M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
5 On that day D’vorah and Barak the son of Avino‘am sang this song:
2 “When leaders in Isra’el dedicate themselves,
and the people volunteer,
you should all bless Adonai.
3 Hear, kings; listen, princes;
I will sing to Adonai!
I will sing praise to Adonai
the God of Isra’el.
4 “Adonai, when you went out from Se‘ir,
when you marched out from the field of Edom;
the earth quaked, and the sky shook;
yes, the clouds poured down torrents.
5 The mountains melted at the presence of Adonai,
at Sinai, before Adonai the God of Isra’el.
6 “In the days of Shamgar the son of ‘Anat,
in the days of Ya‘el, the main roads were deserted;
travelers walked the byways.
7 The rulers ceased in Isra’el, they ceased,
until you arose, D’vorah,
arose a mother in Isra’el.
8 “They chose new gods when war was at the gates.
Was there a shield or spear to be seen
among Isra’el’s forty thousand men?
9 My heart goes out to Isra’el’s leaders
and to those among the people who volunteer.
All of you, bless Adonai.
10 “You who ride white donkeys,
sitting on soft saddle-blankets,
and you walking on the road,
talk about it!
11 Louder than the sound of archers at the watering-holes
will they sound as they retell
the righteous acts of Adonai,
the righteous acts of his rulers in Isra’el.
“Then Adonai’s people marched down to the gates.
12 “Awake, awake, D’vorah!
Awake, awake, break into song!
Arise, Barak! Lead away your captives,
son of Avino‘am!
13 “Then a remnant of the nobles marched down;
the people of Adonai marched down to me like warriors.
14 From Efrayim came those rooted in ‘Amalek.
Behind you, Binyamin is with your peoples.
From Makhir the commanders marched down,
and from Z’vulun those holding the musterer’s staff.
15 The princes of Yissakhar were with D’vorah,
Yissakhar, along with Barak;
into the valley they rushed forth behind him.
Among the divisions of Re’uven
they made great resolutions in their hearts.
16 But why did you stay at the pens for the sheep,
and listen to the shepherd’s flute playing for the flocks?
Concerning the divisions of Re’uven
there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gil‘ad lives beyond the Yarden.
Dan — why does he stay by the ships?
Asher stayed by the shore of the sea,
remaining near its bays.
18 The people of Z’vulun risked their lives,
Naftali too, on the open heights.
19 “Kings came; they fought.
Yes, the kings of Kena‘an fought
at Ta‘anakh, by the waters of Megiddo;
but they took no spoil of silver.
20 They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses;
yes, they fought against Sisra.
21 The Kishon River swept them away,
that ancient river, the Kishon River.
O my soul, march on with strength!
22 Then the horses’ hoofs pounded the ground,
their mighty steeds galloping at full speed.
23 “‘Curse Meroz!’ said the angel of Adonai,
‘Curse the people living there with a bitter punishment
for not coming to help Adonai,
to help Adonai against the mighty warriors.’
24 “Ya‘el will be blessed more than all women.
The wife of Hever the Keini
will be blessed more than any woman in the tent.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
In an elegant bowl she brought him curds.
26 Then she took a tent peg in her left hand
and a workman’s hammer in her right;
with the hammer she struck Sisra, pierced his skull,
yes, she shattered and crushed his temple.
27 He sank down at her feet, he fell and lay there;
he sank at her feet, he fell —
where he sank down, there he fell dead.
28 “Sisra’s mother looks out the window;
peering out through the lattice she wonders,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why are his horses so slow to return?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer her,
and she repeats it to herself,
30 ‘Of course! They’re collecting and dividing the spoil —
a girl, two girls for every warrior,
for Sisra booty of dyed clothing,
a plunder of colorfully embroidered garments,
two embroidered scarves for every soldier’s neck.’
31 “May all your enemies perish like this, Adonai;
but may those who love him be like the sun
going forth in its glory!”
Then the land had rest for forty years.
9 Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim.
3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?” 5 “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. 6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”
7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 They helped Sha’ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek. 9 For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; 14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. 16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”
17 So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha’ul, the Lord — Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh.” 18 In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha’ul’s eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed; 19 then he ate some food and regained his strength.
Sha’ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek, 20 and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God. 21 All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn’t that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?” 22 But Sha’ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.
23 Quite some time later, the non-believing Jews gathered together and made plans to kill him; 24 but their plot became known to Sha’ul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to do away with him; 25 but under cover of night, his talmidim took him and let him down over the city wall, lowering him in a large basket.
26 On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the talmidim; but they were all afraid of him — they didn’t believe he was a talmid. 27 However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha’ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha’ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua. 28 So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they began making attempts to kill him. 30 When the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
31 Then the Messianic community throughout Y’hudah, the Galil and Shomron enjoyed peace and was built up. They lived in the fear of the Lord, with the counsel of the Ruach HaKodesh; and their numbers kept multiplying.
32 As Kefa traveled around the countryside, he came down to the believers in Lud. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas who had lain bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed. 34 Kefa said to him, “Aeneas! Yeshua the Messiah is healing you! Get up, and make your bed!” 35 Everyone living in Lud and the Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Now in Yafo there was a talmidah named Tavita 36 (which means “gazelle”); she was always doing tzedakah and other good deeds. 37 It happened that just at that time, she took sick and died. After washing her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Lud is near Yafo, and the talmidim had heard that Kefa was there, so they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 Kefa got up and went with them.
When he arrived, they led him into the upstairs room. All the widows stood by him, sobbing and showing all the dresses and coats Tavita had made them while she was still with them. 40 But Kefa put them all outside, kneeled down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said, “Tavita! Get up!” She opened her eyes; and on seeing Kefa, she sat up. 41 He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet; then, calling the believers and the widows, he presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Yafo, and many people put their trust in the Lord. 43 Kefa stayed on in Yafo for some time with a man named Shim‘on, a leather-tanner.
18 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2 “Get up, and go down to the potter’s house; there I will tell you more.” 3 So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels. 4 Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him.
5 Then the word of Adonai came to me: 6 “House of Isra’el, can’t I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? — says Adonai. Look! You, house of Isra’el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter’s hand. 7 At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted me to speak against it, then I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it. 9 Similarly, at another time, I may speak about building and planting a nation or kingdom; 10 but if it behaves wickedly from my perspective and doesn’t listen to what I say, then I change my mind and don’t do the good I said I would do that would have helped it.
11 “So now, tell the people of Y’hudah and those living in Yerushalayim that this is what Adonai says:
‘I am designing disaster for you,
working out my plan against you.
Turn, each of you, from his evil ways;
improve your conduct and actions.’
12 “But they will answer, ‘It’s hopeless!
We will stick to our own plans;
each of us will stubbornly follow
his own evil desires!’
13 “Therefore, Adonai says this:
‘Ask among the nations
who has heard anything like this.
The virgin Isra’el has done
a most horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of the L’vanon
disappear from the mountain crags?
Do the cold waters of foreign lands
ever run dry?
15 No, but my people have forgotten me
and offer incense to nothings.
This causes them to stumble
as they walk the ancient paths;
they leave the highway
to walk on side-trails.
16 Thus they make their land an object of horror
and ongoing ridicule.
Passers-by shake their heads,
appalled, every one.
17 Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will see their back, not their face,
on their day of disaster.’”
18 Then they said, “Let’s develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won’t be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let’s destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won’t pay attention to anything he says.”
19 Pay attention to me, Adonai!
Listen to what my opponents are saying!
20 Is good to be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit [to trap] me.
Remember how I stood before you
and spoke well of them,
in order to turn your anger
away from them?
21 Therefore, hand their sons over to famine,
hurl them into the power of the sword,
let their wives be made childless and widows,
let their husbands be slain by disease,
let their young men be slain by the sword in battle,
22 let screams be heard from their houses
when you bring raiders on them without warning.
For they have dug a pit to catch me
and have laid snares for my feet.
23 Nevertheless, Adonai, you know
all their plans against me to stop me.
Do not forgive their crime,
do not blot out their sin from your sight;
but let them be made to stumble before you;
deal with them when you are angry.
4 Again Yeshua began to teach by the lake, but the crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the crowd remained on shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things in parables. In the course of his teaching, he said to them: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; 6 but when the sun rose, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it; so that it yielded no grain. 8 But other seed fell into rich soil and produced grain; it sprouted, and grew, and yielded a crop — thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown.” 9 And he concluded, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”
10 When Yeshua was alone, the people around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables, 12 so that
they may be always looking but never seeing;
always listening but never understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven!”[a]
13 Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you be able to understand any parable? 14 The sower sows the message. 15 Those alongside the path where the message is sown are people who no sooner hear it than the Adversary comes and takes away the message sown in them. 16 Likewise, those receiving seed on rocky patches are people who hear the message and joyfully accept it at once; 17 but they have no root in themselves. So they hold out for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, they immediately fall away. 18 Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; 19 but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing. 20 But those sown on rich soil hear the message, accept it and bear fruit — thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.”
21 He said to them, “A lamp isn’t brought in to be put under a bowl or under the bed, is it? Wouldn’t you put it on a lampstand? 22 Indeed, nothing is hidden, except to be disclosed; and nothing is covered up, except to come out into the open. 23 Those who have ears to hear with, let them hear!”
24 He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you are hearing! The measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you — and more besides! 25 For anyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away.”
26 And he said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Nights he sleeps, days he’s awake; and meanwhile the seeds sprout and grow — how, he doesn’t know. 28 By itself the soil produces a crop — first the stalk, then the head, and finally the full grain in the head. 29 But as soon as the crop is ready, the man comes with his sickle, because it’s harvest-time.”
30 Yeshua also said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What illustration should we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when planted, is the smallest of all the seeds in the field; 32 but after it has been planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the plants, with such big branches that the birds flying about can build nests in its shade.”
33 With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it. 34 He did not say a thing to them without using a parable; when he was alone with his own talmidim he explained everything to them.
35 That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37 A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39 He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41 But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.