M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Equal Justice for All
The Lord said:
23 (A) Don't spread harmful rumors or help a criminal by giving false evidence.
2 Always tell the truth in court, even if everyone else is[a] dishonest and stands in the way of justice. 3 (B) And don't favor the poor, simply because they are poor.
4 (C) If you find an ox or a donkey that has wandered off, take it back where it belongs, even if the owner is your enemy.
5 If a donkey is overloaded and falls down, you must do what you can to help, even if it belongs to someone who doesn't like you.[b]
6 (D) Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court. 7 Don't bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won't forgive you if you do.
8 Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.
9 (E) Don't mistreat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.
Laws for the Sabbath
The Lord said:
10 (F) Plant and harvest your crops for six years, 11 but let the land rest during the seventh year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields, vineyards, and olive trees during that year, and when they have all they want from your fields, leave the rest for wild animals.
12 (G) Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.
13 Make certain that you obey everything I have said. Don't pray to other gods or even mention their names.
Three Annual Festivals
(Exodus 34.18-26; Deuteronomy 16.1-17)
The Lord said:
14 Celebrate three festivals each year in my honor.
15 (H) Celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread by eating bread made without yeast, just as I have commanded.[c] Do this at the proper time during the month of Abib,[d] because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.
16 (I) Celebrate the Harvest Festival[e] each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters[f] each autumn when you pick your fruit.
17 Your men must come to these three festivals each year to worship me.
18 Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. And make sure that the fat of the animal is burned that same day.
19 (J) Each year bring the best part of your first harvest to the place of worship.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
A Promise and a Warning
The Lord said:
20 I am sending an angel to protect you and to lead you into the land I have ready for you. 21 Carefully obey everything the angel says, because I am giving him complete authority, and he won't tolerate rebellion. 22 If you faithfully obey him, I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies. 23 My angel will lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Don't worship their gods or follow their customs. Instead, destroy their idols and shatter their stone images.
25 Worship only me, the Lord your God! I will bless you with plenty of food and water and keep you strong. 26 Your women will give birth to healthy children, and everyone will live a long life.
27 I will terrify those nations and make your enemies so confused that they will run from you. 28 I will make the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites panic as you approach. 29 But I won't do all this in the first year, because the land would become poor, and wild animals would be everywhere. 30 Instead, I will force out your enemies little by little and give your nation time to grow strong enough to take over the land.
31 I will see that your borders reach from the Red Sea[g] to the Euphrates River and from the Mediterranean Sea to the desert. I will let you defeat the people who live there, and you will force them out of the land. 32 But you must not make any agreements with them or with their gods. 33 Don't let them stay in your land. They will trap you into sinning against me and worshiping their gods.
Jesus at a Wedding in Cana
2 Three days later Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited and were there.
3 When the wine was all gone, Mary said to Jesus, “They don't have any more wine.”
4 Jesus replied, “Mother, my time hasn't yet come![a] You must not tell me what to do.”
5 Mary then said to the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.”
6 At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about 100 liters. 7 Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast.”
The servants did as Jesus told them, 9 and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over 10 and said, “The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!”
11 This was Jesus' first miracle,[b] and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. 12 (A) After this, he went with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples to the town of Capernaum, where they stayed for a few days.
Jesus in the Temple
(Matthew 21.12,13; Mark 11.15-17; Luke 19.45,46)
13 (B) Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.
16 Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace.”
17 (C) The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.”
18 The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle[c] will you work to show us why you have done this?”
19 (D) “Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”
20 The leaders replied, “It took 46 years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?”
21 But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.
Jesus Knows What People Are Like
23 In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles.[d] 24 But Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and he would not let them have power over him. 25 No one had to tell him what people were like. He already knew.
The Lord Continues
Can You Catch a Sea Monster?
41 (A) Can you catch a sea monster[a]
by using a fishhook?
Can you tie its mouth shut
with a rope?
2 Can it be led around
by a ring in its nose
or a hook in its jaw?
3 Will it beg for mercy?
4 Will it surrender
as a slave for life?
5 Can it be tied by the leg
like a pet bird
for little girls?
6 Is it ever chopped up
and its pieces bargained for
in the fish-market?
7 Can it be killed
with harpoons or spears?
8 Wrestle it just once—
that will be the end.
9 Merely a glimpse of this monster
makes all courage melt.
10 And if it is too fierce
for anyone to attack,
who would dare oppose me?
11 I am in command of the world
and in debt to no one.
12 What powerful legs,
what a stout body
this monster possesses!
13 Who could strip off its armor
or bring it under control
with a harness?
14 Who would try to open its jaws,
full of fearsome teeth?
* 15 Its back[b] is covered
with shield after shield,
16 firmly bound and closer together
17 than breath to breath.
When This Monster Sneezes
18 When this monster sneezes,
lightning flashes, and its eyes
glow like the dawn.
19 Sparks and fiery flames
explode from its mouth.
20 And smoke spews from its nose
like steam
from a boiling pot,
21 while its blazing breath
scorches everything in sight.
22 Its neck is so tremendous
that everyone trembles,
23 the weakest parts of its body
are harder than iron,
24 and its heart is stone.
25 When this noisy monster appears,
even the most powerful[c]
turn and run in fear.
26 No sword or spear can harm it,
27 and weapons of bronze or iron
are as useless as straw
or rotten wood.
28 Rocks thrown from a sling
cause it no more harm
than husks of grain.
This monster fears no arrows,
29 it simply smiles at spears,
and striking it with a stick
is like slapping it with straw.
30 As it crawls through the mud,
its sharp and spiny hide
tears the ground apart.
31 And when it swims down deep,
the sea starts churning
like boiling oil,
32 and it leaves behind a trail
of shining white foam.
33 No other creature on earth
is so fearless.
34 It is king of all proud creatures,
and it looks upon the others
as nothing.
Paul and the False Apostles
11 Please put up with a little of my foolishness. 2 I am as concerned about you as God is. You were like a virgin bride I had chosen only for Christ. 3 (A) But now I fear that you will be tricked, just as Eve was tricked by that lying snake. I am afraid that you might stop thinking about Christ in an honest and sincere way. 4 We told you about Jesus, and you received the Holy Spirit and accepted our message. But you let some people tell you about another Jesus. Now you are ready to receive another spirit and accept a different message. 5 I think I am as good as any of those super apostles. 6 I may not speak as well as they do, but I know as much. And this has already been made perfectly clear to you.
7 Was it wrong for me to lower myself and honor you by preaching God's message free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by taking money from them to serve you. 9 (B) Even when I was in need, I still didn't bother you. In fact, some of the Lord's followers from Macedonia brought me what I needed. I have not been a burden to you in the past, and I will never be a burden. 10 As surely as I speak the truth about Christ, no one in Achaia can stop me from bragging about this. 11 And it isn't because I don't love you. God himself knows how much I do love you.
12 I plan to go on doing just what I have always done. Then those people won't be able to brag about doing the same things we are doing. 13 Anyway, they are no more than false apostles and dishonest workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ. 14 And it is no wonder. Even Satan tries to make himself look like an angel of light. 15 So why does it seem strange for Satan's servants to pretend to do what is right? Someday they will get exactly what they deserve.
Paul's Sufferings for Christ
16 I don't want any of you to think I am a fool. But if you do, then let me be a fool and brag a little. 17 When I do all this bragging, I do it as a fool and not for the Lord. 18 Yet if others want to brag about what they have done, so will I. 19 And since you are so smart, you will gladly put up with a fool. 20 In fact, you let people make slaves of you and cheat you and steal from you. Why, you even let them strut around and slap you in the face. 21 I am ashamed to say we are too weak to behave in such a way.
If they can brag, so can I, but it is a foolish thing to do. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Jews? So am I. Are they from the family of Abraham? Well, so am I. 23 (C) Are they servants of Christ? I am a fool to talk this way, but I serve him better than they do. I have worked harder and have been put in jail more times. I have been beaten with whips more and have been in danger of death more often.
24 (D) Five times my own people gave me 39 lashes with a whip. 25 (E) Three times the Romans beat me with a big stick, and once my enemies stoned me. I have been shipwrecked three times, and I even had to spend a night and a day in the sea. 26 (F) During my many travels, I have been in danger from rivers, robbers, my own people, and foreigners. My life has been in danger in cities, in deserts, at sea, and with people who only pretended to be the Lord's followers.
27 I have worked and struggled and spent many sleepless nights. I have gone hungry and thirsty and often had nothing to eat. I have been cold from not having enough clothes to keep me warm. 28 Besides everything else, each day I am burdened down, worrying about all the churches. 29 When others are weak, I am weak too. When others are tricked into sin, I get angry.[a]
30 If I have to brag, I will brag about how weak I am. 31 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, knows I am not lying. And God is to be praised forever! 32 (G) The governor of Damascus at the time of King Aretas had the city gates guarded, so he could capture me. 33 But I escaped by being let down in a basket through a window in the city wall.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.