Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.

²He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

³Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves.

⁴Don’t carry a money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals; don’t greet anyone along the road.

⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’

⁶If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

⁷Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don’t move from house to house.

⁸When you enter any town, and they welcome you, eat the things set before you.

⁹Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’

¹⁰When you enter any town, and they don’t welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

¹¹‘We are wiping off even the dust of your town that clings to our feet as a witness against you. Know this for certain: The kingdom of God has come near.’

¹²I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades.

¹⁶Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

¹⁸He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

¹⁹Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you.

²⁰However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹At that time he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.

²²All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.”

²³Then turning to his disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see the things you see!

²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.”

²⁵Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind;” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁸“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.

³¹A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³²In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

³³But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.

³⁴He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

³⁵The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

³⁷“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

³⁸While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

⁴¹The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,

⁴²but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

¹Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”

²The LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

³“Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.

⁴The LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand.

⁵“This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶In addition the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow.

⁷“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.

⁸“If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.

⁹And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰But Moses replied to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent — either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant — because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”

¹¹The LORD said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

¹²Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you.

¹⁵You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do.

¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him.

¹⁷And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”

¹⁸Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹Now in Midian the LORD told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand.

²¹The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go.

²²And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.

²³I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!”

²⁴On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the LORD confronted him and intended to put him to death.

²⁵So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

²⁶So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.

²⁷Now the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁸Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.

³⁰Aaron repeated everything the LORD had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people.

³¹The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped.

¹For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles —

²you have heard, haven’t you, about the administration of God’s grace that he gave to me for you?

³The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.

⁴By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.

⁵This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:

⁶The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

⁷I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.

⁸This grace was given to me — the least of all the saints — to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,

⁹and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

¹⁰This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.

¹¹This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹²In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.

¹³So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father

¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

¹⁶I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,

¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,

¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,

¹⁹and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us —

²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

¹Then I was given a measuring reed like a rod, with these words: “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who worship there.

²But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Don’t measure it, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

³I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.”

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

⁵If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies; if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶They have authority to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.

⁷When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, conquer them, and kill them.

⁸Their dead bodies will lie in the main street of the great city, which figuratively is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

⁹And some of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will view their bodies for three and a half days and not permit their bodies to be put into a tomb.

¹⁰Those who live on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

¹¹But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them.

¹²Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.

¹³At that moment a violent earthquake took place, a tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. The survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed. Take note: The third woe is coming soon!

¹⁵The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

¹⁶The twenty-four elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell facedown and worshiped God,

¹⁷saying, We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.

¹⁸The nations were angry, but your wrath has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged and to give the reward to your servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.

¹⁹Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and severe hail.

¹So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;

²before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;

³on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,

⁴the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint.

⁵Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;

⁶before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well;

⁷and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

⁸“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”

⁹In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.

¹⁰The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately.

¹¹The sayings of the wise are like cattle prods, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.

¹²But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.

¹⁴For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A of David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?” [1] God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might!

²God, hear my prayer; listen to the words from my mouth.

³For strangers rise up against me, and violent men intend to kill me. They do not let God guide them. Selah

⁴God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.

⁵He will repay my adversaries for their evil. Because of your faithfulness, annihilate them.

⁶I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you. I will praise your name, LORD, because it is good.

⁷For he has rescued me from every trouble, and my eye has looked down on my enemies.

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite;

³don’t desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!

⁵As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

⁶Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food,

⁷for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong, and he will champion their cause against you.

¹²Apply yourself to discipline and listen to words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold discipline from a youth; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with a rod, and you will rescue his life from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My innermost being will celebrate when your lips say what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead, always fear the LORD.

¹⁸For then you will have a future, and your hope will not be dashed.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course.

²⁰Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy — and do not sell — truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a wayward woman is a narrow well;

²⁸indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber and increases the number of unfaithful people.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.

³¹Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.

³⁴You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.”

¹After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

²brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it next to his statue.

³When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁴But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. This time, Dagon’s head and both of his hands were broken off and lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso remained.

⁵That is why, still today, the priests of Dagon and everyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on Dagon’s threshold.

⁶The LORD’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod. He terrified the people of Ashdod and its territory and afflicted them with tumors.

⁷When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of Israel’s God must not stay here with us, because his hand is strongly against us and our god Dagon.”

⁸So they called all the Philistine rulers together and asked, “What should we do with the ark of Israel’s God?” “The ark of Israel’s God should be moved to Gath,” they replied. So they moved the ark of Israel’s God.

⁹After they had moved it, the LORD’s hand was against the city of Gath, causing a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, from the youngest to the oldest, with an outbreak of tumors.

¹⁰The people of Gath then sent the ark of God to Ekron, but when it got there, the Ekronites cried out, “They’ve moved the ark of Israel’s God to us to kill us and our people!”

¹¹The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. Let it return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them.

¹²Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

¹“Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.

²“Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep.

³For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.

⁴“Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

⁵Indeed, your husband is your Maker  — his name is the LORD of Armies — and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth.

⁶For the LORD has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God.

⁷“I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with abundant compassion.

⁸In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love,” says the LORD your Redeemer.

⁹“For this is like the days of Noah to me: when I swore that the water of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

¹⁰Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you and my covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate LORD.

¹¹“Poor Jerusalem, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will set your stones in black mortar, and lay your foundations in lapis lazuli.

¹²I will make your fortifications out of rubies, your gates out of sparkling stones, and all your walls out of precious stones.

¹³Then all your children will be taught by the LORD, their prosperity will be great,

¹⁴and you will be established on a foundation of righteousness. You will be far from oppression, you will certainly not be afraid; you will be far from terror, it will certainly not come near you.

¹⁵If anyone attacks you, it is not from me; whoever attacks you will fall before you.

¹⁶Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task; and I have created the destroyer to cause havoc.

¹⁷No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their vindication is from me.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate, that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially since you are very knowledgeable about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

⁵They have known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors,

⁷the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

⁸Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I was in agreement against them.

¹¹In all the synagogues I often punished them and tried to make them blaspheme. Since I was terribly enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

¹²“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

¹³King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

¹⁶But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²⁰Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.

²²To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place  —

²³that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”

²⁵But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

²⁹“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up,

³¹and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”