M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
49 Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me and I will tell you what is going to happen to you in the days to come. 2 Listen to me, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my oldest son, the child of my vigorous youth. You are the head of the list in rank and in honor. 4 But you are unruly as the wild waves of the sea, and you shall be first no longer. I am demoting you, for you slept with one of my wives and thus dishonored me.
5 “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind. They are men of violence and injustice. 6 O my soul, stay away from them. May I never be a party to their wicked plans. For in their anger they murdered a man, and maimed oxen just for fun. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout Israel.[a]
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you. You shall destroy your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow before you. 9 Judah is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. He has settled down as a lion—who will dare to rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes,[b] whom all people shall obey. 11 He has chained his steed to the choicest vine and washed his clothes in wine.[c] 12 His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell on the shores of the sea and shall be a harbor for ships, with his borders extending to Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong beast of burden resting among the saddlebags. 15 When he saw how good the countryside was, how pleasant the land, he willingly bent his shoulder to the task and served his masters with vigor.
16 “Dan shall govern his people like any other tribe in Israel. 17 He shall be a serpent in the path that bites the horses’ heels, so that the rider falls off. 18 I trust in your salvation, Lord.
19 “A marauding band shall stamp upon Gad, but he shall rob and pursue them!
20 “Asher shall produce rich foods, fit for kings!
21 “Naphtali is a deer let loose, producing lovely fawns.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful tree beside a fountain. His branches shade the wall. 23 He has been severely injured by those who shot at him and persecuted him, 24 but their weapons were shattered by the Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. 25 May the God of your fathers, the Almighty, bless you with blessings of heaven above and of the earth beneath—blessings of the breasts and of the womb, 26 blessings of the grain and flowers, blessings reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. These shall be the blessings upon the head of Joseph who was exiled from his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a wolf that prowls. He devours his enemies in the morning, and in the evening divides the loot.”
28 So these are the blessings that Israel, their father, blessed his twelve sons with.
29-30 Then he told them, “Soon I will die. You must bury me with my fathers in the land of Canaan, in the cave in the field of Mach-pelah, facing Mamre—the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hethite for a burial ground. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32 It is the cave which my grandfather Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth.” 33 Then, when Jacob had finished his prophecies to his sons, he lay back in the bed, breathed his last, and died.
2 About this time Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the nation. 2 (This census was taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 Everyone was required to return to his ancestral home for this registration. 4 And because Joseph was a member of the royal line, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, King David’s ancient home—journeying there from the Galilean village of Nazareth. 5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born; 7 and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in a blanket[a] and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
8 That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly an angel appeared among them, and the landscape shone bright with the glory of the Lord. They were badly frightened, 10 but the angel reassured them.
“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you the most joyful news ever announced, and it is for everyone! 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem![b] 12 How will you recognize him? You will find a baby wrapped in a blanket,[c] lying in a manger!”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God:
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,” they sang,[d] “and peace on earth for all those pleasing him.”
15 When this great army of angels had returned again to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on! Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They ran to the village and found their way to Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 The shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story expressed astonishment, 19 but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and often thought about them.
20 Then the shepherds went back again to their fields and flocks, praising God for the visit of the angels, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had told them.
21 Eight days later, at the baby’s circumcision ceremony, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was even conceived.
22 When the time came for Mary’s purification offering at the Temple, as required by the laws of Moses after the birth of a child, his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord; 23 for in these laws God had said, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.”
24 At that time Jesus’ parents also offered their sacrifice for purification—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” was the legal requirement. 25 That day a man named Simeon, a Jerusalem resident, was in the Temple. He was a good man, very devout, filled with the Holy Spirit and constantly expecting the Messiah[e] to come soon. 26 For the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen him—God’s anointed King. 27 The Holy Spirit had impelled him to go to the Temple that day; and so, when Mary and Joseph arrived to present the baby Jesus to the Lord in obedience to the law, 28 Simeon was there and took the child in his arms, praising God.
29-31 “Lord,” he said, “now I can die content! For I have seen him as you promised me I would. I have seen the Savior you have given to the world. 32 He is the Light that will shine upon the nations, and he will be the glory of your people Israel!”
33 Joseph and Mary just stood there, marveling at what was being said about Jesus.
34-35 Simeon blessed them but then said to Mary, “A sword shall pierce your soul, for this child shall be rejected by many in Israel, and this to their undoing. But he will be the greatest joy of many others. And the deepest thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed.”
36-37 Anna, a prophetess, was also there in the Temple that day. She was the daughter of Phanuel, of the Jewish tribe of Asher, and was very old, for she had been a widow for eighty-four years following seven years of marriage. She never left the Temple but stayed there night and day, worshiping God by praying and often fasting.
38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she also began thanking God and telling everyone in Jerusalem who had been awaiting the coming of the Savior[f] that the Messiah had finally arrived.
39 When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the Law of God, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. 40 There the child became a strong, robust lad, and was known for wisdom beyond his years; and God poured out his blessings on him.
41-42 When Jesus was twelve years old, he accompanied his parents to Jerusalem for the annual Passover Festival, which they attended each year. 43 After the celebration was over they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him the first day, 44 for they assumed he was with friends among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started to look for him among their relatives and friends; 45 and when they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.
46-47 Three days later they finally discovered him. He was in the Temple, sitting among the teachers of Law, discussing deep questions with them and amazing everyone with his understanding and answers.
48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son!” his mother said to him. “Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you realize that I would be here at the Temple, in my Father’s House?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.
51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them; and his mother stored away all these things in her heart. 52 So Jesus grew both tall and wise, and was loved by God and man.
15 The answer of Eliphaz the Temanite:
2 “You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag. 3 It isn’t right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do? 4-5 Have you no fear of God? No reverence for him? Your sins are telling your mouth what to say! Your words are based on clever deception, 6 but why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does!
7-8 “Are you the wisest man alive? Were you born before the hills were made? Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Are you called into his counsel room? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? 9 What do you know more than we do? What do you understand that we don’t? 10 On our side are aged men much older than your father! 11 Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentleness too rough?
12 “What is this you are doing, getting carried away by your anger, with flashing eyes? 13 And you turn against God and say all these evil things against him. 14 What man in all the earth can be as pure and righteous as you claim to be? 15 Why, God doesn’t even trust the angels! Even the heavens can’t be absolutely pure compared with him! 16 How much less someone like you, who is corrupt and sinful, drinking in sin as a sponge soaks up water!
17-19 “Listen, and I will answer you from my own experience, confirmed by the experience of wise men who have been told this same thing from their fathers—our ancestors to whom alone the land was given—and they have passed this wisdom to us:
20 “A wicked man is always in trouble throughout his life. 21 He is surrounded by terrors, and if there are good days, they will soon be gone. 22 He dares not go out into the darkness lest he be murdered. 23-24 He wanders around begging for food. He lives in fear, distress, and anguish. His enemies conquer him as a king defeats his foes. 25-26 Armed with his tin shield, he clenches his fist against God, defying the Almighty, stubbornly assaulting him.
27-28 “This wicked man is fat and rich, and has lived in conquered cities after killing off their citizens. 29 But he will not continue to be rich, or to extend his possessions. 30 No, darkness shall overtake him forever; the breath of God shall destroy him; the flames shall burn up all he has.
31 “Let him no longer trust in foolish riches;[a] let him no longer deceive himself, for the money he trusts in will be his only reward. 32 Before he dies, all this futility will become evident to him. For all he counted on will disappear 33 and fall to the ground like a withered grape.[b] How little will come of his hopes! 34 For the godless are barren: they can produce nothing truly good. God’s fire consumes them with all their possessions. 35 The only thing they can ‘conceive’ is sin, and their hearts give birth only to wickedness.”
3 Dear brothers, I have been talking to you as though you were still just babies in the Christian life who are not following the Lord but your own desires; I cannot talk to you as I would to healthy Christians who are filled with the Spirit. 2 I have had to feed you with milk and not with solid food because you couldn’t digest anything stronger. And even now you still have to be fed on milk. 3 For you are still only baby Christians, controlled by your own desires, not God’s. When you are jealous of one another and divide up into quarreling groups, doesn’t that prove you are still babies, wanting your own way? In fact, you are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord at all. 4 There you are, quarreling about whether I am greater than Apollos, and dividing the church. Doesn’t this show how little you have grown in the Lord?[a]
5 Who am I, and who is Apollos, that we should be the cause of a quarrel? Why, we’re just God’s servants, each of us with certain special abilities, and with our help you believed. 6 My work was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos’ work was to water it, but it was God, not we, who made the garden grow in your hearts. 7 The person who does the planting or watering isn’t very important, but God is important because he is the one who makes things grow. 8 Apollos and I are working as a team, with the same aim, though each of us will be rewarded for his own hard work. 9 We are only God’s coworkers. You are God’s garden, not ours; you are God’s building, not ours.
10 God, in his kindness, has taught me how to be an expert builder. I have laid the foundation and Apollos has built on it. But he who builds on the foundation must be very careful. 11 And no one can ever lay any other real foundation than that one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 But there are various kinds of materials that can be used to build on that foundation. Some use gold and silver and jewels; and some build with sticks and hay or even straw! 13 There is going to come a time of testing at Christ’s Judgment Day to see what kind of material each builder has used. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire so that all can see whether or not it keeps its value, and what was really accomplished. 14 Then every workman who has built on the foundation with the right materials, and whose work still stands, will get his pay. 15 But if the house he has built burns up, he will have a great loss. He himself will be saved, but like a man escaping through a wall of flames.
16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the house of God, and that the Spirit of God lives among you in his house? 17 If anyone defiles and spoils God’s home, God will destroy him. For God’s home is holy and clean, and you are that home.
18 Stop fooling yourselves. If you count yourself above average in intelligence, as judged by this world’s standards, you had better put this all aside and be a fool rather than let it hold you back from the true wisdom from above. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As it says in the book of Job, God uses man’s own brilliance to trap him; he stumbles over his own “wisdom” and falls. 20 And again, in the book of Psalms, we are told that the Lord knows full well how the human mind reasons and how foolish and futile it is.
21 So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world.[b] For God has already given you everything you need. 22 He has given you Paul and Apollos and Peter as your helpers. He has given you the whole world to use, and life and even death are your servants. He has given you all of the present and all of the future. All are yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ is God’s.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.