M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Moses and the Burning Bush
3 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, a priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but the bush was not burning up. 3 So he said, “I will go over and look at this amazing sight—to find out why the bush is not burning up.”
4 When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to take a look, God called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!”
Moses said, “I am here.”
5 The Lord said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He then said, “I am the God of your fathers,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have certainly seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry for help because of their slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now indeed, the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me. Yes, I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Come now, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 So he said, “I will certainly be with you. This will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”
13 But Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I say to them?”
14 So God replied to Moses, “I am who I am.”[b] He also said, “You will say this to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.”
15 God also told Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’
16 “Go, gather the elders of Israel together and tell them: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have certainly been paying attention to you and to what they have done to you in Egypt. 17 So I have said that I will bring you up from the misery in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 “They will listen to your voice. Then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’
19 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless he is forced to do so by a powerful hand. 20 So I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in their midst. Afterward he will let you go.
21 “I will give this people favor with the Egyptians so that when you go, you will not go out empty-handed. 22 Each woman is to ask her neighbor, as well as any woman staying in her house, for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. You are to put them on your sons and daughters. In this way you will plunder the Egyptians.”
Lord of the Sabbath
6 When Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath day, his disciples were picking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
3 Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry (he and his companions)? 4 He went into the house of God, took and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is lawful only for the priests to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” 5 Jesus also said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals a Man With a Withered Hand
6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught. A man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 The experts in the law and the Pharisees were watching him closely, to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. They wanted to find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he always knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up and step forward.”[a] He got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 He looked around at all of them and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored. 11 They were filled with rage and began discussing with one another what they could do to Jesus.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
12 It happened in those days that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. 13 When it was day, he summoned his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also called apostles: 14 Simon, whom he also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, also Simon, who was called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Jesus Heals Many
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. 18 Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. 19 The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.
Blessings and Woes
20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:
Blessed are you who are poor,
because yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
because you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
because you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you whenever people hate you,
and whenever they exclude and insult you
and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.”
24 But woe to you who are rich,
because you are receiving your comfort now.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
because you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
because you will be mourning and weeping.
26 Woe to you when all people speak well of you,
because that is how their fathers constantly treated the
false prophets.
Love Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.
31 “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. 35 Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Consider the Beam in Your Own Eye
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
39 He also told them a parable: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 42 Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.
Listen and Do
43 “Certainly a good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit. 44 In fact, each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorn bushes, and they do not gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 The good person brings what is good out of the good stored in his heart, and the evil person brings what is evil out of the evil within.[b] To be sure, what his mouth speaks flows from the heart.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them—I will show you what he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid a foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river beat against that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on bedrock.[c] 49 But the one who listened to my words and did not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river broke against it, it fell immediately, and that house was completely destroyed.”
Round Two: Zophar’s Speech
20 Then Zophar the Na’amathite responded:
2 This is why my troubled thoughts make me respond again,
and why my thoughts are racing through my mind:
3 I heard a rebuke that insults me,
so my spirit prompts me to respond with understanding.
4 Don’t you know this?
From ancient times,
from the time when Adam[a] was placed on the earth,
5 the triumphant cry of the wicked has been short-lived,
and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment.
6 Although his arrogance reaches up to the skies,
and his head touches the clouds,
7 he will perish forever like his own filth.
Those who saw him will say, “Where is he?”
8 Like a dream, he flies away, and he cannot be found.
Like a vision during the night, he flutters away.
9 An eye catches sight of him, but it does not see him again.
His place will no longer look at him.
10 His children must make restitution to[b] the poor.
His hands must give back his wealth.
11 His bones were once filled with youthful vigor,
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
12 If evil tastes sweet in his mouth,
and he tucks it under his tongue,
13 if he hoards it for himself,
and he does not let it go,
but savors it on his palate,
14 his food will turn into cobra venom in his stomach.
15 He swallowed wealth, but he vomits it up.
God makes him expel it from his belly.
16 He sucks the poison of cobras.
The fangs of a viper kill him.
17 He will not see the streams,
the rivers that flow with honey and cream.
18 Without digesting it, he gives up the produce for which he labored.
He does not enjoy the wealth for which he traded,
19 because he has crushed and abandoned the poor,
and he has stolen a house he did not build.
20 His stomach is never filled.
He cannot satisfy his desires,
21 because now there is nothing left for him to eat,
so his prosperity will not endure.
22 Even when he has plenty,
distress catches up with him,
and misery grabs hold of him.
23 While he is filling his belly,
God will send burning anger upon him,
and it will rain down on his body.[c]
24 He flees from iron weapons,
but he is pierced by a bronze arrow.
25 He pulls the arrow out of his back,
and the shiny point comes out of his liver.
Terrors come over him.
26 Complete darkness is lying in wait for his hidden treasures.
A fire that needs no fanning will consume him.
It will destroy anything that survives in his tent.
27 The heavens will uncover his guilt,
and the earth will rise up against him.
28 A flood will carry away his house,
sweeping away his possessions on the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is God’s sentence on the evil man.
This is his heritage decreed by God.
Celibacy, Self-Control, and Marriage
7 Now concerning the things you wrote: It is good for a man not to touch[a] a woman. 2 But because of sexual sins, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband is to fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body—her husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body—his wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, unless you both agree to do so for a time, in order to devote yourselves to[b] prayer and then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 However, I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 For[c] I wish all people were like me, but each person has his own gift from God. One person is blessed in this way, another in a different way.
8 I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain as I am. 9 But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, because it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
10 Next I command the married (it is the Lord’s command not mine): A wife is not to leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband is not to divorce[d] his wife.
12 But I, not the Lord, say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is willing to go on living with him, he is not to divorce her. 13 If any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he is willing to go on living with her, she is not to divorce her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified in connection with his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified in connection with her husband.[e] Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not bound in such cases, and God has called us[f] to live in peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
17 However, each person is to live in the situation the Lord assigned to him—the situation he was in when God called him to faith. I give this same command in all the churches. 18 If a man was circumcised when he was called, he should not become uncircumcised. If a man was uncircumcised when he was called, he should not get circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping God’s commands is important. 20 Let each person stay in that calling in which he was called. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it bother you. But if you are able to become free, take advantage of it. 22 For the slave who was called to be in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person. Likewise, the free person who was called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price. Do not become slaves of men. 24 Brothers,[g] let each person remain before God in the situation he was in when he was called.
25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one whom the Lord in his mercy made worthy of trust. 26 Accordingly, I think this is good because of the difficult situation we face,[h] namely, that it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you unattached? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. Yet such people will be under pressure in their earthly lives, and I am trying to spare you.
29 I also say this, brothers: The time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as if they have none; 30 those who weep, as if not weeping; those who rejoice, as if not rejoicing; those who buy, as if not possessing; 31 and those who use the world, as if not getting any use out of it. For the way of life that belongs to this world is passing away.
32 I would like you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord and thinks about how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is concerned about the things of the world and thinks about how to please his wife, 34 and so he is divided. The unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned about the things of the Lord, so as to be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world and thinks about how to please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own benefit, not to impose a restriction, but to encourage honorable, undistracted devotion to the Lord.
36 But if someone thinks he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin,[i] if his feelings are strong[j] and it seems necessary, he should do what he desires. It is not a sin. They should marry. 37 But if someone stands firm in his heart and is not driven by need, but has control over his own desire[k] and has decided in his own heart to keep his virgin as she is, he does well. 38 So then, he who marries his virgin[l] does well, and he who does not marry her[m] does better.
39 A wife[n] is bound to her husband for as long as he lives, but if the husband has died, she is free to be married to any man she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 But she is more blessed if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I too have God’s Spirit.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.