M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man of the family of Elimelech whose name was Boaz.(A) 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”(B) 3 So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.”(C) 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” 6 The young man who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.(D) 7 She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now without resting even for a moment.”[a]
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?”(E) 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.(F) 12 May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!”(G) 13 Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of this bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.(H) 15 When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied.(I) 19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, saying, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”(J) 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.”[b](K) 21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise someone might bother you in another field.” 23 So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests, and she lived with her mother-in-law.(L)
Paul Sails for Rome
27 When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius.(A) 2 Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.(B) 3 The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.(C) 4 Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. 5 After we had sailed across the sea that is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.(D) 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board.(E) 7 We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. 8 Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
9 Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them,(F) 10 saying, “Men, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favor of putting to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest.
The Storm at Sea
13 When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete.[a](G) 15 Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. 16 By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda[b] we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. 17 After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven.(H) 18 We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,(I) 19 and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.(J) 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.(K) 23 For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,(L) 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor, and, indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’(M) 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.(N) 26 But we will have to run aground on some island.”(O)
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,(P) 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”(Q) 35 After he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.(R) 36 Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.(S) 37 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six[c] persons in the ship.) 38 After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.(T)
The Shipwreck
39 In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.(U) 40 So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.(V) 41 But striking a reef,[d] they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.(W) 42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;(X) 43 but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land(Y) 44 and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.(Z)
Zedekiah’s Vain Hope
37 Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, succeeded Coniah son of Jehoiakim.(A) 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.(B)
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.”(C) 4 Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5 Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.(D)
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: 7 Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt.(E) 8 And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; they shall take it and burn it with fire.(F) 9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away.(G) 10 Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.(H)
Jeremiah Is Imprisoned
11 Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his share of property[a] among the people there. 13 When he reached the Benjamin Gate, a sentinel there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah arrested the prophet Jeremiah saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”(I) 14 And Jeremiah said, “That is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him and arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 The officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of the secretary Jonathan, for it had been made a prison.(J) 16 Thus Jeremiah was put in the cistern house, in the cells, and remained there many days.(K)
17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”(L) 18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in prison?(M) 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’?(N) 20 Now please hear me, my lord king: be good enough to listen to my plea, and do not send me back to the house of the secretary Jonathan to die there.” 21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.(O)
Psalm 10
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
1 [a]Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.(A)
3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart;
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.(B)
4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”;
all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”(C)
5 Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.
6 They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.”(D)
7 Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.(E)
8 They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places they murder the innocent.
Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;(F)
9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its den;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.(G)
10 They stoop, they crouch,
and the helpless fall by their might.
11 They think in their heart, “God has forgotten;
he has hidden his face; he will never see it.”(H)
12 Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.(I)
13 Why do the wicked renounce God
and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?
14 But you do see! Indeed, you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.(J)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.