Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

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

³Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

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

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

⁶(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

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

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

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

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

¹¹since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

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

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

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

¹⁵“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, 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 of him and had been done to him.

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

¹⁸It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.

¹⁹The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

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

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

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

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

²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that 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 standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

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

³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler 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 indicate the kind of death he was to die.

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

³⁵Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” The Unbelief of the People After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

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

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

³⁹And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.”

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

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

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

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

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

⁴⁷I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

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

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

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

¹These are the ordinances that you shall set before them:

²When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt.

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 declares, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person,”

⁶then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.

⁷When 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 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 dealt unfairly 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 the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

¹¹And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.

¹²Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death.

¹³If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.

¹⁴But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.

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

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.

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

¹⁸When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed,

¹⁹but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery.

²⁰When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished.

²¹But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property.

²²When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.

²³If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

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

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

²⁶When a slaveowner strikes the eye of a male or female slave, destroying it, the owner shall let the slave go, a free person, to compensate for the eye.

²⁷If the owner knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, the slave shall be let go, a free person, to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸When 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.

²⁹If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not restrained it, 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 the owner, then the owner shall pay whatever is imposed for the redemption of the victim’s life.

³¹If it gores a boy or a girl, the owner shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

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

³³If someone leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution, giving money to its owner, but keeping the dead animal.

³⁵If someone’s ox hurts the ox of another, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead animal they shall also divide.

³⁶But if it was known that the ox was accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not restrained it, the owner shall restore ox for ox, but keep the dead animal.

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

²Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge;

³but anyone who loves God is known by him.

⁴Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as in fact 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.

⁷It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

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

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

¹⁰For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols?

¹¹So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.

¹²But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

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

²He 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 locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.

⁴Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for 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. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.

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

⁸and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands of the sea.

⁹They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And 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 the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.

¹³And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged 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 anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life 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 schemes of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see?

⁵Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years,

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

⁷although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?

⁸Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me.

⁹Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?

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 wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction.

¹⁶Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits 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 forth 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 the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort

²¹before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness,

²²the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”

¹My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!

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

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

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

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

⁶Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.

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

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

⁹Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl 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.

¹²O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.

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

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise child makes a glad father, but a foolish child is a mother’s grief.

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.

⁵A child who gathers in summer is prudent, but a child who sleeps in harvest 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 heed commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever follows perverse ways will be found out.

¹⁰Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but the one who rebukes boldly makes peace.

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 one who has understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of one who lacks sense.

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

¹⁵The wealth of the rich is their fortress; 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 one who rejects a rebuke goes astray.

¹⁸Lying lips conceal hatred, and whoever utters slander is a fool.

¹⁹When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the mind 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 sport to a fool, but wise conduct is pleasure to a person of understanding.

²⁴What the wicked dread will come upon them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

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

²⁶Like vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so are the lazy to their employers.

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

²⁸The hope of the righteous ends in gladness, but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.

²⁹The way of the LORD is a stronghold for the upright, but destruction for evildoers.

³⁰The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not remain 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.

¹Now when 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 with one accord to fight 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: they went and prepared 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 moldy.

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

⁷But the Israelites said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a treaty 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, “Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard a report of him, of all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon, and King Og 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; go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; come now, make a treaty 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, see, it is dry and moldy;

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

¹⁴So the leaders partook of their provisions, and did not ask direction from the LORD.

¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, guaranteeing their lives by a treaty; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

¹⁶But when three days had passed after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and were living among them.

¹⁷So the Israelites set out and reached their 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 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 must not touch them.

²⁰This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.”

²¹The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.

²²Joshua summoned them, and said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us?

²³Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers 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 before you; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing.

²⁵And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.”

²⁶This is what he did for them: he saved them from the Israelites; and they did not kill them.

²⁷But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to continue 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 have it attested for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.

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

⁴for before the child knows how to call “My father” or “My mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah;

⁷therefore, the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks;

⁸it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

⁹Band together, you peoples, and be dismayed; listen, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed!

¹⁰Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

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

¹²Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread.

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

¹⁴He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over — a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵And many among them shall stumble; 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.

¹⁸See, 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.

¹⁹Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living,

²⁰for teaching and for instruction?” surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn!

²¹They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward,

²²or they will look to the earth, but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.

¹Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,

⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”

⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

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

⁷The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

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

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

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

¹²They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

¹³They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things 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 handed on to us.”

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