Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

John 17; Exodus 35; Romans 7; Titus 2; Job 23; Psalms 85; Proverbs 23; 2 Samuel 5; Jeremiah 19; Acts 1

John 17

1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

3Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

4I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

6“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—

23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Exodus 35

1Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do:

2For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.

3Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

4Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the LORD has commanded:

5From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze;

6blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;

7ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood;

8olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

9and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

10“All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded:

11the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases;

12the ark with its poles and the atonement cover and the curtain that shields it;

13the table with its poles and all its articles and the bread of the Presence;

14the lampstand that is for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light;

15the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle;

16the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the bronze basin with its stand;

17the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard;

18the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, and their ropes;

19the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary—both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests.”

20Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence,

21and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.

22All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.

23Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or the other durable leather brought them.

24Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the LORD, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it.

25Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen.

26And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair.

27The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

28They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense.

29All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.

30Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

31and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—

32to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,

33to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.

34And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.

35He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.

Romans 7

1Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?

2For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.

3So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

5For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

7What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Titus 2

1You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.

2Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

4Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,

5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness

8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

9Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them,

10and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

11For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

13while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

15These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Job 23

1Then Job replied:

2“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

3If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!

4I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

5I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me.

6Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me.

7There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.

9When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

10But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

11My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

12I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

13“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

14He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.

15That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.

16God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

17Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Psalms 85

1For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. You, LORD, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

2You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.

3You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.

4Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.

5Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

6Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

7Show us your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.

8I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.

9Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

10Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

11Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

12The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.

13Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Proverbs 23

1When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you,

2and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

3Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

4Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.

5Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

6Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;

7for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.

9Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.

10Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

11for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.

12Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

13Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.

14Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

15My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed;

16my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.

18There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

19Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path:

20Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,

21for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

22Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well.

24The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.

25May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!

26My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,

27for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

28Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

31Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

32In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

33Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

35“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

2 Samuel 5

1All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.

2In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’ ”

3When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.

4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

6The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.”

7Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.

8On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies.” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.”

9David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward.

10And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.

11Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.

12Then David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

13After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

14These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

16Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

17When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold.

18Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;

19so David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?” The LORD answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.”

20So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.” So that place was called Baal Perazim.

21The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.

22Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;

23so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees.

24As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”

25So David did as the LORD commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

Jeremiah 19

1This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests

2and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,

3and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

4For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

5They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

6So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7“ ‘In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals.

8I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.

9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

10“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching,

11and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

12This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.

13The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ”

14Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD’s temple and said to all the people,

15“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’ ”

Acts 1

1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

3After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

12Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.

13When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

16and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

17He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

18(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.

19Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’

21Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us,

22beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.

24Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

25to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”

26Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.