M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Gideon’s Triumph and Vengeance

8 And the men of E′phraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight with Mid′ian?” And they upbraided him violently. ² And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of E′phraim better than the vintage of Abi-e′zer? ³ God has given into your hands the princes of Mid′ian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger against him was abated, when he had said this.

⁴ And Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint yet pursuing. ⁵ So he said to the men of Succoth, “Pray, give loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmun′na, the kings of Mid′ian.” ⁶ And the officials of Succoth said, “Are Zebah and Zalmun′na already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ And Gideon said, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmun′na into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ And from there he went up to Penu′el, and spoke to them in the same way; and the men of Penu′el answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ And he said to the men of Penu′el, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmun′na were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East; for there had fallen a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword. ¹¹ And Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jog′behah, and attacked the army; for the army was off its guard. ¹² And Zebah and Zalmun′na fled; and he pursued them and took the two kings of Mid′ian, Zebah and Zalmun′na, and he threw all the army into a panic.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Jo′ash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he caught a young man of Succoth, and questioned him; and he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmun′na, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmun′na already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are faint?’” ¹⁶ And he took the elders of the city and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth. ¹⁷ And he broke down the tower of Penu′el, and slew the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmun′na, “Where are the men whom you slew at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they, every one of them; they resembled the sons of a king.” ¹⁹ And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not slay you.” ²⁰ And he said to Jether his first-born, “Rise, and slay them.” But the youth did not draw his sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmun′na said, “Rise yourself, and fall upon us; for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and slew Zebah and Zalmun′na; and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon’s Idolatry

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of the hand of Mid′ian.” ²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you; give me every man of you the earrings of his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ish′maelites.) ²⁵ And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a garment, and every man cast in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold; besides the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Mid′ian, and besides the collars that were about the necks of their camels. ²⁷ And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. ²⁸ So Mid′ian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

Death of Gideon

²⁹ Jerubba′al the son of Jo′ash went and dwelt in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. ³¹ And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abim′elech. ³² And Gideon the son of Jo′ash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Jo′ash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiez′rites.

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and played the harlot after the Ba′als, and made Ba′al-be′rith their god. ³⁴ And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side; ³⁵ and they did not show kindness to the family of Jerubba′al (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. ² He killed James the brother of John with the sword; ³ and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison; but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Peter Delivered from Prison

⁶ The very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison; ⁷ and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your mantle around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and followed him; he did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened to them of its own accord, and they went out and passed on through one street; and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ And Peter came to himself, and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and told that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are mad.” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking; and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell this to James and to the brethren.” Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no small stir among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ And when Herod had sought for him and could not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesare′a, and remained there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and they came to him in a body, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. ²¹ On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and made an oration to them. ²² And the people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of man!” ²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of God grew and multiplied.

²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from^[a] Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, bringing with them John whose other name was Mark.

Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadrezzar

21 This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedeki′ah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchi′ah and Zephani′ah the priest, the son of Ma-asei′ah, saying, ² “Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds, and will make him withdraw from us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them: ⁴ “Thus you shall say to Zedeki′ah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chalde′ans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them together into the midst of this city. ⁵ I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. ⁶ And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷ Afterward, says the Lord, I will give Zedeki′ah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them, or spare them, or have compassion.’

⁸ “And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chalde′ans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. ¹⁰ For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

Message to the House of David

¹¹ “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

The Tradition of the Elders

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,^[a] observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify^[b] themselves;^[c] and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.^[d]) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live^[e] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)^[f]— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”^{[g] 17} And when he had entered the house, and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?”^[h] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^[i] And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. ²⁵ But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoeni′cian by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap′olis. ³² And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. ³³ And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Eph′phatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”