Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

²He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.

³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,

⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”

⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.

⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:

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

¹¹The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them.

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

¹⁷Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

²⁰You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

²¹“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God

³⁰will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

³¹Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

³²He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;

³³they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

³⁴The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

³⁵As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

³⁶When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.

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

³⁸He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,

⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

¹While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women,

²who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.

³So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.

⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

⁶Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁷When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand

⁸and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;

⁹but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

¹⁰The LORD said to Moses,

¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal.

¹²Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.

¹³He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

¹⁴The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.

¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses,

¹⁷“Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them.

¹⁸They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”

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

²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

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

⁴I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

⁵For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—

⁶God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.

⁷Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

⁸He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

¹¹My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

¹²What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

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

¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

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

¹⁶(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)

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

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness 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; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

²²Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

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

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

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

²⁸God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,

²⁹so that no one may boast before him.

³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

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

¹Then Job replied:

²“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

³Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

⁵If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,

⁶then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

⁷“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

⁹He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

¹⁰He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.

¹¹His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.

¹²His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

¹³“He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger.

¹⁶I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family.

¹⁸Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

¹⁹All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.

²⁰I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

²¹“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

²²Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,

²⁴that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

²⁵I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

²⁶And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸“If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,’

²⁹you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.”

¹A psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, you 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 his holiness.

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

⁴The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.

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

⁶He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

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

¹¹The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

¹Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse.

²Desire without knowledge is not good— how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

³A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.

⁴Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will not go free.

⁶Many curry favor with a ruler, and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.

⁷The poor are shunned by all their relatives— how much more do their friends avoid them! Though the poor pursue them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found.

⁸The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.

⁹A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish.

¹⁰It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury— how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

¹¹A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

¹²A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish child is a father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like the constant dripping of a leaky roof.

¹⁴Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

¹⁵Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.

¹⁶Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

¹⁷Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.

¹⁸Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

¹⁹A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

²⁰Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

²¹Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

²²What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar.

²³The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

²⁴A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!

²⁵Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

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

²⁸A corrupt witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.

²⁹Penalties are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua.

³The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.

⁴Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

⁵When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him.

⁶So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

⁷When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.

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

⁹They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people.

¹⁰They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

¹¹When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them.

¹³Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

¹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”

²So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.

³Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time:

⁴“Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.”

⁵So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.

⁶Many days later the LORD said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”

⁷So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!

¹¹For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

¹²“Say to them: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’

¹³then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.

¹⁴I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’ ”

¹⁵Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.

¹⁷If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.”

¹⁹The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.

²⁰Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?

²¹What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?

²²And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?”— it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.

²³Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

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

²⁵This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.

²⁶I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen—

²⁷your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”

¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

²We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.

³After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

⁶After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

⁷We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

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

¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.

¹⁷When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

²¹They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

²²What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,

²³so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

²⁹(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

³⁰The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.

³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.

³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”

³⁹Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: