Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

²He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’

⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

¹¹And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

¹³When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?

¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

¹⁸He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

²⁰And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

²²Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

²³Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them,

²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

²⁵When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.

²⁹Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

³⁰Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

³⁵See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

¹The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

²You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.

⁵The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

⁶Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.

⁷Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

¹¹Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts.

¹²Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.

¹³Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

¹⁶Say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.

¹⁷Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD.” See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.’”

¹⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water — so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

²⁰Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood,

²¹and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.

²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

²³Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.

²⁴And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.

²⁵Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

²“Honor your father and mother” — this is the first commandment with a promise:

³“so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

⁴And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ;

⁶not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

⁷Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women,

⁸knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.

⁹And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

¹⁹Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

²¹So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord.

²²I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts.

²³Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,

³and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth.

⁴It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,

⁵and in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless.

⁶Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation and tribe and language and people.

⁷He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

⁹Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands,

¹⁰they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

¹²Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

¹⁴Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand!

¹⁵Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

¹⁶So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles.

¹Upon my bed at night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

²“I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.” I sought him, but found him not.

³The sentinels found me, as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

⁴Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the wild does: do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!

⁶What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

⁷Look, it is the litter of Solomon! Around it are sixty mighty men of the mighty men of Israel,

⁸all equipped with swords and expert in war, each with his sword at his thigh because of alarms by night.

⁹King Solomon made himself a palanquin from the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior was inlaid with love. Daughters of Jerusalem,

¹¹come out. Look, O daughters of Zion, at King Solomon, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.

¹Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.

²I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

³He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample on me. Selah God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.

⁴I lie down among lions that greedily devour human prey; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

⁶They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my path, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah

⁷My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.

⁸Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.

⁹I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

¹⁰For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

¹¹Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

¹Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.

³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.

⁴Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself.

⁵Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.

⁶It is like cutting off one’s foot and drinking down violence, to send a message by a fool.

⁷The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

⁸It is like binding a stone in a sling to give honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

¹⁰Like an archer who wounds everybody is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.

¹¹Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly.

¹²Do you see persons wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them.

¹³The lazy person says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”

¹⁴As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy person in bed.

¹⁵The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.

¹⁶The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem than seven who can answer discreetly.

¹⁷Like somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears is one who meddles in the quarrel of another.

¹⁸Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows,

¹⁹so is one who deceives a neighbor and says, “I am only joking!”

²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

²¹As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

²³Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are smooth lips with an evil heart.

²⁴An enemy dissembles in speaking while harboring deceit within;

²⁵when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it, for there are seven abominations concealed within;

²⁶though hatred is covered with guile, the enemy’s wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on the one who starts it rolling.

²⁸A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

¹When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

²The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba.

³Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.

⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah,

⁵and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”

⁶But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD,

⁷and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

⁸Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you.

⁹Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

¹⁰So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.

¹¹He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots;

¹²and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

¹³He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

¹⁴He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.

¹⁵He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.

¹⁶He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work.

¹⁷He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

¹⁸And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us,

²⁰so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD.

²²The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”

¹The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous are taken away from calamity,

²and they enter into peace; those who walk uprightly will rest on their couches.

³But as for you, come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of an adulterer and a whore.

⁴Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit —

⁵you that burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree; you that slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a grain offering. Shall I be appeased for these things?

⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your symbol; for, in deserting me, you have uncovered your bed, you have gone up to it, you have made it wide; and you have made a bargain for yourself with them, you have loved their bed, you have gazed on their nakedness.

⁹You journeyed to Molech with oil, and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away, and sent down even to Sheol.

¹⁰You grew weary from your many wanderings, but you did not say, “It is useless.” You found your desire rekindled, and so you did not weaken.

¹¹Whom did you dread and fear so that you lied, and did not remember me or give me a thought? Have I not kept silent and closed my eyes, and so you do not fear me?

¹²I will concede your righteousness and your works, but they will not help you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in me shall possess the land and inherit my holy mountain.

¹⁴It shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”

¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶For I will not continually accuse, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirits would grow faint before me, even the souls that I have made.

¹⁷Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry; I struck them, I hid and was angry; but they kept turning back to their own ways.

¹⁸I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will lead them and repay them with comfort, creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.

¹⁹Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them.

²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still; its waters toss up mire and mud.

²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

¹In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning

²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me;

⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.

¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

¹⁴All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said,

¹⁶“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus —

¹⁷for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

¹⁹This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us — one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

²³So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen

²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.