Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

³Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

⁶He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

⁸You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

⁹Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

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

¹¹for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

¹²The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

¹³They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”

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

¹⁵“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.

¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

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

²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

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

²⁴Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

²⁵Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

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

²⁹The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

³⁰Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.

³¹Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

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

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

³⁴The crowd spoke up, “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’?”

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.

³⁶Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

³⁷Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

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

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

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

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

⁴⁵The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

⁴⁷“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.

⁴⁹For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

⁵⁰I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

¹“These are the laws you are to set before them:

²“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.

³If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.

⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’

⁶then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

⁷“If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.

⁸If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.

⁹If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter.

¹⁰If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.

¹¹If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

¹²“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.

¹³However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate.

¹⁴But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

¹⁵“Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷“Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁸“If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed,

¹⁹the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result,

²¹but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

²²“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.

²³But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,

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

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

²⁶“An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye.

²⁷And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸“If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.

²⁹If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.

³⁰However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded.

³¹This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter.

³²If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

³³“If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

³⁵“If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally.

³⁶However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

²Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.

³But whoever loves God is known by God.

⁴So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all 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 indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),

⁶yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

⁷But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

⁸But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?

¹¹So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

¹²When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

¹And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

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

³He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

⁴I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They 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 a thousand years.

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

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

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

⁸and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

⁹They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

¹⁰And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

¹³The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.

¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

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

¹“I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

²I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.

³Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

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

⁶that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin—

⁷though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

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

⁹Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?

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

¹¹clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?

¹²You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

¹³“But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind:

¹⁴If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.

¹⁵If I am guilty—woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction.

¹⁶If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.

¹⁷You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.

¹⁸“Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

¹⁹If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

²⁰Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy

²¹before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness,

²²to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

¹A song. A psalm of David. My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul.

²Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

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

⁴For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

⁶Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.

⁷God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.

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

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

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

¹¹Is it not you, God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies?

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

¹³With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.

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

⁴Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁵He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

⁶Blessings crown the head of the righteous, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

⁷The name of the righteous is used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

¹⁰Whoever winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

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

¹²Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.

¹⁴The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

¹⁶The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

¹⁷Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

¹⁸Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

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

²²The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

²³A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

²⁴What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted.

²⁵When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them.

²⁷The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

²⁸The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin of those who do evil.

³⁰The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.

³¹From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

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

¹Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things—the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)—

²they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

³However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

⁴they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

⁵They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.

⁶Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

⁷The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”

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

⁹They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

¹¹And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; make a treaty with us.” ’

¹²This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is.

¹³And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”

¹⁴The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD.

¹⁵Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

¹⁶Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near them.

¹⁷So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim.

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

¹⁹but all the leaders answered, “We have given them our oath by the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now.

²⁰This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.”

²¹They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.” So the leaders’ promise to them was kept.

²²Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us?

²³You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

²⁴They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.

²⁵We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.”

²⁶So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

²⁷That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the LORD at the place the LORD would choose. And that is what they are to this day.

¹The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.”

²So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.

³Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.

⁴For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶“Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,

⁷therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks

⁸and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”

⁹Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

¹¹This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹²“Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.

¹³The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.

¹⁴He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

¹⁵Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

¹⁷I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

²¹Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.

²²Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

¹In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

²So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them

⁴and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

⁶They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

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

⁸Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

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

¹²So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

¹³They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

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

¹⁵All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.