Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

²Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.

³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

⁴Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.

⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

⁸My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

⁹“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.

¹⁰If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

¹¹“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

¹²“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.

¹³No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you.

¹⁵I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.

¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

¹⁷“This is what I command you: Love one another.

¹⁸“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.

¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

²⁰Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

²¹But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me.

²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³The one who hates me also hates my Father.

²⁴If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not have sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

²⁵But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.

²⁶“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me.

²⁷You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

¹“The LORD said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

²I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’

³So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

⁴Then on the day of the assembly, the LORD wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that he had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The LORD gave them to me,

⁵and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the LORD commanded me.”

⁶The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.

⁷They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams.

⁸“At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the LORD’s covenant, to stand before the LORD to serve him, and to pronounce blessings in his name, as it is today.

⁹For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God told him.

¹⁰“I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time. The LORD also listened to me on this occasion; he agreed not to annihilate you.

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’

¹²“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you except to fear the LORD your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul?

¹³Keep the LORD’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

¹⁴The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the LORD your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

¹⁵Yet the LORD had his heart set on your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them — he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

¹⁶Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

¹⁷For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing.

¹⁹You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

²⁰You are to fear the LORD your God and worship him. Remain faithful to him and take oaths in his name.

²¹He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen.

²²Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy people in all, and now the LORD your God has made you numerous, like the stars of the sky.

¹Working together with him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive the grace of God in vain.”

²For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!

³We are not giving anyone an occasion for offense, so that the ministry will not be blamed.

⁴Instead, as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardships, by difficulties,

⁵by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger,

⁶by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,

⁷by the word of truth, by the power of God; through weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,

⁸through glory and dishonor, through slander and good report; regarded as deceivers, yet true;

⁹as unknown, yet recognized; as dying, yet see — we live; as being disciplined, yet not killed;

¹⁰as grieving, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.

¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

¹³I speak as to my children; as a proper response, open your heart to us.

¹⁴Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹⁷Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.

¹⁸And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

¹Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.

²For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is mature, able also to control the whole body.

³Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies.

⁴And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

⁵So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest.

⁶And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind,

⁸but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.

¹⁰Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.

¹¹Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening?

¹²Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.

¹³Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth.

¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.

¹The LORD answered Job:

²Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who argues with God give an answer.

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷Get ready to answer me like a man; When I question you, you will inform me.

⁸Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him.

¹²Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

¹³Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.

¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle.

¹⁶Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

¹⁸His bones are bronze tubes; his limbs are like iron rods.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield food for him, while all sorts of wild animals play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants, hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.

²²Lotus plants cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him while he looks on, or pierce his nose with snares?

¹A psalm of Asaph. [1] The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks; he summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

²From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appears in radiance.

³Our God is coming; he will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes him, and a storm rages around him.

⁴On high, he summons heaven and earth in order to judge his people:

⁵“Gather my faithful ones to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

⁶The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God is the Judge. Selah

⁷“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.

⁸I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or for your burnt offerings, which are continually before me.

⁹I will not take a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”

¹⁶But God says to the wicked: “What right do you have to recite my statutes and to take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷You hate instruction and fling my words behind you.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you make friends with him, and you associate with adulterers.

¹⁹You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue for deceit.

²⁰You sit, maligning your brother, slandering your mother’s son.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But I will rebuke you and lay out the case before you.

²²“Understand this, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to rescue you.

²³Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honors me, and whoever orders his conduct, I will show him the salvation of God.”

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹During David’s reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquired of the LORD. The LORD answered, “It is due to Saul and to his bloody family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

²The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.

³He asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bring a blessing on the LORD’s inheritance?”

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “We are not asking for silver and gold from Saul or his family, and we cannot put anyone to death in Israel.” “Whatever you say, I will do for you,” he said.

⁵They replied to the king, “As for the man who annihilated us and plotted to destroy us so we would not exist within the whole territory of Israel,

⁶let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us so we may hang them in the presence of the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the LORD’s chosen.” The king answered, “I will hand them over.”

⁷David spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.

⁸But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, who were the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, and the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite

⁹and handed them over to the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the hill in the presence of the LORD; the seven of them died together. They were executed in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of the barley harvest.

¹⁰Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

¹¹When it was reported to David what Saul’s concubine Rizpah daughter of Aiah had done,

¹²he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.

¹³David had the bones brought from there. They gathered up the bones of Saul’s family who had been hanged

¹⁴and buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After this, God was receptive to prayer for the land.

¹⁵The Philistines again waged war against Israel. David went down with his soldiers, and they fought the Philistines, but David became exhausted.

¹⁶Then Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giant, whose bronze spear weighed about eight pounds and who wore new armor, intended to kill David.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him: “You must never again go out with us to battle. You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸After this, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giant.

¹⁹Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath of Gath. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam.

²⁰At Gath there was still another battle. A huge man was there with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in all. He, too, was descended from the giant.

²¹When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him.

²²These four were descended from the giant in Gath and were killed by David and his soldiers.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his whole army, all the kingdoms of the lands under his control, and all other peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities:

²“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it.

³As for you, you will not escape from him but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face; you will go to Babylon.

⁴“‘Yet hear the LORD’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

⁵you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your ancestors, the kings of old who came before you. “Oh, master!” will be the lament for you, for I have spoken this word. This is the LORD’s declaration.’”

⁶So the prophet Jeremiah related all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem

⁷while the king of Babylon’s army was attacking Jerusalem and all of Judah’s remaining cities — that is, Lachish and Azekah, for they were the only ones left of Judah’s fortified cities.

⁸This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them.

⁹As a result, each was to let his male and female Hebrew slaves go free, and no one was to enslave his fellow Judean.

¹⁰All the officials and people who entered into covenant to let their male and female slaves go free — in order not to enslave them any longer — obeyed and let them go free.

¹¹Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had let go free and forced them to become slaves again.

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

¹³“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying,

¹⁴‘At the end of seven years, each of you must let his fellow Hebrew who sold himself to you go. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free from your service.’ But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention.

¹⁵Today you repented and did what pleased me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me at the house that bears my name.

¹⁶But you have changed your minds and profaned my name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been let go free to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

¹⁷“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each for his fellow Hebrew and for his neighbor. I hereby proclaim freedom for you  — this is the LORD’s declaration — to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.

¹⁸As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

¹⁹The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf —

²⁰all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

²¹I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their lives, to the king of Babylon’s army that is withdrawing.

²²I am about to give the command — this is the LORD’s declaration — and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”

¹In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

⁶they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside.

⁷There they continued preaching the gospel.

⁸In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

⁹He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And he jumped up and began to walk around.

¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

¹⁵“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way,

¹⁷although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.