithful love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

⁵God, be exalted above the heavens, and let your glory be over the whole earth.

⁶Save with your right hand and answer me so that those you love may be rescued.

⁷God has spoken in his sanctuary: “I will celebrate! I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.

⁸Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

⁹Moab is my washbasin; I throw my sandal on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.”

¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

¹¹God, haven’t you rejected us? God, you do not march out with our armies.

¹²Give us aid against the foe, for human help is worthless.

¹³With God we will perform valiantly; he will trample our foes.

¹Solomon’s proverbs: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.

²Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.

³The LORD will not let the righteous go hungry, but he denies the wicked what they crave.

⁴Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.

⁵The son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.

⁶Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

⁷The remembrance of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed.

⁹The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.

¹⁰A sly wink of the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will be destroyed.

¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

¹²Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense.

¹⁴The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of the fool hastens destruction.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; the poverty of the poor is their destruction.

¹⁶The reward of the righteous is life; the wages of the wicked is punishment.

¹⁷The one who follows instruction is on the path to life, but the one who rejects correction goes astray.

¹⁸The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is pure silver; the heart of the wicked is of little value.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.

²²The LORD’s blessing enriches, and he adds no painful effort to it.

²³As shameful conduct is pleasure for a fool, so wisdom is for a person of understanding.

²⁴What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desire will be given to them.

²⁵When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.

²⁶Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand.

²⁷The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold for the honorable, but destruction awaits the malicious.

³⁰The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not remain on the earth.

³¹The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.

³²The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate, but the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse.

¹When all the kings heard about Jericho and Ai, those who were west of the Jordan in the hill country, in the Judean foothills, and all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon — the Hethites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites —

²they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.

³When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

⁴they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

⁵They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly.

⁶They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.”

⁷The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?”

⁸They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

⁹They replied to him, “Your servants have come from a faraway land because of the reputation of the LORD your God. For we have heard of his fame, and all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and all that he did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan — King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth.

¹¹So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, “We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.”’

¹²This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you; but see, it is now dry and crumbly.

¹³These wineskins were new when we filled them; but see, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey.”

¹⁴Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the LORD’s decision.

¹⁵So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.

¹⁶Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them.

¹⁷So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

¹⁸But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.

¹⁹All the leaders answered them, “We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

²⁰This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.”

²¹They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

²²Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?

²³Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves — woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

²⁴The Gibeonites answered him, “It was clearly communicated to your servants that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.

²⁵Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is right.”

²⁶This is what Joshua did to them: he rescued them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

²⁷On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers — as they are today — for the community and for the LORD’s altar at the place he would choose.

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

²I have appointed trustworthy witnesses — the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”

³I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

⁴for before the boy knows how to call ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah and rejoiced with Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

⁷the Lord will certainly bring against them the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks.

⁸It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through, reaching up to the neck; and its flooded banks will fill your entire land, Immanuel!

⁹Band together, peoples, and be broken; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for war, and be broken; prepare for war, and be broken.

¹⁰Devise a plan; it will fail. Make a prediction; it will not happen. For God is with us.

¹¹For this is what the LORD said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:

¹²Do not call everything a conspiracy these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.

¹³You are to regard only the LORD of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe.

¹⁴He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and captured.

¹⁶Bind up the testimony. Seal up the instruction among my disciples.

¹⁷I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will wait for him.

¹⁸Here I am with the children the LORD has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

²¹They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.

²²They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.

¹In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

²The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.

³Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.

⁶They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen.

¹⁰But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

¹³They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law.

¹⁴For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.