Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

²and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

³For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight!

⁴Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him,

⁶and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁷When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.

⁹And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

¹²His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

¹⁴But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

¹⁵Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.

¹⁶When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.

¹⁷And a voice from heaven said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring.

²I will send an angel ahead of you and will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up with you because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this bad news, they mourned and didn’t put on their jewelry.

⁵For the LORD said to Moses: “Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.”

⁶So the Israelites remained stripped of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a distance from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the LORD would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

⁸Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand up, each one at the door of his tent, and they would watch Moses until he entered the tent.

⁹When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.

¹⁰As all the people saw the pillar of cloud remaining at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up, then bow in worship, each one at the door of his tent.

¹¹The LORD would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend, then Moses would return to the camp. His assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent.

¹²Moses said to the LORD, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’

¹³Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵“If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here.

¹⁶How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷The LORD answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”

¹⁹He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the LORD’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

²⁰But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.”

²¹The LORD said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock,

²²and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

²³Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”

¹Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.

³But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

⁴In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.

⁶For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

⁸We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

⁹we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

¹⁰We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.

¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.

¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.

¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.

¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

¹⁸So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

¹First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

²for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

³This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,

⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

⁵For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus,

⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

⁷For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

⁸Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.

⁹Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel,

¹⁰but with good works, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.

¹¹A woman is to learn quietly with full submission.

¹²I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet.

¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

¹⁴And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.

¹⁵But she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with good sense.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to him?

³Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does he profit if you perfect your behavior?

⁴Does he correct you and take you to court because of your piety?

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,

⁸while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹²Isn’t God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars — how lofty they are!

¹³Yet you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through total darkness?

¹⁴Clouds veil him so that he cannot see, as he walks on the circle of the sky.”

¹⁵Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were washed away by a river.

¹⁷They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!” and “What can the Almighty do to us?”

¹⁸But it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind.”

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and place his sayings in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir to the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,” God will save the humble.

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.

¹A song of ascents. [1] In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.

²“LORD, rescue me from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.”

³What will he give you, and what will he do to you, you deceitful tongue?

⁴A warrior’s sharp arrows with burning charcoal!

⁵What misery that I have stayed in Meshech, that I have lived among the tents of Kedar!

⁶I have dwelt too long with those who hate peace.

⁷I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹The Levite family heads approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes.

²At Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, they told them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So the Israelites, by the LORD’s command, gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands from their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the Kohathite clans: The Levites who were the descendants of the priest Aaron received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶Gershon’s descendants received thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷Merari’s descendants received twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸The Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands around them to the Levites by lot, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹The Israelites gave these cities by name from the tribes of the descendants of Judah and Simeon

¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because they received the first lot.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak) with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Judah.

¹²But they gave the fields and settlements of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³They gave to the descendants of the priest Aaron: Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands,

¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,

¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,

¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands — nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin they gave: Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands — four cities.

¹⁹All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

²⁰The allotted cities to the remaining clans of Kohath’s descendants, who were Levites, came from the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹The Israelites gave them: Shechem, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,

²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands — four cities.

²³From the tribe of Dan they gave: Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands,

²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands — four cities.

²⁵From half the tribe of Manasseh they gave: Taanach with its pasturelands and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands — two cities.

²⁶All ten cities with their pasturelands were for the clans of Kohath’s other descendants.

²⁷From half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave to the descendants of Gershon, who were one of the Levite clans: Golan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in Bashan, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands — two cities.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they gave: Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,

²⁹Jarmuth with its pasturelands, and En-gannim with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they gave: Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands — four cities.

³²From the tribe of Naphtali they gave: Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands — three cities.

³³All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the Gershonites by their clans.

³⁴From the tribe of Zebulun, they gave to the clans of the descendants of Merari, who were the remaining Levites: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they gave: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,

³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands — four cities.

³⁸From the tribe of Gad they gave: Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

³⁹Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands — four cities in all.

⁴⁰All twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari’s descendants, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹Within the Israelite possession there were forty-eight cities in all with their pasturelands for the Levites.

⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

⁴³So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there.

⁴⁴The LORD gave them rest on every side according to all he had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the LORD handed over all their enemies to them.

⁴⁵None of the good promises the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.

¹In the year that the chief commander, sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it —

²during that time the LORD had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet,” and he did that, going stripped and barefoot  —

³the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, stripped and barefoot, with bared buttocks — to Egypt’s shame.

⁵Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

⁶And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape? ’”

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.