Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

²and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

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

⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

⁵“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

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

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

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

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,

¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

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

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

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

²⁰and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

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

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

²By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,

⁶but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

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

⁸Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

⁹The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)

¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

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

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

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

¹⁹Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

²⁰So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.

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

²³The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

²⁴That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

²⁵Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

¹You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

²Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

³So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

⁵But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁶God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”

⁷To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

⁸But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

⁹There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;

¹⁰but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

¹¹For God does not show favoritism.

¹²All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

¹⁴(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

¹⁶This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

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

¹⁸if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

¹⁹if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,

²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

²¹you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

²²You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

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

²⁴As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

²⁶So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

²⁷The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

²⁸A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

²⁹No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

¹You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results.

²We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.

³For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.

⁴On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.

⁵You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.

⁶We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority.

⁷Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children,

⁸so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

⁹Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,

¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

¹³And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

¹⁴For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews

¹⁵who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone

¹⁶in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

¹⁷But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.

¹⁸For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way.

¹⁹For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?

²⁰Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

¹On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.

²And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

³Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.

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

⁶The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

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

¹⁰He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

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

²The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,

³“Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

⁴The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

⁵He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

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

⁷I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.

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

⁹You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

¹⁰Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.

¹¹Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.

¹²Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

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

²turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—

³indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

⁴and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

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 holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

⁸for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

⁹Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,

¹³who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,

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

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

¹⁶Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

¹⁷who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.

¹⁸Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.

²⁰Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

¹Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

²The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”

⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

⁵At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

⁶(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)

⁷So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

⁸Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof

⁹and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

¹⁰We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.

¹¹When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

¹²“Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign

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

¹⁴“Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.”

¹⁵So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.

¹⁶She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

¹⁷Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us

¹⁸unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.

¹⁹If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.

²⁰But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

²¹“Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²²When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them.

²³Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them.

²⁴They said to Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

¹This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

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

⁴He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

⁶You, LORD, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.

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

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

⁹So people will be brought low and everyone humbled— do not forgive them.

¹⁰Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!

¹¹The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),

¹³for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,

¹⁵for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,

¹⁶for every trading ship and every stately vessel.

¹⁷The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

¹⁸and the idols will totally disappear.

¹⁹People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.

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

²¹They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.

²²Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?

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

²Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

³They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

⁶When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

⁷Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome

¹¹(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

¹²Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

¹⁶No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

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

¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

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

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

²²“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

²³This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

²⁴But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

²⁵David said about him: “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

²⁹“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

³⁰But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

³²God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

³³Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’

³⁶“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

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

³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

⁴¹Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

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

⁴³Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common.

⁴⁵They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

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