Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,

²and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

⁴because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.

⁶But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,

⁷so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

⁹And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.

¹⁰He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

¹¹and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

¹²And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

¹⁷They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

¹⁸And he said, “Bring them here to me.”

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

²¹And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

³⁵And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick

³⁶and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them,

³if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering.

⁴He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the LORD.

⁵And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting,

⁶and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the LORD in front of the veil of the sanctuary.

⁷And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁸And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails

⁹and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys

¹⁰(just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.

¹¹But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung —

¹²all the rest of the bull — he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.

¹³“If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt,

¹⁴when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting.

¹⁵And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be killed before the LORD.

¹⁶Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting,

¹⁷and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil.

¹⁸And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the LORD, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

¹⁹And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar.

²⁰Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.

²¹And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.

²²“When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the LORD his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,

²³or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish,

²⁴and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD; it is a sin offering.

²⁵Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

²⁶And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

²⁷“If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,

²⁸or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.

²⁹And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering.

³⁰And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.

³¹And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

³²“If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish

³³and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.

³⁴Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.

³⁵And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the LORD's food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.

¹Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

³But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

⁴Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in — who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery —

⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

⁶And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) — those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.

⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised

⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),

⁹and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

¹²For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

¹³And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;

¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

¹Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

²to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

³For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

⁴But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

⁵he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

⁶whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

⁹But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

¹⁰As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,

¹¹knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

¹²When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

¹³Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing.

¹⁴And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

¹⁵All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

²Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.

⁷Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

⁸“Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’

¹²“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

¹⁸he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,

²⁰so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.

²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

²²His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

²³If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,

²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

²⁷He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man,

³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

²But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

¹My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,

²making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

³yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,

⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

⁸guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

¹¹discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,

¹²delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,

¹⁵men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

¹⁷who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;

¹⁹none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

¹Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely.

²And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

³God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.

⁴And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing.

⁵So he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

⁶And the officials of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”

⁷So Gideon said, “Well then, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”

⁸And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

⁹And he said to the men of Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.”

¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.

¹¹And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure.

¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

¹³Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

¹⁴And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.

¹⁵And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’”

¹⁶And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson.

¹⁷And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.”

¹⁹And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.”

²⁰So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man.

²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

²³Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.”

²⁴And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil.

²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.

²⁷And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

²⁸So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

²⁹Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.

³⁰Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.

³²And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.

³⁴And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side,

³⁵and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!

²And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

³The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

⁴For thus the LORD said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.

⁵Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”

⁶Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

⁷For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.

⁹His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

¹In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

²until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

³He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;

⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,

¹¹and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

¹³And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,

¹⁶“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

²³And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen

²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.