Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

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

²Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

³When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.

⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom

¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

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

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

¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

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

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”

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

²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”

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

²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

²³When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.

²⁴But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people

²⁵and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

¹Then God spoke all these words:

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

³you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³You shall not murder.

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵You shall not steal.

¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

¹⁸When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance,

¹⁹and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

²¹Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

²²The LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the Israelites: “You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven.

²³You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

²⁴You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it.

²⁶You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.”

¹Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness;

³and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people.

⁴And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;

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

⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

⁸Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;

⁹and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

¹⁰having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding.

¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food;

¹³for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

²“How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

⁴If your children sinned against him, he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

⁵If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty,

⁶if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore to you your rightful place.

⁷Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.

⁸“For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found;

⁹for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?

¹¹“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

¹²While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.

¹³Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.

¹⁴Their confidence is gossamer, a spider’s house their trust.

¹⁵If one leans against its house, it will not stand; if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.

¹⁶The wicked thrive before the sun, and their shoots spread over the garden.

¹⁷Their roots twine around the stoneheap; they live among the rocks.

¹⁸If they are destroyed from their place, then it will deny them, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

¹⁹See, these are their happy ways, and out of the earth still others will spring.

²⁰“See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

¹Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O LORD, make haste to help me!

²Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me.

³Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame.

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

⁵But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!

¹Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:

⁴“To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.

⁵O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it.

⁶Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right;

⁷for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

⁹They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;

¹¹for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

¹²I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

¹⁴I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;

¹⁶by me rulers rule, and nobles, all who govern rightly.

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

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

²¹endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.

²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth —

²⁶when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

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

³³Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.

³⁴Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD;

³⁶but those who miss me injure themselves; all who hate me love death.”

¹David came to Nob to the priest Ahimelech. Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”

²David said to the priest Ahimelech, “The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, ‘No one must know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place.

³Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”

⁴The priest answered David, “I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread — provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

⁵David answered the priest, “Indeed women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?”

⁶So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no spear or sword here with you? I did not bring my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

⁹The priest said, “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 will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath.

¹¹The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”

¹²David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath.

¹³So he changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard.

¹⁴Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me?

¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

¹If you return, O Israel, — says the LORD, if you return to me, if you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver,

²and if you swear, “As the LORD lives!” in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall be blessed by him, and by him they shall boast.

³For thus says the LORD to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

⁵Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpet through the land; shout aloud and say, “Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities!”

⁶Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, do not delay, for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great destruction.

⁷A lion has gone up from its thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.

⁸Because of this put on sackcloth, lament and wail: “The fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”

⁹On that day, says the LORD, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.

¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ even while the sword is at the throat!”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse —

¹²a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

¹³Look! He comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles — woe to us, for we are ruined!

¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you may be saved. How long shall your evil schemes lodge within you?

¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.

¹⁶Tell the nations, “Here they are!” Proclaim against Jerusalem, “Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷They have closed in around her like watchers of a field, because she has rebelled against me, — says the LORD.

¹⁸Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom; how bitter it is! It has reached your very heart.”

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

²⁰Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.”

²³I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

²⁵I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.

²⁶I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.

²⁹At the noise of horseman and archer every town takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the towns are forsaken, and no one lives in them.

³⁰And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in crimson, that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

³¹For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one bringing forth her first child, the cry of daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, “Woe is me! I am fainting before killers!”

¹The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.

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

³So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them.

⁴But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

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

⁶the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country;

⁷and there they continued proclaiming the good news.

⁸In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been crippled from birth.

⁹He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man sprang up and began to walk.

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

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

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,

¹⁵“Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways;

¹⁷yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good — giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

²⁰But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

²¹After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch.

²²There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”

²³And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

²⁴Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵When 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 that they had completed.

²⁷When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.

²⁸And they stayed there with the disciples for some time.