M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

23 ^1-2 When Sarah was 127 years old, she died in Hebron in the land of Canaan; there Abraham mourned and wept for her. ³ Then, standing beside her body, he said to the men of Heth:

⁴ “Here I am, a visitor in a foreign land, with no place to bury my wife. Please sell me a piece of ground for this purpose.”

^5-6 “Certainly,” the men replied, “for you are an honored prince of God among us; it will be a privilege to have you choose the finest of our sepulchres, so that you can bury her there.”

⁷ Then Abraham bowed low before them and said, ⁸ “Since this is your feeling in the matter, be so kind as to ask Ephron, Zohar’s son, ⁹ to sell me the cave of Mach-pelah, down at the end of his field. I will of course pay the full price for it, whatever is publicly agreed upon, and it will become a permanent cemetery for my family.”

¹⁰ Ephron was sitting there among the others, and now he spoke up, answering Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the citizens of the town: ¹¹ “Sir,” he said to Abraham, “please listen to me. I will give you the cave and the field without any charge. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you free. Go and bury your dead.”

¹² Abraham bowed again to the men of Heth, ¹³ and replied to Ephron, as all listened: “No, let me buy it from you. Let me pay the full price of the field, and then I will bury my dead.”

^14-15 “Well, the land is worth 400 pieces of silver,” Ephron said, “but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.”

¹⁶ So Abraham paid Ephron the price he had suggested—400 pieces of silver, as publicly agreed. ^17-18 This is the land he bought: Ephron’s field at Mach-pelah, near Mamre, and the cave at the end of the field, and all the trees in the field. They became his permanent possession, by agreement in the presence of the men of Heth at the city gate. ^19-20 So Abraham buried Sarah there, in the field and cave deeded to him by the men of Heth as a burial plot.

22 ^1-2 Jesus told several other stories to show what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

“For instance,” he said, “it can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding dinner for his son. ³ Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent messengers to notify everyone that it was time to come. But all refused! ⁴ So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘Everything is ready and the roast is in the oven. Hurry!’

⁵ “But the guests he had invited merely laughed and went on about their business, one to his farm, another to his store; ⁶ others beat up his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them.

⁷ “Then the angry king sent out his army and destroyed the murderers and burned their city. ⁸ And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. ⁹ Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’

¹⁰ “So the servants did, and brought in all they could find, good and bad alike; and the banquet hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the wedding robe provided for him.^[a]

¹² “‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how does it happen that you are here without a wedding robe?’ And the man had no reply.

¹³ “Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees met together to try to think of some way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could arrest him. ¹⁶ They decided to send some of their men along with the Herodians^[b] to ask him this question: “Sir, we know you are very honest and teach the truth regardless of the consequences, without fear or favor. ¹⁷ Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus saw what they were after. “You hypocrites!” he exclaimed. “Who are you trying to fool with your trick questions? ¹⁹ Here, show me a coin.” And they handed him a penny.

²⁰ “Whose picture is stamped on it?” he asked them. “And whose name is this beneath the picture?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

“Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.”

²² His reply surprised and baffled them, and they went away.

²³ But that same day some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection after death, came to him and asked, ²⁴ “Sir, Moses said that if a man died without children, his brother should marry the widow and their children would get all the dead man’s property. ²⁵ Well, we had among us a family of seven brothers. The first of these men married and then died, without children, so his widow became the second brother’s wife. ²⁶ This brother also died without children, and the wife was passed to the next brother, and so on until she had been the wife of each of them. ²⁷ And then she also died. ²⁸ So whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For she was the wife of all seven of them!”

²⁹ But Jesus said, “Your error is caused by your ignorance of the Scriptures and of God’s power! ³⁰ For in the resurrection there is no marriage; everyone is as the angels in heaven. ³¹ But now, as to whether there is a resurrection of the dead—don’t you ever read the Scriptures? Don’t you realize that God was speaking directly to you when he said, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’? So God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”^[c]

³³ The crowds were profoundly impressed by his answers— ^34-35 but not the Pharisees! When they heard that he had routed the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, a lawyer, spoke up: ³⁶ “Sir, which is the most important command in the laws of Moses?”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ ^38-39 This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them. Keep only these and you will find that you are obeying all the others.”

⁴¹ Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, he asked them a question: ⁴² “What about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, call him ‘Lord’?” Jesus asked. “For David said,

⁴⁴ ‘God said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.’

12 ^1-7 Here is a list of the priests who accompanied Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel) and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah.

⁸ The Levites who went with them were: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah—who was the one in charge of the thanksgiving service.

⁹ Bakbukiah and Unni, their fellow clansmen, helped them during the service.

^12-21 The following were the clan leaders of the priests who served under the High Priest Joiakim:

²² A genealogical record of the heads of the clans of the priests and Levites was compiled during the reign of King Darius of Persia, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua—all of whom were Levites. ²³ In The Book of the Chronicles the Levite names were recorded down to the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.

²⁴ These were the chiefs of the Levites at that time: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua (son of Kadmiel).

Their fellow clansmen helped them during the ceremonies of praise and thanksgiving, just as commanded by David, the man of God.

²⁵ The gatekeepers who had charge of the collection centers at the gates were: Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub.

²⁶ These were the men who were active in the time of Joiakim (son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak), and when I was the governor, and when Ezra was the priest and teacher of religion.

²⁷ During the dedication of the new Jerusalem wall, all the Levites throughout the land came to Jerusalem to assist in the ceremonies and to take part in the joyous occasion with their thanksgiving, cymbals, psaltries, and harps. ²⁸ The choir members also came to Jerusalem from the surrounding villages and from the villages of the Netophathites; ²⁹ they also came from Beth-gilgal and the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built their own villages as suburbs of Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and Levites first dedicated themselves, then the people, the gates, and the wall.

^31-32 I led the Judean leaders to the top of the wall and divided them into two long lines to walk in opposite directions along the top of the wall, giving thanks as they went. The group which went to the right toward the Dung Gate consisted of half of the leaders of Judah, ³³ including Hoshaiah, Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah.

^35-36 The priests who played the trumpets were Zechariah (son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph), Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. (They used the original musical instruments of King David.) Ezra the priest led this procession. ³⁷ When they arrived at the Fountain Gate they went straight ahead and climbed the stairs that go up beside the castle to the old City of David; then they went to the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸ The other group, of which I was a member, went around the other way to meet them. We walked from the Tower of Furnaces to the Broad Wall, ³⁹ then from the Ephraim Gate to the Old Gate, passed the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel, and went on to the gate of the Tower of the Hundred; then we continued on to the Sheep Gate and stopped at the Prison Gate.

^40-41 Both choirs then proceeded to the Temple. Those with me were joined by the trumpet-playing priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, ⁴² and by the singers—Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer.

They sang loudly and clearly under the direction of Jezrahiah the choirmaster.

⁴³ Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given us cause for great joy. The women and children rejoiced, too, and the joy of the people of Jerusalem was heard far away!

⁴⁴ On that day men were appointed to be in charge of the treasuries, the wave offerings, the tithes, and first-of-the-harvest offerings, and to collect these from the farms as decreed by the laws of Moses. These offerings were assigned to the priests and Levites, for the people of Judah appreciated the priests and Levites and their ministry. ⁴⁵ They also appreciated the work of the singers and gatekeepers, who assisted them in worshiping God and performing the purification ceremonies as required by the laws of David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ (It was in the days of David and Asaph that the custom began of having choir directors to lead the choirs in hymns of praise and thanks to God.) ⁴⁷ So now, in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, the people brought a daily supply of food for the members of the choir, the gatekeepers, and the Levites. The Levites, in turn, gave a portion of what they received to the priests.^[a]

22 “Brothers and fathers, listen to me as I offer my defense.” ² (When they heard him speaking in Hebrew, the silence was even greater.) ³ “I am a Jew,” he said, “born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, but educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, at whose feet I learned to follow our Jewish laws and customs very carefully. I became very anxious to honor God in everything I did, just as you have tried to do today. ⁴ And I persecuted the Christians, hounding them to death, binding and delivering both men and women to prison. ⁵ The High Priest or any member of the Council can testify that this is so. For I asked them for letters to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, with instructions to let me bring any Christians I found to Jerusalem in chains to be punished.

⁶ “As I was on the road, nearing Damascus, suddenly about noon a very bright light from heaven shone around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸ “‘Who is it speaking to me, sir?’ I asked. And he replied, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ ⁹ The men with me saw the light but didn’t understand what was said.

¹⁰ “And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’

“And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what awaits you in the years ahead.’

¹¹ “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led into Damascus by my companions. ¹² There a man named Ananias, as godly a man as you could find for obeying the law and well thought of by all the Jews of Damascus, ¹³ came to me, and standing beside me said, ‘Brother Paul, receive your sight!’ And that very hour I could see him!

¹⁴ “Then he told me, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Messiah^[a] and hear him speak. ¹⁵ You are to take his message everywhere, telling what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now, why delay? Go and be baptized and be cleansed from your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

^17-18 “One day after my return to Jerusalem, while I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance and saw a vision of God saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t believe you when you give them my message.’

¹⁹ “‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that I imprisoned and beat those in every synagogue who believed on you. ²⁰ And when your witness Stephen was killed, I was standing there agreeing—keeping the coats they laid aside as they stoned him.’

²¹ “But God said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

²² The crowd listened until Paul came to that word, then with one voice they shouted, “Away with such a fellow! Kill him! He isn’t fit to live!” ²³ They yelled and threw their coats in the air and tossed up handfuls of dust.

²⁴ So the commander brought him inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious!

²⁵ As they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to an officer standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

²⁶ The officer went to the commander and asked, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷ So the commander went over and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I certainly am.”

²⁸ “I am too,” the commander muttered, “and it cost me plenty!”

“But I am a citizen by birth!”

²⁹ The soldiers standing ready to lash him, quickly disappeared when they heard Paul was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.

³⁰ The next day the commander freed him from his chains and ordered the chief priests into session with the Jewish Council. He had Paul brought in before them to try to find out what the trouble was all about.