M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

4 But after Ehud had died, the people of Isra’el again did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective. ² So Adonai handed them over to Yavin king of Kena‘an. He ruled from Hatzor; and the commander of his army was Sisra, who lived in Haroshet-HaGoyim. ³ The people of Isra’el cried out to Adonai, because he had 900 iron chariots, and for twenty years he cruelly oppressed the people of Isra’el.

⁴ Now D’vorah, a woman and a prophet, the wife of Lapidot, was judging Isra’el at that time. ⁵ She used to sit under D’vorah’s Palm between Ramah and Beit-El, in the hills of Efrayim; and the people of Isra’el would come to her for judgment. ⁶ She sent for Barak the son of Avino‘am, from Kedesh in Naftali, and said to him: “Adonai has given you this order: ‘Go, march to Mount Tavor, and take with you 10,000 men from the people of Naftali and Z’vulun. ⁷ I will cause Sisra, the commander of Yavin’s army, to encounter you at the Kishon River with his chariots and troops; and I will hand him over to you.’”

⁸ Barak answered her: “If you go with me, I’ll go; but if you won’t go with me, I won’t go.” ⁹ She replied, “Yes, I will gladly go with you; but the way you are doing it will bring you no glory; because Adonai will hand Sisra over to a woman.” Then D’vorah set out and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak summoned Z’vulun and Naftali to come to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him, and D’vorah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Hever the Keini had cut himself off from the rest of Kayin, the descendants of Hovav Moshe’s father-in-law; he had pitched his tent near the oak at Tza‘ananim, which is close to Kedesh. ¹² Sisra was informed that Barak the son of Avino‘am had gone up to Mount Tavor. ¹³ So Sisra rallied his chariots, all 900 iron chariots, and all the troops he had with him, from Haroshet-HaGoyim to the Kishon River.

¹⁴ D’vorah said to Barak: “Get going! This is the day when Adonai will hand Sisra over to you! Adonai has gone out ahead of you!” So Barak went down from Mount Tavor with 10,000 men following him; ¹⁵ and Adonai threw Sisra, all his chariots and his entire army into a panic before Barak’s sword; so that Sisra got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued the chariots and the army all the way to Haroshet-HaGoyim. Sisra’s entire army was put to the sword; not one man was left.

¹⁷ However, Sisra ran on foot to the tent of Ya‘el the wife of Hever the Keini, because there was peace between Yavin the king of Hatzor and the family of Hever the Keini. ¹⁸ Ya‘el went out to meet Sisra and said to him, “Come in, my lord; stay here with me; and don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹ He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink — I’m thirsty.” She opened a goatskin of milk, gave him some to drink, and covered him up again. ²⁰ He said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent; and if anyone asks you if somebody is here, say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But when he was deeply asleep, Ya‘el the wife of Hever took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, crept in to him quietly and drove the tent peg into his temple, right through to the ground; so that he died without waking up. ²² So here is Barak pursuing Sisra, and Ya‘el steps out to meet him and says, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” He goes into her tent; and there is Sisra, lying dead with the tent peg through his temple.

²³ Thus God on that day defeated Yavin the king of Kena‘an in the presence of the people of Isra’el. ²⁴ The hand of the people of Isra’el came down more and more heavily against Yavin the king of Kena‘an, until they had completely destroyed Yavin the king of Kena‘an.

8 and Sha’ul gave his approval to his murder.

Starting with that day, there arose intense persecution against the Messianic Community in Yerushalayim; all but the emissaries were scattered throughout the regions of Y’hudah and Shomron. ² Some godly men buried Stephen and mourned him deeply. ³ But Sha’ul set out to destroy the Messianic Community — entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and handed them over to be put in prison. ⁴ However, those who were scattered announced the Good News of the Word wherever they went.

⁵ Now Philip went down to a city in Shomron and was proclaiming the Messiah to them; ⁶ and the crowds were paying close attention to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ⁷ For many people were having unclean spirits driven out of them, shrieking; also many paralytics and crippled persons were being healed; ⁸ so that there was great joy in that city.

⁹ But there was a man named Shim‘on in the city who for some time had been practicing magic and astonishing the nation of Shomron, claiming to be somebody great. ¹⁰ Everyone gave heed to him, from the lowest to the highest, saying, “This man is the power of God called ‘The Great Power’.” ¹¹ They followed him because for a considerable time he had amazed them with his magic.

¹² But when they came to believe Philip, as he announced the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were immersed, both men and women. ¹³ Moreover, Shim‘on himself came to believe; and after being immersed, he attached himself closely to Philip; and he was amazed as he saw the miraculous signs and great works of power that kept taking place.

¹⁴ When the emissaries in Yerushalayim heard that Shomron had received the Word of God, they sent them Kefa and Yochanan, ¹⁵ who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Ruach HaKodesh. ¹⁶ For until then he had not come upon any of them; they had only been immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua. ¹⁷ Then, as Kefa and Yochanan placed their hands on them, they received the Ruach HaKodesh.

¹⁸ Shim‘on saw that the Spirit was given when the emissaries placed their hands on them, and he offered them money. ¹⁹ “Give this power to me, too,” he said, “so that whoever I place my hands on will receive the Ruach HaKodesh.” ²⁰ But Kefa said to him, “Your silver go to ruin — and you with it, for thinking the free gift of God can be bought! ²¹ You have no part at all in this matter; because in the eyes of God, your heart is crooked. ²² So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps you will yet be forgiven for holding such a thought in your heart. ²³ For I see that you are extremely bitter and completely under the control of sin!” ²⁴ Shim‘on answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that none of the things you have spoken about will happen to me.”

²⁵ Then, after giving a thorough witness and speaking the Word of the Lord, Kefa and Yochanan started back to Yerushalayim, announcing the Good News to many villages in Shomron.

²⁶ An angel of Adonai said to Philip, “Get up, and go southward on the road that goes down from Yerushalayim to ‘Azah, the desert road.” ²⁷ So he got up and went. On his way, he caught sight of an Ethiopian, a eunuch who was minister in charge of all the treasure of the Kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia. He had been to Yerushalayim to worship; ²⁸ and now, as he was returning home, he was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Yesha‘yahu. ²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot, and stay close to it.” ³⁰ As Philip ran up, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Yesha‘yahu the prophet. “Do you understand what you’re reading?” he asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.

³² Now the portion of the Tanakh that he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, “Here’s my question to you — is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip started to speak — beginning with that passage, he went on to tell him the Good News about Yeshua.

³⁶ As they were going down the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Here’s some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be immersed?” ^{37 [b] 38} He ordered the chariot to stop; then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip immersed him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way — full of joy. ⁴⁰ But Philip showed up at Ashdod and continued proclaiming the Good News as he went through all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

¹⁹ Then Adonai said this to me: “Go, and stand at the People’s Gate, where the kings of Y’hudah go in and out, and at all the gates of Yerushalayim; ²⁰ and say to them: ‘Kings of Y’hudah, all Y’hudah and all living in Yerushalayim who enter through these gates, hear the word of Adonai! ²¹ Here is what Adonai says: “If you value your lives, don’t carry anything on Shabbat or bring it in through the gates of Yerushalayim; ²² don’t carry anything out of your houses on Shabbat; and don’t do any work. Instead, make Shabbat a holy day. I ordered your ancestors to do this, ²³ but they neither listened nor paid attention; rather, they stiffened their necks, so that they wouldn’t have to hear or receive instruction. ²⁴ However, if you will pay careful heed to me,” says Adonai “and carry nothing through the gates of this city on Shabbat, but instead make Shabbat a day which is holy and not for doing work; ²⁵ then kings and princes occupying the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses. They, their princes, the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will enter; and this city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶ They will come from the cities of Y’hudah, from the places surrounding Yerushalayim, from the land of Binyamin, from the Sh’felah, from the hills and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, frankincense and thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of Adonai. ²⁷ But if you will not obey me and make Shabbat a holy day and not carry loads through the gates of Yerushalayim on Shabbat, then I will set its gates on fire; it will burn up the palaces of Yerushalayim and not be quenched.”’”

3 Yeshua went again into a synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ² Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, people watched him carefully to see if he would heal him on Shabbat. ³ He said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come up where we can see you!” ⁴ Then to them he said, “What is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or killing?” But they said nothing. ⁵ Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored. ⁶ The P’rushim went out and immediately began plotting with some members of Herod’s party how to do away with him.

⁷ Yeshua went off with his talmidim to the lake, and great numbers followed him from the Galil. ⁸ When they heard what he was doing, great numbers also followed him from Y’hudah, Yerushalayim, Idumea, the territory beyond the Yarden, and the Tzor-Tzidon area. ⁹ He told his talmidim to have a boat ready for him, so that he could escape the crush of the crowd if necessary, ¹⁰ for he had healed many people, and all the sick kept pressing forward to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and scream, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But he warned them strictly not to make him known.

¹³ Then he went up into the hill country and summoned to himself those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve to be with him, to be sent out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to expel demons:

¹⁶ Shim‘on, to whom he gave another name, “Kefa”;

¹⁷ Ya‘akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan, Ya‘akov’s brother — to them he gave the name “B’nei-Regesh” (that is, “Thunderers”);

¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, T’oma, Ya‘akov Ben-Halfai, Taddai, Shim‘on the Zealot,

¹⁹ and Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who betrayed him.

Then he entered a house; ²⁰ and once more, such a crowd came together that they couldn’t even eat. ²¹ When his family heard about this, they set out to take charge of him; for they said, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The Torah-teachers who came down from Yerushalayim said, “He has Ba‘al-Zibbul in him,” and “It is by the ruler of the demons that he expels the demons.” ²³ But he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan expel Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can’t survive; ²⁵ and if a household is divided against itself, that household can’t survive. ²⁶ So if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he can’t survive either; and that’s the end of him. ²⁷ Furthermore, no one can break into a strong man’s house and make off with his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. After that, he can ransack his house. ²⁸ Yes! I tell you that people will be forgiven all sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹ however, someone who blasphemes against the Ruach HaKodesh never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” ³⁰ For they had been saying, “He has an unclean spirit in him.”

³¹ Then his mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent a message asking for him. ³² A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” ³³ He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ Looking at those seated in a circle around him, he said, “See! Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does what God wants is my brother, sister and mother!”