M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

8 But the men of Efrayim complained to Gid‘on, “Why didn’t you call on us when you went to fight Midyan? Why did you treat us this way?” They were sharp in their criticism. ² He answered by saying to them, “How can what I have done be compared with what you have done? Aren’t the grapes Efrayim leaves on the vines better than the ones Avi‘ezer harvests? ³ God handed over to you Midyan’s chiefs, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. What could I do that matches what you did?” By saying that, he appeased their anger at him.

⁴ By now Gid‘on and his three hundred men had come to the Yarden and crossed over. They were exhausted but were still pursuing the enemy. ⁵ In Sukkot he asked the people there, “Please give some loaves of bread to the men following me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zevach and Tzalmuna the kings of Midyan.” ⁶ But the chiefs of Sukkot said, “You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your army?” ⁷ Gid‘on said: “If that’s your answer, then after Adonai has put Zevach and Tzalmuna in my hands, I will tear your flesh apart with desert thorns and thistles!”

⁸ From there he went up to P’nu’el and made the same request, and the people of P’nu’el gave the same answer as those of Sukkot. ⁹ So he answered the people of P’nu’el similarly, “When I return safe and sound, I will break down this tower!”

¹⁰ Now Zevach and Tzalmuna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all that remained of the entire army of the people from the east; since 120,000 arms-bearing soldiers had fallen. ¹¹ Gid‘on went up, using the route of the nomads east of Novach and Yogbehah, and struck down the army when they thought they were safe. ¹² Zevach and Tzalmuna fled, but Gid‘on pursued them. Thus he captured the two kings of Midyan, Zevach and Tzalmuna, and routed their whole army in panic. ¹³ When Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash returned from the battle by way of the Heres Pass, ¹⁴ he captured a young man from Sukkot and asked him about the chiefs and leaders of Sukkot; he wrote down for him the names of seventy-seven of them. ¹⁵ Then he came to the people of Sukkot and said: “You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!” ¹⁶ And he took the leaders of the city and desert thorns and thistles, and used them to teach the people of Sukkot a lesson! ¹⁷ He also broke down the tower of P’nu’el and put the men of the city to death.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zevach and Tzalmuna, “Tell me about the men you killed at Tavor.” They answered, “They looked like you, like a king’s sons.” ¹⁹ Gid‘on replied, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as Adonai is alive, I swear that if you had spared them, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his oldest son, Yeter, “Get up, and kill them!” But the boy didn’t draw his sword; being still a boy, he was afraid. ²¹ Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, “You, do it. You, kill us. Let a grown man do what takes a grown man’s strength.” So Gid‘on got up and killed Zevach and Tzalmuna; then he took the ornamental crescents from around their camels’ necks.

²² The men of Isra’el said to Gid‘on: “Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, because you saved us from the power of Midyan. ²³ Gid‘on replied, “Neither I nor my son will rule over you; Adonai will rule over you.” ²⁴ Then he added, “But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken.” For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma‘el. ²⁵ They replied, “We’re glad to give them to you.” They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty. ²⁶ The gold earrings he requested weighed more than forty-two pounds; and this doesn’t include the crescents, pendants and purple cloth worn by the kings of Midyan and the chains around their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Out of these things Gid‘on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, ‘Ofrah. But all Isra’el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid‘on and his family.

²⁸ This is how Midyan was defeated by Isra’el, so that they ceased to be a threat. The land had rest forty years during the lifetime of Gid‘on; ²⁹ Yeruba‘al the son of Yo’ash returned to his home and stayed there.

³⁰ Gid‘on became the father of seventy sons, because he had many wives. ³¹ He also had a concubine in Sh’khem, and she too bore him a son, whom he called Avimelekh. ³² Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Yo’ash, in ‘Ofrah of the Avi‘ezri.

³³ But as soon as Gid‘on was dead, the people of Isra’el again went astray after the ba‘alim and made Ba‘al-B’rit their god. ³⁴ They forgot Adonai their God, who had saved them from the power of all their enemies on every side; ³⁵ and they showed no kindness toward the family of Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, to repay them for all the good he had done for Isra’el.

12 It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community; ² and he had Ya‘akov, Yochanan’s brother, put to death by the sword. ³ When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of Matzah, ⁴ so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after Pesach. ⁵ So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.

⁶ The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of Adonai stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa’s side and woke him. “Hurry! Get up!” he said; and the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals,” and he did. “Throw on your robe,” he said, “and follow me!” ⁹ Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real — he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹ Then Kefa came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod’s power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for.”

¹² Realizing what had happened, he went to the house of Miryam the mother of Yochanan (surnamed Mark), where many people had gathered to pray. ¹³ He knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ She recognized Kefa’s voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Kefa was standing outside. ¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind!” they said to her. But she insisted it was true. So they said, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ Meanwhile, Kefa kept knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. ¹⁷ Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and said, “Tell all this to Ya‘akov and the brothers.” Then he left and went elsewhere.

¹⁸ When daylight came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Kefa. ¹⁹ Herod had a thorough search made for him, but they failed to find him, so he cross-examined the guards and ordered them put to death. Then Herod went down from Y’hudah to Caesarea and spent some time there.

²⁰ Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tzor and Tzidon, so they joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, the king’s chief personal servant, they asked for peace; because they depended on the king’s lands for their food supply. ²¹ A day was set, and Herod in his royal robes sat on the throne and made a speech to them. ²² The mob cried out, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!” ²³ At once, because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of Adonai struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of the Lord went on growing and being multiplied.

²⁵ Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul, having completed their errand, returned from Yerushalayim, bringing with them Yochanan, surnamed Mark.

21 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai when King Tzidkiyahu sent to him Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah and Tz’fanyah the son of Ma‘aseiyah with this message: ² “Please consult Adonai for us, because N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel is making war on us. Maybe Adonai will perform a miracle for us and cause him to withdraw.”

³ Yirmeyahu answered them, “Here is what you are to tell Tzidkiyahu: ⁴ ‘This is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el, says: “I will make the weapons of war that you have in your hands ineffectual in your fight against the king of Bavel and the Kasdim who are outside the walls besieging you. Instead, I will gather them inside this city; ⁵ and I myself will fight against you with my hand stretched out and with a strong arm, in anger, rage and great fury. ⁶ I will strike the inhabitants of this city, humans and animals alike, and they will die of a terrible plague. ⁷ Afterwards,” says Adonai “I will hand over Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, his servants, the people, and anyone remaining alive in this city after the plague, war and famine, to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to their enemies, to those who seek their lives; and he will put them to the sword. He will not spare them; he will have no pity, no compassion.”’

⁸ “And here is what you are to tell this people: ‘Adonai says: “Look! I am presenting you with the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ Anyone who stays in this city will die by sword, famine and plague. But he who leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim besieging you will stay alive; his own life will be his only ‘spoils of war.’ ¹⁰ For I have determined absolutely that this city will have evil, not good,” says Adonai. “It is going to be handed over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground.”’

¹¹ “To the royal house of Y’hudah say: ‘Hear the word of Adonai; ¹² house of David, this is what Adonai says:

7 The P’rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua ² and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n’tilat-yadayim. ³ (For the P’rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing. ⁴ Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)

⁵ The P’rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, “Why don’t your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?” ⁶ Yeshua answered them, “Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites — as it is written,

⁸ “You depart from God’s command and hold onto human tradition. ⁹ Indeed,” he said to them, “you have made a fine art of departing from God’s command in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[b] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[c] 11} But you say, ‘If someone says to his father or mother, “I have promised as a korban” ’ ” (that is, as a gift to God) “ ‘ “what I might have used to help you,” ’ ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this.”

¹⁴ Then Yeshua called the people to him again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand this! ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!” ^16 [d]

¹⁷ When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidim asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He replied to them, “So you too are without understanding? Don’t you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine.” (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.) ²⁰ “It is what comes out of a person,” he went on, “that makes him unclean. ²¹ For from within, out of a person’s heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness…. ²³ All these wicked things come from within, and they make a person unclean.”

²⁴ Next, Yeshua left that district and went off to the vicinity of Tzor and Tzidon. There he found a house to stay in and wanted to remain unrecognized, but keeping hidden proved impossible. ²⁵ Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her came to him and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, by birth a Syro-phoenician, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” ²⁸ She answered him, “That is true, sir; but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s leftovers.” ²⁹ Then he said to her, “For such an answer you may go on home; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went back home and found the child lying on the couch, the demon gone.

³¹ Then he left the district of Tzor and went through Tzidon to Lake Kinneret and on to the region of the Ten Towns. ³² They brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and asked Yeshua to lay his hand on him. ³³ Taking him off alone, away from the crowd, Yeshua put his fingers into the man’s ears, spat, and touched his tongue; ³⁴ then, looking up to heaven, he gave a deep groan and said to him, “Hippatach!” (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ His ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly. ³⁶ Yeshua ordered the people to tell no one; but the more he insisted, the more zealously they spread the news. ³⁷ People were overcome with amazement. “Everything he does, he does well!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”