Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

³During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do 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, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,

⁶and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”

⁷Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’ ”

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

⁹“I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

¹⁰“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’ ”

¹¹Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee.

¹³He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

¹⁴This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,

¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”

¹⁷From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. ”

¹⁸One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers — Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew — throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

¹⁹Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

²⁰And they left their nets at once and followed him.

²¹A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too.

²²They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

²³Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

²⁴News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed — he healed them all.

²⁵Large crowds followed him wherever he went — people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.

¹Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!”

²Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.

³When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

⁴Abel also brought a gift — the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,

⁵but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

⁶“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

⁷You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

⁸One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.

⁹Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰But the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!

¹¹Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood.

¹²No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!

¹⁴You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵The LORD replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.

¹⁶So Cain left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son.

¹⁸Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who raise livestock and live in tents.

²¹His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute.

²²Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah.

²³One day Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; listen to me, you wives of Lamech. I have killed a man who attacked me, a young man who wounded me.

²⁴If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times, then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”

²⁵Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

²⁶When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the LORD by name.

¹Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God?

²If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.

³For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

⁴When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.

⁵But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

⁶David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

⁷“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

⁸Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”

⁹Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith.

¹⁰But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!

¹¹Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous — even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.

¹²And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

¹⁴If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.

¹⁵For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

¹⁶So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

¹⁷That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

¹⁸Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping — believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

¹⁹And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead — and so was Sarah’s womb.

²⁰Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.

²¹He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

²²And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.

²³And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded

²⁴for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

²⁵He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

¹Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.

²For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.

⁴Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor —

⁵not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

⁶Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.

⁷God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.

⁸Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

⁹But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.

¹⁰Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.

¹¹Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.

¹²Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.

¹³And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

¹⁵We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.

¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.

¹⁷Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

¹⁸So encourage each other with these words.

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:

²“Will you be patient and let me say a word? For who could keep from speaking out?

³“In the past you have encouraged many people; you have strengthened those who were weak.

⁴Your words have supported those who were falling; you encouraged those with shaky knees.

⁵But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart. You are terrified when it touches you.

⁶Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence? Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?

⁷“Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?

⁸My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.

⁹A breath from God destroys them. They vanish in a blast of his anger.

¹⁰The lion roars and the wildcat snarls, but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.

¹¹The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.

¹²“This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear.

¹³It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep.

¹⁴Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled.

¹⁵A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end.

¹⁶The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say,

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’

¹⁸“If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness,

¹⁹how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.

²⁰They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace.

²¹Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.

¹Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

²How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations? How long will you continue your lies? Interlude

³You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for himself. The LORD will answer when I call to him.

⁴Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude

⁵Offer sacrifices in the right spirit, and trust the LORD.

⁶Many people say, “Who will show us better times?” Let your face smile on us, LORD.

⁷You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.

⁸In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe.

¹My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment,

²for I am giving you good guidance. Don’t turn away from my instructions.

³For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.

⁴My father taught me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live.

⁵Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.

⁶Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you.

⁷Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.

⁸If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you.

⁹She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.

¹¹I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.

¹²When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.

¹³Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life.

¹⁴Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.

¹⁵Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving.

¹⁶For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.

¹⁷They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!

¹⁸The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.

²⁰My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words.

²¹Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart,

²²for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

²³Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

²⁴Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.

²⁵Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.

²⁶Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.

²⁷Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

¹When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,

²“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe.

³Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”

⁴So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen — one from each of the tribes of Israel.

⁵He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the LORD your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder — twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁶We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

⁷Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

⁸So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.

⁹Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the LORD’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed.

¹¹And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the LORD as the people watched.

¹²The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.

¹³These armed men — about 40,000 strong — were ready for battle, and the LORD was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴That day the LORD made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

¹⁵The LORD had said to Joshua,

¹⁶“Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed.”

¹⁷So Joshua gave the command.

¹⁸As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.

¹⁹The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho.

²⁰It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.

²¹Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’

²²Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

²³For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.

²⁴He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.”

¹In that day so few men will be left that seven women will fight for each man, saying, “Let us all marry you! We will provide our own food and clothing. Only let us take your name so we won’t be mocked as old maids.”

²But in that day, the branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of all who survive in Israel.

³All who remain in Zion will be a holy people — those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living.

⁴The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment.

⁵Then the LORD will provide shade for Mount Zion and all who assemble there. He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land.

⁶It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain.

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees.

²These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.

³They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.

⁴But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

⁵The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.

⁶Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.

⁷They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”

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

⁹are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?

¹⁰Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’

¹²There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

¹³The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

¹⁵So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.

¹⁶“What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.

¹⁷But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”

¹⁸So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?

²⁰We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

²¹The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God

²²for this miraculous sign — the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.

²³As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said.

²⁴When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them —

²⁵you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

²⁶The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah.’

²⁷“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.

²⁸But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.

²⁹And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

³⁰Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

³²All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.

³³The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.

³⁴There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them

³⁵and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

³⁶For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.

³⁷He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.