M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Famine in this part of the world normally involves a drought that extends for years. Only those with access to bodies of fresh water can survive. The Egyptians are perfectly positioned to use the Nile River to irrigate their crops during a drought. Most of the land of Canaan, on the other hand—where Jacob and his sons still live—has little fresh water even when there is no drought. Although some grain can be moved up and down the Nile or across the Mediterranean over established trade routes, the amount of grain needed to keep large populations alive cannot be moved across land or sea. So people have to go where the food is, or they starve to death. Israel knows he is out of options at home, so he has to look abroad.
42 Now when Jacob found out there was grain to be had in Egypt, he talked to his sons about it.
Jacob: Why do you just keep sitting here looking at each other? 2 Listen! I’ve heard they have grain for sale in Egypt! Go down there, and buy grain for us so that we have enough to live and won’t die of hunger.
3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob didn’t send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with the others, because he was afraid something might happen to him. 5 So the sons of Israel decided to go down and buy grain along with many others, because the famine had reached the land of Canaan.
6 Since Joseph was in charge of Egypt, he was the one responsible for selling the grain to the people who came from the various lands. When it was their turn, Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. 7 The moment Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them even though nearly 20 years had passed since last he saw them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke gruffly to them.
Joseph: Where do you come from?
Joseph’s Brothers: We come from the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 Although Joseph recognized them, they did not recognize him. 9 He then remembered the dreams he had as a young man regarding his brothers.
Joseph: You are spies! You have come to see how this famine has weakened our defenses so you can attack us.
Joseph’s Brothers: 10 No, my lord. We, your servants, have only come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man, and we are honest men. We are not spies.
Joseph: 12 No. I think you have come to scout out our land and defenses.
Joseph’s Brothers: 13 My lord, we are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest, however, is with our father back home, and one brother is no longer with us.
Joseph: 14 I don’t believe you. My accusation is true; you are surely spies! 15-16 But let’s see if your story is true. Here is how you will be tested: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here! Choose one of you to go and bring your brother to me while the rest of you remain locked up in prison. I want to see if you are telling me the truth. If he doesn’t come back with your brother, as Pharaoh lives, then I know you are truly spies.
17 Then Joseph put all ten of his brothers in prison for three days.
18 Three days later, Joseph had come up with a different plan.
Joseph (to his brothers): Do what I am about to say and you will live, because I am a man who respects God. 19 If you really are honest men, then I will choose one of your brothers to stay here in prison. The rest of you may go and carry grain to your families who are suffering because of the famine. 20 Then all of you must return and bring your youngest brother to me. In that way, I can see if you have been telling the truth, and you will not die.
They agreed to Joseph’s conditions.
Joseph’s Brothers (to each other): 21 Now at last, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we wouldn’t listen. Now that very anguish has come to us.
Reuben: 22 Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we will all pay for spilling his blood!
23 Now Joseph’s brothers were speaking to each other in their own language and had no idea that Joseph understood what they were saying, since he had been speaking with them through an interpreter. 24 But their words moved him, so he withdrew from them and cried. When he had composed himself, he came back and spoke to them again. He selected Simeon to remain behind and had him bound in ropes right in front of them. 25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return their money to each man’s sack, and to give them food for their journey home. All of this was done for them.
26 Then they loaded up their donkeys with the grain and left for Canaan. 27 Later, when they arrived where they would stay the night, one of them opened up his sack to give his donkey some fodder, and he saw his money lying at the top of the sack.
One of the Brothers: 28 Someone put my money back into the sack! Here it is, right on top!
When they heard this, their hearts sank. They looked at one another and trembled.
The brothers of Joseph are in the dark. What does this mean? Is this some sort of trick? Has someone planted the money there only to later claim it or the grain has been stolen? Are the Egyptians even now bearing down on them? Is this part of the test? Should they go back and tell the gruff Egyptian governor what has happened? And if they do, will he believe them? What happens to Simeon? They have a thousand thoughts, but their most profound thought occurs next.
Joseph’s Brothers (nervously to each other): What is God doing to us?
29 When they finally arrived in the land of Canaan at their father Jacob’s house, they told him everything that had happened.
Joseph’s Brothers: 30 The man, the lord of the land, was very tough with us and accused us of spying on Egypt. 31 But we told him, “We are honest men. We are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, all sons of one father. One is no longer with us, and the youngest is with our father in Canaan right now.” 33 And then the man, the lord of the land, told us, “Here is how I will know if you really are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain back to your families suffering because of the famine, and go your way. 34 All of you must return and bring your youngest brother to me, and then I will know you aren’t spies but honest men. At that point, I will release your brother to you, and you may go about Egypt freely and buy as you wish.”
35 Now as all the brothers went to empty their sacks, each found his bag of money inside. And when they and their father saw the money there, they were very frightened.
Jacob (to his sons): 36 You have robbed me of my children: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything and everyone is against me!
Reuben: 37 Father, you may kill my own two sons if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Put him in my care, and I promise to bring him back to you.
Jacob: 38 Absolutely not; I can’t let my son go with you. His brother Joseph is already dead, and he’s all I have left of Rachel. If I put him in your care and any harm should come to him on that journey, the sorrow would kill me. I can’t allow you to condemn this old, gray head to the grave.
The religious leaders ask Jesus where His authority comes from. What gives Him the right to heal people on the Sabbath, teach about God, do miracles, and cast out demons? Who exactly does He think He is—and where does His authority come from? This question is a trap: if He claims His authority is from God, then they can argue that God does not endorse someone who breaks His laws; but if He says His authority is His own, then He will be in trouble with the crowds and perhaps even with the Roman governor.
Jesus, however, issues a challenge: I’ll tell you what you want to know if you’ll answer My question first. But He asks them an impossible question—impossible not because they don’t know the answer, but because they cannot say the answer.
12 Then He told a story.
Jesus: There was a man who established a vineyard. He put up a wall around it to fence it in; he dug a pit for a winepress; he built a watchtower. When he had finished this work, he leased the vineyard to some tenant farmers and went away to a distant land.
2 When the grapes were in season, he sent a slave to the vineyard to collect his rent—his share of the fruit. 3 But the farmers grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back to his master empty-handed. 4 The owner sent another slave, and this slave the farmers beat over the head and sent away dishonored. 5 A third slave, the farmers killed. This went on for some time, with the farmers beating some of the messengers and killing others until the owner had lost all patience. 6 He had a son whom he loved above all things, and he said to himself, “When these thugs see my son, they’ll know he carries my authority. They’ll have to respect him.”
7 But when the tenant farmers saw the owner’s son coming, they said among themselves, “Look at this! It’s the son, the heir to this vineyard. If we kill him, then the land will be ours!” 8 So they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 Now what do you suppose the owner will do when he hears of this? He’ll come and destroy these farmers, and he’ll give the land to others.
10 Haven’t you read the Scriptures? As the psalmist says,
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation.
11 This is the work of the Eternal One,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.[a]
12 The priests, scribes, temple leaders, and elders knew the story was directed against them. They couldn’t figure out how to lay their hands on Jesus then because they were afraid the people would rise up against them. So they left Him alone, and they went away furious.
The leaders are stunned to learn they will face judgment themselves. It goes against everything they believe about themselves and about God.
13 Then some Pharisees and some of Herod’s supporters banded together to try to entrap Jesus. 14 They came to Him and complimented Him.
Pharisees: Teacher, we know You are truthful in what You say and that You don’t play favorites. You’re not worried about what anyone thinks of You, so You teach with total honesty what God would have us do. So tell us: is it lawful that we Jews should pay taxes to the Roman emperor or not? 15 Should we give or not?
Jesus (seeing through their ruse): Why do you test Me like this? Listen, bring Me a coin[b] so that I can take a look at it.
16 When they had brought it to Him, He asked them another question.
Jesus: Tell Me, whose picture is on this coin? And of whom does this inscription speak?
Pharisees: Caesar, of course.
Jesus: 17 Then give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. And give to God what belongs to God.
They could not think of anything to say to His response.
Jesus turns the question back on them. It isn’t about taxes. It is about knowing and being faithful to the one true God.
18 Later a group of Sadducees, Jewish religious leaders who didn’t believe the dead would be resurrected, came to test Jesus.
Sadducees: 19 Teacher, the law of Moses tells us, “If a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow without sons, then the man should marry his sister-in-law and try to have children with her in his brother’s name.”[c]
20 Now here’s the situation: there were seven brothers. The oldest took a wife and left her a widow with no children. 21 So the next oldest married her, left her a widow, and again there were no children. So the next brother married her and died, and the next, and the next. 22 Finally all seven brothers had married her, but none of them had conceived children with her, and at last she died also.
23 Tell us then, in the resurrection [when humans rise from the dead],[d] whose wife will she be? For all seven of them married her.
Jesus: 24 You can’t see the truth because you don’t know the Scriptures well and because you don’t really believe that God is powerful. 25 The answer is this: when the dead rise, they won’t be married or given in marriage. They’ll be like the messengers in heaven, who are not united with one another in marriage. 26 But how can you fail to see the truth of resurrection? Don’t you remember in the Book of Moses how God talked to Moses out of a burning bush and what God said to him then? “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”[e] “I am,” God said. Not “I was.” 27 So God is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are sadly mistaken.
28 One of the scribes who studied and copied the Hebrew Scriptures overheard this conversation and was impressed by the way Jesus had answered.
Scribe: Tell me, Teacher. What is the most important thing that God commands in the law?
Jesus: 29 The most important commandment is this: “Hear, O Israel, the Eternal One is our God, and the Eternal One is the only God. 30 You should love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”[f] 31 The second great commandment is this: “Love others in the same way you love yourself.”[g] There are no commandments more important than these.
Although Jesus is asked for only the single most important commandment, He answers by naming two commands: love God and love others. He includes both because these two teachings can never be really separated from each other. Some people think they can love God and ignore the people around them, but Jesus frequently makes it clear that loving God apart from loving His people is impossible.
Scribe: 32 Teacher, You have spoken the truth. For there is one God and only one God, 33 and to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves are more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice we could ever give.
34 Jesus heard that the man had spoken with wisdom.
Jesus: Well said; if you understand that, then the kingdom of God is closer than you think.
Nobody asked Jesus any more questions after that.
35 Later Jesus was teaching in the temple.
Jesus: Why do the scribes say that the Anointed One is the son of David? 36 In the psalms, David himself was led by the Holy Spirit to sing,
The Master said to my master,
“Sit at My right hand,
in the place of power and honor,
And I will gather Your enemies together,
lead them in on hands and knees,
and You will rest Your feet on their backs.”[h]
37 If David calls Him “Master,” how can He be his son?
The crowd listened to Him with delight.
Jesus: 38 Watch out for the scribes who act so religious—who like to be seen in pious clothes and to be spoken to respectfully in the marketplace, 39 who take the best seats in the synagogues and the place of honor at every dinner, 40 who spend widows’ inheritances and pray long prayers to impress others. These are the kind of people who will be condemned above all others.
41 Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, where people came to bring their offerings, and He watched as they came and went. Many rich people threw in large sums of money, 42 but a poor widow came and put in only two small coins[i] worth only a fraction of a cent.[j]
Jesus (calling His disciples together): 43 Truly this widow has given a greater gift than any other contribution. 44 All the others gave a little out of their great abundance, but this poor woman has given God everything she has.
8 Then the second of Job’s three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job.
2 Bildad: How long will you say these things,
your words whipping through air like a powerful wind?
3 Does God corrupt justice,
or does the Highest One[a] corrupt the good?
4 If your children sinned against Him,
He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins.
5 But if you search for God
and make your appeal to the Highest One,
6 If you are pure and righteous,
I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place.
7 From your modest beginnings,
the future will be bright before you.
8 Ask those who have come and gone!
Explore what their fathers learned and taught them.
9 For we are not of ages past, nor even of years gone by.
We are ignorant creatures of yesterday,
and our time on earth is only a shadow.
10 But the ancients are not similarly bound, are they?
Won’t they speak to and instruct you?
Won’t they draw up words from deep within?
11 Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12 Even if they are hardy and unbroken,
without water they will dry up before any other plant.
13 So it goes with any who forget God.
The hope of the godless soon withers and dies.
14 His confidence breaks,
for he trusts in the tenuous threads of a spider’s web.[b]
15 When he leans into his house of silken threads for support,
it won’t hold;
Though his arms grab to steady him,
it will break—he will fall and never get back up.
16 Still the godless appears to be a hardy plant,
thriving in full sun, sending his shoots across the garden.
17 The roots twine and grip the stone heap
and search for a home among the rocks.
18 If he is pulled up, the place will disown him saying,
“I have never seen you.”
19 See, his sole joy consists of this:[c]
knowing that others will spring from the earth to take his place.
20 Do you see it? God will not reject the innocent;
He will not reject you or support agents of evil.
21 He will fill your mouth with laughter;
your lips will spill over into cries of delight.
22 Those who hate you will don the garment of shame,
and the home of the wicked will disappear.
12 Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship. 2 Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.
Paul urges those who read and hear his letter to respond to the good news by offering their bodies—eyes, ears, mouths, hands, feet—to God as a “living sacrifice.” Paul knows well enough that sacrifices end in death, not life. But the sacrifice of Jesus changes everything. His resurrection steals life from death and makes it possible for those who trust in Him to become a sacrifice and yet live. But how do we live? We do not live as before, wrapping ourselves in the world and its bankrupt values. We live in constant renewal and transformation of our minds.
3 Because of the grace allotted to me, I can respectfully tell you not to think of yourselves as being more important than you are; devote your minds to sound judgment since God has assigned to each of us a measure of faith. 4 For in the same way that one body has so many different parts, each with different functions; 5 we, too—the many—are different parts that form one body in the Anointed One. Each one of us is joined with one another, and we become together what we could not be alone. 6 Since our gifts vary depending on the grace poured out on each of us, it is important that we exercise the gifts we have been given. If prophecy is your gift, then speak as a prophet according to your proportion of faith. 7 If service is your gift, then serve well. If teaching is your gift, then teach well. 8 If you have been given a voice of encouragement, then use it often. If giving is your gift, then be generous. If leading, then be eager to get started. If sharing God’s mercy, then be cheerful in sharing it.
9 Love others well, and don’t hide behind a mask; love authentically. Despise evil; pursue what is good as if your life depends on it. 10 Live in true devotion to one another, loving each other as sisters and brothers. Be first to honor others by putting them first. 11 Do not slack in your faithfulness and hard work. Let your spirit be on fire, bubbling up and boiling over, as you serve the Lord. 12 Do not forget to rejoice, for hope is always just around the corner. Hold up through the hard times that are coming, and devote yourselves to prayer. 13 Share what you have with the saints, so they lack nothing; take every opportunity to open your life and home to others.
14 If people mistreat or malign you, bless them. Always speak blessings, not curses. 15 If some have cause to celebrate, join in the celebration. And if others are weeping, join in that as well. 16 Work toward unity, and live in harmony with one another. Avoid thinking you are better than others or wiser than the rest; instead, embrace common people and ordinary tasks. 17 Do not retaliate with evil, regardless of the evil brought against you. Try to do what is good and right and honorable as agreed upon by all people. 18 If it is within your power, make peace with all people. 19 Again, my loved ones, do not seek revenge; instead, allow God’s wrath to make sure justice is served. Turn it over to Him. For the Scriptures say, “Revenge is Mine. I will settle all scores.”[a] 20 But consider this bit of wisdom: “If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink; because if you treat him kindly, it will be like heaping hot coals on top of his head.”[b] 21 Never let evil get the best of you; instead, overpower evil with the good.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.