Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.

²For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.

³Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?

⁴Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye?

⁵Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

⁶Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

⁷“Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

¹²Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.

¹⁴How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

¹⁵“Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

¹⁶You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

¹⁷In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

¹⁸A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

¹⁹Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

²⁰So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

²²On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’

²³Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

²⁴“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

²⁵The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

²⁷The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,

²⁹because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

¹“No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the LORD’s assembly.

²No one of illegitimate birth may enter the LORD’s assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the LORD’s assembly.

³No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the LORD’s assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the LORD’s assembly.

⁴This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you.

⁵Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.

⁶Never pursue their welfare or prosperity as long as you live.

⁷Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you were a resident alien in his land.

⁸The children born to them in the third generation may enter the LORD’s assembly.

⁹“When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive.

¹⁰If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp.

¹¹When evening approaches, he is to wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp.

¹²You are to have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself.

¹³You are to have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement.

¹⁴For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything indecent among you or he will turn away from you.

¹⁵“Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you.

¹⁶Let him live among you wherever he wants within your city gates. Do not mistreat him.

¹⁷“No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

¹⁸Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s earnings into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

¹⁹“Do not charge your brother interest on silver, food, or anything that can earn interest.

²⁰You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother Israelite interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you do in the land you are entering to possess.

²¹“If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin.

²²But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin.

²³Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed what you promised to the LORD your God.

²⁴“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but do not put any in your container.

²⁵When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

¹Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

²Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

³For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

⁴Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else.

⁵For each person will have to carry his own load.

⁶Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.

⁷Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,

⁸because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

⁹Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

¹¹Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting.

¹²Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised  — but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

¹³For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh.

¹⁴But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

¹⁵For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.

¹⁶May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!

¹⁷From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

¹⁸Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

¹See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.

²Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

³And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

⁵You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.

⁶Everyone who remains in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.

⁷Children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

⁸The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

⁹Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.

¹⁰This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

¹¹For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,

¹²unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

¹⁷If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him — how does God’s love reside in him?

¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

¹⁹This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

²⁰whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

²²and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

²³Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us.

²⁴The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.

¹Send your bread on the surface of the water, for after many days you may find it.

²Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.

³If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

⁴One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵Just as you don’t know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don’t know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good.

⁷Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸Indeed, if someone lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile.

⁹Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

¹⁰Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

¹A psalm of David. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah. [1] God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.

²So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.

³My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life.

⁴So I will bless you as long as I live; at your name, I will lift up my hands.

⁵You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.

⁶When I think of you as I lie on my bed, I meditate on you during the night watches

⁷because you are my helper; I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.

⁸I follow close to you; your right hand holds on to me.

⁹But those who intend to destroy my life will go into the depths of the earth.

¹⁰They will be given over to the power of the sword; they will become a meal for jackals.

¹¹But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by him will boast, for the mouths of liars will be shut.

¹A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

²Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD makes them all.

³A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

⁴Humility, the fear of the LORD, results in wealth, honor, and life.

⁵There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked; the one who guards himself stays far from them.

⁶Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

⁸The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too; then quarreling and dishonor will cease.

¹¹The one who loves a pure heart and gracious lips — the king is his friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.

¹³The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”

¹⁴The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit; a man cursed by the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth; a rod of discipline will separate it from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich — both lead only to poverty.

¹⁷Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹I have instructed you today — even you — so that your confidence may be in the LORD.

²⁰Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,

²¹in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?

²²Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor, and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,

²³for the LORD will champion their cause and will plunder those who plunder them.

²⁴Don’t make friends with an angry person, and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,

²⁵or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

²⁶Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.

²⁸Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up.

²⁹Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

¹The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame connected with the name of the LORD and came to test him with riddles.

²She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind.

³So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her.

⁴When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,

⁵the food at his table, his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the LORD’s temple, it took her breath away.

⁶She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true.

⁷But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard.

⁸How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom.

⁹Blessed be the LORD your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹In addition, Hiram’s fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones.

¹²The king made the almug wood into steps for the LORD’s temple and the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before did such almug wood arrive, and the like has not been seen again.

¹³King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire — whatever she asked — besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.

¹⁴The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons,

¹⁵besides what came from merchants, traders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into each shield.

¹⁷He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; nearly four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold.

¹⁹The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

²⁰Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

²¹All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time,

²²for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²³King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.

²⁴The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.

²⁵Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules.

²⁶Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

²⁷The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills.

²⁸Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price.

²⁹A chariot was imported from Egypt for fifteen pounds of silver, and a horse for nearly four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistines before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.

²This is what the LORD says: Look, water is rising from the north and becoming an overflowing wadi. It will overflow the land and everything in it, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

³At the sound of the stomping hooves of his stallions, the rumbling of his chariots, and the clatter of their wheels, fathers will not turn back for their sons. They will be utterly helpless

⁴on account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness is coming to Gaza; Ashkelon will become silent. Remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?

⁶Oh, sword of the LORD! How long will you be restless? Go back to your sheath; be still; be silent!

⁷How can it rest when the LORD has given it a command? He has assigned it against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea.

¹When it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment.

²When we had boarded a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, intending to sail to ports along the coast of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.

³The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.

⁴When we had put out to sea from there, we sailed along the northern coast of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

⁵After sailing through the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.

⁷Sailing slowly for many days, with difficulty we arrived off Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to approach it, we sailed along the south side of Crete off Salmone.

⁸With still more difficulty we sailed along the coast and came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lasea.

⁹By now much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous. Since the Day of Atonement was already over, Paul gave his advice

¹⁰and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.”

¹¹But the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what Paul said.

¹²Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to set sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor on Crete facing the southwest and northwest, and to winter there.

¹³When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they had achieved their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete.

¹⁴But before long, a fierce wind called the “northeaster” rushed down from the island.

¹⁵Since the ship was caught and unable to head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

¹⁶After running under the shelter of a little island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the skiff.

¹⁷After hoisting it up, they used ropes and tackle and girded the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the drift-anchor, and in this way they were driven along.

¹⁸Because we were being severely battered by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo the next day.

¹⁹On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.

²⁰For many days neither sun nor stars appeared, and the severe storm kept raging. Finally all hope was fading that we would be saved.

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.

²²Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship.

²³For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me

²⁴and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’

²⁵So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me.

²⁶But we have to run aground on some island.”

²⁷When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting in the Adriatic Sea, and about midnight the sailors thought they were approaching land.

²⁸They took soundings and found it to be a hundred and twenty feet deep; when they had sailed a little farther and sounded again, they found it to be ninety feet deep.

²⁹Then, fearing we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰Some sailors tried to escape from the ship; they had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow.

³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”

³²Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it drop away.

³³When it was about daylight, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, having eaten nothing.

³⁴So I urge you to take some food. For this is for your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head.”

³⁵After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them, and after he broke it, he began to eat.

³⁶They all were encouraged and took food themselves.

³⁷In all there were 276 of us on the ship.

³⁸When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.

³⁹When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could.

⁴⁰After cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.

⁴¹But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one could swim away and escape.

⁴³But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

⁴⁴The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on debris from the ship. In this way, everyone safely reached the shore.