M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God Makes a Covenant With Abram

15 Some time later, Abram had a vision. The Lord said to him,

² But Abram said, “Lord and King, what can you give me? I still don’t have any children. My servant Eliezer comes from Damascus. When I die, he will get everything I own.” ³ Abram continued, “You haven’t given me any children. So this servant of mine will get everything I own.”

⁴ Then a message from the Lord came to Abram. The Lord said, “When you die, what you have will not go to this man. You will have a son of your own. He will get everything you have.” ⁵ The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky. Count the stars, if you can.” Then he said to him, “That’s how many children will be born into your family.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord. The Lord was pleased with Abram because he believed. So Abram’s faith made him right with the Lord.

⁷ He also said to Abram, “I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur in the land of Babylon. I will give you this land to have as your very own.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord and King, how can I know I will have this land as my own?”

⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a young cow, a goat and a ram. Each must be three years old. Bring a dove and a young pigeon along with them.”

¹⁰ Abram brought all of them to the Lord. Abram cut them in two and placed the halves opposite each other. But he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Then large birds came down to eat the dead bodies of the animals and birds. But Abram chased the large birds away.

¹² As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. A thick and scary darkness covered him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “You can be sure of what I am about to tell you. For 400 years, your family who comes after you will be strangers in another country. They will become slaves there and will be treated badly. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves. After that, they will leave with many possessions. ¹⁵ But you will die in peace. You will join the members of your family who have already died. And you will be buried when you are very old. ¹⁶ Your children’s grandchildren will come back here. That’s because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached the point where I must punish them.”

¹⁷ The sun set and it became dark. Then a burning torch and a pot filled with smoking coals appeared. They passed between the pieces of the animals that had been cut in two. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. He said, “I am giving this land to your family who comes after you. It reaches from the River of Egypt to the great Euphrates River. ¹⁹ It includes the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaites. ²¹ The Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites also live there.”

John the Baptist’s Head Is Cut Off

14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, heard reports about Jesus. ² He said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead! That is why he has the power to do miracles.”

³ Herod had arrested John. He had tied him up and put him in prison because of Herodias. She was the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. ⁴ John had been saying to Herod, “It is against the Law for you to have her as your wife.” ⁵ Herod wanted to kill John. But he was afraid of the people, because they thought John was a prophet.

⁶ On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. She pleased Herod very much. ⁷ So he promised to give her anything she asked for. ⁸ Her mother told her what to say. So the girl said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a big plate.” ⁹ The king was very upset. But he thought of his promise and his dinner guests. So he told one of his men to give her what she asked for. ¹⁰ Herod had John’s head cut off in the prison. ¹¹ His head was brought in on a big plate and given to the girl. She then carried it to her mother. ¹² John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

¹³ Jesus heard what had happened to John. He wanted to be alone. So he went in a boat to a quiet place. The crowds heard about this. They followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus came ashore, he saw a large crowd. He felt deep concern for them. He healed their sick people.

¹⁵ When it was almost evening, the disciples came to him. “There is nothing here,” they said. “It’s already getting late. Send the crowds away. They can go and buy some food in the villages.”

¹⁶ Jesus replied, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said. ¹⁹ Then Jesus directed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke the loaves into pieces. Then he gave them to the disciples. And the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ All of them ate and were satisfied. The disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover pieces. ²¹ The number of men who ate was about 5,000. Women and children also ate.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²² Right away Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. He had them go on ahead of him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Then he sent the crowd away. ²³ After he had sent them away, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone. ²⁴ The boat was already a long way from land. It was being pounded by the waves because the wind was blowing against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to the disciples. He walked on the lake. ²⁶ They saw him walking on the lake and were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said. And they cried out in fear.

²⁷ Right away Jesus called out to them, “Be brave! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, is it you?” Peter asked. “If it is, tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” Jesus said.

So Peter got out of the boat. He walked on the water toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid. He began to sink. He cried out, “Lord! Save me!”

³¹ Right away Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “Your faith is so small!” he said. “Why did you doubt me?”

³² When they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those in the boat worshiped Jesus. They said, “You really are the Son of God!”

³⁴ They crossed over the lake and landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵ The men who lived there recognized Jesus. So they sent a message all over the nearby countryside. People brought all those who were sick to Jesus. ³⁶ They begged him to let those who were sick just touch the edge of his clothes. And all who touched his clothes were healed.

Nehemiah’s Enemies Oppose the Rebuilding

4 Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall. So he became very angry and upset. He made fun of the Jews. ² He spoke to his friends and the army of Samaria. He said, “What are those Jews trying to do? Can they make their city wall like new again? Will they offer sacrifices? Can they finish everything in a single day? The stones from their city wall and buildings are piled up like trash. And everything has been badly burned. Can they use those stones to rebuild everything again?”

³ Tobiah from Ammon was at Sanballat’s side. He said, “What are they building? They’re putting up a stone wall. But suppose a fox climbs on top of it. Even that will break it down!”

⁴ I prayed to God. I said, “Our God, please listen to our prayer. Some people hate us. They’re saying bad things about us. So let others say bad things about them. Let them be carried off like stolen goods. Let them be taken to another country as prisoners. ⁵ Don’t hide your eyes from their guilt. Don’t forgive their sins. They have said bad things about the builders.”

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall. We repaired it until all of it was half as high as we wanted it to be. The people worked with all their heart.

⁷ But Sanballat and Tobiah heard that Jerusalem’s walls continued to be repaired. The Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard about it too. They heard that the gaps in the wall were being filled in. So they were very angry. ⁸ All of them made evil plans to come and fight against Jerusalem. They wanted to stir up trouble against it. ⁹ But we prayed to our God. We put guards on duty day and night to watch out for danger.

¹⁰ During that time, the people in Judah spoke up. They said, “The workers are getting weaker and weaker all the time. Broken stones are piled up everywhere. They are in our way. So we can’t rebuild the wall.”

¹¹ And our enemies said, “We will be right there among them. We’ll kill them. We’ll put an end to their work. We’ll do it before they even know it or see us.”

¹² Then the Jews who lived near our enemies came to us. They told us ten times, “No matter where you are, they’ll attack us.”

¹³ So I stationed some people behind the lowest parts of the wall. That’s where our enemies could easily attack us. I stationed the people family by family. They had their swords, spears and bows with them. ¹⁴ I looked things over. Then I stood up and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people. I said, “Don’t be afraid of your enemies. Remember the Lord. He is great and powerful. So fight for your families. Fight for your sons and daughters. Fight for your wives and homes.”

¹⁵ Our enemies heard that we knew what they were trying to do. They heard that God had blocked their evil plans. So all of us returned to the wall. Each of us did our own work.

¹⁶ From that day on, half of my men did the work. The other half were given spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers stationed themselves behind all the people of Judah. ¹⁷ The people continued to build the wall. The people who carried supplies did their work with one hand. They held a weapon in the other hand. ¹⁸ Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who blew the trumpet stayed with me.

¹⁹ Then I spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people. I said, “This is a big job. It covers a lot of territory. We’re separated too far from one another along the wall. ²⁰ When you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us at that location. Our God will fight for us!”

²¹ So we continued the work. Half of the men held spears. We worked from the first light of sunrise until the stars came out at night. ²² At that time I also spoke to the people. I told them, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night. Then they can guard us at night. And they can work during the day.” ²³ My relatives and I didn’t take off our clothes. My men and the guards didn’t take theirs off either. Each man kept his weapon with him, even when he went to get water.

Paul and Barnabas Preach in Iconium

14 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue as usual. They spoke there with great power. Large numbers of Jews and Greeks became believers. ² But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up some of the Gentiles who were there. They turned them against the two men and the new believers. ³ So Paul and Barnabas spent a lot of time there. They spoke boldly for the Lord. He gave them the ability to do signs and wonders. In this way the Lord showed that they were telling the truth about his grace. ⁴ The people of the city did not agree with one another. Some were on the side of the Jews. Others were on the side of the apostles. ⁵ Jews and Gentiles alike planned to treat Paul and Barnabas badly. Their leaders agreed. They planned to kill them by throwing stones at them. ⁶ But Paul and Barnabas found out about the plan. They escaped to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding area. ⁷ There they continued to preach the good news.

Paul Preaches in Lystra

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who couldn’t walk. He hadn’t been able to use his feet since the day he was born. ⁹ He listened as Paul spoke. Paul looked right at him. He saw that the man had faith to be healed. ¹⁰ So he called out, “Stand up on your feet!” Then the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹ The crowd saw what Paul had done. They shouted in the Lycaonian language. “The gods have come down to us in human form!” they exclaimed. ¹² They called Barnabas Zeus. Paul was the main speaker. So they called him Hermes. ¹³ Just outside the city was the temple of the god Zeus. The priest of Zeus brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates. He and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.

¹⁴ But the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about this. So they tore their clothes. They rushed out into the crowd. They shouted, ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We are only human, just like you. We are bringing you good news. Turn away from these worthless things. Turn to the living God. He is the one who made the heavens and the earth and the sea. He made everything in them. ¹⁶ In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷ But he has given proof of what he is like. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven. He gives you crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food. He fills your hearts with joy.” ¹⁸ Paul and Barnabas told them all these things. But they had trouble keeping the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.

¹⁹ Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They won the crowd over to their side. They threw stones at Paul. They thought he was dead, so they dragged him out of the city. ²⁰ The believers gathered around Paul. Then he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch

²¹ Paul and Barnabas preached the good news in the city of Derbe. They won large numbers of followers. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. ²² There they helped the believers gain strength. They told them to remain faithful to what they had been taught. “We must go through many hard times to enter God’s kingdom,” they said. ²³ Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church. The elders had trusted in the Lord. Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted. They placed the elders in the Lord’s care. ²⁴ After going through Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas came into Pamphylia. ²⁵ They preached the good news in Perga. Then they went down to Attalia.

²⁶ From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch. In Antioch they had been put in God’s care to preach the good news. They had now completed the work God had given them to do. ²⁷ When they arrived at Antioch, they gathered the church together. They reported all that God had done through them. They told how he had opened a way for the Gentiles to believe. ²⁸ And they stayed there a long time with the believers.