Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him;

²and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.”

³He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him

⁶and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.”

⁷And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”

⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.

⁹For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

¹¹I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

¹²while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.

¹⁴When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever;

¹⁵he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.

¹⁶That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

¹⁹A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

²¹Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

²³And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

²⁴A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

²⁵And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.

²⁷They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

²⁸When he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs coming out of the tombs met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way.

²⁹Suddenly they shouted, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

³⁰Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them.

³¹The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

³²And he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine; and suddenly, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water.

³³The swineherds ran off, and on going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the demoniacs.

³⁴Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

¹He made the altar of burnt offering also of acacia wood; it was five cubits long, and five cubits wide; it was square, and three cubits high.

²He made horns for it on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.

³He made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans: all its utensils he made of bronze.

⁴He made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down.

⁵He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating to hold the poles;

⁶he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze.

⁷And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar, to carry it with them; he made it hollow, with boards.

⁸He made the basin of bronze with its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁹He made the court; for the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits long;

¹⁰its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.

¹¹For the north side there were hangings one hundred cubits long; its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.

¹²For the west side there were hangings fifty cubits long, with ten pillars and ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.

¹³And for the front to the east, fifty cubits.

¹⁴The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.

¹⁵And so for the other side; on each side of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with three pillars and three bases.

¹⁶All the hangings around the court were of fine twisted linen.

¹⁷The bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver; the overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were banded with silver.

¹⁸The screen for the entrance to the court was embroidered with needlework in blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long and, along the width of it, five cubits high, corresponding to the hangings of the court.

¹⁹There were four pillars; their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their bands of silver.

²⁰All the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

²¹These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, which were drawn up at the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites being under the direction of Ithamar son of the priest Aaron.

²²Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses;

²³and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen.

²⁴All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, measured by the sanctuary shekel.

²⁵The silver from those of the congregation who were counted was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, measured by the sanctuary shekel;

²⁶a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, measured by the sanctuary shekel), for everyone who was counted in the census, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand, five hundred fifty men.

²⁷The hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary, and the bases of the curtain; one hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent for a base.

²⁸Of the thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals and made bands for them.

²⁹The bronze that was contributed was seventy talents, and two thousand four hundred shekels;

³⁰with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar,

³¹the bases all around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

¹Now it is not necessary for me to write you about the ministry to the saints,

²for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

⁴otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated — to say nothing of you — in this undertaking.

⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.

⁶The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

⁷Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

⁸And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

⁹As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

¹¹You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us;

¹²for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.

¹³Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others,

¹⁴while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.

¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³I am grateful to God — whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did — when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.

⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.

⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;

⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

⁸Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God,

⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

¹¹For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher,

¹²and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

¹³Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

¹⁵You are aware that all who are in Asia have turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain;

¹⁷when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me

¹⁸— may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well how much service he rendered in Ephesus.

¹Job again took up his discourse and said:

²“As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

³as long as my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

⁴my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

⁵Far be it from me to say that you are right; until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷“May my enemy be like the wicked, and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off, when God takes away their lives?

⁹Will God hear their cry when trouble comes upon them?

¹⁰Will they take delight in the Almighty? Will they call upon God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God; that which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²All of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³“This is the portion of the wicked with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

¹⁴If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and their offspring have not enough to eat.

¹⁵Those who survive them the pestilence buries, and their widows make no lamentation.

¹⁶Though they heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay —

¹⁷they may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸They build their houses like nests, like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.

¹⁹They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more; they open their eyes, and it is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake them like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries them off.

²¹The east wind lifts them up and they are gone; it sweeps them out of their place.

²²It hurls at them without pity; they flee from its power in headlong flight.

²³It claps its hands at them, and hisses at them from its place.

¹Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

²As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore.

³For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous might not stretch out their hands to do wrong.

⁴Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.

⁵But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers. Peace be upon Israel!

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth — a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nest is one who strays from home.

⁹Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the soul is torn by trouble.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.

¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

¹²The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

¹⁴Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

¹⁵A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike;

¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in the right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another.

¹⁸Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored.

¹⁹Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and human eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, so a person is tested by being praised.

²²Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, but the folly will not be driven out.

²³Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds;

²⁴for riches do not last forever, nor a crown for all generations.

²⁵When the grass is gone, and new growth appears, and the herbage of the mountains is gathered,

²⁶the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field;

²⁷there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and nourishment for your servant-girls.

¹Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, “I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you.

²For your part, do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my command. See what you have done!

³So now I say, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

⁴When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

⁵So they named that place Bochim, and there they sacrificed to the LORD.

⁶When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their own inheritances to take possession of the land.

⁷The people worshiped the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel.

⁸Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred ten years.

⁹So they buried him within the bounds of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁰Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them, who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.

¹¹Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and worshiped the Baals;

¹²and they abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.

¹³They abandoned the LORD, and worshiped Baal and the Astartes.

¹⁴So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.

¹⁵Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring misfortune, as the LORD had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress.

¹⁶Then the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them.

¹⁷Yet they did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD; they did not follow their example.

¹⁸Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them.

¹⁹But whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They would not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

²⁰So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel; and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice,

²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.”

²²In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their ancestors did,

²³the LORD had left those nations, not driving them out at once, and had not handed them over to Joshua.

¹O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

²For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

⁴For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,

⁵the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.

⁶On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations;

⁸he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

⁹It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

¹⁰For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.

¹¹Though they spread out their hands in the midst of it, as swimmers spread out their hands to swim, their pride will be laid low despite the struggle of their hands.

¹²The high fortifications of his walls will be brought down, laid low, cast to the ground, even to the dust.

¹While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”

²Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

³At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”

⁴Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’”

⁶When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

⁷When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)

⁹Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”

¹²In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who joined in this conspiracy.

¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”

¹⁶Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush; so he went and gained entrance to the barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The tribune took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.

²¹But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him. They are ready now and are waiting for your consent.”

²²So the tribune dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of this.”

²³Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.

²⁴Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.”

²⁵He wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him.

²⁸Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council.

²⁹I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

³⁰When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris.

³²The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks.

³³When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.

³⁴On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.