M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Confirm your call!
1 Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus the Messiah, to those who have obtained a share of faith equal to ours in the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus the Messiah: 2 may grace and peace be multiplied to you, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 God has bestowed upon us, through his divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. 4 The result is that he has given us, through these things, his precious and wonderful promises; and the purpose of all this is so that you may run away from the corruption of lust that is in the world, and may become partakers of the divine nature. 5 So, because of this, you should strain every nerve to supplement your faith with virtue, and your virtue with knowledge, 6 and your knowledge with self-control, and your self-control with patience, and your patience with piety, 7 and your piety with family affection, and your family affection with love. 8 If you have these things in plentiful supply, you see, you will not be wasting your time, or failing to bear fruit, in relation to your knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. 9 Someone who doesn’t have these things, in fact, is so short-sighted as to be actually blind, and has forgotten what it means to be cleansed from earlier sins. 10 So, my dear family, you must make the effort all the more to confirm that God has called you and chosen you. If you do this, you will never trip up. 11 That is how you will have, richly laid out before you, an entrance into the kingdom of God’s coming age, the kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus the Messiah.
Prophecy made sure
12 So I intend to go on and on reminding you about all this—even though you know it, and have been firmly established in the truth which has come to you. 13 But it seems right to me, as long as I am living in this present tent, to stir you up with a reminder, 14 since I know that I shall shortly be putting off this tent, as our Lord Jesus the Messiah showed me. 15 So I shall also be making every effort to ensure that, once I am gone, you may be able to call these things to mind at any time.
16 You see, when we made known to you the power and appearing of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, we were not following cleverly devised myths. Rather, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the father, a voice spoke to him from the Wonderful Glory, “This is my son, my beloved one, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 We heard this voice, spoken from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word made more certain. You will do well to hold on to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star shines in your hearts. 20 You must know this first of all, that no scriptural prophecy is a matter of one’s own interpretation. 21 No prophecy, you see, ever came by human will. Rather, people were moved by the holy spirit, and spoke from God.
The parable of the fig tree
13 At that moment some people came up and told them the news. Some Galileans had been in the Temple, and Pilate had mixed their blood with that of the sacrifices.
2 Jesus’ response was this. “Do you suppose,” he said, “that those Galileans suffered such things because they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, let me tell you! Unless you repent, you will all be destroyed in the same way.
4 “And what about those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam collapsed on top of them? Do you imagine they were more blameworthy than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, let me tell you! Unless you repent, you will all be destroyed in the same way.”
6 He told them this parable. “Once upon a time there was a man who had a fig tree in his vineyard. He came to it looking for fruit, and didn’t find any. 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘Look here! I’ve been coming to this fig tree for three years hoping to find some fruit, and I haven’t found any! Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 “ ‘I tell you what, Master,’ replied the gardener; ‘let it alone for just this one year more. I’ll dig all round it and put on some manure. 9 Then, if it fruits next year, well and good; and if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Jesus heals a crippled woman on the sabbath
10 One sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. 11 There was a woman there who had had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent double, and couldn’t stand fully upright. 12 Jesus saw her and called to her.
13 “Woman,” he said, laying his hands on her, “you are freed from your affliction.” And at once she stood upright, and praised God.
14 The synagogue president was angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath.
“Look here,” he said to the crowd, “there are six days for people to work! Come on one of those days and be healed, not on the sabbath day!”
15 “You bunch of hypocrites!” replied Jesus. “You would all be quite happy to untie an ox or a donkey from its stall on the sabbath day and lead it out for a drink! 16 And isn’t it right that this daughter of Abraham, tied up by the satan for these eighteen years, should be untied from her chains on the sabbath day?”
17 At that, all the people who had been opposing him were ashamed. The whole crowd was overjoyed at all the splendid things he was doing.
18 So Jesus said, “What is God’s kingdom like? What shall we compare it with? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and placed in his garden. It grew, and became a tree, and the birds of the sky made nests in its branches.”
20 And again he said, “What shall we say God’s kingdom is like? 21 It’s like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”
Entering through the narrow door
22 Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, making his way towards Jerusalem.
23 “Master,” somebody said to him, “will there be only a few that are saved?”
24 “Struggle hard,” Jesus replied, “to get in by the narrow gate. Let me tell you: many will try to get in and won’t be able to. 25 When the householder gets up and shuts the door—at that moment you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door and say, ‘Master, open the door for us.’ Then he will say in response, ‘I don’t know where you’ve come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate with you and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ 27 And he will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you people are from. Be off with you, you wicked lot.’
28 “That’s where you’ll find weeping and gnashing of teeth: when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from East and West, from North and South, and sit down to feast in God’s kingdom. 30 And, listen to this: some who are last will be first, and some of the first will be last.”
Jesus grieves over Jerusalem
31 Just then some Pharisees came up and spoke to Jesus.
“Get away from here,” they said, “because Herod wants to kill you.”
32 “Go and tell that fox,” replied Jesus, “ ‘Look here: I’m casting out demons today and tomorrow, and completing my healings. I’ll be finished by the third day. 33 But I have to continue my travels today, tomorrow and the day after that! It couldn’t happen that a prophet would perish away from Jerusalem.’
34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets, and stone the people sent to you! How many times did I want to collect your children, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would have none of it! 35 Look, your house has been abandoned. Let me tell you this: you will never see me until you are prepared to say, ‘Welcome with a blessing in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.