M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
33 Jacob looked up, and there was Esau coming with four hundred men. Jacob divided the children into groups with Leah and Rachel and with the two maids. 2 He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the end. 3 He himself crossed over the stream ahead of the others and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged him around the neck, and kissed him. They both wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?”
Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the maids came forward with their children, and they bowed low. 7 Leah and her children also came forward and bowed low. After them, Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed low.
8 Esau said, “What did you mean by this whole camp that I met?”
Jacob said, “To gain favor in the sight of my lord.”
9 Esau said, “I have enough, my brother. Keep what is yours.”
10 Jacob said, “No, if I have now found favor in your sight, then please accept the gift from my hand, because when I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God, now that you have accepted me. 11 Please accept the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything I need.” He urged him, and he accepted it.
12 Esau said, “Let us get going on our journey, and I will lead the way for you.”
13 Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are still young, and that my flocks and herds are nursing their young, and if the herdsmen drive them too hard for even one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Please let my lord go ahead of his servant, and I will follow slowly, at the right pace for the livestock and the right pace for the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Please let me leave some of my people with you.”
But he said, “Why? Just let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
16 So Esau set out that day on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob traveled to Succoth, built a house for himself, and made shelters for his livestock. That is why that place is called Succoth.[a]
18 When he returned from Paddan Aram, Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he camped in front of the city. 19 He bought the piece of land where he pitched his tent from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver.[b] 20 He erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.[c]
The Parable of the Sower
4 Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. 2 Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, 3 “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. 6 When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. 7 Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, 12 so that
they will certainly see but not perceive,
and they will certainly hear but not understand.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”[a]
13 Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. 17 Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. 18 Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. 20 But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”
A Lamp and a Lampstand
21 He also said to them, “A lamp is not brought out to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it placed on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24 He went on to tell them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. 25 Yes, whoever has will be given more. And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Seed Sprouts and Grows
26 He said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground, 27 and while he sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.”
Mustard Seed
30 Then he said, “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or with what parable may we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is one of the smallest of all the seeds planted in the ground. 32 Yet when it is planted, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”
33 With many similar parables he continued to speak the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36 After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up. 38 Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
39 Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?”
41 They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (Adar), the day which the king’s proclamation had specified for his decree to be carried out, the day on which the enemies of the Jews hoped to obtain power over them, the situation was reversed so that the Jews would gain power over those who hated them.
2 The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes, to strike against those seeking to hurt them. No one opposed them because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon all the people. 3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the people who did the work of the king were helping the Jews because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them, 4 because he was important in the king’s house. His reputation was spreading in all the provinces because this man Mordecai was becoming more and more influential.
5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering and destroying them. They did whatever they pleased against their enemies.
6 In Susa, the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7 including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. 10 They killed the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, who had been persecuting the Jews, but they did not seize any plunder.
11 On that day the number of those killed in Susa, the citadel, was reported to the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa, the citadel, the Jews have killed five hundred men, including the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the provinces of the king? What is your request? It will be granted. What you are still seeking will be done.”
13 Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, let permission be given to the Jews who are in Susa to carry out today’s order also tomorrow and that the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”
14 The king said that this would be done. The command was given in Susa. The ten sons of Haman were hanged.
15 The Jews in Susa gathered again on the fourteenth day of Adar. In Susa they killed three hundred men, but they did not seize any plunder.
16 The rest of the Jews who were in the provinces of the king also gathered and defended themselves, getting relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they did not seize any plunder. 17 This happened on the thirteenth day of Adar. They rested on the fourteenth and had a day of feasting[a] and joyful celebration.
18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth. They rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and joyful celebration. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns of the open countryside, have their day of joyful celebration and feasting on the fourteenth of Adar. It is a holiday, and they send portions of food to their neighbors.
20 Mordecai wrote these things down. Then he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far, 21 to call upon them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar every year, 22 because those were the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies. This was the month which was changed from sorrow to gladness for them and from a day of mourning to a holiday. They were to make those days into days of feasting and joyful celebration, sending portions of food to their neighbors and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews completed what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the one opposed to all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast pur (that is, they had cast lots) to crush them and to destroy them.
25 However, because Esther came into the presence of the king, he said in writing that Haman’s wicked plot, which he had devised against the Jews, was to return on his own head, and they should hang him and his sons on the gallows.
26 That is why they called these days Purim (lots) because of the word pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, because of what they had observed, and because of what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established this festival and made a commitment that they, their descendants, and all those associated with them would never fail to observe these two days according to these directions and at their proper time every year.
28 These days are to be remembered and preserved in every generation, in every family, province, and city. The Jews should never stop celebrating the days of Purim. Their commemoration should never be set aside by their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew used their authority to publish this second communication about Purim. 30 He sent letters to all the Jews in one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes containing words of true peace, 31 telling them to observe the days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had given them the responsibility to do, and telling them to carry out the directions about their fasts and their lamentation just as they and their descendants had agreed to do.
32 The command of Esther established the directions about Purim, and they were written in a book.
10 King Xerxes imposed taxes on the land and on the islands and coasts of the sea. 2 All his powerful and mighty acts and the account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3 This was written there because Mordecai the Jew, second in command to King Xerxes, was important for the Jews and popular with large numbers of his brother Israelites, because he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all their descendants.
Abraham, an Example of Justification by Faith
4 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered according to the flesh? 2 If indeed Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast—but not before God. 3 For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to a person who works, his pay is not counted as a gift but as something owed. 5 But to the person who does not work but believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.
6 This is exactly what David says about the blessed state of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.[b]
Abraham Was Justified Before His Circumcision
9 Now then, does this blessing apply only to the circumcised or also to the uncircumcised? To be sure, we maintain that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 10 So then, under what circumstances was it credited to him? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised at that time? He was not circumcised but uncircumcised, 11 and he received the mark of circumcision as the seal of the righteousness by faith that was already his while he was uncircumcised. So Abraham is the father of all the uncircumcised people who believe, so that righteousness would also be credited to them. 12 He is also the father of the circumcised people who are not merely circumcised but also walk in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Abraham Received What God Promised by Faith, Not by Law
13 Indeed, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness that is by faith. 14 To be sure, if people are heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For law brings wrath. (Where there is no law, there is no transgression.) 16 For this reason, the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants—not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”[c]
Abraham’s Faith Was a Firm Trust in God’s Promise
In the presence of God, Abraham believed him who makes the dead alive and calls non-existing things so that they exist.[d] 18 Hoping beyond what he could expect, he believed that he would become the father of many nations, just as he was told: “This is how many your descendants will be.”[e] 19 He did not weaken in faith, even though he considered his own body as good as dead (because he was about one hundred years old), and even though he considered Sarah’s womb to be dead. 20 He did not waver in unbelief with respect to God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God 21 and being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”[f]
23 Now the statement “it was credited to him” was not written for him alone, 24 but also for us to whom it would be credited, namely, to us who believe in the one who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. 25 He was handed over to death because of our trespasses and was raised to life because of our justification.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.