M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 3

¹ Now these are the nations that the Lord left to put Israel to the test through them (that is, all of those who had not experienced the wars in Canaan). ² This was so that the descendants of the Israelites might learn about war, for up to that time they had not yet experienced it. ³ They were the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who were living in the mountains of Lebanon between Mount Baal-hermon and Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were left there to put Israel to the test to see whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord that the Lord had given them through Moses.

⁵ The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶ They took their daughters to be their wives, they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

The Period of the Judges

Othniel’s Conquest.^{[a] 7} The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord, their God, and serving the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸ The anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel, so he sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, the king of Aram-naharaim.^[b] The Israelites were subjected to Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. ⁹ When the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent the Israelites a liberator. It was Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, and he delivered them. ¹⁰ The Spirit of the Lord^[c] came upon him, and he became a judge of Israel. He went to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim, the king of Aram-naharaim, into his hands. His hand overpowered Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹ The land was at peace for forty years, and then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

¹² Ehud’s Victory. The Israelites once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Because of the evil they had done in the sight of the Lord, the Lord gave Eglon, the king of Moab, power over Israel. ¹³ He joined up with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and they went and attacked Israel, conquering the City of Palms. ¹⁴ The Israelites were subjects of Eglon, the king of Moab, for eighteen years.

¹⁵ The Israelites cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a liberator for them. He was Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.^[d] The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon, the king of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud had made a double-edged sword that was one foot^[e] long, and he strapped it on under his clothing on his right thigh. ¹⁷ He brought the tribute to Eglon. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ When he had received the tribute, he dismissed the people who were carrying the tribute. ¹⁹ At the idols of Gilgal, he turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” He said, “Be quiet,” until all his attendants left him. ²⁰ Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” As he got out of his seat, ²¹ Ehud reached in with his left hand, drew the sword out from his right thigh, and stuck it into his stomach. ²² It went in so far that even the handle of the sword was covered over by fat, and he could not draw the sword out from his stomach. In fact, excrement came out.

²³ When Ehud went out onto the porch, he shut and locked the doors to the upper room behind himself. ²⁴ When he left, the servants came back. They saw that the doors to the upper room were locked, and they said, “He must be relieving himself in the summer chamber.” ²⁵ They waited so long that they became anxious, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. They took a key and opened it, and they found their lord dead on the ground.

²⁶ While they were waiting, Ehud was able to escape. Passing beyond the idols, he hurried to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country of Ephraim, and he stood in front of them. ²⁸ He said, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands.” They followed him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and they did not let anyone cross over. ²⁹ They slew around ten thousand of the Moabites that day, all of them robust and courageous warriors, and not one of them escaped. ³⁰ Moab was vanquished that day under the hand of Israel, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.

³¹ Deliverance by Shamgar. He was succeeded by Shamgar,^[f] the son of Anath. He killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad, and he delivered Israel.

Chapter 7

Stephen’s Discourse. ¹ Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things true?” ² He replied, “Brethren and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’

⁴ “Therefore, he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And after his father died, God led him to the land where you now dwell. ⁵ He did not give him any of this land as a heritage, not even as little as a foot, but he promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

⁶ “This is what God said: ‘His descendants will reside in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. ⁷ But I will bring judgment on the nation that enslaved them,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so, when he became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day, as Isaac did for Jacob, and Jacob did for the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and they sold him into Egypt, but God was with him ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions. He gave Joseph wisdom and the favor of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who appointed him governor of Egypt and his entire household.

¹¹ “Then a severe famine struck all of Egypt and Canaan, causing severe affliction, and our ancestors could find no food. ¹² However, when Jacob learned that there was grain available in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. ¹³ During their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and his ancestry became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his entire family, seventy-five people in all.

¹⁵ “Jacob migrated to Egypt, and after he and our ancestors had died there, ¹⁶ they were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money.

¹⁷ “When the time of the promise that God had pledged to Abraham drew near, our people in Egypt had greatly increased in number. ¹⁸ Then a new king came to power who had never heard of Joseph. ¹⁹ He dealt treacherously with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they could not survive.

²⁰ “It was at this time that Moses was born, who was pleasing to God. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house, ²¹ but after he had been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in word and in deed.

²³ “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow countrymen, the children of Israel. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being maltreated, he went to his aid and avenged the victim by slaying the Egyptian. ²⁵ He thought that his brethren would realize that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

²⁶ “The next day, he came upon two of them fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren! Why are you trying to hurt one another?’ ²⁷ But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? ²⁸ Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ Moses fled when he heard this, and he dwelt as an alien in Midian and became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed, and as he approached to examine it, the voice of the Lord said to him, ³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’

“Moses was terrified and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their sighs, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come! I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected by saying ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge?’ God now sent forth as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. ³⁷ It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you, from your own people, a prophet like me.’ ³⁸ It was he who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and who received words of life to hand on to us.

³⁹ “This is the man whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us on the way. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

⁴¹ “It was then that they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced over the work of their hands. ⁴² So God turned away from them and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

⁴⁴ “While they were in the desert, our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony, as God commanded when he directed Moses to make it according to the pattern he had been shown. ⁴⁵ Our ancestors with Joshua brought it with them when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. It remained there until the time of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor with God and desired to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷ “However, it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands. As the prophet says,

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. ⁵² Was there ever a prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. ⁵³ You received the Law through God’s angels, and yet you have not observed it.”

⁵⁴ Stephen’s Martyrdom. When they heard this, they became enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ⁵⁶ “Look!” he cried. “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ On hearing these words, they covered their ears, cried out loudly, and rushed en masse against him. ⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.^[a]

⁵⁹ While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed aloud, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out in a clear voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And with these words he fell asleep.

Chapter 16^[a]

Warning to Jeremiah. ¹ The following word of the Lord then came to me: ² You shall not take to yourself a wife or have sons and daughters in this place. ³ For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and about the mothers who give birth to them and the fathers who beget them in this land: ⁴ They shall perish from deadly diseases. Unlamented and unburied, they will be like dung spread over the ground. They will perish by sword and by famine, and their corpses will serve as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

⁵ The Lord then continued: Do not enter a house of mourning; do not go there to lament or offer words of comfort. For I have withdrawn my blessing from this people, says the Lord, as well as my love and my mercy. ⁶ Both the powerful and the lowly will perish in this land, without burial or lamentation. There will be no gashing or shaving of the head for them. ^7 [b]No one is to break bread with the mourners to comfort them in their bereavement or offer them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or mother.

⁸ Nor are you to enter a house where people are feasting and sit with them to eat and drink. ⁹ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: In your lifetime, and before your very eyes, I will banish from this place the cries of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride.

¹⁰ When you relate all these words to the people, they will ask you, “Why has the Lord decreed that all these evils are to befall us? What evil have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord, our God?” ¹¹ Then you will give them this answer: This will occur because your ancestors abandoned me, says the Lord, and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. ¹² And you have behaved even more wickedly than your ancestors. For each one of you stubbornly follows his own wicked inclinations and refuses to listen to me. ¹³ Therefore, I will cast you out of this land into a land that is completely unknown to you or your ancestors. There you can serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no further favor.

¹⁴ The Israelites Return. However, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt,” ¹⁵ but rather, “As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.

¹⁶ Twice the Punishment. Now I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will catch them. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down from every mountain and every hill, and from the crevices of the rocks. ¹⁷ For my eyes are focused on all their ways: they are not hidden from my sight, nor does their iniquity escape my gaze. ¹⁸ And I will doubly repay them for their iniquity and their sin, since they have polluted my land with their detestable idols and filled my heritage with their abominations.

The People’s Conversion

First Oppositions^[a]

Chapter 2

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man. ¹ When Jesus returned some days later to Capernaum, the word quickly spread that he was at home. ² Such large multitudes gathered there that no longer was any space available, even in front of the door, and he was preaching the word to them.

³ Some people arrived, bringing to him a man who was paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ Since they were unable to bring him near Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above him and then lowered the bed on which the paralyzed man was lying.

⁵ On perceiving their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ Now some scribes^[b] were sitting there, thinking to themselves: ⁷ “How can this man say such things? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Jesus was able immediately to discern in his spirit what they were thinking, and he asked, “Why do you entertain such thoughts in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say: ‘Stand up, take your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may come to realize that the Son of Man^[c] has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man— ¹¹ “I say to you, stand up, take your bed, and go to your home.” ¹² The man stood up, immediately picked up his bed, and went off in full view of all of them. The onlookers were all astonished and they glorified God, saying, “We have never before witnessed anything like this.”

¹³ Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew). Once again Jesus went out to the shore of the lake,^[d] and as a large crowd came to him, he taught them. ¹⁴ As he was walking along, he saw Levi^[e] the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

¹⁵ Jesus Eats with Sinners. When he was sitting at dinner in his^[f] house, many tax collectors and sinners were seated with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed Jesus. ¹⁶ Some scribes who were Pharisees noticed that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors, and they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ When Jesus overheard this remark, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but rather those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

¹⁸ A Time of Joy and Grace.^[g] John’s disciples and the Pharisees were observing a fast. Some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why do John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not do so?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then on that day they will fast.^[h]

²¹ “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² Nor does anyone pour new wine^[i] into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and then the wine and the skins are both lost. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

²³ Picking Grain on the Sabbath.^[j] One day, as Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to pick some heads of grain as they walked along. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why are your disciples doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? ²⁶ He entered the house of God when Abiathar^[k] was high priest and ate the sacred bread that only the priests were permitted to eat, and he shared it with his companions.” ²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.^{[l] 28} That is why the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”