M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The wise and foolish girls

25 “Then,” continued Jesus, “the kingdom of heaven will be like ten girls who each took their own torches and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were silly, and five were sensible. ³ The silly ones took their torches, but didn’t take oil with them. ⁴ The sensible ones took oil, in flasks, along with their torches.

⁵ “The bridegroom took his time coming, and they all nodded off and went to sleep. ⁶ In the middle of the night a shout went up: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come on and meet him!’ ⁷ Then all the girls got up and trimmed the wicks of their torches.

⁸ “The silly ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some of your oil! Our torches are going out!’

⁹ “But the sensible ones answered, ‘No! If we do that, there won’t be enough for all of us together! You’d better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “So off they went to buy oil. But, while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The ones who were ready went in with him to the wedding party, and the door was shut.

¹¹ “Later on the other girls came back. ‘Master, Master!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

¹² “ ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ he said, ‘I don’t know you.’

¹³ “So keep awake! You don’t know the day or the hour.”

The parable of the talents

¹⁴ “This is what it will be like,” Jesus went on. “It will be like a man who was going off on a journey. He summoned his slaves, and handed over control of his property to them. ¹⁵ He gave five talents to the first, two to the next, and one to the last—each according to his ability. Then he left.

“Straight away ¹⁶ the man who had been given the five talents went out and traded with them, and made five more. ¹⁷ Similarly, the one who had received two talents went and made another two. ¹⁸ But the one who received a single talent went and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time, the master of those slaves came back and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received five talents came forward and gave him the other five talents. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you gave me five talents. Look: I’ve made another five!’ ²¹ ‘Well done indeed,’ said his master. ‘You’re an excellent slave, and loyal too! You’ve been trustworthy with small things, and now I’m going to put you in charge of bigger ones. Come and join your master’s celebration!’

²² “Then the man who had had the two talents came forward. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you gave me two talents. Look: I’ve made another two!’ ²³ ‘Well done indeed,’ said his master. ‘You’re an excellent slave, and loyal too! You’ve been trustworthy with small things, and now I’m going to put you in charge of bigger ones. Come and join your master’s celebration!’

²⁴ “Then the man who had had the one talent came forward. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you were a hard man. You reap where you didn’t sow, and you profit from things you never invested in. ²⁵ So I was scared! I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is: it’s yours, you can have it back.’

²⁶ “ ‘You’re a wicked and lazy slave!’ answered his master. ‘So! You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and profit from investments I never made? ²⁷ Then you should have put my money with the bankers, and when I returned I would have received back what I had with interest!’

²⁸ “ ‘So take the talent from him,’ he went on, ‘and give it to the man who has ten talents.’ ²⁹ (If someone already has something, you see, they will be given more, and they’ll have plenty. But if someone has nothing, even what they have will be taken away from them.) ³⁰ ‘But as for this useless slave, throw him outside in the dark, where people weep and grind their teeth.’ ”

The sheep and the goats

³¹ “When the son of man comes in his glory,” Jesus went on, “and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be assembled in front of him, and he will separate them from one another, like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will stand the sheep at his right hand, and the goats at his left.

³⁴ “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come here, you people who my father has blessed. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! ³⁵ Why? Because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you made me welcome. ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Master, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and come to see you?’

⁴⁰ “Then the king will answer them, ‘I’m telling you the truth: when you did it to one of the least significant of my brothers and sisters here, you did it to me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left hand, ‘Get away from me! You’re accursed! Go to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! ⁴² Why? Because I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat! I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink! ⁴³ I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me; I was sick and in prison and you didn’t look after me!’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer, ‘Master, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t do anything for you?’

⁴⁵ “Then he will answer them, ‘I’m telling you the truth: when you didn’t do it for one of the least significant of my brothers and sisters here, you didn’t do it for me.’

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous will go into everlasting life.”

To Caesar you shall go

25 So Festus arrived in the province, and after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. ² The high priests and the leading men of the Jews appeared before him, laying charges against Paul, and putting a request to him. ³ They wanted him to do a special favor for them and against Paul, by sending for him to be brought up to Jerusalem. They were making a plan to kill him on the way. ⁴ But Festus answered that he was keeping Paul at Caesarea, and that he himself would shortly be going back there.

⁵ “So,” he said, “your officials should come down with me. They can put any accusations of wrongdoing they may have against the man.”

⁶ He stayed with them for a few days (about eight or ten) and then went down to Caesarea. On the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought to him. ⁷ When he appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and hurled many serious accusations at him, which they were not able to substantiate. ⁸ Paul made his response: “I have offended neither against the Jews’ law, nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar.”

⁹ Festus, however, wanted to do a favor to the Jews. “Tell me,” he said to Paul in reply, “how would you like to go up to Jerusalem and be tried by me there about these things?”

¹⁰ “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal,” said Paul, “which is where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you well know. ¹¹ If I have committed any wrong, or if I have done something which means I deserve to die, I’m not trying to escape death. But if I haven’t done any of the things they are accusing me of, nobody can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

¹² Festus consulted with his advisers.

“You have appealed to Caesar,” he said, “and to Caesar you shall go.”

Agrippa and Bernice

¹³ After some days King Agrippa came to Caesarea, with Bernice, to greet Festus. ¹⁴ They spent several days there, and during that time Festus put to the king the whole matter of Paul and the case against him.

“I have a man here,” he said, “who was left by Felix as a prisoner. ¹⁵ When I was up in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the Jewish elders came before me and asked me to pass sentence on him. ¹⁶ My response was that it is not our Roman custom to hand anyone over until the accused has had a chance to look his accusers in the face and make a defense against the charges. ¹⁷ So they came down here, and I didn’t postpone the business, but sat in court the next day and commanded the man to be brought. ¹⁸ His accusers stood there and brought charges—but not of the sort of wrongdoing I had been expecting. ¹⁹ It turned out to have to do with various wranglings concerning their own religion, and about some dead man called Jesus whom Paul asserted was alive. ²⁰ I simply didn’t know what to do about all this dispute, and so I asked him if he would like to go up to Jerusalem and be judged there about these things. ²¹ But Paul then appealed for his case to be sent up to His Majesty! So I gave the order that he should be kept under guard until I can send him to Caesar.”

²² “I should like to hear this man for myself,” said Agrippa to Festus.

“Very well,” said Festus. “You shall do so tomorrow.”

²³ On the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great ceremony, and entered the audience chamber. With them came the tribunes and the leading men of the city. Festus gave the order, and Paul was brought in.

²⁴ “King Agrippa,” said Festus, “and all of you assembled here, you see this man. The whole multitude of the Jews appealed to me about him, both in Jerusalem and here. They shouted that it wasn’t right to let him live. ²⁵ But I found that he had done nothing to deserve death, and since he then himself appealed to His Majesty I decided to send him. ²⁶ I don’t have anything definite to write to our Lord and Master about him, and so I’ve brought him here to you, and particularly before you, King Agrippa, so that I may know what to write once we have had a judicial hearing. ²⁷ There seems no sense to me in sending a prisoner without giving some indication of the charges against him.”