M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Judah and Tamar
38 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah from the town of Adullam. 2 Judah met a Canaanite girl there and married her. The girl’s father was named Shua. 3 The Canaanite girl gave birth to a son and named him Er. 4 Later, she gave birth to another son and named him Onan. 5 Then she had another son named Shelah. Judah lived in Kezib when his third son was born.
6 Judah chose a woman named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er. 7 But Er did many bad things. The Lord was not happy with him, so the Lord killed him. 8 Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and sleep with your dead brother’s wife.[a] Become like a husband to her. If children are born, they will belong to your brother Er.”
9 Onan knew that the children from this union would not belong to him. He had sexual relations with Tamar, but he did not allow himself to stay inside her. 10 This made the Lord angry. So he killed Onan also. 11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go back to your father’s house. Stay there and don’t marry until my young son Shelah grows up.” Judah was afraid that Shelah would also be killed like his brothers. So Tamar went back to her father’s home.
12 Later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah’s time of sadness, he went to Timnah with his friend Hirah from Adullam. Judah went to Timnah to have the wool cut from his sheep. 13 Tamar learned that Judah, her father-in-law, was going to Timnah to cut the wool from his sheep. 14 Tamar always wore clothes that showed that she was a widow. So she put on some different clothes and covered her face with a veil. Then she sat down near the road going to Enaim, a town near Timnah. Tamar knew that Judah’s younger son Shelah was now grown up, but Judah would not make plans for her to marry him.
15 Judah traveled on that road and saw her, but he thought that she was a prostitute. (Her face was covered with a veil like a prostitute.) 16 So he went to her and said, “Let me have sex with you.” (Judah did not know that she was Tamar, his daughter-in-law.)
She said, “How much will you give me?”
17 Judah answered, “I will send you a young goat from my flock.”
She answered, “I agree to that. But first you must give me something to keep until you send me the goat.”
18 Judah asked, “What do you want me to give you as proof that I will send you the goat?”
Tamar answered, “Give me your seal and its string[b] and your walking stick.” Judah gave these things to her. Then Judah and Tamar had sexual relations, and she became pregnant. 19 Then Tamar went home, took off her veil that covered her face, and again put on the special clothes that showed she was a widow.
20 Later, Judah sent his friend Hirah to Enaim to give the prostitute the goat he promised. Judah also told Hirah to get the special seal and the walking stick from her, but Hirah could not find her. 21 He asked some of the men at the town of Enaim, “Where is the prostitute who was here by the road?”
The men answered, “There has never been a prostitute here.”
22 So Judah’s friend went back to Judah and said, “I could not find the woman. The men who live in that place said that there was never a prostitute there.”
23 So Judah said, “Let her keep the things. I don’t want people to laugh at us. I tried to give her the goat, but we could not find her. That is enough.”
Tamar Is Pregnant
24 About three months later, someone told Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar sinned like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”
Then Judah said, “Take her out and burn her.”
25 The men went to Tamar to kill her, but she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, “The man who made me pregnant is the man who owns these things. Look at them. Whose are they? Whose special seal and string is this? Whose walking stick is this?”
26 Judah recognized these things and said, “She is right. I was wrong. I did not give her my son Shelah like I promised.” And Judah did not sleep with her again.
27 The time came for Tamar to give birth. She was going to have twins. 28 While she was giving birth, one baby put his hand out. The nurse tied a red string on the hand and said, “This baby was born first.” 29 But that baby pulled his hand back in, so the other baby was born first. So the nurse said, “You were able to break out first!” So they named him Perez.[c] 30 After this, the other baby was born. This was the baby with the red string on his hand. They named him Zerah.[d]
Jesus Feeds More Than 4000(A)
8 Another time there were many people with Jesus. The people had nothing to eat. So he called his followers to him and said, 2 “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and now they have nothing to eat. 3 I should not send them home hungry. If they leave without eating, they will faint on the way home. Some of them live a long way from here.”
4 Jesus’ followers answered, “But we are far away from any towns. Where can we get enough bread to feed all these people?”
5 Then Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They answered, “We have seven loaves of bread.”
6 Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and gave thanks to God. He broke the bread into pieces and gave them to his followers. He told them to give the bread to the people, and they did as he said. 7 The followers also had a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks for the fish and told them to give the fish to the people.
8 They all ate until they were full. Then the followers filled seven baskets with the pieces of food that were left. 9 There were about 4000 men who ate. After they ate, Jesus told them to go home. 10 Then he went in a boat with his followers to the area of Dalmanutha.
Some People Doubt Jesus’ Authority(B)
11 The Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him questions. They wanted to test him. So they asked him to do a miracle as a sign from God. 12 Jesus sighed deeply and said, “Why do you people ask to see a miracle as a sign? I want you to know that no miracle will be done to prove anything to you.” 13 Then Jesus left them and went in the boat to the other side of the lake.
Jesus’ Followers Misunderstand Him(C)
14 The followers had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. They forgot to bring more bread. 15 Jesus warned them, “Be careful! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
16 The followers discussed the meaning of this. They said, “He said this because we have no bread.”
17 Jesus knew that the followers were talking about this. So he asked them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are you not able to understand? 18 Do you have eyes that can’t see? Do you have ears that can’t hear? Remember what I did before, when we did not have enough bread? 19 I divided five loaves of bread for 5000 people. Remember how many baskets you filled with pieces of food that were not eaten?”
The followers answered, “We filled twelve baskets.”
20 “And when I divided seven loaves of bread for 4000 people, how many baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?”
They answered, “We filled seven baskets.”
21 Then he said to them, “You remember these things I did, but you still don’t understand?”
Jesus Heals a Blind Man in Bethsaida
22 Jesus and his followers came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch the man. 23 So Jesus held the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village. Then he spit on the man’s eyes. He laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see now?”
24 The man looked up and said, “Yes, I see people. They look like trees walking around.”
25 Again Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes, and the man opened them wide. His eyes were healed, and he was able to see everything clearly. 26 Jesus told him to go home. He said, “Don’t go into the town.”
Peter Says Jesus Is the Messiah(D)
27 Jesus and his followers went to the towns in the area of Caesarea Philippi. While they were traveling, Jesus asked the followers, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And others say you are one of the prophets.”
29 Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus told the followers, “Don’t tell anyone who I am.”
Jesus Says He Must Die(E)
31 Then Jesus began to teach his followers that the Son of Man must suffer many things. He taught that the Son of Man would not be accepted by the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law. He said that the Son of Man must be killed and then rise from death after three days. 32 Jesus told them everything that would happen. He did not keep anything secret.
Peter took Jesus away from the other followers to talk to him alone. Peter criticized him for saying these things. 33 But Jesus turned and looked at his followers. Then he criticized Peter. He said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan[a]! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.”
34 Then Jesus called the crowd and his followers to him. He said, “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me. 35 Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me and for the Good News will save it. 36 It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost. 37 You could never pay enough to buy back your life. 38 People today are so sinful. They have not been faithful to God. As you live among them, don’t be ashamed of me and my teaching. If that happens, I[b] will be ashamed of you when I come with the glory of my Father and the holy angels.”
Eliphaz Speaks
4 Eliphaz from Teman answered:
2 “I must say something.
Would it upset you if I speak?
3 Job, you have taught many people.
You encouraged those who were ready to quit.
4 Your words helped those who were ready to fall.
You gave strength to those who could not stand by themselves.
5 But now trouble comes to you,
and you are discouraged.
Trouble hits you,
and you are upset.
6 You worship God.
You trust him.
You are a good man,
so let that be your hope.
7 Can you think of any innocent person who was ever destroyed?
Do you know of any place where good people are punished?
8 Yes, I have seen people whose lives were cut short,
but they were evil troublemakers.
9 They lost the breath God gave them.
They were cut off from his breath of life.
10 They were like roaring lions,
like growling lions with broken teeth—
11 like a lioness that cannot find prey.
They died, and their cubs starved to death.
12 “I happened to hear a message.
My ears caught a whisper of it.
13 Like a bad dream[a] in the night,
it ruined my sleep.
14 It frightened me,
and I trembled down to my bones.
15 A spirit passed by my face.
The hair on my body stood up!
16 The spirit stood still,
but I could not see what it was.
A shape stood before my eyes,
and there was silence.
Then I heard a quiet voice:
17 ‘A person cannot be more right than God.
People cannot be more pure than their Maker.
18 Look, God cannot even trust his heavenly servants.
He sees faults even in his angels.
19 So surely people are worse!
They live in houses of clay[b] built on dust.
They can be crushed as easily as a moth!
20 From dawn to sunset people are destroyed.
They die—gone forever—and no one even notices.
21 The ropes of their tent are pulled up,
and they die before gaining wisdom.’
Life in the Spirit
8 So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you[a] free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death. 3 The law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin. God sent him to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin. 4 He did this so that we could be right just as the law said we must be. Now we don’t live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit.
5 People who live following their sinful selves think only about what they want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do. 6 If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 7 Why is this true? Because anyone whose thinking is controlled by their sinful self is against God. They refuse to obey God’s law. And really they are not able to obey it. 8 Those who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
9 But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10 Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. 11 God raised Jesus from death. And if God’s Spirit lives in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. Yes, God is the one who raised Christ from death, and he will raise you to life through his Spirit living in you.
12 So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves. We must not live the way our sinful selves want. 13 If you use your lives to do what your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.
14 The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. 15 The Spirit that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God’s chosen children. And with that Spirit we cry out, “ Abba,[b] Father.” 16 And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children. 17 If we are God’s children, we will get the blessings God has for his people. He will give us all that he has given Christ. But we must suffer like Christ suffered. Then we will be able to share his glory.
We Will Have Glory in the Future
18 We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when he will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20 Everything God made was allowed to become like something that cannot fulfill its purpose. That was not its choice, but God made it happen with this hope in view: 21 That the creation would be made free from ruin—that everything God made would have the same freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain like a woman ready to give birth to a child. 23 Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free. 24 We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have. 25 But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.
26 Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. He begs God for us, speaking to him with feelings too deep for words. 27 God already knows our deepest thoughts. And he understands what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit speaks for his people in the way that agrees with what God wants.
28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan. 29 God knew them before he made the world. And he decided that they would be like his Son. Then Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. 30 God planned for them to be like his Son. He chose them and made them right with him. And after he made them right, he gave them his glory.
God’s Love in Christ Jesus
31 So what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can stand against us. And God is with us. 32 He even let his own Son suffer for us. God gave his Son for all of us. So now with Jesus, God will surely give us all things. 33 Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one! God is the one who makes them right. 34 Who can say that God’s people are guilty? No one! Christ Jesus died for us, but that is not all. He was also raised from death. And now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us. 35 Can anything separate us from Christ’s love? Can trouble or problems or persecution separate us from his love? If we have no food or clothes or face danger or even death, will that separate us from his love? 36 As the Scriptures say,
“For you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.” (A)
37 But in all these troubles we have complete victory through God, who has shown his love for us. 38-39 Yes, I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not death, life, angels, or ruling spirits. I am sure that nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us or nothing below us—nothing in the whole created world—will ever be able to separate us from the love God has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International