M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Moses Is Given Miraculous Signs
4 But Moses responded, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to my voice, but instead they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”
2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A staff.”
3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, so he ran away from it.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail.”
He stretched out his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.
5 The Lord said, “This sign is being given to you so that the Israelites will believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
6 The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,[a] as white as snow.
7 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
8 The Lord said, “If they do not believe you or do not respond to the first sign, they might believe because of the second sign. 9 If they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you are to take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry land.”
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or more recently or even since you started speaking to your servant, for my mouth and tongue are slow and clumsy.”[b]
11 So the Lord said to him, “Who made a mouth for people? Or who makes someone mute or deaf, able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you will speak.”
13 But he said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and the Lord said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Look, he is already coming out to meet you. He will be very glad to see you. 15 You will speak to him and put the words into his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you so that it will be as if he were your mouth, and you were God to him. 17 You will also take this staff in your hand, the one with which you will perform the signs.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go and return to my own people, who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for everyone who wanted to kill you is dead.”
20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, placed them on a donkey, and set out to return to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure that you perform in the presence of Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put into your hand. However, I will make his heart hard,[c] and he will not let the people go. 22 You will then say to Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says: Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go to serve me,” but you have refused to let him go. Watch out. I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”
24 At a lodging place along the way, the Lord confronted him and sought to kill him.[d] 25 Then Zipporah took a flint blade, cut off her son’s foreskin, and cast it at his feet. Then she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
26 So the Lord left him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
Reunion of Moses and Aaron
27 The Lord had said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.”
So he went, met Moses at the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron all the words that the Lord had sent him to speak and all the signs he had commanded him to perform. 29 Moses and Aaron then went and gathered together every elder of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in the sight of the people. 31 The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had paid attention to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.
A Believing Centurion
7 After Jesus had finished saying all these things to the people who were listening, he went into Capernaum. 2 A centurion’s servant, who was valuable to him, was sick and about to die. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 because he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”
6 Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, because I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I am also a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things, he was amazed at him. He turned to the crowd that was following him and said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” 10 And when the men who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son
11 Soon afterward[a] Jesus went on his way to a town called Nain, and[b] his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. 12 As he was approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not cry.” 14 He went up to the open coffin, touched it, and the pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
16 Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us” and “God has visited his people!” 17 This was reported about him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.
John the Baptist and Christ
18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. 19 Calling two of his disciples to him, he sent them to Jesus[c] to ask, “Are you the one who was to come or should we look for someone else?” 20 When the men had arrived, they said to Jesus, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who was to come or should we look for someone else?’”
21 At that time Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits. And he gave many blind people the ability to see. 22 Jesus answered them, “Go, tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23 Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me.”
24 After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to talk to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 No. Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Yet those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’[d]
28 “Yes, I tell you,[e] among those born of women there is no prophet[f] greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 When all the people (including the tax collectors) heard this, they declared that God was just, since they were baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and the legal experts rejected God’s purpose for themselves by not being baptized by him.
31 “To what then will I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come without eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is declared right by all her children.”
Jesus Is Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36 A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
He said, “Teacher, say it.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii,[g] and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt forgiven.”
Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. 47 Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
49 Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Round Two: Job’s Third Speech
21 Then Job responded:
2 Listen carefully to my words—
that is the kind of encouragement you should give me.
3 Put up with me while I speak.
Then, after I have spoken, you may resume your mocking.
4 Is my complaint against a man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me and be shocked,[a]
and then put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember all this, I am terrified,[b]
and horror makes my flesh tremble.
7 Why do the wicked keep living,
reach old age,
and even become stronger?
8 Their descendants are firmly established in their presence,
and they live long enough to see their offspring.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and God’s rod does not strike them.
10 The wicked man’s bulls breed without failing.
His cows deliver calves without miscarrying.
11 Their toddlers frolic like flocks,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the accompaniment of hand drums and lyres.
They celebrate to the sound of a flute.
13 They finish out[c] their days in prosperity.
Then they go down to the grave in a moment.
14 They say to God, “Keep away from us.
We know your ways, but we find no pleasure in them.”
15 “Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him,
and what benefit do we gain from pleading with him?”
16 But I know that their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I have distanced myself from the way of life[d] of the wicked.
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does the disaster they deserve come upon them?
How often does God in his anger dole out their fair share of pain?
18 How often are they like straw blown by the wind,
like chaff that a windstorm whisks away?
19 People say, “God stores up a man’s punishment for his children,”
but he should repay the man himself so that he experiences it!
20 Let his own eyes see his condemnation.[e]
Let him drink from the rage of the Almighty,
21 for what does he care about his household after his death,
when his allotment of months has run out?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since he judges even the most exalted ones?
23 One person dies with vigor in his bones,
completely secure and at ease.
24 His body is filled out with fat,[f]
and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 Another person dies with his soul filled with bitterness,
without ever tasting anything good.
26 Both of them lie down together in the dust,
and worms cover them both.
27 Oh, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to harm me.
28 For you say, “Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where is the tent, which was the dwelling of the wicked?”
29 Why don’t you question those who travel the roads?
Why don’t you acknowledge the lessons they learned?[g]
30 They say that the wicked man is spared from the day of disaster,
and that he escapes the day of raging fury.
31 Who denounces him to his face for the way he has lived?
Who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the tombs,
when a vigil is kept at his burial mound,
33 the clods of dirt from the streambed are sweet to him.
Everyone follows his funeral procession.
A crowd of people marches ahead of it.[h]
34 So how can you comfort me with your useless words?
There is nothing left from your answers but fraud!
Love Builds Up
8 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows something, he does not yet know the way he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this person has been known[a] by him.
4 So, concerning the eating of food from idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is not anything real in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 Indeed, even if there are so-called “gods,” whether in the heavens or on earth (as in fact there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 nevertheless for us there is one God—the Father, from whom all things exist and we exist for him—and one Lord—Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist and we exist through him.
7 However, that knowledge is not in everyone. Instead some, who are still affected by their former habit with the idol, eat the food as something sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 Food will not bring us closer to God. We do not lack anything if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. 9 And be careful that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, a person who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of this man, weak as he is, be emboldened to eat food from an idol sacrifice? 11 You see, the weak person is being destroyed by your knowledge—the brother for whose sake Christ died! 12 And when you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I do not cause my brother to sin.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.