Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

²So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

³“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—

⁴I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶“ ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

⁷“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

⁸“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

⁹I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

¹⁰“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

¹¹So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

¹²And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

¹⁴The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

¹⁵He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

¹⁶“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.

¹⁷It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹⁸“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores

²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

²⁴So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,

²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

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

³¹“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

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

²Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

⁴God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

⁶So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.

⁷Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’

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

⁹From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

¹²He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.”

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

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

¹⁶The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

¹⁷So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”

¹⁸Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

²⁰I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

²¹“No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.

²²God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.

²³There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

²⁴The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁶Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.

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

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

¹We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

²Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

³For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

⁴For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,

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

⁷Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed

⁹and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”

¹⁰Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

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

¹²And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

¹⁵Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

¹⁸I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

²⁰It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

²¹Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

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

²³But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,

²⁴I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

²⁵Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there.

²⁶For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem.

²⁷They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.

²⁸So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.

²⁹I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

³¹Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there,

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

³³The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

¹My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.

²Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?

⁴You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

⁷My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

⁸The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

⁹Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰“But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart

¹²turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.

¹³If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

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

¹⁵where then is my hope— who can see any hope for me?

¹⁶Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

¹Of David. The 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 the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.

³Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

⁴One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

⁶Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.

⁷Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me.

⁸My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.

⁹Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior.

¹⁰Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

¹¹Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

¹²Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.

¹³I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

¹Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

²A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

³The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

⁴A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

⁷Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler!

⁸A bribe is seen as a charm by the one who gives it; they think success will come at every turn.

⁹Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool.

¹¹Evildoers foster rebellion against God; the messenger of death will be sent against them.

¹²Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.

¹³Evil will never leave the house of one who pays back evil for good.

¹⁴Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent— the LORD detests them both.

¹⁶Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom, when they are not able to understand it?

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

¹⁸One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge and puts up security for a neighbor.

¹⁹Whoever loves a quarrel loves sin; whoever builds a high gate invites destruction.

²⁰One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble.

²¹To have a fool for a child brings grief; there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.

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

²³The wicked accept bribes in secret to pervert the course of justice.

²⁴A discerning person keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the mother who bore him.

²⁶If imposing a fine on the innocent is not good, surely to flog honest officials is not right.

²⁷The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.

²⁸Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

¹The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.

²As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish.

³The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish replied, “Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”

⁴But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men?

⁵Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances: “ ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

⁶So Achish called David and said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. From the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don’t approve of you.

⁷Now turn back and go in peace; do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers.”

⁸“But what have I done?” asked David. “What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can’t I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹Achish answered, “I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us into battle.’

¹⁰Now get up early, along with your master’s servants who have come with you, and leave in the morning as soon as it is light.”

¹¹So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem.

³Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant—

⁴the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.

⁵Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, LORD.”

⁶The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them.

⁷From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.”

⁸But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’ ”

⁹Then the LORD said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.

¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.

¹¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.

¹²The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes.

¹³You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴“Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

¹⁵“What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.”

¹⁶The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.

¹⁷The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.

¹⁸Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.

¹⁹I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”

²⁰But you, LORD Almighty, who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands”—

²²therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.

²³Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

¹While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples

²and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

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

⁶When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.

⁹But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”

¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”

¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done.

¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

²¹After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.”

²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

²⁴A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.

²⁵He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.

²⁶And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.

²⁷There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁹Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together.

³⁰Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.

³¹Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

³²The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.

³³The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people.

³⁴But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

³⁶Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash.

³⁷You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.

³⁸If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges.

³⁹If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.

⁴⁰As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.”

⁴¹After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.