M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

16 And Sarai, Abram's wife, hath not borne to him, and she hath an handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name [is] Hagar;

² and Sarai saith unto Abram, `Lo, I pray thee, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing, go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; perhaps I am built up from her;' and Abram hearkeneth to the voice of Sarai.

³ And Sarai, Abram's wife, taketh Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of the tenth year of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and giveth her to Abram her husband, to him for a wife,

⁴ and he goeth in unto Hagar, and she conceiveth, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and her mistress is lightly esteemed in her eyes.

⁵ And Sarai saith unto Abram, `My violence [is] for thee; I -- I have given mine handmaid into thy bosom, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; Jehovah doth judge between me and thee.'

⁶ And Abram saith unto Sarai, `Lo, thine handmaid [is] in thine hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes;' and Sarai afflicted her, and she fleeth from her presence.

⁷ And a messenger of Jehovah findeth her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way [to] Shur,

⁸ and he saith, `Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence hast thou come, and whither dost thou go?' and she saith, `From the presence of Sarai, my mistress, I am fleeing.'

⁹ And the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Turn back unto thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hands;'

¹⁰ and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Multiplying I multiply thy seed, and it is not numbered from multitude;'

¹¹ and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Behold thou [art] conceiving, and bearing a son, and hast called his name Ishmael, for Jehovah hath hearkened unto thine affliction;

¹² and he is a wild-ass man, his hand against every one, and every one's hand against him -- and before the face of all his brethren he dwelleth.'

¹³ And she calleth the name of Jehovah who is speaking unto her, `Thou [art], O God, my beholder;' for she said, `Even here have I looked behind my beholder?'

¹⁴ therefore hath one called the well, `The well of the Living One, my beholder;' lo, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ And Hagar beareth to Abram a son; and Abram calleth the name of his son, whom Hagar hath borne, Ishmael;

¹⁶ and Abram [is] a son of eighty and six years in Hagar's bearing Ishmael to Abram.

15 Then come unto Jesus do they from Jerusalem -- scribes and Pharisees -- saying,

² `Wherefore do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they do not wash their hands when they may eat bread.'

³ And he answering said to them, `Wherefore also do ye transgress the command of God because of your tradition?

⁴ for God did command, saying, Honour thy father and mother; and, He who is speaking evil of father or mother -- let him die the death;

⁵ but ye say, Whoever may say to father or mother, An offering [is] whatever thou mayest be profited by me; --

⁶ and he may not honour his father or his mother, and ye did set aside the command of God because of your tradition.

⁷ `Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

⁸ This people doth draw nigh to Me with their mouth, and with the lips it doth honour Me, but their heart is far off from Me;

⁹ and in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings -- commands of men.'

¹⁰ And having called near the multitude, he said to them, `Hear and understand:

¹¹ not that which is coming into the mouth doth defile the man, but that which is coming forth from the mouth, this defileth the man.'

¹² Then his disciples having come near, said to him, `Hast thou known that the Pharisees, having heard the word, were stumbled?'

¹³ And he answering said, `Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up;

¹⁴ let them alone, guides they are -- blind of blind; and if blind may guide blind, both into a ditch shall fall.'

¹⁵ And Peter answering said to him, `Explain to us this simile.'

¹⁶ And Jesus said, `Are ye also yet without understanding?

¹⁷ do ye not understand that all that is going into the mouth doth pass into the belly, and into the drain is cast forth?

¹⁸ but the things coming forth from the mouth from the heart do come forth, and these defile the man;

¹⁹ for out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, whoredoms, thefts, false witnessings, evil speakings:

²⁰ these are the things defiling the man; but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile the man.'

²¹ And Jesus having come forth thence, withdrew to the parts of Tyre and Sidon,

²² and lo, a woman, a Canaanitess, from those borders having come forth, did call to him, saying, `Deal kindly with me, Sir -- Son of David; my daughter is miserably demonized.'

²³ And he did not answer her a word; and his disciples having come to him, were asking him, saying -- `Let her away, because she crieth after us;'

²⁴ and he answering said, `I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

²⁵ And having come, she was bowing to him, saying, `Sir, help me;'

²⁶ and he answering said, `It is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast to the little dogs.'

²⁷ And she said, `Yes, sir, for even the little dogs do eat of the crumbs that are falling from their lords' table;'

²⁸ then answering, Jesus said to her, `O woman, great [is] thy faith, let it be to thee as thou wilt;' and her daughter was healed from that hour.

²⁹ And Jesus having passed thence, came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, he was sitting there,

³⁰ and there came to him great multitudes, having with them lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and they did cast them at the feet of Jesus, and he healed them,

³¹ so that the multitudes did wonder, seeing dumb ones speaking, maimed whole, lame walking, and blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³² And Jesus having called near his disciples, said, `I have compassion upon the multitude, because now three days they continue with me, and they have not what they may eat; and to let them away fasting I will not, lest they faint in the way.'

³³ And his disciples say to him, `Whence to us, in a wilderness, so many loaves, as to fill so great a multitude?'

³⁴ And Jesus saith to them, `How many loaves have ye?' and they said, `Seven, and a few little fishes.'

³⁵ And he commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the ground,

³⁶ and having taken the seven loaves and the fishes, having given thanks, he did break, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

³⁷ And they did all eat, and were filled, and they took up what was over of the broken pieces seven baskets full,

³⁸ and those eating were four thousand men, apart from women and children.

³⁹ And having let away the multitudes, he went into the boat, and did come to the borders of Magdala.

5 And there is a great cry of the people and their wives, concerning their brethren the Jews,

² yea, there are who are saying, `Our sons, and our daughters, we -- are many, and we receive corn, and eat, and live.'

³ And there are who are saying, `Our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, we are pledging, and we receive corn for the famine.'

⁴ And there are who are saying, `We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, [on] our fields, and our vineyards;

⁵ and now, as the flesh of our brethren [is] our flesh, as their sons [are] our sons, and lo, we are subduing our sons and our daughters for servants, and there are of our daughters subdued, and our hand hath no might, and our fields and our vineyards [are] to others.'

⁶ And it is very displeasing to me when I have heard their cry and these words,

⁷ and my heart reigneth over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, `Usury one upon another ye are exacting;' and I set against them a great assembly,

⁸ and say to them, `We have acquired our brethren the Jews, those sold to the nations, according to the ability that [is] in us, and ye also sell your brethren, and they have been sold to us!' and they are silent, and have not found a word.

⁹ And I say, `Not good [is] the thing that ye are doing; in the fear of our God do ye not walk, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

¹⁰ And also, I, my brethren, and my servants, are exacting of them silver and corn; let us leave off, I pray you, this usury.

¹¹ Give back, I pray you, to them, as to-day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and the hundredth [part] of the money, and of the corn, of the new wine, and of the oil, that ye are exacting of them.'

¹² And they say, `We give back, and of them we seek nothing; so we do as thou art saying.' And I call the priests, and cause them to swear to do according to this thing;

¹³ also, my lap I have shaken, and I say, `Thus doth God shake out every man, who doth not perform this thing, from his house, and from his labour; yea, thus is he shaken out and empty;' and all the assembly say, `Amen,' and praise Jehovah; and the people do according to this thing.

¹⁴ Also, from the day that he appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the thirty and second year of Artaxerxes the king -- twelve years -- I, and my brethren, the bread of the governor have not eaten:

¹⁵ the former governors who [are] before me have made themselves heavy on the people, and take of them in bread and wine, besides in silver forty shekels; also, their servants have ruled over the people -- and I have not done so, because of the fear of God.

¹⁶ And also, in the work of this wall I have done mightily, even a field we have not bought, and all my servants are gathered there for the work;

¹⁷ and of the Jews, and of the prefects, a hundred and fifty men, and those coming in unto us of the nations that [are] round about us, [are] at my table;

¹⁸ and that which hath been prepared for one day [is] one ox, six fat sheep, also fowls have been prepared for me, and once in ten days of all wines abundantly, and with this, the bread of the governor I have not sought, for heavy is the service on this people.

¹⁹ Remember for me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

15 And certain having come down from Judea, were teaching the brethren -- `If ye be not circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye are not able to be saved;'

² there having been, therefore, not a little dissension and disputation to Paul and Barnabas with them, they arranged for Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of them, to go up unto the apostles and elders to Jerusalem about this question,

³ they indeed, then, having been sent forward by the assembly, were passing through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the nations, and they were causing great joy to all the brethren.

⁴ And having come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly, and the apostles, and the elders, they declared also as many things as God did with them;

⁵ and there rose up certain of those of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying -- `It behoveth to circumcise them, to command them also to keep the law of Moses.'

⁶ And there were gathered together the apostles and the elders, to see about this matter,

⁷ and there having been much disputing, Peter having risen up said unto them, `Men, brethren, ye know that from former days, God among us did make choice, through my mouth, for the nations to hear the word of the good news, and to believe;

⁸ and the heart-knowing God did bare them testimony, having given to them the Holy Spirit, even as also to us,

⁹ and did put no difference also between us and them, by the faith having purified their hearts;

¹⁰ now, therefore, why do ye tempt God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹ but, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved, even as also they.'

¹² And all the multitude did keep silence, and were hearkening to Barnabas and Paul, declaring as many signs and wonders as God did among the nations through them;

¹³ and after they are silent, James answered, saying, `Men, brethren, hearken to me;

¹⁴ Simeon did declare how at first God did look after to take out of the nations a people for His name,

¹⁵ and to this agree the words of the prophets, as it hath been written:

¹⁶ After these things I will turn back, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen down, and its ruins I will build again, and will set it upright --

¹⁷ that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the nations, upon whom My name hath been called, saith the Lord, who is doing all these things.

¹⁸ `Known from the ages to God are all His works;

¹⁹ wherefore I judge: not to trouble those who from the nations do turn back to God,

²⁰ but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of the idols, and the whoredom, and the strangled thing; and the blood;

²¹ for Moses from former generations in every city hath those preaching him -- in the synagogues every sabbath being read.'

²² Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, chosen men out of themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas -- Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren --

²³ having written through their hand thus: `The apostles, and the elders, and the brethren, to those in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, brethren, who [are] of the nations, greeting;

²⁴ seeing we have heard that certain having gone forth from us did trouble you with words, subverting your souls, saying to be circumcised and to keep the law, to whom we did give no charge,

²⁵ it seemed good to us, having come together with one accord, chosen men to send unto you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul --

²⁶ men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ --

²⁷ we have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, and they by word are telling the same things.

²⁸ `For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, no more burden to lay upon you, except these necessary things:

²⁹ to abstain from things offered to idols, and blood, and a strangled thing, and whoredom; from which keeping yourselves, ye shall do well; be strong!'

³⁰ They then, indeed, having been let go, went to Antioch, and having brought the multitude together, did deliver the epistle,

³¹ and they having read, did rejoice for the consolation;

³² Judas also and Silas, being themselves also prophets, through much discourse did exhort the brethren, and confirm,

³³ and having passed some time, they were let go with peace from the brethren unto the apostles;

³⁴ and it seemed good to Silas to remain there still.

³⁵ And Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming good news -- with many others also -- the word of the Lord;

³⁶ and after certain days, Paul said unto Barnabas, `Having turned back again, we may look after our brethren, in every city in which we have preached the word of the Lord -- how they are.'

³⁷ And Barnabas counseled to take with [them] John called Mark,

³⁸ and Paul was not thinking it good to take him with them who withdrew from them from Pamphylia, and did not go with them to the work;

³⁹ there came, therefore, a sharp contention, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas having taken Mark, did sail to Cyprus,

⁴⁰ and Paul having chosen Silas, went forth, having been given up to the grace of God by the brethren;

⁴¹ and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies.