Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

²and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

³For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight!

⁴Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him,

⁶and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁷When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.

⁹And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

¹²His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

¹⁴But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

¹⁵Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.

¹⁶When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.

¹⁷And a voice from heaven said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

¹Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.

³But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.

⁵“In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹So the LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

¹¹Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹²The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³So the LORD God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

¹⁶He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you.

¹⁷And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.

¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

²⁰The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹The LORD God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

²²The LORD God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”

²³So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

²Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God.

³What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?

⁴Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath?

⁶Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?

⁷But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

⁸And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

⁹What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin,

¹⁰as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.

¹¹There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

¹²All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.

¹³Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips.

¹⁴Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,

¹⁷and the path of peace they have not known.

¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.

²⁰For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets.

²²The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.

²³For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

²⁴They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

²⁵God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

²⁶God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith.

²⁸For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

³⁰since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

³¹Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

¹Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens.

²And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith,

³so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.

⁴In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened.

⁵For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.

⁶But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you.

⁷Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith.

⁸For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.

⁹How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you,

¹⁰as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.

¹²And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you.

¹³May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.

¹After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.

²He said:

³May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, “A boy is conceived.”

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May what darkens the day terrify it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.

⁷Yes, may that night be barren; may no joyful shout be heard in it.

⁸Let those who curse days condemn it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹Why was I not stillborn; why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

¹³Now I would certainly be lying down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest

¹⁴with the kings and counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child, like infants who never see daylight?

¹⁷There the wicked cease to make trouble, and there the weary find rest.

¹⁸The captives are completely at rest; they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.

¹⁹Both small and great are there, and the slave is set free from his master.

²⁰Why is light given to one burdened with grief, and life to those whose existence is bitter,

²¹who wait for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with much joy and are glad when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶I cannot relax or be calm; I have no rest, for turmoil has come.

¹A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom. [1] LORD, how my foes increase! There are many who attack me.

²Many say about me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah

³But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

⁴I cry aloud to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah

⁵I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the LORD sustains me.

⁶I will not be afraid of thousands of people who have taken their stand against me on every side.

⁷Rise up, LORD! Save me, my God! You strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸Salvation belongs to the LORD; may your blessing be on your people. Selah

¹My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands;

²for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.

³Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;

⁶in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

⁸This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.

⁹Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;

¹⁰then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹Do not despise the LORD’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline;

¹²for the LORD disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her.

¹⁶Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy.

¹⁹The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

²¹Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them.

²²They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.

²³Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant.

²⁵Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes,

²⁶for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.

²⁷When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs.

²⁸Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later. I’ll give it tomorrow” — when it is there with you.

²⁹Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor, for he trusts you and lives near you.

³⁰Don’t accuse anyone without cause, when he has done you no harm.

³¹Don’t envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

³²for the devious are detestable to the LORD, but he is a friend to the upright.

³³The LORD’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous;

³⁴He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, but he holds up fools to dishonor.

¹Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing.

²After three days the officers went through the camp

³and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God carried by the Levitical priests, you are to break camp and follow it.

⁴But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between yourselves and the ark. Don’t go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven’t traveled this way before.”

⁵Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, because the LORD will do wonders among you tomorrow.”

⁶Then he said to the priests, “Carry the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.

⁷The LORD spoke to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses.

⁸Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: When you reach the edge of the water, stand in the Jordan.”

⁹Then Joshua told the Israelites, “Come closer and listen to the words of the LORD your God.”

¹⁰He said: “You will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hethites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites

¹¹when the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth goes ahead of you into the Jordan.

¹²Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.

¹³When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of the whole earth, come to rest in the Jordan’s water, its water will be cut off. The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.”

¹⁴When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.

¹⁵Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge

¹⁶and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarethan. The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah  — the Dead Sea — was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho.

¹⁷The priests carrying the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

¹Note this: The Lord GOD of Armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah every kind of security: the entire supply of bread and water,

²heroes and warriors, judges and prophets, fortune-tellers and elders,

³commanders of fifty and dignitaries, counselors, cunning magicians, and necromancers.

⁴“I will make youths their leaders, and unstable rulers will govern them.”

⁵The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will act arrogantly toward the old, and the worthless toward the honorable.

⁶A man will even seize his brother in his father’s house, saying: “You have a cloak — you be our leader! This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

⁷On that day he will cry out, saying: “I’m not a healer. I don’t even have food or clothing in my house. Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they have spoken and acted against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster on themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked — it will go badly for them, for what they have done will be done to them.

¹²Youths oppress my people, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders mislead you; they confuse the direction of your paths.

¹³The LORD rises to argue the case and stands to judge the people.

¹⁴The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of his people: “You have devastated the vineyard. The plunder from the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies.

¹⁶The LORD also says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, walking with heads held high and seductive eyes, prancing along, jingling their ankle bracelets,

¹⁷the Lord will put scabs on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will shave their foreheads bare.

¹⁸On that day the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,

¹⁹pendants, bracelets, veils,

²⁰headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,

²¹signet rings, nose rings,

²²festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses,

²³garments, linen clothes, turbans, and shawls.

²⁴Instead of perfume there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothes, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.

²⁶Then her gates will lament and mourn; deserted, she will sit on the ground.

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

²A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

³When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.

⁴Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”

⁵So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

⁷Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

⁸So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

¹¹While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹²When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

¹⁴You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.

¹⁵You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

¹⁶By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

¹⁷“And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets — that his Messiah would suffer.

¹⁹Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,

²⁰that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

²¹Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

²²Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and sisters. You must listen to everything he tells you.

²³And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

²⁴“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.

²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.

²⁶God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”