Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

³And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple

⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

¹²Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

¹³And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

¹⁴so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles —

¹⁶the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

¹⁸While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

²³And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.

²⁵And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

¹Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.”

²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

³In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,

⁴and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,

⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

⁶The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

⁷If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?”

¹⁰And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

¹¹And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

¹²When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

¹⁴Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

¹⁹And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

²¹His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

²²Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

²⁴If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”

²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

²⁶To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

¹What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

⁴Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

⁵And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

⁸blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

⁹Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

¹¹He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,

¹²and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

¹⁵For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring — not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

²⁰No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

²¹fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

²³But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,

²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

²⁵who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

¹Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

²For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

⁴that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

⁵not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

⁶that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

⁷For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

⁸Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

⁹Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

¹⁰for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,

¹¹and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,

¹²so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁵For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?

³Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

⁴Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.

⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.

⁶Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?

⁸As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

⁹By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.

¹³Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

¹⁶It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:

¹⁷‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

¹⁸Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.

²⁰Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

¹Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

²O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

³But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.

⁴Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

⁵Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.

⁶There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

⁷You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

⁸In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

¹Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

²for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.

³When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

⁴he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

⁵Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.

⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.

¹¹I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

¹²When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.

¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

²⁰My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

²³Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

²⁴Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

²⁶Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

²⁷Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

¹When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,

²“Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,

³and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

⁵And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,

⁶that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’

⁷then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

⁸And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.

¹¹And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before the people.

¹²The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them.

¹³About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵And the LORD said to Joshua,

¹⁶“Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁷So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁸And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.

¹⁹The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

²¹And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’

²²then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’

²³For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,

²⁴so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

¹And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

²In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.

³And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,

⁴when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

⁵Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.

⁶There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

¹And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,

²greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

³And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem,

⁶with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,

⁹if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,

¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing before you well.

¹¹This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

¹²And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another,

¹⁶saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,

²⁰for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

²¹And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.

²²For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

²⁵who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ —

²⁷for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

²⁸to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

³²Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

³³And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold

³⁵and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

³⁶Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,

³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.