Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

²And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

³And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

⁴I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’

⁵So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

⁷Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

⁸The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

¹¹If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

¹²And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

¹³ No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

¹⁵And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

¹⁸ “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

²⁰And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

²¹who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,

²³and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

²⁴And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’

²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

²⁷And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house —

²⁸for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

²⁹But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

³⁰And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

³¹He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

¹And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

²Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

³And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height,

⁴and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

⁶And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.

⁷And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’

⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?

⁹For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”

¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.”

¹²And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹³And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.”

¹⁴And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.”

¹⁶And the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.”

¹⁷And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?”

¹⁸And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor:

¹⁹God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

²⁰Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

²¹He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.

²²God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

²³For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’

²⁴Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.”

²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.”

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?”

²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.

²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

²Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

³For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

⁵May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,

⁶that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

⁸For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

¹⁰And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

¹¹And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.”

¹²And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

¹⁴I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

¹⁵But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.

¹⁸For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience — by word and deed,

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God — so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;

²⁰and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,

²¹but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”

²²This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.

²³But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you,

²⁴I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

²⁵At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.

²⁶For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

²⁷For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

²⁸When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.

²⁹I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,

³¹that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

³²so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

³³May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

¹“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

³“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?

⁴Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property — the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.

⁷My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow.

⁸The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

⁹Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.

¹²They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’

¹³If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,

¹⁴if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?

¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

¹The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

²When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

³Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

⁴One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

⁵For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

⁶And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

⁷Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!

⁸You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”

⁹Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!

¹⁰For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.

¹¹Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

¹²Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

¹³I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!

¹⁴Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

¹Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

³The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

⁷Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince.

⁸A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.

⁹Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.

¹³If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction.

²⁰A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.

²¹He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.

²⁶To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

¹Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel.

²As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish,

³the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.”

⁴But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

⁵Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”

⁶Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.

⁷So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”

⁸And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’

¹⁰Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.”

¹¹So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant

⁴that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,

⁵that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.”

⁶And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

⁷For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.

⁸Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

⁹Again the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.

¹¹Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.

¹³For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.

¹⁴“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.

¹⁵What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?

¹⁶The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.

¹⁷The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

¹⁸The LORD made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.

¹⁹But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”

²⁰But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

²¹Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand” —

²²therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,

²³and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

¹And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

²And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”

⁴And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”

¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

¹⁵But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

¹⁸Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

¹⁹And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.

²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

²⁵These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel.

³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.

³¹And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

³²Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.

³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?

³⁶Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.

³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.

⁴⁰For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”

⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.