M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The question about divorce
19 So this is what happened next. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went away from Galilee and came to the region of Judaea across the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees approached him with a trick question.
“Is it lawful,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that the creator from the beginning ‘made them male and female’? 5 And this is what he said: ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ 6 As a result, they are no longer two, but one flesh. So humans shouldn’t split up what God has joined together.”
7 “So then,” they asked, “why did Moses lay it down that one should give the woman a certificate of divorce and make the separation legal?”
8 “Moses gave you this instruction about how to divorce your wives,” replied Jesus, “because your hearts were hard. But that’s not how it was at the beginning. 9 Let me tell you this: anyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”
Marriage, celibacy and children
10 The disciples said to Jesus, “If that’s the situation of a man with his wife, it would be better not to marry!”
11 “Not everyone can accept this word,” replied Jesus; “only the people it’s given to. 12 You see, there are some eunuchs who are that way from birth. There are some who have been made eunuchs by others. And there are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone can receive this, let them do so.”
13 Then children were brought to Jesus for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t stop them! They are the sort the kingdom of heaven belongs to!” 15 And he laid his hands on them.
Then he moved on elsewhere.
The rich young man
16 Suddenly a man came up to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do if I’m to possess the life of the age to come?”
17 “Why come to me with questions about what’s good?” retorted Jesus. “There is One who is good! If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he asked.
“These ones,” Jesus answered: “ ‘don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t tell lies under oath, 19 respect your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 “I’ve kept the lot,” said the young man. “What am I still short of?”
21 “If you want to complete the set,” Jesus replied, “go and sell everything you own and give it to the poor. That way you’ll have treasure in heaven! Then come and follow me.”
22 When the young man heard him say that, he went away very sad. He had many possessions.
The first and the last
23 Jesus said to his disciples, “I’m telling you the truth: it’s very hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. 24 Let me say it again: it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”
25 The disciples were completely flabbergasted when they heard that. “So who then can be saved?” they asked.
26 Jesus looked round at them. “Humanly speaking,” he replied, “it’s impossible. But everything’s possible with God.”
27 Then Peter spoke up. “Look here,” he said, “we’ve left everything behind and followed you. What can we expect?”
28 “I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus replied. “In God’s great new world, when the son of man sits on his glorious throne, those of you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones—yes, you!—and rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And anyone who’s left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or estates because of my name will get back a hundred times over, and will inherit the life of that new age. 30 But many at the front will find themselves at the back, and the back ones at the front.”
Paul in Ephesus
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples, 2 and said to them, “Did you receive the holy spirit when you believed?”
“We had not heard,” they replied, “that there was a ‘holy spirit.’ ”
3 “Well then,” said Paul, “into what were you baptized?”
“Into John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 “John baptized with a baptism of repentance for the people,” said Paul, “speaking about the one who was to come after him, and saying that that person would be the one that people should believe in—and that means Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. 6 Paul then laid his hands on them, and the holy spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
8 Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some of them were hard-hearted, and wouldn’t believe, and made wicked allegations about the Way in front of everybody else, Paul left them. He took the disciples with him, and argued every day in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. 10 He did this for two years, so that all the inhabitants of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.
The power of God and the powers at Ephesus
11 God performed unusual works of power through Paul’s hands. 12 People used to take handkerchiefs or towels that had touched his skin and put them on the sick, and then their diseases would leave them and evil spirits would depart.
13 There were some traveling Jewish exorcists who tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on people with evil spirits.
“I command you,” they used to say, “in the name of Jesus, the one Paul proclaims!”
14 There were seven of them who used to do this. They were the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest. 15 But on one occasion the evil spirit answered them back.
“I know Jesus,” it shouted, “and I am well acquainted with Paul; but who are you?”
16 The man who had the evil spirit pounced on them and, since he was much too strong for them, overpowered all of them, so that they fled out of the house naked and battered. 17 This became common knowledge among both Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus. Fear came on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus grew greatly in prestige.
18 Many people who became believers came forward to make public confession, revealing what they had been up to. 19 Some who had been practicing magic brought their books and burnt them in front of everyone; someone calculated how much they were all worth, and it came to fifty thousand silver pieces. 20 So the word grew and was strong, in accordance with the Lord’s power.
21 Once all this had been finished, Paul decided in his spirit to go back through Macedonia and Achaea and, from there, on to Jerusalem.
“After I’ve been there,” he said, “I really must go and see Rome.”
22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, on ahead to Macedonia, while he himself spent a little more time in Asia.
“Great is Ephesian Artemis!”
23 Around that time there was a major disturbance because of the Way. 24 There was a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver statues of Artemis, which brought the workmen a tidy income. 25 He got them all together, along with other workers in the same business.
“Gentlemen,” he began. “You know that the reason we are doing rather well for ourselves is quite simply this business of ours. 26 And now you see, and hear, that this fellow Paul is going around not only Ephesus but pretty well the whole of Asia, persuading the masses to change their way of life, telling them that gods made with hands are not gods after all! 27 This not only threatens to bring our proper business into disrepute, but it might make people disregard the temple of the great goddess Artemis. Then she—and, after all, the whole of Asia, indeed the whole world, worships her!—she might lose her great majesty.”
28 When they heard this, they were filled with rage.
“Great is Ephesian Artemis!” they shouted. “Great is Ephesian Artemis!”
29 The whole city was filled with the uproar; everyone rushed together into the theater, dragging along with them the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus, two of Paul’s companions. 30 Paul wanted to go in to speak to the people, but his followers wouldn’t let him. 31 Indeed, some of the local magistrates, who were friendly towards him, sent him a message urging him not to risk going into the theater. 32 Meanwhile, some people were shouting one thing, some another. In fact, the whole assembly was thoroughly confused, and most of them had no idea why they had come there in the first place. 33 The Jews pushed Alexander forward, and some of the crowd informed him what was going on. He motioned with his hand, and was going to make a statement to the people to explain things. 34 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted together, for about two hours, “Great is Ephesian Artemis!”
35 The town clerk quietened the crowd.
“Men of Ephesus,” he said, “is there anyone who doesn’t know that our city of Ephesus is the place which has the honor of being the home of Artemis the Great, and of the statue that fell from heaven? 36 Nobody can deny it! So you should be quiet, and not do anything rash. 37 You’ve brought these men here, but they haven’t stolen from the temple, or blasphemed our goddess. 38 If Demetrius and his colleagues have a charge they want to bring against anyone, the courts are open and we have magistrates. People can present their cases against one another. 39 But if you are wanting to know anything beyond that, it must be sorted out in the authorized assembly. 40 Let me remind you that we ourselves are risking legal proceedings because of this riot today, since there is no reason we could give which would enable us to present a satisfactory explanation for this uproar.”
41 With these words, he dismissed the assembly.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.