M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
22 Take a handful of hyssop branches, dip them down into the bowl of blood you drained from the sacrifice, and mark the top of the doorway and the two doorposts with blood from the bowl. After you do this, no one should go out that door until the next morning.
23 The Eternal will pass through the land during the night and bring death to the Egyptians. But when He sees the blood-markings across the tops of your doorways and down your two doorposts, He will pass over your houses and not allow His messenger of death to enter into your houses and strike you down. 24 You and all your descendants are obligated to keep these instructions for all time. 25 Even after you arrive in the land the Eternal has promised you—the land flowing with milk and honey—you must keep these instructions and perform this ritual. 26 When your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean to you?” 27 you will answer them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Eternal, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites when we were slaves in Egypt. And although He struck the Egyptians, He spared our lives and our houses.”
The name of this festival, “Passover,” comes from the fact that God “passes over” those houses where the Israelites gather and eat the sacrifice.
When Moses finished these instructions, the people bowed down and worshiped.
28 The Israelites went and did as they were instructed; they were obedient to what the Eternal had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 Now this is what happened: at midnight, He struck down all the firstborn sons in Egypt—from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoners locked in the dungeon, and even the firstborn of all the livestock in the land. 30 Pharaoh woke up during the night. He wasn’t the only one. His servants, as well as all of the Egyptians in the land, had awoken. A great scream shattered the night in Egypt, for there was not a single Egyptian house where someone was not dead.
31 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron before the night was over.
Pharaoh (to Moses and Aaron): Get up and get out. Leave my people right now—you and all the rest of the Israelites. Go and worship this god of yours, the Eternal One, just as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds as well with you—just as you said—and go! But bless me on your way out!
Pharaoh hates to admit he has been beaten by Moses and his God. After losing his firstborn son—destined to be the next Pharaoh—he has little choice.
33 The Egyptians frantically urged the people of Israel to hurry and leave their land.
Egyptians (imploring): If you do not leave soon, we will all be dead.
34 So the Israelites hurried. They took their bread dough before any yeast had been added, packed up their kneading bowls, wrapped them in some of their clothing, and carried them on their shoulders.
35 The people of Israel also did what Moses had told them to do; they asked the Egyptians for items made of silver and gold, and they asked for extra clothing as well. 36 The Eternal caused the Egyptians to have a favorable attitude toward His people, so the Egyptians fulfilled these requests and gave the people what they asked for. This is how the Israelites stripped the Egyptians of their valued possessions.
For many years the Egyptians stripped the people of Israel of their lives, labor, and dignity. God’s justice demands that Israel be paid for all they lost.
37 The Israelites left and traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, plus all the women and children. 38 Another crowd, made up of various and sundry peoples, accompanied them, as well as herds, flocks, and a great number of livestock. 39 They baked flat bread along the way from the dough without yeast which they carried with them from Egypt. The dough had no yeast because the people had been rushed out of Egypt, and they did not have enough time to gather food supplies for themselves.
40-41 The Israelites had lived in the land of Egypt for a total of 430 years. On the last day of their 430th year, all the forces belonging to the Eternal left the land of Egypt. 42 This was the night when the Eternal kept watch over His people and brought them safely out of the land of Egypt; now this night is to be kept by His people, to be celebrated by all of the people of Israel throughout all generations.
Eternal One (to Moses and Aaron): 43 This is the requirement for Passover: no foreigner or outsider should eat this meal. 44 But every slave bought with money may participate in this celebration if he has been initiated into the community by circumcision. 45 No temporary residents or paid servants may share in it. 46 The meal must be eaten in only one house. Don’t take any of the meat outside. Not one of the lamb’s bones shall be broken.[a] 47 The entire community of Israel must celebrate it. 48 If you have outsiders living among you and they want to celebrate the Passover to the Eternal with you, then all the men must agree to be circumcised. Only after circumcision may they join in and celebrate with you; then you must treat them as if they were native-born. But make sure no uncircumcised male eats any part of the sacred meal. 49 The same instruction applies to everyone equally—without distinction—the native as well as the outsider who is living among you.
50 Then all of the Israelites did exactly as the Eternal had instructed Moses and Aaron to do. 51 On that same day, He led the Israelites as they marched out of the land of Egypt like an army.
15 Jesus became increasingly popular among notorious sinners—tax collectors and other social outcasts. 2 The Pharisees and religious scholars noticed this.
Pharisees and Religious Scholars: This man welcomes immoral people and enjoys their company over a meal!
Jesus (with another parable): 3-4 Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? 5 When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? 6 And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbors? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? 7 This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life.
8 Or imagine a woman who has 10 silver coins. She loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the whole house, and search diligently until that coin is found? 9 And when she finds it, doesn’t she invite her friends and neighbors and say, “Celebrate with me! I’ve found that silver coin that I lost”? 10 Can’t you understand? There is joy in the presence of all God’s messengers over even one sinner who changes his way of life.
11 Once there was this man who had two sons. 12 One day the younger son came to his father and said, “Father, eventually I’m going to inherit my share of your estate. Rather than waiting until you die, I want you to give me my share now.” And so the father liquidated assets and divided them. 13 A few days passed and this younger son gathered all his wealth and set off on a journey to a distant land. Once there he wasted everything he owned on wild living. 14 He was broke, a terrible famine struck that land, and he felt desperately hungry and in need. 15 He got a job with one of the locals, who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man felt so miserably hungry that he wished he could eat the slop the pigs were eating. Nobody gave him anything.
17 So he had this moment of self-reflection: “What am I doing here? Back home, my father’s hired servants have plenty of food. Why am I here starving to death? 18 I’ll get up and return to my father, and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you. 19 I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?’” 20 So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him.
21 The son said, “Father, I have done a terrible wrong in God’s sight and in your sight too. I have forfeited any right to be treated as your son.”
22 But the father turned to his servants and said, “Quick! Bring the best robe we have and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Go get the fattest calf and butcher it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate 24 because my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and has been found.” So they had this huge party.
25 Now the man’s older son was still out in the fields working. He came home at the end of the day and heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant said, “Your brother has returned, and your father has butchered the fattest calf to celebrate his safe return.”
28 The older brother got really angry and refused to come inside, so his father came out and pleaded with him to join the celebration. 29 But he argued back, “Listen, all these years I’ve worked hard for you. I’ve never disobeyed one of your orders. But how many times have you even given me a little goat to roast for a party with my friends? Not once! This is not fair! 30 So this son of yours comes, this wasteful delinquent who has spent your hard-earned wealth on loose women, and what do you do? You butcher the fattest calf from our herd!”
31 The father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. 32 Isn’t it right to join in the celebration and be happy? This is your brother we’re talking about. He was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found again!”
30 Job: But now they mock me,
these young men whose fathers I hold in such contempt.
I wouldn’t trust them with my herds
as I do my dogs.
2 What good does their strength do me?
Their potency has wilted.
3 Gaunt from starvation, haggard from hunger that drives them to gnaw the ground in the night,
a ground all wasted and hollowed-out,
4 They are left with the desperate foods of the famished—
plucking mallow from the bushes by the salt marshes,
and making the ashy broom tree root their staple.
5 The people from the town chase each one out of his neighborhood;
they howl at all of them as if they were common thieves,
6 And push them out to live in the deep valleys of the wadis—
those desert streams that come and go—
So these outcasts seek shelter in the overhangs and crumbling caves
that line the banks of no-man’s-land.
7 Braying like donkeys from the bushes,
huddled together in the prickly undergrowth are
8 Fools and sons of no-names,
driven by lashes out from the bosom of the land.
Even the fools and outcasts use Job’s name as an insult. His character has been brought low by those who should be beneath him.
9 And now they sing of me in taunt and parody,
and make my name a byword among them.
10 They abhor me, keep their distance,
and feel free to spit in my face.
11 Because God has unstrung His bowstring and stricken me with suffering,
they are no longer restrained toward me.
12 To my right, the horde[a] arises.
They seek to knock me off my feet,
piling their disastrous ways against me.
13 They lay waste to my path
and benefit from my destruction,
and no one is there to stop them.
14 As through a wall breached, they advance easily.
Their thunderstorm of wheels rolled across my ruins.
15 Alas! A storm of terrors has turned toward me and is upon me;
my dignity is blown away as by the wind;
my prosperity vanishes like a wispy cloud.
16 And now my own soul is drawn out, poured over me.
The days of misery have taken hold of me;
I am firmly in their grasp.
17 By night, my pain is at work, boring holes in my bones;
it gnaws at me and never lies down to rest.
18 With great force, God wraps around me like my clothing.
He binds tightly about my neck as if He were the collar of my tunic.[b]
19 He has pushed me off into the mud,
and I am reduced from man to dust and ashes.
20 I call out to You, God, but You refuse to answer me.
When I arise, You merely examine me.
21 You have changed.
Now You are cruel to me;
You employ Your strength to attack me.
22 You pull me up into the wind and make me ride upon it
until I am fractured and dissipated in the storm.
23 I know where this ends.
You will send me off to death
and usher me to that meetinghouse where all the living one day go.
24 And yet does not a person trapped in ruins stretch out his hand,
and in this disaster does he not cry out for help?[c]
25 Did I not grieve for the hard days of another
or weep for the pains of the poor?
26 And yet when I longed for the good, evil came;
when I awaited the light, thick darkness arrived instead.
27 I am boiling on the inside,
and it will not quit;
yet the days of misery still come for me.
28 I drift in darkness, the sun absent;
I arise in the assembly
and call out for help.
29 But who will come now that I am roaming the wilderness?
I am a brother to jackals, a friend of ostriches.
30 Despite my earnest cries, my skin burns until it is black and flakes off,
and my bones burn with fever.
31 And so my harp is tuned to the key of mourning,
and my flute is pitched to the sound of weeping.
16 Now I call you, just as I did the churches gathering in Galatia, to collect funds to support God’s people in Jerusalem. 2 On Sunday, the first day of the week, I want each of you to set aside an amount, as God has blessed you, so the funds will be collected by the time I come. 3 When I get there, I will send those you recommend by your own letters to carry your generous and gracious donation to Jerusalem. 4 If you think it seems appropriate for me to travel with them, then we’ll go together.
5 Get ready. I will come your way after traveling through Macedonia. For I’m just passing through Macedonia 6 and will probably stay with you through the winter so that you may provide for my next journey (wherever that may be). 7 I want to reconnect with you, not just pass through; if the Lord is willing, I hope to stay awhile. 8 But until Pentecost, I plan to stay in Ephesus 9 because, not only has God opened a significant door here for me to serve, but also there is a lot of opposition against me.
Churches are often characterized by words such as “independent” and “autonomous.” But one would be hard-pressed to find any of these ideas in the Scriptures. Instead, Paul seems to be modeling submission and interdependence. We must always consider others and shape our actions to bless them. But he does not stop there—it is clear that we are responsible to care for one another in physical and monetary ways. What might Paul say to the church today, given the drastic disparity between the wealthy churches of the West and the brothers and sisters in the rest of the world who lack food, water, or shelter?
10 If Timothy comes, see that he is comfortable and untroubled; his work is the Lord’s, as is mine. 11 No one should treat him badly. Send him on to meet me in peace because the brothers and sisters here and I are looking for him. 12 You shouldn’t expect to see our brother Apollos, although I tried to persuade him to come to you with the rest of the brothers and sisters, because now is not the best time for him to come. When it’s his time, he will come.
13 Listen, stay alert, stand tall in the faith, be courageous, and be strong. 14 Let love prevail in your life, words, and actions.
15 Finally, brothers and sisters, I call on you to follow your leaders. People like those in the house of Stephanas—you know they were among the first believers in Achaia, and they have devoted their lives to serving God’s people— 16 I urge you to submit to the authority of such leaders, to every coworker, and to those who offer their backs and shoulders for the work. 17 I celebrate the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, as they have supplied me with what you could not. 18 They have been a breath of fresh air for me as I know they are for you, so respect and honor those like them.
19 The churches in Asia salute you. Aquila and Prisca send a heartfelt greeting in the Lord along with those who gather at their house. 20 The entire family in faith here sends their greetings. Be sure you greet one another by a holy kiss.
21 This closing greeting is written by my own hand—Paul’s: 22 May those who have no love for the Lord be cursed. Maranatha, “Our Lord, come!” 23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love to you all in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus. [Amen.][a]
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.