M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jesus rides into Jerusalem
21 When they came near to Jerusalem, and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples on ahead.
2 “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and at once you’ll find a donkey tied up, and a foal beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The master needs them, and he’ll send them back straight away.’ ”
He sent them off at once.
4 This happened so that the prophet’s words might be fulfilled:
5 Tell this to Zion’s daughter:
look now! Here comes your king;
he’s humble, mounted on an ass,
yes, on a foal, its young.
6 So the disciples went off and did as Jesus had told them. 7 They brought the donkey and its foal, and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8 The huge crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and scattered them on the road. 9 The crowds who went on ahead of him, and those who were following behind, shouted out,
Hosanna now to David’s Son!
God’s blessing on the coming one—
the one who comes in the Lord’s own name!
Hosanna in the highest!
10 When they came into Jerusalem, the whole city was gripped with excitement.
“Who is this?” they were saying.
11 “This is the prophet, Jesus,” replied the crowds, “from Nazareth in Galilee!”
The Temple and the fig tree
12 Jesus went into the Temple and threw out all the people who were buying and selling in the Temple. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sellers.
13 “This is what the Bible says,” he said to them,
My house will be called a house of prayer—
but you have made it a brigands’ lair!”
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the remarkable things he was doing, and the children shouting out “Hosanna to David’s son!” in the Temple, they were very cross.
16 “Do you hear what they’re saying?” they asked Jesus.
“Yes,” said Jesus. “Did you never read what it says,
You called forth praise to rise to you
from newborn babes and infants too!”
17 Then he left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, where he stayed the night.
18 Early the next morning Jesus went back to the city. He was hungry. 19 He saw a single fig tree beside the road, but when he came up to it he found nothing on it except leaves.
“May you never bear fruit, ever again!” he said to it. Instantly the fig tree withered up.
20 The disciples saw it, and were astonished.
“Look how quickly the fig tree has withered up!” they said.
21 “I’m telling you the truth,” replied Jesus. “If you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only be able to do this to a fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 Whatever you ask in prayer, you’ll get it, if you believe.”
The question about John
23 Jesus went into the Temple. As he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him.
“By what right are you doing these things?” they asked him. “Who gave you this right?”
24 “I’m going to ask you one question, too,” replied Jesus, “and if you tell me the answer then I’ll tell you by what right I’m doing these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from? Was it from heaven, or from this world?”
They debated this among themselves. “If we say ‘from heaven,’ ” they said, “he’s going to say to us, ‘So why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say ‘from this world,’ we’ll have to watch out for the crowd, because they all reckon that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
“Well, then,” said Jesus, “nor will I tell you by what right I’m doing these things.
28 “What d’you think?” he went on. “Once upon a time there was a man who had two sons.
“He went to the first one and said, ‘Now then, my boy, off you go and do a day’s work in the vineyard.’
29 “ ‘Don’t want to,’ replied the son; but afterwards he thought better of it and went.
30 “He went to the other son and said the same thing.
“ ‘Certainly, Master,’ he said; but he didn’t go.
31 “So which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus said to them. “The tax-collectors and prostitutes are going into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32 Yes: John came to you, in accordance with God’s righteous covenant plan, and you didn’t believe him—but the tax-collectors and prostitutes believed him. But when you saw it, you didn’t think better of it afterwards and believe him.”
The parable of the tenants
33 “Listen to another parable,” Jesus went on. “Once upon a time there was a householder who planted a vineyard, built a wall for it, dug out a wine-press in it, and built a tower. Then he let it out to tenant farmers and went away on a journey.
34 “When harvest time arrived, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his produce. 35 The farmers seized his slaves; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than before, and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them.
“ ‘They’ll respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But the farmers saw the son.
“ ‘This fellow’s the heir!’ they said among themselves. ‘Come on, let’s kill him, and then we can take over the property!’
39 “So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “Now then: when the vineyard-owner returns, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 “He’ll kill them brutally, the wretches!” they said. “And he’ll lease the vineyard to other farmers who’ll give him the produce at the right time.”
42 “Did you never read what the Bible says?” said Jesus to them:
The stone the builders threw away
is now atop the corner;
it’s from the Lord, all this, they say
and we looked on in wonder.
43 “So then let me tell you this: God’s kingdom is going to be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the goods. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be smashed to pieces, and anyone it falls on will be crushed.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They tried to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who regarded him as a prophet.
Disturbing prophecies
21 When we had left them behind and had set sail, we made a straight course to Cos, and went on the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 There we found a ship heading for Phoenicia, and we got on board and set sail. 3 We came in sight of Cyprus, passed it on our left side, sailed to Syria and arrived in Tyre, which was where the boat was going to unload its cargo. 4 We found some disciples and stayed there a week—and they told Paul, by the spirit, not to go to Jerusalem. 5 When our time there was up, we left and went on our way, with everyone, women and children included, coming with us out of the city. We knelt down on the seashore and prayed. 6 Then we said our farewells to one another. We got on the ship and they returned home.
7 The end of our voyage from Tyre saw us arrive at Ptolemais. There we greeted the Christians, and stayed a day with them. 8 On the next day we left and went on to Caesarea, and went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
10 After we’d been there several days, Agabus the prophet arrived from Jerusalem. 11 He came to us, took Paul’s girdle, and tied himself up with it, hand and foot.
“This is what the holy spirit says,” he declared. “The Judaeans in Jerusalem will tie up the man to whom this girdle belongs, just like this, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles.”
12 When we heard that, we and the people of that place begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul responded.
“What are you doing with all this weeping,” he said, “breaking my heart in pieces? I am quite prepared not only to be tied up but to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14 When we realized we couldn’t dissuade him, we gave up the attempt.
“May the Lord’s will be done,” was all we said.
Warding off the inevitable
15 After those days we made preparations to go up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, and took us to the house of Mnason, an elderly disciple from Cyprus. That was where we were going to be staying.
17 When we came to Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us gladly. 18 On the next day Paul went in with us to see James, with all the elders present. 19 He greeted them and laid out before them everything which God had done through his ministry among the Gentiles, telling it all step by step. 20 They praised God when they heard it.
“You see, brother,” they said, “that there are many thousands of Jews who have believed. They are all of them fiercely enthusiastic for the law. 21 But what they have heard about you is that you teach all the Jews who live among the nations to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children and not to keep the customs. 22 Where does this leave us? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 So do what we tell you: there are four men here who have taken a vow upon themselves. 24 Join in with these men. Purify yourself along with them, and pay the expenses for them as they have their heads shaved. That way everyone will know that there is no truth in the accusations against you, but rather that you too are behaving as a law-observant Jew should. 25 As for the Gentiles who have believed, we have written to them with our decision that they should keep themselves from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication.”
26 So Paul took the men and, the next day, underwent the ritual of purification alongside them. He went into the Temple and made the declaration, stating when the days of purification would be completed and when the time would come for sacrifice to be offered for each of them.
Riot in the Temple
27 When the seven days were completed, some Jews from Asia spotted Paul in the Temple. They gathered a crowd and grabbed him.
28 “Men of Israel,” they yelled, “come and help us! This is the man who’s been teaching everybody everywhere against our people, our law, and this place! And now, what’s more, he’s brought some Greeks into the Temple, and he’s defiled this holy place!” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with Paul in the city, and they thought Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30 The whole city was stirred up, and people rushed together from all around. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the Temple, and the gates were shut at once. 31 As they were trying to kill him, word reached the tribune of the guard that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 At once he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When the crowd saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came up, arrested him, ordered him to be bound with two chains, and asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd said one thing, some said another. Since he couldn’t find out what was really going on because of the uproar, he gave orders for Paul to be brought into the barracks. 35 When they got to the steps, the pressure of the crowd was so strong that the soldiers had to carry Paul. 36 The great mob of people was following, and shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”
Why not hear my story?
37 As they were about to go into the barracks, Paul turned to the tribune.
“Am I allowed to say something to you?” he asked.
“Well!” replied the tribune. “So you know some Greek, do you? 38 Aren’t you the Egyptian who raised a revolt some while back and led those four thousand ‘assassins’ into the desert?”
39 “Actually,” replied Paul, “I’m a Jew! I’m from Tarsus in Cilicia. That’s not such a bad place to be a citizen. Please, please, let me speak to the people.”
40 So he gave him permission. Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When, eventually, there was silence, he spoke to them in Aramaic.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.