M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
22 “If a man steals an ox or sheep and then kills or sells it, he shall pay a fine of five to one—five oxen shall be returned for each stolen ox. For sheep, the fine shall be four to one—four sheep returned for each sheep stolen.
2 “If a thief is caught in the act of breaking into a house and is killed, the one who killed him is not guilty. 3 But if it happens in the daylight, it must be presumed to be murder and the man who kills him is guilty.
“If a thief is captured, he must make full restitution; if he can’t, then he must be sold as a slave for his debt.
4 “If he is caught in the act of stealing a live ox or donkey or sheep or whatever it is, he shall pay double value as his fine.
5 “If someone deliberately lets his animal loose and it gets into another man’s vineyard; or if he turns it into another man’s field to graze, he must pay for all damages by giving the owner of the field or vineyard an equal amount of the best of his own crop.
6 “If the field is being burned off and the fire gets out of control and goes into another field so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, are destroyed, the one who started the fire shall make full restitution.
7 “If someone gives money or goods to anyone to keep for him, and it is stolen, the thief shall pay double if he is found. 8 But if no thief is found, then the man to whom the valuables were entrusted shall be brought before God to determine whether or not he himself has stolen his neighbor’s property.
9 “In every case in which an ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or anything else is lost, and the owner believes he has found it in the possession of someone else who denies it, both parties to the dispute shall come before God for a decision, and the one whom God declares guilty shall pay double to the other.
10 “If a man asks his neighbor to keep a donkey, ox, sheep, or any other animal for him, and it dies, or is hurt, or gets away, and there is no eyewitness to report just what happened to it, 11 then the neighbor must take an oath that he has not stolen it, and the owner must accept his word, and no restitution shall be made for it. 12 But if the animal or property has been stolen, the neighbor caring for it must repay the owner. 13 If it was attacked by some wild animal, he shall bring the torn carcass to confirm the fact, and shall not be required to make restitution.
14 “If a man borrows an animal (or anything else) from a neighbor, and it is injured or killed, and the owner is not there at the time, then the man who borrowed it must pay for it. 15 But if the owner is there, he need not pay; and if it was rented, then he need not pay, because this possibility was included in the original rental fee.
16 “If a man seduces a girl who is not engaged to anyone[a] and sleeps with her, he must pay the usual dowry and accept her as his wife. 17 But if her father utterly refuses to let her marry him, then he shall pay the money anyway.
18 “A sorceress shall be put to death.
19 “Anyone having sexual relations with an animal shall certainly be executed.
20 “Anyone sacrificing to any other god than Jehovah shall be executed.[b]
21 “You must not oppress a stranger in any way; remember, you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
22 “You must not exploit widows or orphans; 23 if you do so in any way, and they cry to me for my help, I will surely give it. 24 And my anger shall flame out against you, and I will kill you with enemy armies, so that your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to a needy fellow Hebrew, you are not to handle the transaction in an ordinary way, with interest. 26 If you take his clothing as a pledge of his repayment, you must let him have it back at night. 27 For it is probably his only warmth; how can he sleep without it? If you don’t return it, and he cries to me for help, I will hear and be very gracious to him at your expense,[c] for I am very compassionate.
28 “You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse government officials—your judges and your rulers.
29 “You must be prompt in giving me the tithe of your crops and your wine, and the redemption payment for your oldest son.
30 “As to the firstborn of the oxen and the sheep, give it to me on the eighth day, after leaving it with its mother for seven days.
31 “And since you yourselves are holy—my special people—do not eat any animal that has been attacked and killed by a wild animal. Leave its carcass for the dogs to eat.
1 1-2 Before anything else existed,[a] there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6-7 God sent John the Baptist as a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the true Light. 8 John himself was not the Light; he was only a witness to identify it.
9 Later on, the one who is the true Light arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world.
10 But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11-12 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.[b] 13 All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth[c] resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.
14 And Christ[d] became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen his glory—the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!
15 John pointed him out to the people, telling the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming who is greater by far than I am—for he existed long before I did!’” 16 We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—blessing upon blessing heaped upon us! 17 For Moses gave us only the Law with its rigid demands and merciless justice, while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well. 18 No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him.
19 The Jewish leaders[e] sent priests and assistant priests from Jerusalem to ask John whether he claimed to be the Messiah.
20 He denied it flatly. “I am not the Christ,” he said.
21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”
“No,” he replied.
“Are you the Prophet?”[f]
“No.”
22 “Then who are you? Tell us, so we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you have to say for yourself?”
23 He replied, “I am a voice from the barren wilderness, shouting as Isaiah prophesied, ‘Get ready for the coming of the Lord!’”
24-25 Then those who were sent by the Pharisees asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”
26 John told them, “I merely baptize with[g] water, but right here in the crowd is someone you have never met, 27 who will soon begin his ministry among you, and I am not even fit to be his slave.”
28 This incident took place at Bethany, a village on the other side of the Jordan River where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin! 30 He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man far greater than I am is coming, who existed long before me!’ 31 I didn’t know he was the one, but I am here baptizing with water in order to point him out to the nation of Israel.”
32 Then John told about seeing the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven and resting upon Jesus.
33 “I didn’t know he was the one,” John said again, “but at the time God sent me to baptize he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone—he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I saw it happen to this man, and I therefore testify that he is the Son of God.”
35 The following day as John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 Jesus walked by. John looked at him intently and then declared, “See! There is the Lamb of God!”
37 Then John’s two disciples turned and followed Jesus.
38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
“Sir,” they replied, “where do you live?”
39 “Come and see,” he said. So they went with him to the place where he was staying and were with him from about four o’clock that afternoon until the evening. 40 (One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.)
41 Andrew then went to find his brother Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” 42 And he brought Peter to meet Jesus.
Jesus looked intently at Peter for a moment and then said, “You are Simon, John’s son—but you shall be called Peter, the rock!”
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Come with me.” 44 (Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.)
45 Philip now went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the Messiah!—the very person Moses and the prophets told about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth!”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from there?”
“Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared.
47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.”
48 “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded.
And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49 Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. 51 You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”[h]
40 The Lord went on:
2 “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?”
3 Then Job replied to God:
4 “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. 5 I have said too much already.”
6 Then the Lord spoke to Job again from the whirlwind:
7 “Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Let me ask you a question, and give me the answer. 8 Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so that you can say you are right? 9 Are you as strong as God, and can you shout as loudly as he? 10 All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. 11 Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. 12 Humiliate the haughty with a glance; tread down the wicked where they stand. 13 Knock them into the dust, stone-faced in death. 14 If you can do that, then I’ll agree with you that your own strength can save you.
15 “Take a look at the hippopotamus![a] I made him, too, just as I made you! He eats grass like an ox. 16 See his powerful loins and the muscles of his belly. 17 His tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit together. 18 His vertebrae lie straight as a tube of brass. His ribs are like iron bars. 19 How ferocious he is among all of God’s creation, so let whoever hopes to master him bring a sharp sword! 20 The mountains offer their best food to him—the other wild animals on which he preys. 21 He lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds, 22 covered by their shade among the willows there beside the stream. 23 He is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon him. 24 No one can catch him off guard or put a ring in his nose and lead him away.
10 I plead with you—yes, I, Paul—and I plead gently, as Christ himself would do. Yet some of you are saying, “Paul’s letters are bold enough when he is far away, but when he gets here he will be afraid to raise his voice!”
2 I hope I won’t need to show you when I come how harsh and rough I can be. I don’t want to carry out my present plans against some of you who seem to think my deeds and words are merely those of an ordinary man. 3 It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I don’t use human plans and methods to win my battles. 4 I use God’s mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devil’s strongholds. 5 These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God and change them into men whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ. 6 I will use these weapons against every rebel who remains after I have first used them on you yourselves and you surrender to Christ.
7 The trouble with you is that you look at me and I seem weak and powerless, but you don’t look beneath the surface. Yet if anyone can claim the power and authority of Christ, I certainly can. 8 I may seem to be boasting more than I should about my authority over you—authority to help you, not to hurt you—but I shall make good every claim. 9 I say this so that you will not think I am just blustering when I scold you in my letters.
10 “Don’t bother about his letters,” some say. “He sounds big, but it’s all noise. When he gets here you will see that there is nothing great about him, and you have never heard a worse preacher!” 11 This time my personal presence is going to be just as rough on you as my letters are!
12 Oh, don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare say that I am as wonderful as these other men who tell you how good they are! Their trouble is that they are only comparing themselves with each other and measuring themselves against their own little ideas. What stupidity!
13 But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you. 14 We are not going too far when we claim authority over you, for we were the first to come to you with the Good News concerning Christ. 15 It is not as though we were trying to claim credit for the work someone else has done among you. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow and that, still within the limits set for us, our work among you will be greatly enlarged.
16 After that, we will be able to preach the Good News to other cities that are far beyond you, where no one else is working; then there will be no question about being in someone else’s field. 17 As the Scriptures say, “If anyone is going to boast, let him boast about what the Lord has done and not about himself.” 18 When someone boasts about himself and how well he has done, it doesn’t count for much. But when the Lord commends him, that’s different!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.