M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and told him, “I am the Almighty; obey me and live as you should. 2-4 I will prepare a contract between us, guaranteeing to make you into a mighty nation. In fact you shall be the father of not only one nation, but a multitude of nations!” Abram fell face downward in the dust as God talked with him.
5 “What’s more,” God told him, “I am changing your name. It is no longer ‘Abram’ (‘Exalted Father’), but ‘Abraham’ (‘Father of Nations’)—for that is what you will be. I have declared it. 6 I will give you millions of descendants who will form many nations! Kings shall be among your descendants! 7-8 And I will continue this agreement between us generation after generation, forever, for it shall be between me and your children as well. It is a contract that I shall be your God and the God of your posterity. And I will give all this land of Canaan to you and them, forever. And I will be your God.
9-10 “Your part of the contract,” God told him, “is to obey its terms. You personally and all your posterity have this continual responsibility: that every male among you shall be circumcised; 11 the foreskin of his penis shall be cut off. This will be the proof that you and they accept this covenant. 12 Every male shall be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. This applies to every foreign-born slave as well as to everyone born in your household. This is a permanent part of this contract, and it applies to all your posterity. 13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies will thus be marked as participants in my everlasting covenant. 14 Anyone who refuses these terms shall be cut off from his people; for he has violated my contract.”
15 Then God added, “Regarding Sarai your wife—her name is no longer ‘Sarai’ but ‘Sarah’ (‘Princess’). 16 And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and make her the mother of nations! Many kings shall be among your posterity.”
17 Then Abraham threw himself down in worship before the Lord, but inside he was laughing in disbelief![a] “Me, be a father?” he said in amusement. “Me—100 years old? And Sarah, to have a baby at 90?”
18 And Abraham said to God, “Yes, do bless Ishmael!”
19 “No,” God replied, “that isn’t what I said. Sarah shall bear you a son; and you are to name him Isaac (‘Laughter’), and I will sign my covenant with him forever, and with his descendants. 20 As for Ishmael, all right, I will bless him also, just as you have asked me to. I will cause him to multiply and become a great nation. Twelve princes shall be among his posterity. 21 But my contract is with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah next year at about this time.”
22 That ended the conversation and God left. 23 Then, that very day, Abraham took Ishmael his son and every other male—born in his household or bought from outside—and cut off their foreskins, just as God had told him to. 24-27 Abraham was ninety-nine years old at that time, and Ishmael was thirteen. Both were circumcised the same day, along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether born there or bought as slaves.
16 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees[a] came to test Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah by asking him to show them some great demonstrations in the skies.
2-3 He replied, “You are good at reading the weather signs of the skies—red sky tonight means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day—but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times! 4 This evil, unbelieving nation is asking for some strange sign in the heavens, but no further proof will be given except the miracle that happened to Jonah.” Then Jesus walked out on them.
5 Arriving across the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any food.
6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They thought he was saying this because they had forgotten to bring bread.
8 Jesus knew what they were thinking and told them, “O men of little faith! Why are you so worried about having no food? 9 Won’t you ever understand? Don’t you remember at all the five thousand I fed with five loaves, and the basketfuls left over? 10 Don’t you remember the four thousand I fed, and all that was left? 11 How could you even think I was talking about food? But again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”
12 Then at last they understood that by yeast he meant the wrong teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who are the people saying I[b] am?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; some, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them,
16 Simon Peter answered, “The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 “God has blessed you, Simon, son of Jonah,” Jesus said, “for my Father in heaven has personally revealed this to you—this is not from any human source. 18 You are Peter, a stone; and upon this rock I will build my church; and all the powers of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever doors you lock on earth shall be locked in heaven; and whatever doors you open on earth shall be open in heaven!”
20 Then he warned the disciples against telling others that he was the Messiah.
21 From then on Jesus began to speak plainly to his disciples about going to Jerusalem, and what would happen to him there—that he would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders,[c] that he would be killed, and that three days later he would be raised to life again.
22 But Peter took him aside to remonstrate with him. “Heaven forbid, sir,” he said. “This is not going to happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get away from me, you Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are thinking merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again. 26 What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life? 27 For I, the Son of Mankind, shall come with my angels in the glory of my Father and judge each person according to his deeds. 28 And some of you standing right here now will certainly live to see me coming in my Kingdom.”
6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that we had almost completed the rebuilding of the wall—though we had not yet hung all the doors of the gates— 2 they sent me a message asking me to meet them in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to kill me, 3 so I replied by sending back this message to them: “I am doing a great work! Why should I stop to come and visit with you?”
4 Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply. 5-6 The fifth time, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand, and this is what it said:
“Geshem tells me that everywhere he goes he hears that the Jews are planning to rebel, and that is why you are building the wall. He claims you plan to be their king—that is what is being said. 7 He also reports that you have appointed prophets to campaign for you at Jerusalem by saying, ‘Look! Nehemiah is just the man we need!’
“You can be very sure that I am going to pass along these interesting comments to King Artaxerxes! I suggest that you come and talk it over with me—for that is the only way you can save yourself!”
8 My reply was, “You know you are lying. There isn’t one bit of truth to the whole story. 9 You’re just trying to scare us into stopping our work.” (O Lord God, please strengthen me!)
10 A few days later I went to visit Shemaiah (son of Delaiah, who was the son of Mehetabel), for he said he was receiving a message from God.
“Let us hide in the Temple and bolt the door,” he exclaimed, “for they are coming tonight to kill you.”
11 But I replied, “Should I, the governor, run away from danger? And if I go into the Temple, not being a priest, I would forfeit my life. No, I won’t do it!”
12-13 Then I realized that God had not spoken to him, but Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to scare me and make me sin by fleeing to the Temple; and then they would be able to accuse me.
14 “O my God,” I prayed, “don’t forget all the evil of Tobiah, Sanballat, Noadiah the prophetess, and all the other prophets who have tried to discourage me.”
15 The wall was finally finished in early September[a]—just fifty-two days after we had begun!
16 When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated, and they realized that the work had been done with the help of our God. 17 During those fifty-two days many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the wealthy politicians of Judah. 18 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah (son of Arah) and because his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam (son of Berechiah). 19 They all told me what a wonderful man Tobiah was, and then they told him everything I had said; and Tobiah sent many threatening letters to frighten me.
16 Paul and Silas went first to Derbe and then on to Lystra where they met Timothy, a believer whose mother was a Christian Jewess, but his father a Greek. 2 Timothy was well thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul asked him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he circumcised Timothy before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek and hadn’t permitted this before.[a] 4 Then they went from city to city, making known the decision concerning the Gentiles, as decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. 5 So the church grew daily in faith and numbers.
6 Next they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go into the Turkish province of Asia Minor at that time. 7 Then going along the borders of Mysia they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus said no. 8 So instead they went on through Mysia province to the city of Troas.
9 That night[b] Paul had a vision. In his dream he saw a man over in Macedonia, Greece, pleading with him, “Come over here and help us.” 10 Well, that settled it. We[c] would go to Macedonia, for we could only conclude that God was sending us to preach the Good News there.
11 We went aboard a boat at Troas, and sailed straight across to Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis, 12 and finally reached Philippi, a Roman[d] colony just inside the Macedonian border, and stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank where we understood some people met for prayer; and we taught the Scriptures to some women who came. 14 One of them was Lydia, a saleswoman from Thyatira, a merchant of purple cloth. She was already a worshiper of God and as she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted all that Paul was saying. 15 She was baptized along with all her household and asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am faithful to the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we did.
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer beside the river, we met a demon-possessed slave girl, who was a fortune-teller and earned much money for her masters. 17 She followed along behind us shouting, “These men are servants of God, and they have come to tell you how to have your sins forgiven.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul, in great distress, turned and spoke to the demon within her. “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her,” he said. And instantly it left her.
19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered; they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the judges at the marketplace.
20-21 “These Jews are corrupting our city,” they shouted. “They are teaching the people to do things that are against the Roman laws.”
22 A mob was quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the judges ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden whips. 23 Again and again the rods slashed down across their bared backs; and afterwards they were thrown into prison. The jailer was threatened with death if they escaped,[e] 24 so he took no chances, but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet into the stocks.
25 Around midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to the Lord—and the other prisoners were listening— 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake; the prison was shaken to its foundations, all the doors flew open—and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer wakened to see the prison doors wide open, and assuming the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself.
28 But Paul yelled to him, “Don’t do it! We are all here!”
29 Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He brought them out and begged them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.”
32 Then they told him and all his household the Good News from the Lord. 33 That same hour he washed their stripes, and he and all his family were baptized. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set a meal before them. How he and his household rejoiced because all were now believers! 35 The next morning the judges sent police officers over to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul they were free to leave.
37 But Paul replied, “Oh no they don’t! They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us—and we are Roman citizens! So now they want us to leave secretly? Never! Let them come themselves and release us!”
38 The police officers reported to the judges, who feared for their lives when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and begged them to go, and brought them out and pled with them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas then returned to the home of Lydia, where they met with the believers and preached to them once more before leaving town.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.