M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Ten Commandments
20 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.[a]
3 You shall have no other gods beside me.[b] 4 You shall not make any carved image for yourself or a likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them or be subservient to them,[c] for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.[d] I follow up on[e] the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, if they also hate me. 6 But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not permit anyone who misuses his name to escape unpunished.
8 Remember the Sabbath day[f] by setting it apart as holy. 9 Six days you are to serve and do all your regular work, 10 but the seventh day shall be a sabbath rest to the Lord your God. Do not do any regular work, neither you, nor your sons or daughters, nor your male or female servants, nor your cattle, nor the alien who is residing inside your gates, 11 for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. In this way the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may spend many days on the land that the Lord your God is giving to you.
13 You shall not commit murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.[g]
18 All the people saw and heard the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn and the mountain smoking. The people saw,[h] and they trembled and stood far away. 19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you may always fear him, so that you do not sin.”
21 The people stayed at a distance, but Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
22 Then the Lord told Moses to tell the people of Israel the following things:
You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver or gods of gold and place them beside me. You shall not make them for yourselves.
24 You are to make an altar of earth for me and to sacrifice your whole burnt offerings on it, as well as your fellowship offerings, your sheep, and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you.
25 If you make a stone altar for me, you are not to build it out of cut stones, because by applying a tool to it you would pollute it.
26 You are not to go up to my altar by steps, so that your nakedness will not be uncovered upon it.
Jesus’ Trial in Pilate’s Court
23 The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“It is as you say,” Jesus replied.
4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”
Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For a long time, he had wanted to see him, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle performed by him. 9 He questioned him with many words, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the experts in the law stood there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Herod, along with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and ridiculed him. Dressing him in bright clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. 12 Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that day. Before this they had been enemies of each other.
13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him. 15 Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us.[a] See, he has done nothing worthy of death. 16 So I will have him flogged and release him.”
Barabbas or Jesus?
17 Pilate needed to release one prisoner to them at the Festival.[b] 18 But they all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!” 19 Barabbas had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder.
20 Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”
22 He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.” 23 But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices[c] were overwhelming. 24 So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done. 25 He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will.
The Crucifixion
26 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country. They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large crowd of people was following him, including women who were mourning and wailing for him. 28 Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 Be sure of this: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’[d] 31 For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?”
32 Two other men, who were criminals, were led away with Jesus to be executed.
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
They cast lots to divide his garments among them. 35 The people stood watching. The rulers were ridiculing him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!”
36 The soldiers also made fun of him. Coming up to him, they offered him sour wine, 37 saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 There was also an inscription written above him: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? 41 We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me[e] when you come in[f] your kingdom.”
43 Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus’ Death
44 It was now about the sixth hour,[g] and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,[h] 45 while the sun was darkened. Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”[i] When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 When the centurion saw what had happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous.” 48 When all the groups of people who had gathered to see this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their chests. 49 All those who knew Jesus, and the women who followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Jesus’ Burial
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man. 51 He had not agreed with their plan and action. He was looking forward to the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 53 He took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb that was cut out of rock, where no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was beginning. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed after Joseph, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid there. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
The Lord’s Challenge to Job
38 Then the Lord responded to Job out of a violent storm. He said:
2 Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans
with his ignorant words?
3 Get ready for action[a] like a man!
Then I will ask you questions,
and you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you understand anything about it.
5 Who determined its dimensions?
I am sure you know.
Who stretched out the surveying line over it?
6 What supports its foundation?
Who set its cornerstone in place,
7 when the morning stars sang loud songs together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?[b]
8 Who locked up the sea behind doors
when it burst out of the womb?
9 When I clothed the sea with clouds,
when I wrapped it with thick darkness as its swaddling cloths,
10 when I broke its power with my decree,
when I locked it up behind barred, double doors,
11 I said, “You may come this far, but no farther.
Here is the barrier for your proud waves.”
12 Have you ever in all your days given a command to the morning?
Have you ever set a time for the sun to rise,
13 so it may grab the earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth’s shapes become visible like designs impressed on clay,
and its decorations can be seen like those on a garment.
15 Their light is withheld from the wicked,
and an uplifted arm is broken.
16 Have you ever traveled to the sources of the sea
or walked around in the dark depths of the ocean?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?[c]
18 Do you comprehend the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 How can someone get to the dwelling of light?
Where is the place for darkness?
20 Could you lead it to its property?
Do you know the way to its house?
21 You must know that, since you were born before it,
and you have lived for so many days!
22 Have you visited the warehouses where the snow is kept?
Have you seen the warehouses[d] where the hail is stored?
23 I have reserved them for troubled times,
for days of battle and war.
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning divides,[e]
where the east wind is scattered over the earth?
25 Who has excavated a channel for the floodwaters
and a road for the rolling thunder?
26 They bring rain to lands where no one lives,
to a wilderness without a person in it.
27 The rain satisfies the wilderness and wasteland
and causes the dry ground to produce green plants.
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who is the father of the drops of dew?
29 Whose womb produces the ice?
Who gives birth to the heavy frost from the sky?
30 The water is disguised as stone,
and the surface of the deep is trapped under ice.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
or loosen the belt of Orion?
32 Can you lead out the constellations at the right season
and guide the Bear with her cubs?[f]
33 Do you know the laws that govern the skies?
Can you establish God’s rule on earth?
34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of water submerges you?
35 Can you unleash the lightning bolts,
so that they come and say to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who has placed wisdom in the human heart
and given understanding to the mind?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds
and to empty the water jars of the sky,
38 when the loose dust has been poured into molds to harden,
and the clods of dirt are cemented together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness?
Can you satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens,
or they lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who prepares its provisions for the raven,
when its young are screaming to God,
while they thrash around in the nest waiting for food?
Finish the Collection
8 Now brothers,[a] we want you to know about the grace of God that was given in the churches of Macedonia: 2 In a severe test of trouble, their overflowing joy and their deep poverty overflowed into an abundance of their generosity.[b] 3 I testify that of their own free will they gave according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, 4 pleading with us with an urgent request for the gracious privilege of joining in this service to the saints. 5 And they did this not as we had expected, but in keeping with God’s will they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us. 6 As a result we urged Titus, since he had already made a beginning, to bring to completion this gracious gift on your part. 7 But just as you overflow in every way—in faith, in word, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us[c]—see that you also overflow in this gracious gift.
8 I do not say this as a command, but to test how genuine your love is, by comparing it with the eagerness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.
10 And I am giving advice in this matter because it is going to be helpful for you. Last year, you were not only the first to take action, but also the first to be willing. 11 Now bring the work to completion too, so that your eagerness to start may be matched by your completing it with what you have. 12 For if the eagerness is there, a gift is acceptable according to what someone has, not according to what he does not have.
13 Certainly, our goal is not that others take it easy while you are burdened, but that there may be equality. 14 At the present time, your abundance will provide what they lack, in order that their abundance will also provide what you lack—in this way there will be equality. 15 As it is written, “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”[d]
16 Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you, 17 because he accepted our encouragement and went to you eagerly, of his own free will. 18 We sent along with him the brother who is recognized by all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. 19 Not only that—but also he was elected[e] by the churches to be our traveling companion, as we administer this gracious gift to the glory of the Lord and to show our eagerness to help. 20 We are trying to avoid any criticism of the way we are administering this lavish gift. 21 To be sure, we are taking into consideration what is proper, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of other people.
22 We sent along with them our brother who has often proved to us in many tests that he is eager, and now is even more eager, because of the great confidence he has in you.
23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. Our brothers, messengers sent by the churches, are the glory of Christ. 24 So then, show the evidence of your love in the sight of the churches, and demonstrate why we boasted to them about you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.