Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

²Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,

³Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram,

⁴Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,

⁵Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse,

⁶and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

⁷Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa,

⁸Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah,

⁹Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,

¹⁰Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah,

¹¹and Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹²After the exile to Babylon Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor,

¹⁴Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud,

¹⁵Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob,

¹⁶and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Christ.

¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations; and from David until the exile to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Christ, fourteen generations.

¹⁸The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

²⁰But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her

²⁵but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

¹The LORD also spoke to Moses:

²“Look, I have appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

³I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft

⁴to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

⁵to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every craft.

⁶I have also selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be with him. I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilled artisan in order to make all that I have commanded you:

⁷the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat that is on top of it, and all the other furnishings of the tent  —

⁸the table with its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense,

⁹the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, the basin with its stand —

¹⁰the specially woven garments, both the holy garments for the priest Aaron and the garments for his sons to serve as priests,

¹¹the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They must make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

¹²The LORD said to Moses:

¹³“Tell the Israelites: You must observe my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am the LORD who consecrates you.

¹⁴Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people.

¹⁵Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.

¹⁶The Israelites must observe the Sabbath, celebrating it throughout their generations as a permanent covenant.

¹⁷It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”

¹⁸When he finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.

¹In fact, I made up my mind about this: I would not come to you on another painful visit.

²For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?

³I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours.

⁴For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart — not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

⁵If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me but to some degree — not to exaggerate  — to all of you.

⁶This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.

⁷As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

⁸Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

⁹I wrote for this purpose: to test your character to see if you are obedient in everything.

¹⁰Anyone you forgive, I do too. For what I have forgiven — if I have forgiven anything — it is for your benefit in the presence of Christ,

¹¹so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me,

¹³I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. Instead, I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

¹⁵For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

¹⁶To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things?

¹⁷For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer, because I am upset!

³I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding makes me reply.

⁴Don’t you know that ever since antiquity, from the time a human was placed on earth,

⁵the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds,

⁷he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

⁸He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his household will no longer see him.

¹⁰His children will beg from the poor, for his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹His frame may be full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in dust.

¹²Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,

¹³though he cherishes it and will not let it go but keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet the food in his stomach turns into cobras’ venom inside him.

¹⁵He swallows wealth but must vomit it up; God will force it from his stomach.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; a viper’s fangs will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds.

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

¹⁹For he oppressed and abandoned the poor; he seized a house he did not build.

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, he does not let anything he desires escape.

²¹Nothing is left for him to consume; therefore, his prosperity will not last.

²²At the height of his success distress will come to him; the full weight of misery will crush him.

²³When he fills his stomach, God will send his burning anger against him, raining it down on him while he is eating.

²⁴If he flees from an iron weapon, an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back, the flashing tip out of his liver. Terrors come over him.

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned by human hands will consume him; it will feed on what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The possessions in his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the wicked person’s lot from God, the inheritance God ordained for him.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

²Let Israel say, “His faithful love endures forever.”

³Let the house of Aaron say, “His faithful love endures forever.”

⁴Let those who fear the LORD say, “His faithful love endures forever.”

⁵I called to the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me and put me in a spacious place.

⁶The LORD is for me; I will not be afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?

⁷The LORD is my helper, Therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

⁸It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humanity.

⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in nobles.

¹⁰All the nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I destroyed them.

¹¹They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I destroyed them.

¹²They surrounded me like bees; they were extinguished like a fire among thorns; in the name of the LORD I destroyed them.

¹³They pushed me hard to make me fall, but the LORD helped me.

¹⁴The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

¹⁵There are shouts of joy and victory in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’s right hand performs valiantly!

¹⁶The LORD’s right hand is raised. The LORD’s right hand performs valiantly!”

¹⁷I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.

¹⁸The LORD disciplined me severely but did not give me over to death.

¹⁹Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.

²⁰This is the LORD’s gate; the righteous will enter through it.

²¹I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and have become my salvation.

²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

²³This came from the LORD; it is wondrous in our sight.

²⁴This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵LORD, save us! LORD, please grant us success!

²⁶He who comes in the name of the LORD is blessed. From the house of the LORD we bless you.

²⁷The LORD is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I will give you thanks. You are my God; I will exalt you.

²⁹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

¹Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.

²A king’s terrible wrath is like the roaring of a lion; anyone who provokes him endangers himself.

³Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.

⁴The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.

⁵Counsel in a person’s heart is deep water; but a person of understanding draws it out.

⁶Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person?

⁷A righteous person acts with integrity; his children who come after him will be happy.

⁸A king sitting on a throne to judge separates out all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

¹⁰Differing weights and varying measures  — both are detestable to the LORD.

¹¹Even a young man is known by his actions — by whether his behavior is pure and upright.

¹²The hearing ear and the seeing eye — the LORD made them both.

¹³Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.

¹⁴“It’s worthless, it’s worthless!” the buyer says, but after he is on his way, he gloats.

¹⁵There is gold and a multitude of jewels, but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.

¹⁶Take his garment, for he has put up security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for foreigners.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.

¹⁸Finalize plans with counsel, and wage war with sound guidance.

¹⁹The one who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid someone with a big mouth.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother —  his lamp will go out in deep darkness.

²¹An inheritance gained prematurely will not be blessed ultimately.

²²Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and he will rescue you.

²³Differing weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are unfair.

²⁴Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly and later to reconsider his vows.

²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The LORD’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life, searching the innermost parts.

²⁸Loyalty and faithfulness guard a king; through loyalty he maintains his throne.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.

³⁰Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

¹The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of his descendants by their clans, but their inheritance was within the inheritance given to Judah’s descendants.

²Their inheritance included Beer-sheba (or Sheba ), Moladah,

³Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,

⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

⁵Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,

⁶Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen — thirteen cities, with their settlements;

⁷Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan — four cities, with their settlements;

⁸and all the settlements surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer (Ramah in the south ). This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants by their clans.

⁹The inheritance of Simeon’s descendants was within the territory of Judah’s descendants, because the share for Judah’s descendants was too large. So Simeon’s descendants received an inheritance within Judah’s portion.

¹⁰The third lot came up for Zebulun’s descendants by their clans. The territory of their inheritance stretched as far as Sarid;

¹¹their border went up westward to Maralah, reached Dabbesheth, and met the brook east of Jokneam.

¹²From Sarid, it turned due east along the border of Chisloth-tabor, went to Daberath, and went up to Japhia.

¹³From there, it went due east to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin; it extended to Rimmon, curving around to Neah.

¹⁴The border then circled around Neah on the north to Hannathon and ended at Iphtah-el Valley,

¹⁵along with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem — twelve cities, with their settlements.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of Zebulun’s descendants by their clans, these cities, with their settlements.

¹⁷The fourth lot came out for the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans.

¹⁸Their territory went to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem,

¹⁹Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,

²⁰Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

²¹Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez.

²²The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan — sixteen cities, with their settlements.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans, the cities, with their settlements.

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans.

²⁵Their boundary included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

²⁶Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal and reached westward to Carmel and Shihor-libnath.

²⁷It turned eastward to Beth-dagon, reached Zebulun and Iphtah-el Valley, north toward Beth-emek and Neiel, and went north to Cabul,

²⁸Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as greater Sidon.

²⁹The boundary then turned to Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre; it turned back to Hosah and ended at the Mediterranean Sea, including Mahalab, Achzib,

³⁰Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob — twenty-two cities, with their settlements.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans, these cities with their settlements.

³²The sixth lot came out for Naphtali’s descendants by their clans.

³³Their boundary went from Heleph and from the oak in Zaanannim, including Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan.

³⁴To the west, the boundary turned to Aznoth-tabor and went from there to Hukkok, reaching Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan on the east.

³⁵The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,

³⁶Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

³⁷Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,

³⁸Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh — nineteen cities, with their settlements.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants by their clans, the cities with their settlements.

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan’s descendants by their clans.

⁴¹The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

⁴²Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,

⁴³Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

⁴⁴Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

⁴⁵Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,

⁴⁶Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the territory facing Joppa.

⁴⁷When the territory of the descendants of Dan slipped out of their control, they went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and struck it down with the sword. So they took possession of it, lived there, and renamed Leshem after their ancestor Dan.

⁴⁸This was the inheritance of the tribe of Dan’s descendants by their clans, these cities with their settlements.

⁴⁹When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them.

⁵⁰By the LORD’s command, they gave him the city Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, which he requested. He rebuilt the city and lived in it.

⁵¹These were the portions that the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the LORD’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.

¹Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush,

²which sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!

⁴For the LORD said to me: I will quietly look out from my place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.

⁶They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, and all the wild animals the winter.

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of Armies from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers — to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of Armies.

¹Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

³Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.