M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
32 1-2 So Jacob and his household[a] started on again. And the angels of God came to meet him. When he saw them he exclaimed, “God lives here!” So he named the place “God’s territory!”
3 Jacob now sent messengers to his brother, Esau, in Edom, in the land of Seir, 4 with this message: “Hello from Jacob! I have been living with Uncle Laban until recently, 5 and now I own oxen, donkeys, sheep, goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform you of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to us.”
6 The messengers returned with the news that Esau was on the way to meet Jacob—with an army of 400 men! 7 Jacob was frantic with fear. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups; 8 for he said, “If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of Abraham my grandfather, and of my father Isaac—O Jehovah who told me to return to the land of my relatives, and said that you would do me good— 10 I am not worthy of the least of all your loving-kindnesses shown me again and again just as you promised me. For when I left home[b] I owned nothing except a walking stick! And now I am two armies! 11 O Lord, please deliver me from destruction at the hand of my brother Esau, for I am frightened—terribly afraid that he is coming to kill me and these mothers and my children. 12 But you promised to do me good, and to multiply my descendants until they become as the sands along the shores—too many to count.”
13-15 Jacob stayed where he was for the night, and prepared a present for his brother Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels, with their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys.
16 He instructed his servants to drive them on ahead, each group of animals by itself, separated by a distance between. 17 He told the men driving the first group that when they met Esau and he asked, “Where are you going? Whose servants are you? Whose animals are these?”— 18 they should reply: “These belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present for his master Esau! He is coming right behind us!”
19 Jacob gave the same instructions to each driver, with the same message. 20 Jacob’s strategy was to appease Esau with the presents before meeting him face-to-face! “Perhaps,” Jacob hoped, “he will be friendly to us.” 21 So the presents were sent on ahead, and Jacob spent that night in the camp.
22-24 But during the night he got up and wakened[c] his two wives and his two concubines and eleven sons, and sent them across the Jordan River at the Jabbok ford with all his possessions, then returned again to the camp and was there alone; and a Man wrestled with him until dawn. 25 And when the Man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket.
26 Then the Man said, “Let me go, for it is dawn.”
But Jacob panted, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the Man asked.
“Jacob,” was the reply.
28 “It isn’t anymore!” the Man told him. “It is Israel—one who has power with God. Because you have been strong with God, you shall prevail with men.”
29 “What is your name?” Jacob asked him.
“No, you mustn’t ask,” the Man told him. And he blessed him there.
30 Jacob named the place “Peniel” (“The Face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is spared.” 31 The sun rose as he started on, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 (That is why even today the people of Israel don’t eat meat from near the hip, in memory of what happened that night.)
3 While in Capernaum Jesus went over to the synagogue again, and noticed a man there with a deformed hand.
2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man’s hand? If he did, they planned to arrest him!
3 Jesus asked the man to come and stand in front of the congregation. 4 Then turning to his enemies he asked, “Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?” But they wouldn’t answer him. 5 Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need, he said to the man, “Reach out your hand.” He did, and instantly his hand was healed!
6 At once the Pharisees[a] went away and met with the Herodians to discuss plans for killing Jesus.
7-8 Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the beach, followed by a huge crowd from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, and even from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. For the news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers came to see him for themselves.
9 He instructed his disciples to bring around a boat and to have it standing ready to rescue him in case he was crowded off the beach. 10 For there had been many healings that day and as a result great numbers of sick people were crowding around him, trying to touch him.
11 And whenever those possessed by demons caught sight of him they would fall down before him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But he strictly warned them not to make him known.
13 Afterwards he went up into the hills and summoned certain ones he chose, inviting them to come and join him there; and they did. 14-15 Then he selected twelve of them to be his regular companions and to go out to preach and to cast out demons. 16-19 These are the names of the twelve he chose: Simon (he renamed him “Peter”), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of a political party advocating violent overthrow of the Roman government), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
20 When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. 21 When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them.
“He’s out of his mind,” they said.
22 But the Jewish teachers of religion who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “His trouble is that he’s possessed by Satan, king of demons. That’s why demons obey him.”
23 Jesus summoned these men and asked them (using proverbs they all understood), “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 A kingdom divided against itself will collapse. 25 A home filled with strife and division destroys itself. 26 And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive. 27 Satan must be bound before his demons are cast out,[b] just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.
28 “I solemnly declare that any sin of man can be forgiven, even blasphemy against me; 29 but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin.”
30 He told them this because they were saying he did his miracles by Satan’s power instead of acknowledging it was by the Holy Spirit’s power.[c]
31-32 Now his mother and brothers arrived at the crowded house where he was teaching, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with them. “Your mother and brothers are outside and want to see you,” he was told.
33 He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Looking at those around him he said, “These are my mother and brothers! 35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.”
8 On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the estate of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king that he was her cousin and foster father.[a] 2 The king took off his ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai appointing him Prime Minister;[b] and Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s estate.
3 And now once more Esther came before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop Haman’s plot against the Jews. 4 And again the king held out the golden scepter to Esther. So she arose and stood before him, 5 and said, “If it please Your Majesty, and if you love me, send out a decree reversing Haman’s order to destroy the Jews throughout the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I endure it, to see my people butchered and destroyed?”
7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the palace of Haman, and he has been hanged upon the gallows because he tried to destroy you. 8 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews, telling them whatever you want to in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring so that it can never be reversed.”[c]
9-10 Immediately the king’s secretaries were called in—it was now the 23rd day of the month of July—and they wrote as Mordecai dictated—a decree to the Jews and to the officials, governors, and princes of all the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 in all: the decree was translated into the languages and dialects of all the people of the kingdom. Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed the message with the king’s ring and sent the letters by swift carriers—riders on camels, mules, and young dromedaries used in the king’s service. 11 This decree gave the Jews everywhere permission to unite in the defense of their lives and their families, to destroy all the forces opposed to them, and to take their property. 12 The day chosen for this throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus was the 28th day of February![d] 13 It further stated that a copy of this decree, which must be recognized everywhere as law, must be broadcast to all the people so that the Jews would be ready and prepared to overcome their enemies. 14 So the mail went out swiftly, carried by the king’s couriers and speeded by the king’s commandment. The same decree was also issued at Shushan Palace.
15 Then Mordecai put on the royal robes of blue and white and the great crown of gold, with an outer cloak of fine linen and purple, and went out from the presence of the king through the city streets filled with shouting people. 16 And the Jews had joy and gladness and were honored everywhere. 17 And in every city and province, as the king’s decree arrived, the Jews were filled with joy and had a great celebration and declared a holiday. And many of the people of the land pretended to be Jews, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.
3 Then what’s the use of being a Jew? Are there any special benefits for them from God? Is there any value in the Jewish circumcision ceremony? 2 Yes, being a Jew has many advantages.
First of all, God trusted them with his laws so that they could know and do his will.[a] 3 True, some of them were unfaithful, but just because they broke their promises to God, does that mean God will break his promises? 4 Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this?[b] That God’s words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them.
5 “But,” some say, “our breaking faith with God is good, our sins serve a good purpose, for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair, then, for him to punish us when our sins are helping him?” (That is the way some people talk.) 6 God forbid! Then what kind of God would he be, to overlook sin? How could he ever condemn anyone? 7 For he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies. 8 If you follow through with that idea you come to this: the worse we are, the better God likes it! But the damnation of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach!
9 Well, then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all men alike are sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles. 10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent.”[c]
11 No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to.
12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one.
13 Their talk is foul and filthy like the stench from an open grave.[d] Their tongues are loaded with lies. Everything they say has in it the sting and poison of deadly snakes.
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
15 They are quick to kill, hating anyone who disagrees with them.[e]
16 Wherever they go they leave misery and trouble behind them, 17 and they have never known what it is to feel secure or enjoy God’s blessing.
18 They care nothing about God nor what he thinks of them.
19 So the judgment of God lies very heavily upon the Jews, for they are responsible to keep God’s laws instead of doing all these evil things; not one of them has any excuse; in fact, all the world stands hushed and guilty before Almighty God.
20 Now do you see it? No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners.
21-22 But now God has shown us a different way to heaven[f]—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. 23 Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; 24 yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.
25 For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath.[g] In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins. 26 And now in these days also he can receive sinners in this same way because Jesus took away their sins.
But isn’t this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins.
27 Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. 28 So it is that we are saved[h] by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
29 And does God save only the Jews in this way? No, the Gentiles, too, may come to him in this same manner. 30 God treats us all the same; all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are acquitted if they have faith. 31 Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need obey God’s laws? Just the opposite! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey him.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.