Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

²And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?”

⁴He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

⁵and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

⁶So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”

⁸He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

⁹ And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

¹⁰The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

¹³Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people,

¹⁴but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went away.

¹⁶And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁷And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,

¹⁹Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁰The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

²²When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

¹On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel,

²and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.

³And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering,

⁴and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the LORD will appear to you.’”

⁵And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the LORD.

⁶And Moses said, “This is the thing that the LORD commanded you to do, that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.”

⁷Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.”

⁸So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.

⁹And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar.

¹⁰But the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.

¹¹The flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.

¹²Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar.

¹³And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar.

¹⁴And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵Then he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one.

¹⁶And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule.

¹⁷And he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning.

¹⁸Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar.

¹⁹But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver —

²⁰they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar,

²¹but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses commanded.

²²Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.

²³And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.

²⁴And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

⁵he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

⁶But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

¹²There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” —

¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

⁹when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.

¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

²¹You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

³⁰The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

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

²Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

³Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁴to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁶to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁷to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁸the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁹the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁰to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹¹and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹²with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹³to him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁴and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁵but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁶to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁷to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁸and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁹Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²⁰and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²¹and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²²a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

²³It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²⁴and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²⁵he who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.

²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

¹My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

²keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

³bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,

⁵to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

⁶For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,

⁷and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,

⁸passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house

⁹in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

¹¹She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;

¹²now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.

¹³She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,

¹⁴“I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;

¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.

¹⁹For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

²⁰he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”

²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

²²All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

²³till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,

²⁶for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

¹And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

²There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.

³And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

⁴Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean,

⁵for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name,

⁷but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸Then Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”

⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”

¹¹And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.”

¹²And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?”

¹³And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.

¹⁴She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)

¹⁷And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?”

¹⁸And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.

²⁰And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

²²And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

²³But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”

²⁴And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

²And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.

³And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?

⁵Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?

⁶Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

⁷But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?

⁸Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

⁹How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

¹⁰Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

¹²But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

¹⁴Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.

¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,

¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

²⁰Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

²¹But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.”

²²Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

¹Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

²And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

³Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

⁶These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

¹¹Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

¹²And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,

¹³and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,

¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

¹⁵And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.