Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then their whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

³So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”

⁴Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for charging this man.”

⁵But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he started even to here.”

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean.

⁷Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle performed by him.

⁹So he kept asking him questions, but Jesus did not answer him.

¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

¹¹Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That very day Herod and Pilate became friends. Previously, they had been enemies.

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, “You have brought me this man as one who misleads the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of.

¹⁵Neither has Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has done nothing to deserve death.

¹⁶Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then they all cried out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas to us!”

¹⁹(He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,

²¹but they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

²²A third time he said to them, “Why? What has this man done wrong? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”

²³But they kept up the pressure, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified, and their voices won out.

²⁴So Pilate decided to grant their demand

²⁵and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him.

²⁸But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.

²⁹Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us! ’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’

³¹For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two others — criminals  — were also led away to be executed with him.

³³When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

³⁵The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine

³⁷and said, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸An inscription was above him: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁹Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?

⁴¹We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

⁴⁴It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three,

⁴⁵because the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.

⁴⁶And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous!”

⁴⁸All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests.

⁴⁹But all who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin,

⁵¹who had not agreed with their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

⁵²He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body.

⁵³Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

⁵⁴It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed.

⁵⁶Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

¹The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the LORD’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the LORD?”

³But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”

⁵The LORD answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go.

⁶I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

⁸At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel.

⁹Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

¹²When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴The LORD then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it, “The LORD Is My Banner.”

¹⁶He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the LORD’s throne. The LORD will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

¹For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.

²For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment,

³how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

⁴At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

⁵For he has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.

⁶But someone somewhere has testified: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him?

⁷You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor

⁸and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.

⁹But we do see Jesus —  made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone —  crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

¹⁰For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God — for whom and through whom all things exist — should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

¹¹For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

¹²saying: I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will sing hymns to you in the congregation.

¹³Again, I will trust in him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave me.

¹⁴Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the devil  —

¹⁵and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.

¹⁶For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring.

¹⁷Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

¹⁸For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

¹Call out! Will anyone answer you? Which of the holy ones will you turn to?

²For anger kills a fool, and jealousy slays the gullible.

³I have seen a fool taking root, but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

⁴His children are far from safety. They are crushed at the city gate, with no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest, even taking it out of the thorns. The thirsty pant for his children’s wealth.

⁶For distress does not grow out of the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

⁷But humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and would present my case to him.

⁹He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth and sends water to the fields.

¹¹He sets the lowly on high, and mourners are lifted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the crafty so that they achieve no success.

¹³He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly brought to an end.

¹⁴They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night.

¹⁵He saves the needy from their sharp words and from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷See how happy is the person whom God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death, and in battle, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be safe from slander and not fear destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger and not fear the land’s wild creatures.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure, and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

²⁵You will also know that your offspring will be many and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will approach the grave in full vigor, as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.

²⁷We have investigated this, and it is true! Hear it and understand it for yourself.

¹For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A psalm. A song. [1] May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us Selah

²so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

³Let the peoples praise you, God; let all the peoples praise you.

⁴Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, for you judge the peoples with fairness and lead the nations on earth. Selah

⁵Let the peoples praise you, God, let all the peoples praise you.

⁶The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

⁷God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding

²so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

³Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

⁴in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

⁶She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

⁷So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

⁹Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;

¹⁰strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

¹¹At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,

¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.

¹³I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors.

¹⁴I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs flow in the streets, streams in the public squares?

¹⁷They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving deer, a graceful doe  — let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.

²⁰Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman?

²¹For a man’s ways are before the LORD’s eyes, and he considers all his paths.

²²A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.

²³He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.

¹When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself.

²Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.

³Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself.

⁴Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

⁵David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.

⁶As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments.

⁷As they danced, the women sang: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.

⁸Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?”

⁹So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

¹⁰The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear,

¹¹and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

¹²Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul.

¹³Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops

¹⁴and continued to be successful in all his activities because the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.

¹⁷Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife, if you will be a warrior for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I don’t need to raise a hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

¹⁹When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

²¹“I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”

²²Saul then ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and tell him, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.’”

²³Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor commoner.”

²⁴The servants reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”

²⁵Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

²⁶When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

²⁷David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.

²⁸Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him,

²⁹and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.

³⁰Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.

¹The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

²The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

³It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

⁴The word of the LORD came to me:

⁵I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

⁶But I protested, “Oh no, Lord GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

⁷Then the LORD said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.

⁸Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁹Then the LORD reached out his hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with my words.

¹⁰See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

¹¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

¹²The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over my word to accomplish it.”

¹³Again the word of the LORD came to me asking, “What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a boiling pot, its lip tilted from the north to the south.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster will be poured out from the north on all who live in the land.

¹⁵Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north.” This is the LORD’s declaration. They will come, and each king will set up his throne at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.

¹⁶“I will pronounce my judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

¹⁷“Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them.

¹⁸Today, I am the one who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.

¹⁹They will fight against you but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

²When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him,

³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴Peter began to explain to them step by step:

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

⁶When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

⁷I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸“‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

¹⁰“Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house.

¹³He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

¹⁴He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

¹⁸When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,

²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

³⁰They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.