M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 12
Shibboleth Murders. 1 The Ephraimites gathered together and they traveled northward to Jephthah and they said, “Why did you go out to fight against the Ammonites and you did not summon us to go with you? We are going to set your house on fire!”
2 Jephthah answered, “I and the people who were with me fought a great battle against the Ammonites, and although I summoned you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. 3 When I realized that you would not help me, I put my life in my hands and crossed over to fight against the Ammonites. It is the Lord who delivered them into my hands. Why have you come here today to fight against me?” 4 Jephthah then summoned the Gileadites and they fought against the Ephraimites. The Gileadites struck down the Ephraimites, because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are nothing more than refugees from Ephraim and Manasseh.”
5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan that lead to Ephraim. When one of the survivors of the Ephraimites said, “Let us cross over,” the Gileadites said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” 6 then they said to him, “Say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed.
7 Jephthah was a judge over Israel for six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died, and he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
Ibzan.[a] 8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem was a judge over Israel. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his thirty daughters away in marriage to those outside of his clan, and he took in thirty young women from outside of his clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan was a judge over Israel for seven years. 10 When Ibzan died, he was buried in Bethlehem.
11 Elon. After him, Elon the Zebulunite was a judge over Israel for ten years. 12 When Elon the Zebulunite died, he was buried in Aijalon of Zebulun.
13 Abdon. After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite was a judge over Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He was a judge over Israel for eight years. 15 When Adbon, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite, died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of the Ephraimites in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Chapter 16
1 He then moved on to Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy,[a] the son of a Jewish woman who had become a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brethren of Lystra and Iconium regarded him highly, 3 and Paul decided to take him along. Therefore, he had him circumcised, because of the Jews in that region who all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 As they traveled from town to town, they made known to the brethren there the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 Day by day, the churches grew strong in the faith and increased in numbers.
6 They traveled through the region of Phrygia[b] and Galatia because they had been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they approached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but since the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do so, 8 they passed through Mysia and came down to Troas.[c]
Paul at Philippi.[d] 9 During the night, Paul had a vision in which a man of Macedonia appeared to him and pleaded with him, saying, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Once he had seen this vision, we immediately arranged for passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had summoned us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and made a straight run to Samothrace.[e] On the following day, we reached Neapolis, 12 and from there we sailed to Philippi,[f] a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city.
13 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate alongside the river where we assumed there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of the women, whose name was Lydia, was a worshiper of God. She was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. 15 When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us insistently, “If you regard me as a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she won us over.
16 Paul Imprisoned at Philippi.[g]On one occasion, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination and brought large profits to her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She began to follow Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days, until Paul became very greatly troubled. He turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And the spirit came out of her instantly.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money from her was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are causing a disturbance in our city. They are Jews, 21 and they are advocating practices that it is illegal for us as Romans to adopt or follow.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten. 23 After they had inflicted a severe beating on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them closely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and locked their feet in the stocks.
25 Paul Set Free. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly, there was such a huge earthquake that the very foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the doors flew open, and everyone’s chains were loosened.
27 When the jailer awakened and saw all the doors of the prison wide open, he drew his sword, intending to kill himself, since he assumed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 However, Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
29 The jailer called for lights and, rushing in, he threw himself before Paul and Silas, trembling with fear. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and so too will your household.” 32 After this, they preached the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
33 At that late hour of the night, the jailer took them and bathed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 Afterward, he brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced over their belief in God.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent police officers with the order, “Let those men go.” 36 The jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go. Now you can come out and depart in peace.” 37 But Paul said to the officers, “We are Roman citizens. They gave us a public beating and threw us into prison without a trial. And now they are going to release us secretly. Absolutely not! Let them come in person and escort us out themselves.”
38 The officers reported Paul’s words, and the magistrates became alarmed when they learned that those men were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them, then escorted them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 After emerging from the prison, they went to Lydia’s home, where they met the brethren and spoke words of encouragement to them. Then they departed.
Chapter 25[a]
Seventy Years of Captivity.[b] 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 2 The prophet Jeremiah thus spoke as follows to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah, the son of Amon, until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you unceasingly, but you have not listened. 4 And though the Lord continued to send all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you refused to listen or to pay any heed to their message when they warned, 5 “If you turn back, each of you, from your evil ways and your wicked deeds, says the Lord, you can remain in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers forever. 6 If you do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and you do not provoke me with what your hands have made, then I will not harm you. 7 But you have not listened to me, says the Lord, and thus you have provoked me to anger with your handiwork to your own harm.”
8 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I intend to summon all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, as well as my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will totally destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn and everlasting disgrace. 10 No longer will there emerge from them the sounds of rejoicing and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This entire country will become a wasteland of desolation, and these nations will be enslaved to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 However, at the end of those seventy years, says the Lord, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will turn it into a desolate wasteland. 13 [c]I will inflict upon that land all the scourges that I threatened against it, everything written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 Mighty nations and powerful kings will reduce them to a life of slavery, and thus I will requite them as their deeds and their handiwork deserve.
15 The Cup of Wrath on the Nations. For these are the words that the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaimed to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and command all the nations to whom I send you to drink from it. 16 After they drink, they will stagger and become mad because of the sword that I am inflicting upon them.”
17 Therefore, I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and ordered all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me to drink from it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to transform them into a desolate ruin and a desert, an object of ridicule and cursing, as they are today; 19 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people, 20 with the various groupings of people: all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, both close neighbors and those who are distant from each other—in other words, all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And, last of all, the king of Sheshach[d] shall drink.
27 Then say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink! Get drunk and vomit! Fall down, never to rise again, because of the sword that I am sending against you. 28 Should they refuse to accept the cup from your hand and drink, then you are to say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! 29 Behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name. Do you believe that you can possibly avoid punishment? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.
30 Therefore, prophesy against them all these words and proclaim to them:
The Lord roars from on high;
he thunders from his holy dwelling place.
He will roar mightily against his fold;
like those who tread the grapes, she shouts aloud
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The uproar will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against the nations,
he will pass judgment upon all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword.
This the Lord has sworn.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is spreading
from nation to nation,
and a mighty storm has been unleashed
from the farthest corners of the earth.
33 Those whom the Lord has slain on that day will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them. Nor will they be gathered up for burial. Rather, they will become like dung spread over the surface of the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and weep aloud;
roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
The time for you to be slaughtered has arrived;
you will fall and be shattered
like a valuable vase.
35 The shepherds have no place to seek refuge;
the leaders of the flock have no way of escape.
36 Listen to the cry of the shepherds
and the wails from the lords of the flock.
For the Lord has ravaged their pasture,
37 and their peaceful sheepfolds lie in ruins
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a lion he has abandoned his lair,
for their land has become a desolate waste
because of the sword of the oppressor
and the fierce anger of the Lord.
Jesus at Jerusalem—The Break with Judaism[a]
Chapter 11
The Entry into Jerusalem.[b] 1 When they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent off two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village directly ahead of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find tied there a colt on which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say: ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back immediately.’ ”
4 The two went off and found a colt tied beside a door outside on the street. As they were untying it, 5 some of them said to them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had instructed them, and they allowed them to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and spread their cloaks on its back. And he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed kept crying out:
“Hosanna![c]
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.
Hosanna in the highest heavens!”
11 He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, where he looked around at everything. Then, since the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
12 Jesus Curses a Sterile Fig Tree.[d] On the next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he felt hungry. 13 Noticing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he reached it, he found nothing except leaves, since it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to it, “May no one ever again eat fruit from your branches.” And his disciples heard him say this.
15 Jesus Cleanses the Temple.[e] Then they came to Jerusalem. He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were engaged there in buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 16 Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 Then he taught them, saying: “Is it not written:[f]
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of thieves.”
18 When the chief priests and the scribes heard about this, they plotted to do away with him. For they were afraid of him because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, they left the city.
20 The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree.[g] Early the next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter, recalling what had happened, said to Jesus: “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered away.”
22 Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be accomplished for him. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
25 “And whenever you stand in prayer, forgive whatever grievance you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your wrongs too. [ 26 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father in heaven will not forgive you your transgressions.]”[h]
27 The Authority of Jesus Questioned.[i] They returned once again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him 28 and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you the authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Give me an answer, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did John’s baptism originate from heaven or from men? Tell me!”
31 They argued among themselves, “If we say: ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But how can we say, ‘From men’?”—for they were afraid of the people, who all regarded John as a true prophet.
33 Therefore, they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Then neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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