Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

²saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

³When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Christ would be born.

⁵“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:

⁶And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

⁷Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared.

⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.”

⁹After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was — the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.

¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy.

¹¹Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹²And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

¹³After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt.

¹⁵He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.

¹⁶Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.

¹⁷Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

¹⁸A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

²⁰saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who intended to kill the child are dead.”

²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.

²³Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

¹So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.

²On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

³God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

⁴These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

⁵no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

⁶But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground.

⁷Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁸The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed.

⁹The LORD God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.

¹¹The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there.

¹³The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,

¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”

¹⁹The LORD God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him.

²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.

²²Then the LORD God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

²³And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man.

²⁴This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

²⁵Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

¹Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.

²We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.

³Do you really think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God’s judgment?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

⁵Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

⁶He will repay each one according to his works:

⁷eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;

⁸but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.

⁹There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;

¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

¹¹For there is no favoritism with God.

¹²All who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

¹⁴So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them

¹⁶on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

¹⁷Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,

¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,

¹⁹and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,

²⁰an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law —

²¹you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal?

²²You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?

²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

²⁴For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

²⁵Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

²⁷A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.

²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

²⁹On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

¹For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result.

²On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition.

³For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive.

⁴Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

⁵For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives  — God is our witness  —

⁶and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.

⁷Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children.

⁸We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

⁹For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you.

¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers.

¹¹As you know, like a father with his own children,

¹²we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to live worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.

¹⁴For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews

¹⁵who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us. They displease God and are hostile to everyone,

¹⁶by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit, and wrath has overtaken them at last.

¹⁷But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart ), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face.

¹⁸So we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and again — but Satan hindered us.

¹⁹For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?

²⁰Indeed you are our glory and joy!

¹One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the LORD.

²The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

³Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the LORD. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

⁵But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶“Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “he is in your power; only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends — Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite — heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

¹Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his Anointed One:

³“Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.”

⁴The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.

⁵Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath:

⁶“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

⁷I will declare the LORD’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.

⁹You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”

¹⁰So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth.

¹¹Serve the LORD with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling.

¹²Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

²listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;

³furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

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

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

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

⁷He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity

⁸so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity — every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²It will rescue you from the way of evil — from anyone who says perverse things,

¹³from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness,

¹⁴from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion,

¹⁵whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.

¹⁶It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,

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

¹⁸for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.

¹⁹None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.

²⁰So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

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

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

¹Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

²The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.”

³Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”

⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from.

⁵At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!”

⁶But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof.

⁷The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.

⁸Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof

⁹and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan.

¹¹When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

¹²Now please swear to me by the LORD that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign

¹³that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”

¹⁴The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the LORD gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city.

¹⁶“Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”

¹⁷The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear,

¹⁸unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house.

¹⁹If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault.

²⁰And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”

²¹“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.

²²So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them.

²³Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them.

²⁴They told Joshua, “The LORD has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”

¹The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it,

³and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war.

⁵House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the LORD’s light.

⁶For you have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of divination from the East and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They are in league with foreigners.

⁷Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots.

⁸Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their hands, what their fingers have made.

⁹So humanity is brought low, and each person is humbled. Do not forgive them!

¹⁰Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor.

¹¹The pride of mankind will be humbled, and human loftiness will be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.

¹²For a day belonging to the LORD of Armies is coming against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up — it will be humbled —

¹³against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴against all the high mountains, against all the lofty hills,

¹⁵against every high tower, against every fortified wall,

¹⁶against every ship of Tarshish, and against every splendid sea vessel.

¹⁷The pride of mankind will be brought low, and human loftiness will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.

¹⁸The idols will vanish completely.

¹⁹People will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth.

²⁰On that day people will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats.

²¹They will go into the caves of the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth.

²²Put no more trust in a mere human, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?

¹When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.

²Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

³They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

⁴Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.

⁶When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

⁷They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts),

¹¹Cretans and Arabs — we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”

¹²They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

¹⁴Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words.

¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning.

¹⁶On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

²²“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.

²³Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.

²⁴God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

²⁵For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me in Hades or allow your holy one to see decay.

²⁸You have revealed the paths of life to me; you will fill me with gladness in your presence.

²⁹“Brothers and sisters, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David: He is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah: He was not abandoned in Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.

³²“God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this.

³³Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.

³⁴For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.’

³⁶“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

⁴¹So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.

⁴⁴Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.

⁴⁵They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.

⁴⁶Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts,

⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.