M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

8 But God remembered Noah and all of the wild and domesticated animals with him in the ark. When it was time, God sent the wind to blow over all of the earth, and the waters began to subside. ² The subterranean waters from the depths of the earth and the casements of the heavens were again closed. The drenching rains that once fell from above finally stopped. ³ All of the waters gradually receded from the land. At last, after 150 days, the waters abated; ⁴ and on the 17th day of the 7th month, the ark at last came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the 10th month. On the 1st day of the 10th month, the tops of the mountains began to appear.

⁶ After 40 more days, Noah opened a window he had built into the ark, ⁷ and he sent one of the ravens out into the sky. The raven flew back and forth until all of the waters had dried up on the land. ⁸ He then sent out a dove to see if the waters had subsided from the surface of the land. ⁹ But the dove found no place to land safely, and it returned to the ark. The waters were still covering the surface of the whole earth. So Noah put out his hand and brought the dove back into the ark. ¹⁰ Noah waited another seven days, and then he sent the dove out again from the ark. ¹¹ This time the dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in its beak, was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew then that the waters had begun to retreat from the land. ¹² For good measure, Noah waited another seven days. Once more, he sent out the dove. This time, it didn’t return.

¹³ On the 1st day of the 1st month in Noah’s 601st year, the waters had dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the ark, looked out, and saw that the land was nearly dry. ¹⁴ By the 27th day of the 2nd month, the earth was completely dry. ¹⁵ God came to Noah with a message.

¹⁸ So Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ And every animal, every small creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves on the earth—left the ark with him as new families—a new generation.

²⁰ Once he was back on dry land, Noah built an altar—a special offering table—for the Eternal One. He took some of every ritually acceptable animal and of every acceptable bird, and he gave them to God on the altar as a burnt offering. ²¹ When the Eternal smelled the delicious aroma of the sacrifice, He was moved.

8 Large crowds followed Jesus when He came down from the mountain. ² And as Jesus was going along, a leper approached Him and knelt down before Him.

Immediately the man was healed.

⁵ Eventually Jesus came to the little town of Capernaum. In Capernaum a military officer came to Him and asked Him for help.

¹⁰ Jesus was stunned by the depth of the officer’s faith.

¹³ Then Jesus turned to the Centurion.^[a]

And the officer’s servant was healed, right then.

¹⁴ Jesus went to Peter’s house, and there He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed, sick and burning up with a fever. ¹⁵ Jesus touched her hand, and then she was healed—the fever vanished. She got up from bed and began to wait on Him.

¹⁶ Toward nighttime many people who were possessed by demons were brought to Jesus, and He said one word of command and drove the demons out, healing everyone who was sick. ¹⁷ These miraculous healings fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had predicted:

¹⁸ Jesus saw that a crowd had gathered around Him, and He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹ A scribe came up to Him.

²³ And then Jesus got into a boat, and His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ Out of nowhere, a vicious storm blew over the sea. Waves were lapping up over the boat, threatening to overtake it! Yet Jesus was asleep. ²⁵ Frightened (not to mention confused—how could anyone sleep through this?), the disciples woke Him up.

Jesus got up, told the wind and the waves to calm down, and they did. The sea became still and calm once again. ²⁷ The disciples were astonished.

²⁸ Eventually Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gadarenes. There, two men who lived near the tombs and were possessed by demons came out to the seaside and met Jesus. They were flailing about, so violent that they obstructed the path of anyone who came their way.

³⁰ A ways off, though still visible, was a large herd of pigs, eating.

And the demons flew out of the bodies of the two flailing men, they set upon the pigs, and every last pig rushed over a steep bank into the sea and drowned. ³³ The pig herders (totally undone, as you can imagine) took off; they headed straight for town, where they told everyone what they’d just seen—even about the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ And so the whole town came out to see Jesus for themselves. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their area.

8 These are the tribal leaders and the genealogies of those who traveled with me from Babylon to Jerusalem in the reign of King Artaxerxes:

² From the priestly families: Gershom of the Phinehas family and Daniel of the Ithamar family. From the royal family: Hattush of the David family ³ from the line of Shecaniah. From the lay families: Zechariah of the Parosh family and 150 men from that line, ⁴ Eliehoenai (son of Zerahiah) of the Pahath-moab family and 200 men, ⁵ Shecaniah (son of Jahaziel) of the Zattu family and 300 men, ⁶ Ebed (son of Jonathan) of the Adin family and 50 men, ⁷ Jeshaiah (son of Athaliah) of the Elam family and 70 men, ⁸ Zebadiah (son of Michael) of the Shephatiah family and 80 men, ⁹ Obadiah (son of Jehiel) of the Joab family and 218 men, ¹⁰ Shelomith (son of Josiphiah) of the Bani family and 160 men, ¹¹ Zechariah (son of Bebai) of the Bebai family and 28 men, ¹² Johanan (son of Hakkatan) of the Azgad family and 110 men, ¹³ Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah of the Adonikam family and 60 men, ¹⁴ Uthai and Zabbud of the Bigvai family and 70 men.

¹⁵ I gathered everyone together on the banks of the river to Ahava, and we camped there for 3 days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I noticed that no Levites had joined our group. ¹⁶ I sent 9 tribal leaders (Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam) and 2 teachers (Joiarib and Elnathan) ¹⁷ to Iddo, the tribal leader in Casiphia, with instructions for Iddo, his coworkers, and the temple servants in Casiphia to bring ministers to join our caravan and work in the True God’s temple. ¹⁸ Just as the True God intended, they brought Sherebiah and 17 of his sons and brothers, all of whom were descendants of Mahli (son of Levi, son of Israel); ¹⁹ Hashabiah and Jeshaiah and 18 of their sons and brothers, all of whom were descendants of Merari; ²⁰ and 220 temple servants, a position David and the princes had created to serve the Levites, who are listed.

²¹ I declared that the whole caravan should fast by the river of Ahava, humbling ourselves before our True God and asking for a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and our possessions. ²² We needed His protection more than ever since I had been ashamed to ask the king for a military escort of soldiers and horses on our journey after telling him, “Our True God takes care of anyone who follows Him, but He uses His power and anger against anyone who abandons Him.” ²³ We knew fasting and following our True God would ensure that He helped us travel safely to Jerusalem—and He did.

²⁴ I designated 12 priests and Levites, including Sherebiah and Hashabiah, to care for the freewill offerings during our trip. ²⁵ I measured the silver and gold and counted the vessels, which King Artaxerxes, his cabinet, his princes, and the Jews in Babylon had sent to offer at our True God’s house, so no one could be accused of stealing the riches. We carried a tremendous offering back to Jerusalem: ²⁶ 25 tons of silver coins; 7,500 pounds of silver vessels; 7,500 pounds of gold coins; ²⁷ 20 gold bowls weighing 19 pounds;^[a] and 2 shiny copper vessels (as valuable as gold).

³⁰ The priests and Levites accepted their commission and carried the carefully measured goods to our True God’s temple in Jerusalem. ³¹ We left the banks of the Ahava River on the 12th day of the 1st month. On our 4-month journey to Jerusalem, the True God did indeed protect us—He saved us from any enemies or skirmishes along our journey.

³² Once we reached Jerusalem, we rested 3 days. ³³ On the 4th day, we took the measured silver, gold, and vessels to our True God’s house. There, Meremoth (son of Uriah the priest), Eleazer (son of Phineas the priest), and the Levites Jozabad (son of Jeshua) and Noadiah (son of Binnui) ³⁴ counted, weighed, and inventoried everything. ³⁵ Then the exiles who had joined our caravan and left their captivity gave these burnt offerings to the Eternal God of Israel: 12 bulls (1 for each tribe of Israel), 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats (as a sin offering for each tribe of Israel).

³⁶ Meanwhile, they delivered the king’s command that the leaders of the provinces west of the Euphrates should fully support the Jews and the True God’s temple. Those governors obeyed the command.

8 ^1-2 Some devout men buried Stephen and mourned his passing with loud cries of grief. But Saul, this young man who seemed to be supervising the whole violent event, was pleased by Stephen’s death. That very day, the whole church in Jerusalem began experiencing severe persecution. All of the followers of Jesus—except for the emissaries^[a] themselves—fled to the countryside of Judea and Samaria. ³ Young Saul went on a rampage—hunting the church, house after house, dragging both men and women to prison.

⁴ All those who had been scattered by the persecution moved from place to place; and wherever they went, they weren’t afraid or silent. Instead, they spread the message of Jesus.

⁵ Philip, for example, headed north to the city of Samaria, and he told them the news of the Anointed One. ⁶ The crowds were united in their desire to understand Philip’s message. They not only listened with their ears, but they witnessed miraculous signs with their eyes. ⁷ Unclean spirits cried out with loud screams as they were exorcised from people. Paralyzed people and lame people moved and walked in plain view. ⁸ So the city was swept with joy.

^9-11 There was a fellow named Simon who had a widespread and long-standing reputation as a sorcerer in Samaria. Everyone—not just poor or uneducated people, but also the city’s elite—paid him great respect. Because he had amazed them with his magic, they thought, “This is a truly great man, full of the power of the God of Greatness.” ¹² But they were even more impressed with Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Anointed. Both men and women received ceremonial washing through baptism^[b]— ¹³ and even Simon himself became a believer. After his baptism, he shadowed Philip constantly, and he was as amazed as everyone else when he saw great and miraculous signs taking place.

¹⁴ Meanwhile word had reached the Lord’s emissaries^[c] in Jerusalem that the message of God was welcomed in Samaria—a land of half-breeds and heretics in the minds of many Judeans. They sent Peter and John ¹⁵ to pray for the Samaritans. They were especially eager to see if the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit ¹⁶ because until this point they had been baptized^[d] in the name of the Lord Jesus but had not experienced the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ When Peter and John laid hands on the people, the Holy Spirit did indeed come upon them all.

¹⁸ Simon watched all this closely. He saw the Holy Spirit coming to the people when the apostles laid hands on them. So he came to Peter and John and offered them money.

²⁵ Peter and John preached to and talked with the Samaritans about the message of the Lord; and then they returned to Jerusalem, stopping in many other Samaritan villages along the way to proclaim the good news.

²⁶ A heavenly messenger brought this short message from the Lord to Philip during his time preaching in Samaria:

The message was especially unusual because this road runs through the middle of uninhabited desert. ²⁷ But Philip got up, left the excitement of Samaria, and did as he was told to do. Along this road, Philip saw a chariot in the distance. In the chariot was a dignitary from Ethiopia (the treasurer for Queen Candace), an African man who had been castrated. He had gone north to Jerusalem to worship at the Jewish temple, ²⁸ and he was now heading southwest on his way home. He was seated in the chariot and was reading aloud from a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ Philip received another prompting from the Holy Spirit:

³⁰ So he started running until he was even with the chariot. Philip heard the Ethiopian reading aloud and recognized the words from the prophet Isaiah.

Then he invited Philip to sit in the chariot. ³² Here’s the passage he was reading from the Hebrew Scriptures:

³⁵ That began a conversation in which Philip used the passage to explain the good news of Jesus. ³⁶ Eventually the chariot passed a body of water beside the road.

The Ethiopian said that he believed.]^[g]

³⁸ He commanded the charioteer to stop the horses. Then Philip and the Ethiopian official walked together into the water. There Philip baptized^[h] him, initiating him as a fellow disciple. ³⁹ When they came out of the water, Philip was immediately caught up by the Holy Spirit and taken from the sight of the Ethiopian, who climbed back into his chariot and continued on his journey, overflowing with joy. ⁴⁰ Philip found himself at a town called Azotus (formerly the Philistine capital city of Ashdod, on the Mediterranean); and from there he traveled north again, proclaiming the good news in town after town until he came to Caesarea.