Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

⁴Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,

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

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

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

¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

¹²His winnowing fork 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 unquenchable fire.”

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

¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

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

¹The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’

²I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

⁴When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.

⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’”

⁶Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

⁸Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.

⁹When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.

¹⁰And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.

¹¹Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

¹²Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’

¹³Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

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

¹⁵And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

¹⁶For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

¹⁹And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

²⁰But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

²¹And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock,

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

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

¹Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

²But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

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

⁴In their case the god of this world 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 what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

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

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

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

¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

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

²for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

³This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

⁴who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

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

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

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

⁸I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

⁹likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

¹⁰but with what is proper for women who profess godliness — with good works.

¹¹Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

¹²I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve;

¹⁴and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

¹⁵Yet she will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

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

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents,

²⁴if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

²⁶For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly.

³⁰He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

¹In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.

²Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

³What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?

⁴A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!

⁵Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

⁶Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.

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

¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

²The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all.

³The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

⁴The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

⁸Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

⁹Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.

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

¹³The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

¹⁷Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge,

²¹to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

²²Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,

²³for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

²⁴Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,

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

²⁶Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.

²⁹Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

¹Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel.

²And they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So by command of the LORD the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

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

⁵And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶The Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷The Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name,

¹⁰which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it.

¹²But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, 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, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands — nine cities out of these two tribes;

¹⁷then out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,

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

¹⁹The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

²⁰As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,

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

²³and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands,

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

²⁵and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands — two cities.

²⁶The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.

²⁷And to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands — two cities;

²⁸and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,

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

³⁰and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

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

³²and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands — three cities.

³³The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

³⁴And to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands — four cities;

³⁶and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands,

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

³⁸and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

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

⁴⁰As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.

⁴¹The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands.

⁴²These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.

⁴³Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there.

⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands.

⁴⁵Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

¹In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it —

²at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

³Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.

⁵Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast.

⁶And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

¹After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,

³and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

⁴And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

⁶And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

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

⁸Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

⁹And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,

¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

¹¹And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,

¹³saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.

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

¹⁶And he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

¹⁸After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

¹⁹And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

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

²¹But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

²²When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

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

²⁷And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,

²⁸for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.