M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 2
Ruth and Boaz.[a] 1 Naomi’s husband had a kinsman, a very wealthy man from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go now to the field and glean ears of corn after one in whose sight I might find favor.” So she said, “Go, my daughter.”
3 She left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. It happened that she arrived at a portion of the field that belonged to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.[b] 4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered him, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Boaz asked his foreman of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The foreman of the harvesters answered, “The young woman is a Moabite. She came back with Naomi from the land of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather the sheaves after the harvesters.’ She arrived early this morning and has continued working continuously until now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen to me, my daughter. Do not go and glean in any other field and do not go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that they are reaping, and follow after them. I have told the young men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 10 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “Why have I, a foreigner, found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “I have been informed of all that you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to live with a people whom you had not previously known. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”[c] 13 Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord. You have comforted me and shown kindness to your servant, even though I am not really one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it into the sour wine.” She sat alongside the reapers. He served her so much roasted grain that she ate until she was full and there was still some left over.
15 When she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men: “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not reproach her. 16 Let some fall out from the bundles and leave it there for her to glean, but do not chastise her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until the evening. She threshed out what she had gleaned, and it amounted to an ephah of barley. 18 She gathered it up and went back into the city. She showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what she had saved after she was full. 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord who has not withdrawn his favor from the living nor the dead.” Then Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our relatives, one of our closest relations.”[d] 21 Ruth the Moabite added, “He said to me, ‘You should stay close to my young men until they have finished my harvest.’ ” 22 So Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good for you to go out with his servant girls, lest you be harmed in some other field.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and the wheat harvests were over, and she continued to live with her mother-in-law.
The Journey to Rome[a]
Chapter 27
Paul’s Voyage toward Rome. 1 When it was decided that we[b] should sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to Julius, a centurion of the Augustan cohort. 2 We embarked on a ship from Adramyttium[c] that was about to sail to ports in the province of Asia, and we put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
3 On the next day, we landed at Sidon,[d] and Julius was considerate enough to allow Paul to visit his friends there and be cared for by them. 4 From there, we put out to sea again and sailed around the sheltered side of Cyprus because of the headwinds. 5 Then, crossing the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia.[e]
Storm and Shipwreck. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship[f] that was bound for Italy and put us on board. 7 For a good many days, we made little headway, and we experienced difficulty in reaching Cnidus.[g] Then, as the wind continued to pose difficulties, we sailed for the sheltered side of Crete off Salmone. 8 We moved along the coast with difficulty and reached a place called Fair Havens,[h] near the city of Lasea.
9 Much time had already been lost, and sailing had now become hazardous, since the time of the Fast[i] had already gone by. Therefore, Paul gave them this warning, 10 “Men, I can see that this voyage will be fraught with danger and involve heavy losses, not only of the ship and the cargo but also of our lives.”
11 However, the centurion paid more attention to the advice of the captain and of the ship’s owner than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was unsuitable for spending the winter, the majority were in favor of putting out to sea from there, in the hope that they could reach Phoenix,[j] a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
13 When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they would be able to achieve their objective. They weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, hugging the shore. 14 But before long a violent wind, called a northeaster, swept down on them. 15 Since the ship was caught up in it, we had to give way to the wind and let ourselves be driven along.
16 As we passed along the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda,[k] we managed with some difficulty to secure the ship’s lifeboat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used cables to undergird the ship. Then, afraid of running aground on the shallows of Syrtis,[l] they lowered the sea anchor and so let themselves drift.
18 We were being pounded so violently by the storm that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 Then on the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. 20 For many days, neither the sun nor the stars could be seen, and the storm continued to rage until we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.
21 When they all had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete. Then you would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage. There will be no loss of life among you. Only the ship will be lost.
23 “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve appeared to me, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You shall appear before Caesar. Furthermore, for your sake God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, men, keep up your courage. I have complete trust in God that what he told me will be fulfilled. 26 But we will run aground on some island.”
27 On the fourteenth night, we were still drifting across the Adriatic Sea.[m] About midnight, the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land, 28 so they took soundings and found that the water was twenty feet deep. A little farther on they again took soundings and found fifteen feet.
29 Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come. 30 The sailors then tried to abandon ship. They had already lowered the lifeboat into the sea, on the pretext that they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay[n] with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the lifeboat and set it adrift.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “This is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense, going hungry and eating nothing. 34 Therefore, I beg you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.”
35 After he had said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36 Then they were all encouraged and began to eat. 37 Altogether, there were two hundred and seventy-six persons on board. 38 After they had eaten as much as they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
39 In the morning, they did not recognize the land, but they sighted a bay with a sandy beach, and they decided to run the ship aground on this if they could. 40 And so they cut loose the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. 41 But they struck a reef, and the vessel ran aground. The bow became stuck and remained unmovable, while the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the waves.
42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners lest any of them might swim away and escape. 43 However, the centurion was determined to spare Paul’s life, and he prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land, 44 while the rest were to follow either on planks or on pieces of wreckage from the ship. In this way, all were brought safely to land.
Chapter 37[a]
Jeremiah’s Arrest. 1 Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to be king in the land of Judah, succeeding Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. 2 However, neither he nor his officials nor the people of the land paid any heed to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
3 Even so, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelamiah, and the priest Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, to the prophet Jeremiah with this message, “Please pray to the Lord, our God, for us.” 4 At that time Jeremiah had not been imprisoned, and he was still able to move freely among the people. 5 Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set forth from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem learned of this, they withdrew from there.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: 7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Give this reply to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Pharaoh’s army which has set out to help you will withdraw to its own country of Egypt, 8 and the Chaldeans will then resume their attack upon this city. They will capture it and burn it to the ground.
9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves with the belief that the Chaldeans will cease their attack on you, for they will not disappear. 10 Even if you managed to defeat the entire force of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only those who were wounded were still left, they would rise up and burn this city to the ground.
11 When the Chaldean army had withdrawn from their attack on Jerusalem after they learned of the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his share of a piece of property that he had inherited. 13 However, when he reached the Benjamin Gate, he encountered there the captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shemaliah, the son of Hananiah. Irijah arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 Jeremiah answered him, “That is a lie. I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah refused to listen to him, and he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
15 The officials were enraged at Jeremiah. After having him beaten, they ordered him to be confined in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been converted into a jail. 16 Jeremiah was placed in a cell in the dungeon where he remained for a lengthy period of time.
17 Later, King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him, and he questioned him privately in his palace, asking him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 18 Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah, “In what way have I wronged you or your ministers or this people that caused you to order me to be thrown into prison? 19 Where are your prophets now who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?
20 “Therefore, I beg you, my lord king, to grant my petition. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe. If you do, I will die there.” 21 Therefore, King Zedekiah issued an order that Jeremiah was to be confined to the court of the guard, and that a loaf of bread was to be given to him each day from the Street of the Bakers until there was no more bread remaining in the city. And so Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Psalm 10[a]
Prayer for Help against Oppressors
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you remain hidden in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked hunts down the poor;
let him be ensnared by the schemes he has devised.
3 The wicked boasts of his wicked desires;
he upholds the greedy and renounces the Lord.
4 Filled with arrogance, he does not seek God,
but thinks, “God does not exist.”[b]
5 The wicked always seems to prosper;
your judgments are far from his mind,
and he scoffs at all those who oppose him.
6 He says in his heart,[c] “I will not be swayed;
I will never experience misfortune.”
7 His mouth is filled with curses, deceit, and threats;[d]
his tongue breeds evil and malice.
8 He lies in wait near the villages,
and from ambush he slays the innocent;
his eyes are on the watch for the helpless.
9 He lies in wait like a lurking lion,
ready to strike the helpless;
he snares his victims,
seizing them in his net.
10 He crouches and lies low,
and the poor are overwhelmed by his might.
11 He thinks in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see what is happening.”
12 Arise, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God!
Do not forget the afflicted.
13 Why should the wicked reject God
and say in his heart,
“He will not call me to account”?
14 But you note our troubles and our grief
so that you may resolve our difficulties.
The helpless entrusts himself to you;
you are the recourse of the fatherless.
15 Break the arms of the sinner and the evildoer;
seek out the wicked
until no more endure.[e]
16 [f]The Lord is King forever and ever;
the heathen will disappear from his land.
17 You listen, O Lord, to the longings of the poor;
you strengthen their courage and heed their prayers.
18 You ensure justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that no one on earth may fill them with terror.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.