Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and

²Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well.

³When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.”

⁴“What does that have to do with you and me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵“Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants.

⁶Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons.

⁷“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim.

⁸Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.” And they did.

⁹When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from — though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom

¹⁰and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”

¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

¹²After this, he went down to Capernaum, together with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

¹³The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there.

¹⁵After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables.

¹⁶He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

¹⁷And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me.

¹⁸So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

²⁰Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?”

²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

²²So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

²³While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

²⁴Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all

²⁵and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

¹Then God spoke all these words:

²I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

³Do not have other gods besides me.

⁴Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

⁵Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

⁶but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

⁷Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

⁹You are to labor six days and do all your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

¹¹For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

¹²Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³Do not murder.

¹⁴Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵Do not steal.

¹⁶Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance.

¹⁹“You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.”

²¹And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

²²Then the LORD told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

²³Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves.

²⁴“Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered.

²⁵If you make a stone altar for me, do not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it.

²⁶Do not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.

¹For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness.

³Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.

⁴No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father,

⁶also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

⁷During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

⁸Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

⁹After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

¹⁰and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.

¹²Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.

¹³Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature — for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²How long will you go on saying these things? Your words are a blast of wind.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴Since your children sinned against him, he gave them over to their rebellion.

⁵But if you earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

⁶if you are pure and upright, then he will move even now on your behalf and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.

⁷Then, even if your beginnings were modest, your final days will be full of prosperity.

⁸For ask the previous generation, and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,

⁹since we were born only yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and speak from their understanding?

¹¹Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

¹²While still uncut shoots, they would dry up quicker than any other plant.

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish.

¹⁴His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

¹⁶He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine; his shoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks. He looks for a home among the stones.

¹⁸If he is uprooted from his place, it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”

¹⁹Surely this is the joy of his way of life; yet others will sprout from the dust.

²⁰Look, God does not reject a person of integrity, and he will not support evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy.

²²Your enemies will be clothed with shame; the tent of the wicked will no longer exist.

¹For the choir director. Of David. To bring remembrance. [1] God, hurry to rescue me. LORD, hurry to help me!

²Let those who seek to kill me be disgraced and confounded; let those who wish me harm be turned back and humiliated.

³Let those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame.

⁴Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation continually say, “God is great!”

⁵I am oppressed and needy; hurry to me, God. You are my help and my deliverer; LORD, do not delay.

¹Doesn’t wisdom call out? Doesn’t understanding make her voice heard?

²At the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.

³Beside the gates leading into the city, at the main entrance, she cries out:

⁴“People, I call out to you; my cry is to the children of Adam.

⁵Learn to be shrewd, you who are inexperienced; develop common sense, you who are foolish.

⁶Listen, for I speak of noble things, and what my lips say is right.

⁷For my mouth tells the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

⁸All the words from my mouth are righteous; none of them are deceptive or perverse.

⁹All of them are clear to the perceptive, and right to those who discover knowledge.

¹⁰Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can equal it.

¹²I, wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion.

¹³To fear the LORD is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁴I possess good advice and sound wisdom; I have understanding and strength.

¹⁵It is by me that kings reign and rulers enact just law;

¹⁶by me, princes lead, as do nobles and all righteous judges.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who search for me find me.

¹⁸With me are riches and honor, lasting wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than solid gold, and my harvest than pure silver.

²⁰I walk in the ways of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

²¹giving wealth as an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²“The LORD acquired me at the beginning of his creation, before his works of long ago.

²³I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began.

²⁴I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were established, prior to the hills, I was given birth —

²⁶before he made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth.

²⁷I was there when he established the heavens, when he laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,

²⁸when he placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out,

²⁹when he set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate his command, when he laid out the foundations of the earth.

³⁰I was a skilled craftsman beside him. I was his delight every day, always rejoicing before him.

³¹I was rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the children of Adam.

³²“And now, sons, listen to me; those who keep my ways are happy.

³³Listen to instruction and be wise; don’t ignore it.

³⁴Anyone who listens to me is happy, watching at my doors every day, waiting by the posts of my doorway.

³⁵For the one who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,

³⁶but the one who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

¹David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

²David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place.

³Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”

⁴The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”

⁵David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. The young men’s bodies are consecrated even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.”

⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the LORD. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.

⁷One of Saul’s servants, detained before the LORD, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”

⁹The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.” “There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”

¹⁰David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.

¹¹But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?”

¹²David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,

¹³so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the city gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴“Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me?

¹⁵Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”

¹If you return, Israel — this is the LORD’s declaration — you will return to me, if you remove your abhorrent idols from my presence and do not waver,

²then you can swear, “As the LORD lives,” in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by him and will pride themselves in him.

³For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up the unplowed ground; do not sow among the thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of your evil deeds.

⁵Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry out loudly and say: Assemble yourselves, and let’s flee to the fortified cities.

⁶Lift up a signal flag toward Zion. Run for cover! Don’t stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north — a crushing blow.

⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to make your land a waste. Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

⁸Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the LORD’s burning anger has not turned away from us.

⁹“On that day” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”

¹⁰I said, “Oh no, Lord GOD, you have certainly deceived this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

¹¹“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;

¹²a wind too strong for this comes at my call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”

¹³Look, he advances like clouds; his chariots are like a storm. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

¹⁴Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem, so that you will be delivered. How long will you harbor malicious thoughts?

¹⁵For a voice announces from Dan, proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.

¹⁶Warn the nations: Look! Proclaim to Jerusalem: Those who besiege are coming from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷They have her surrounded like those who guard a field, because she has rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸Your way and your actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. It is very bitter, because it has reached your heart!

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony! Oh, the pain in my heart! My heart pounds; I cannot be silent. For you, my soul, have heard the sound of the ram’s horn — the shout of battle.

²⁰Disaster after disaster is reported because the whole land is destroyed. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains, in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?

²²“For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good.”

²³I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty. I looked to the heavens, and their light was gone.

²⁴I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills shook.

²⁵I looked, and there was no human being, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

²⁶I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness. All its cities were torn down because of the LORD and his burning anger.

²⁷For this is what the LORD says: The whole land will be a desolation, but I will not finish it off.

²⁸Because of this, the earth will mourn; the skies above will grow dark. I have spoken; I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.

²⁹Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and the archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

³⁰And you, devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enhance your eyes with makeup? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they intend to take your life.

³¹I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers!”

¹In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

⁶they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside.

⁷There they continued preaching the gospel.

⁸In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

⁹He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And he jumped up and began to walk around.

¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

¹⁵“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way,

¹⁷although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.