Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

²“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

⁵They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

⁶‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR FROM YOU WILL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’ ”

⁷Then Herod secretly called for the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.

⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”

⁹After hearing the king, they went on their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on ahead of them until it came to a stop over the place where the Child was to be found.

¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

¹¹And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹²And after being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

¹³Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

¹⁴So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.

¹⁵He stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”

¹⁶Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent men and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

¹⁷Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

¹⁸“A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.”

¹⁹But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said,

²⁰“Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”

²¹So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee,

²³and came and settled in a city called Nazareth. This happened so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

¹“The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the LORD’S offerings by fire and His property.

²They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them.

³“Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach.

⁴You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep.

⁵For the LORD your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand to serve in the name of the LORD always.

⁶“Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and he comes whenever he desires to the place which the LORD chooses,

⁷then he shall serve in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD.

⁸They shall eat equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

⁹“When you enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

¹⁰There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

¹¹or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead.

¹²For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God is going to drive them out before you.

¹³You are to be blameless before the LORD your God.

¹⁴For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen.

¹⁶This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the LORD my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’

¹⁷And the LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well.

¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.

¹⁹And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

²⁰But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’

²¹And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?’

²²When the prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.

¹Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through human agency, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),

²and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:

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

⁴who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

⁵to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel,

⁷which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

⁸But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

⁹As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

¹⁰For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

¹¹For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention.

¹²For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;

¹⁴and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.

¹⁵But when He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace was pleased

¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,

¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

¹⁸Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days.

¹⁹But I did not see another one of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)

²¹Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

²²I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ;

²³but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

²⁴And they were glorifying God because of me.

¹Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

²Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

³for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

⁴Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.

⁵Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

⁶and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

⁷and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

¹¹for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

¹²Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.

¹³I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder,

¹⁴knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

¹⁵And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

¹⁷For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such a declaration as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory: “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”—

¹⁸and we ourselves heard this declaration made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

²⁰But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation,

²¹for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread among mankind:

²a person to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to enjoy these things, but a foreigner enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction.

³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

⁴for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness.

⁵It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet it is better off than that man.

⁶Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—do not all go to one and the same place?”

⁷All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not satisfied.

⁸For what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living?

⁹What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with the one who is mightier than he is.

¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person?

¹²For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person what will happen after him under the sun?

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, you gods? Do you judge fairly, you sons of mankind?

²No, in heart you practice injustice; On earth you clear a way for the violence of your hands.

³The wicked have turned away from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.

⁴They have venom like the venom of a serpent; Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

⁵So that it does not hear the voice of charmers, Or a skillful caster of spells.

⁶God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, LORD.

⁷May they flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, may they be as headless shafts.

⁸May they be like a snail which goes along in slime, Like the miscarriage of a woman that never sees the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹And people will say, “There certainly is a reward for the righteous; There certainly is a God who judges on the earth!”

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

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

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend of David.

²Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,

³“You know that David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.

⁴But now the LORD my God has secured me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune.

⁵So behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, just as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’

⁶Now then, issue orders that they cut cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants in accordance with all that you say, for you yourself know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he greatly rejoiced; and he said, “Blessed be the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.”

⁸So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you sent me; I will do everything you wish concerning the cedar and juniper timber.

⁹My servants will bring the timbers down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will have them made into rafts to go by sea to the place where you direct me, and I will have them broken up there, and you will carry them away. Then you shall do what I wish, by giving food to my household.”

¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon all that he wished of the cedar and juniper timber.

¹¹Solomon then gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pure oil; this is what Solomon would give Hiram year by year.

¹²And the LORD gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.

¹³Now King Solomon conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men.

¹⁴Then he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they were in Lebanon for a month, and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced laborers.

¹⁵Now Solomon had seventy thousand porters, and eighty thousand stonemasons in the mountains,

¹⁶besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were in charge of the project and ruled over the people who were doing the work.

¹⁷Then the king issued orders, and they quarried large stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones.

¹⁸So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut the stones, and they prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.

¹Then all the commanders of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the small to the great approached

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our pleading come before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God for all this remnant—since we have been left only a few out of many, just as your own eyes now see us—

³that the LORD your God will tell us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the LORD gives you as an answer. I will not withhold a word from you.”

⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us.

⁶Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well for us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God.”

⁷Now at the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great,

⁹and said to them, “This is what the LORD says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before Him:

¹⁰‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relent of the disaster that I have inflicted on you.

¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand.

¹²I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil.

¹³But if you are going to say, “We will not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the LORD your God,

¹⁴saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”;

¹⁵then in that case listen to the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your minds to enter Egypt and go in to reside there,

¹⁶then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.

¹⁷So all the people who set their minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.” ’ ”

¹⁸For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “As My anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a disgrace; and you will not see this place again.”

¹⁹The LORD has spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, “Do not go to Egypt!” You know for certain that I have admonished you today.

²⁰For you have only deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the LORD your God, saying, “Pray for us to the LORD our God; and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.”

²¹So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the LORD your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you.

²²And now you shall know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the place where you desire to go to reside.

¹“Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

⁵as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,

⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

⁸And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹And those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’

¹¹But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹²“Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up at him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a message from His mouth.

¹⁵For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’

¹⁷“It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’

²¹And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a man from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”

²³And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered that he be brought into the barracks, saying that he was to be interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

²⁵But when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.”

²⁷The commander came and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”

²⁹Therefore, those who were about to interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

³⁰Now on the next day, wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.