Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

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

³Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

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

⁵“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

⁶He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

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

⁹When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,

¹¹because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

¹²The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

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

¹⁵“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”

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

¹⁷The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.

¹⁸The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

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

²¹So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

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

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

²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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

²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come 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 that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.

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

³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” The Unbelief of the People When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

³⁷Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

³⁸so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

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

⁴²Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

⁴³for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

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

⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment — what to say and what to speak.

⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

¹“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

²When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

³If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone.

⁵But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

⁶then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

⁷“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

⁸If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

⁹If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

¹⁰If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

¹²“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

¹³But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

¹⁴But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

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

¹⁶“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

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

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

¹⁹then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

²⁰“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

²¹But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

²²“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

²³But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,

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

²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.

²⁷If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

²⁸“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

²⁹But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

³¹If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

³²If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

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

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵“When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.

³⁶Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

¹Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

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

⁴Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

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

⁷However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

⁹But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.

¹²Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

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

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

³and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

⁴Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its 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 ended. This is the first resurrection.

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

⁷And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison

⁸and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,

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

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

¹³And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

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

¹⁵And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

³Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

⁴Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

⁵Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years,

⁶that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,

⁷although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

⁸Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.

⁹Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

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

¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

¹⁴If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

¹⁶And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.

¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

¹⁹and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

²¹before I go — and I shall not return — to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

²²the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

¹My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!

²Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!

³I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

⁴For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

⁶That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

⁷God has promised in his holiness: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Valley of Succoth.

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

⁹Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

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

¹¹Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.

¹²Oh grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!

¹³With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

²Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.

³The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

⁴A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

⁵He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

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

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

⁸The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

¹⁰Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin.

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

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

¹³On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

¹⁴The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.

¹⁵A rich man's wealth is his strong city; the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

¹⁶The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin.

¹⁷Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.

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

¹⁹When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

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

²²The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

²³Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.

²⁴What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

²⁵When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.

²⁶Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

²⁷The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

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

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.

³⁰The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

³¹The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

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

¹As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard of this,

²they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.

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

⁴they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,

⁵with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly.

⁶And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.”

⁷But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?”

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

⁹They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

¹¹So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’

¹²Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly.

¹³These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.”

¹⁴So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD.

¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

¹⁶At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.

¹⁷And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

¹⁸But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.

¹⁹But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.

²⁰This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.”

²¹And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.

²²Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell among us?

²³Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

²⁴They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty 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 from before you — so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing.

²⁵And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.”

²⁶So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them.

²⁷But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’

²And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

⁴for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

⁷therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks,

⁸and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

⁹Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.

¹⁰Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

¹¹For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

¹²“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

¹³But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

¹⁴And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

¹⁶Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

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

¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

²¹They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.

²²And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

¹Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

²And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

³Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

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

⁵And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

⁶These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

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

⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,

¹³and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,

¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

¹⁵And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.