Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

²saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen 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 when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

⁵So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.

⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

⁹When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

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

¹¹And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹²Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

¹³Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

¹⁵and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

¹⁸“A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”

¹⁹Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

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

²¹Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.

²³And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

¹“The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion.

²Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them.

³“And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach.

⁴The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.

⁵For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever.

⁶“So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses,

⁷then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD.

⁸They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

⁹“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

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

¹¹or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

¹²For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.

¹³You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

¹⁴For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.

¹⁵“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,

¹⁶according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷“And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good.

¹⁸I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

¹⁹And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

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

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

²²when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

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

²and all the brethren 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, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

⁵to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁶I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,

⁷which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

⁸But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

⁹As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

¹¹But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.

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

¹³For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

¹⁴And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

¹⁵But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,

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

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

¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.

¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

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

²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.

²³But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

²⁴And they glorified God in me.

¹Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us 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,

³as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

⁴by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

⁵But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

⁶to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

⁷to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

⁸For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

¹¹for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹²For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

¹³Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,

¹⁴knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

¹⁵Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

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

¹⁷For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

¹⁸And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

²⁰knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

²¹for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

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

²A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

³If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he—

⁴for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

⁵Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man,

⁶even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

⁷All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.

⁸For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living?

⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁰Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.

¹¹Since there are many things that increase vanity, How is man the better?

¹²For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

¹To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David. [1] Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?

²No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,

⁵Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully.

⁶Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

⁷Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.

⁸Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the burning thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, As in His living and burning wrath.

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

¹¹So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

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

²A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, And will share an inheritance among the brothers.

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

⁴An evildoer gives heed to false lips; A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.

⁵He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.

⁷Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, Much less lying lips to a prince.

⁸A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.

¹⁰Rebuke is more effective for a wise man Than a hundred blows on a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

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

¹³Whoever rewards evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like releasing water; Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there in the hand of a fool the purchase price of wisdom, Since he has no heart for it?

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

¹⁸A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge, And becomes surety for his friend.

¹⁹He who loves transgression loves strife, And he who exalts his gate seeks destruction.

²⁰He who has a deceitful heart finds no good, And he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.

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

²²A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

²³A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the sight of him 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 bore him.

²⁶Also, to punish the righteous is not good, Nor to strike princes for their uprightness.

²⁷He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

²⁸Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

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

²Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

³You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the LORD put his foes under the soles of his feet.

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

⁵And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.”

⁶Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians.

⁷So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!

⁸Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs.

⁹My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household.

¹⁰Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire.

¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

¹²So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.

¹³Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.

¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force.

¹⁵Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains,

¹⁶besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work.

¹⁷And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple.

¹⁸So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.

¹Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see),

³that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”

⁵So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you.

⁶Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

⁷And it happened after ten days that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

⁹and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:

¹⁰‘If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.

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

¹²And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’

¹³“But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God,

¹⁴saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—

¹⁵Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there,

¹⁶then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.

¹⁷So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’

¹⁸“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’

¹⁹“The LORD has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

²⁰For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and according to all that the LORD your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’

²¹And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, or anything which He has sent you by me.

²²Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.”

¹“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.”

²And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said:

³“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.

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

⁵as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.

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

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

⁹“And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.

¹⁰So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’

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

¹²“Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there,

¹³came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.

¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.

¹⁵For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance

¹⁸and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’

¹⁹So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!”

²³Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.

²⁵And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”

²⁷Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.