Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor.

²They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”

³So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

⁴Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!”

⁵Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes — all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”

⁶“Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked.

⁷When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.

⁸Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle.

⁹He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer.

¹⁰Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations.

¹¹Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²(Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day.)

¹³Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people,

¹⁴and he announced his verdict. “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent.

¹⁵Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty.

¹⁶So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd, and with one voice they shouted, “Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!”

¹⁹(Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate argued with them, because he wanted to release Jesus.

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

²²For the third time he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”

²³But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed.

²⁴So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded.

²⁵As they had requested, he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished.

²⁶As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women.

²⁸But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’

³⁰People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’

³¹For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? ”

³²Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.

³³When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified — one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

³⁵The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.

³⁷They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself — and us, too, while you’re at it!”

⁴⁰But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?

⁴¹We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”

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

⁴³And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

⁴⁴By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.

⁴⁵The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.

⁴⁶Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent. ”

⁴⁸And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.

⁴⁹But Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching.

⁵⁰Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph. He was a member of the Jewish high council,

⁵¹but he had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other religious leaders. He was from the town of Arimathea in Judea, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.

⁵²He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

⁵³Then he took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock.

⁵⁴This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation, as the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed.

⁵⁶Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body. But by the time they were finished the Sabbath had begun, so they rested as required by the law.

¹At the LORD’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink.

²So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded. “Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the LORD?”

³But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”

⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you.

⁶I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.

⁷Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD here with us or not?”

⁸While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them.

⁹Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill.

¹¹As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage.

¹²Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset.

¹³As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.

¹⁴After the victory, the LORD instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh-Nissi (which means “the LORD is my banner”).

¹⁶He said, “They have raised their fist against the LORD’s throne, so now the LORD will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.”

¹So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.

²For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.

³So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?

⁴And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.

⁵And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about.

⁶For in one place the Scriptures say, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him?

⁷Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁸You gave them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.

⁹What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.

¹⁰God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

¹¹So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

¹²For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.”

¹³He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴Because God’s children are human beings — made of flesh and blood — the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

¹⁵Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

¹⁶We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham.

¹⁷Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.

¹⁸Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

¹“Cry for help, but will anyone answer you? Which of the angels will help you?

²Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.

³I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment, but then comes sudden disaster.

⁴Their children are abandoned far from help; they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.

⁵The hungry devour their harvest, even when it is guarded by brambles. The thirsty pant after their wealth.

⁶But evil does not spring from the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the earth.

⁷People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.

⁸“If I were you, I would go to God and present my case to him.

⁹He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.

¹⁰He gives rain for the earth and water for the fields.

¹¹He gives prosperity to the poor and protects those who suffer.

¹²He frustrates the plans of schemers so the work of their hands will not succeed.

¹³He traps the wise in their own cleverness so their cunning schemes are thwarted.

¹⁴They find it is dark in the daytime, and they grope at noon as if it were night.

¹⁵He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong, and rescues them from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶And so at last the poor have hope, and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.

¹⁷“But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.

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

¹⁹From six disasters he will rescue you; even in the seventh, he will keep you from evil.

²⁰He will save you from death in time of famine, from the power of the sword in time of war.

²¹You will be safe from slander and have no fear when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine; wild animals will not terrify you.

²³You will be at peace with the stones of the field, and its wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your home is safe. When you survey your possessions, nothing will be missing.

²⁵You will have many children; your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!

²⁶You will go to the grave at a ripe old age, like a sheaf of grain harvested at the proper time!

²⁷“We have studied life and found all this to be true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.”

¹May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. Interlude

²May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.

³May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you.

⁴Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world. Interlude

⁵May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you.

⁶Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us.

⁷Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.

²Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned.

³For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.

⁶For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

⁷So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say:

⁸Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house!

⁹If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.

¹⁰Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.

¹¹In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.

¹²You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!

¹³Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own well — share your love only with your wife.

¹⁶Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?

¹⁷You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers.

¹⁸Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.

²⁰Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?

²¹For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.

²²An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.

²³He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.

¹After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king’s son. There was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David.

²From that day on Saul kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home.

³And Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, because he loved him as he loved himself.

⁴Jonathan sealed the pact by taking off his robe and giving it to David, together with his tunic, sword, bow, and belt.

⁵Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike.

⁶When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals.

⁷This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”

⁸This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!”

⁹So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

¹⁰The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand,

¹¹and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.

¹²Saul was then afraid of David, for the LORD was with David and had turned away from Saul.

¹³Finally, Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over 1,000 men, and David faithfully led his troops into battle.

¹⁴David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.

¹⁷One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my older daughter, Merab, as your wife. But first you must prove yourself to be a real warrior by fighting the LORD’s battles.” For Saul thought, “I’ll send him out against the Philistines and let them kill him rather than doing it myself.”

¹⁸“Who am I, and what is my family in Israel that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” David exclaimed. “My father’s family is nothing!”

¹⁹So when the time came for Saul to give his daughter Merab in marriage to David, he gave her instead to Adriel, a man from Meholah.

²⁰In the meantime, Saul’s daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it.

²¹“Here’s another chance to see him killed by the Philistines!” Saul said to himself. But to David he said, “Today you have a second chance to become my son-in-law!”

²²Then Saul told his men to say to David, “The king really likes you, and so do we. Why don’t you accept the king’s offer and become his son-in-law?”

²³When Saul’s men said these things to David, he replied, “How can a poor man from a humble family afford the bride price for the daughter of a king?”

²⁴When Saul’s men reported this back to the king,

²⁵he told them, “Tell David that all I want for the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins! Vengeance on my enemies is all I really want.” But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight.

²⁶David was delighted to accept the offer. Before the time limit expired,

²⁷he and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. Then David fulfilled the king’s requirement by presenting all their foreskins to him. So Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to be his wife.

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

²⁹Saul became even more afraid of him, and he remained David’s enemy for the rest of his life.

³⁰Every time the commanders of the Philistines attacked, David was more successful against them than all the rest of Saul’s officers. So David’s name became very famous.

¹These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

²The LORD first gave messages to Jeremiah during the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

³The LORD’s messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons. In August of that eleventh year the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

⁴The LORD gave me this message:

⁵“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

⁶“O Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

⁷The LORD replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.

⁸And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

⁹Then the LORD reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!

¹⁰Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”

¹²And the LORD said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”

¹³Then the LORD spoke to me again and asked, “What do you see now?” And I replied, “I see a pot of boiling water, spilling from the north.”

¹⁴“Yes,” the LORD said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.

¹⁵Listen! I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem. I, the LORD, have spoken! “They will set their thrones at the gates of the city. They will attack its walls and all the other towns of Judah.

¹⁶I will pronounce judgment on my people for all their evil — for deserting me and burning incense to other gods. Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands!

¹⁷“Get up and prepare for action. Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them.

¹⁸For see, today I have made you strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land — the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.

¹⁹They will fight you, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

²But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.

³“You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

⁴Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

⁵“I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

⁶When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds.

⁷And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

⁸“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. ’

⁹“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

¹⁰This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

¹¹“Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

¹²The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us.

¹³He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

¹⁴He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

¹⁵“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

¹⁹Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

²⁰However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

²¹The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

²²When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.

²⁶When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

²⁷During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.

²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

²⁹So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

³⁰This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.