Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,

⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”

⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.

⁷And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

⁸I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

¹⁷ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

¹⁸And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”

²¹And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

²³But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

²⁴Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁸And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”

²⁹And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

³⁰who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

³²For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.

³³And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

³⁴But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

³⁵As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

³⁶And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.

³⁷They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

³⁸And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,

⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”

⁴²And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”

⁴³And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

¹While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.

²These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

³So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

⁴And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”

⁵And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁷When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand

⁸and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.

⁹Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰And the LORD said to Moses,

¹¹“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.

¹²Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace,

¹³and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

¹⁴The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father's house belonging to the Simeonites.

¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father's house in Midian.

¹⁶And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“Harass the Midianites and strike them down,

¹⁸for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”

¹Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge —

⁶even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you —

⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.

¹²What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

¹⁸For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

³⁰And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

³¹so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?

³These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?

⁴And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

⁵If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me,

⁶know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me.

⁷Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.

⁹He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.

¹¹He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary.

¹²His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

¹³“He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

¹⁶I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.

¹⁷My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.

¹⁸Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me.

¹⁹All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

²²Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

²³“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

²⁷whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

²⁸If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’

²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”

¹Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.

³The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.

⁴The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

¹¹May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!

¹Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

²Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.

³When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

⁶Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.

⁷All a poor man's brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them.

⁸Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes.

¹¹Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

¹²A king's wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

¹⁶Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.

¹⁸Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.

¹⁹A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

²¹Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

²²What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

²⁴The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.

²⁵Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.

²⁶He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach.

²⁷Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

²⁹Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.

¹Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.

³The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.

⁴Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

⁵And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.

⁶Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.

⁷And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

¹⁰They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.

¹³And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

¹Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.”

²So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.

³And the word of the LORD came to me a second time,

⁴“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

⁶And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

¹¹For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

¹²“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’

¹³Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

¹⁵Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.”

¹⁹The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

²¹What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?

²²And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come upon me?’ it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.

²⁵This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

²⁶I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

²⁷I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?”

¹And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed

⁶and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

⁸On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

¹⁰While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

¹⁵After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

¹⁷When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.

¹⁸On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law,

²¹and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

²²What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;

²⁴take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

²⁵But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

³²He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

³⁵And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?

³⁸Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: