Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

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

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.”

⁵But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.”

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

⁷And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.

⁹He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer.

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

¹¹Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

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

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

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

¹⁶I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”

¹⁷

¹⁸Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!”

¹⁹(This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again;

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

²²A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.”

²³But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.

²⁴So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.

²⁵He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

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

²⁹For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and 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 this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴[33] [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,

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

³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

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

⁴³He replied, “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 in the afternoon,

⁴⁵while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

⁴⁶Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

⁴⁸And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.

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

⁵⁰Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council,

⁵¹had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.

⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid.

⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

⁵⁶Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

¹From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

²The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”

³But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”

⁴So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

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

⁶I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

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

⁸Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.

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

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

¹¹Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.

¹²But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set.

¹³And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and called it, The LORD is my banner.

¹⁶He said, “A hand upon the banner of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

¹Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

²For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty,

³how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him,

⁴while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

⁵Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.

⁶But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?

⁷You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,

⁸subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,

⁹but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

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

¹²saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

¹³And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”

¹⁴Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

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

¹⁶For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.

¹⁷Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

¹⁸Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

¹“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

²Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.

³I have seen fools taking root, but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.

⁴Their children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

⁵The hungry eat their harvest, and they take it even out of the thorns; and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

⁶For misery does not come from the earth, nor does trouble sprout from the ground;

⁷but human beings are born to trouble just as sparks fly upward.

⁸“As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause.

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

¹⁰He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields;

¹¹he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth, from the hand of the mighty.

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

¹⁷“How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds, but he binds up; he strikes, but his hands heal.

¹⁹He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you.

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

²¹You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

²²At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.

²³For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.

²⁴You shall know that your tent is safe, you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

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

²⁶You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.

²⁷See, we have searched this out; it is true. Hear, and know it for yourself.”

¹May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

²that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.

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

⁴Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

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

⁶The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.

⁷May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.

¹My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

²so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.

³For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;

⁴but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.

⁶She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And now, my child, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house;

⁹or you will give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless,

¹⁰and strangers will take their fill of your wealth, and your labors will go to the house of an alien;

¹¹and at the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

¹²and you say, “Oh, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

¹⁴Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly.”

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

¹⁶Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, and not for sharing with strangers.

¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

¹⁹a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love.

²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

²¹For human ways are under the eyes of the LORD, and he examines all their paths.

²²The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin.

²³They die for lack of discipline, and because of their great folly they are lost.

¹When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

²Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.

⁴Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

⁵David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over the army. And all the people, even the servants of Saul, approved.

⁶As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.

⁷And the women sang to one another as they made merry, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

⁸Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?”

⁹So Saul eyed David from that day on.

¹⁰The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand;

¹¹and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

¹²Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.

¹³So Saul removed him from his presence, and made him a commander of a thousand; and David marched out and came in, leading the army.

¹⁴David had success in all his undertakings; for the LORD was with him.

¹⁵When Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in awe of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David; for it was he who marched out and came in leading them.

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” For Saul thought, “I will not raise a hand against him; let the Philistines deal with him.”

¹⁸David said to Saul, “Who am I and who are my kinsfolk, my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

¹⁹But at the time when Saul’s daughter Merab should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. Saul was told, and the thing pleased him.

²¹Saul thought, “Let me give her to him that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.”

²²Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘See, the king is delighted with you, and all his servants love you; now then, become the king’s son-in-law.’”

²³So Saul’s servants reported these words to David in private. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and of no repute?”

²⁴The servants of Saul told him, “This is what David said.”

²⁵Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no marriage present except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged on the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul planned to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶When his servants told David these words, David was well pleased to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired,

²⁷David rose and went, along with his men, and killed one hundred of the Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife.

²⁸But when Saul realized that the LORD was with David, and that Saul’s daughter Michal loved him,

²⁹Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy from that time forward.

³⁰Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle; and as often as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his fame became very great.

¹The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

²to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³It came also in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”

⁷But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.

⁸Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, — says the LORD.”

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

¹¹The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

¹²Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me: Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them.

¹⁸And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,

³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.

⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.

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

⁸But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

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

¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

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

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;

¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

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

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

¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

¹⁹Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews.

²⁰But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord.

²²News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion;

²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷At that time 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 over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius.

²⁹The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea;

³⁰this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.