M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Gideon

6 The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years. ² The hands of Midian dominated Israel, and because of Midian the children of Israel made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. ³ Whenever Israel would plant crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would come up against them. ⁴ Then they would make camp by them and ruin crops of the land all the way to Gaza. They did not leave any provisions behind in Israel—neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys. ⁵ For they came with their livestock and tents like a swarm of locusts. They and their camels were too numerous to count, and they came into the land to destroy it. ⁶ Israel was made weak before Midian and cried out to the Lord.

⁷ When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸ the Lord sent them a prophet who said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and out of that place of slavery. ⁹ I delivered you from the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out from before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.’ But you have disobeyed Me.”

¹¹ Now the angel^[a] of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah belonging to Joash the Abiezrite. Gideon his son was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?’ Yet now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours. Save Israel from the control of Midian. Have I not sent you?”

¹⁵ And he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ And he said to Him, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You who are speaking with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my gift and set it before You.”

And He said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.

²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And so he did. ²¹ The angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and unleavened flatbread. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord departed from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that it was indeed the angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”

²³ Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. You will not die.”

²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar for the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. Even to this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

²⁵ That night the Lord said to him, “Take a bull from your father’s herd and a second bull seven years old. Tear down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. ²⁶ Then build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly way. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you will cut down.”

²⁷ So Gideon took ten men from among his slaves and did as the Lord had told him, but because he was too afraid of the rest of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it at night.

²⁸ When the men of the city got up early in the morning, the altar of Baal was torn down, the Asherah pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the new altar that had been built.

²⁹ They said to each other, “Who has done this?”

When they had inquired and asked, they responded, “Gideon son of Joash has done this.”

³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son so that he may die, for he tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

³¹ Joash then said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Whoever fights for him will be killed by morning. If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself, for someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he called him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal fight him, for he tore down the altar of Baal.”

³³ All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east gathered together, and they crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon. He blew a ram’s horn trumpet, and the Abiezrites assembled behind him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh and they assembled behind him as well. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so these tribes came up to meet them.

³⁶ Gideon said to God, “If You will use my hands to save Israel, as You have said— ³⁷ I am placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only and all of the ground remains dry, then I will know that You will save Israel with my hands, as You have said.” ³⁸ So it happened. He got up early the next morning and squeezed the fleece. Enough dew poured out of the fleece to fill a bowlful of water.

³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me as I speak only one more time. Please let me perform a test with the fleece one more time. Please, let the fleece be the only thing dry, and let there be dew on all of the ground.” ⁴⁰ So God did this during that night. Only the fleece was dry, and the dew was on all the ground.

Peter and Cornelius

10 In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, the centurion^[a] of a band of soldiers called the Italian Detachment, ² a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave many alms to the people and continually prayed to God. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”

⁴ When he looked at him he was afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?”

He said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa, and bring back Simon whose surname is Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.”

⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who continually waited on him. ⁸ When he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹ The next day as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. ¹⁰ He became very hungry and desired to eat. But while they prepared a meal, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw heaven opened, and a vessel like a great sheet, tied at the four corners, descending to him, and let down to the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth and wild beasts and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ Then a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

¹⁴ Peter said, “Not at all, Lord. For I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time: “What God has cleansed, do not call common.”

¹⁶ This happened three times. And again the vessel was taken up into heaven.

¹⁷ Now while Peter wondered what this vision which he had seen might mean, the men who were sent by Cornelius had inquired for Simon’s house and stood at the gate, ¹⁸ and called and asked whether Simon, who was surnamed Peter, was lodging there.

¹⁹ While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Three men are looking for you. ²⁰ So rise and go down, and go with them, doubting nothing. For I have sent them.”

²¹ Then Peter went down to the men who were sent to him by Cornelius and said, “Here I am, the one you are seeking. Why have you come?”

²² They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a man who is righteous and fears God and is of good report throughout the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house to hear your words.” ²³ Then he invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day Peter went with them, and some brothers from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴ And the next day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. ²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up. I myself am a man.”

²⁷ As he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. ²⁸ He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to visit or approach a foreigner. But God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without question. Therefore I ask why you have sent for me.”

³⁰ Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. At the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and suddenly a man stood before me in bright clothing, ³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered before God. ³² Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.’ ³³ So immediately I sent for you, and you have done well to come. Now therefore we are all here, present before God, to hear everything the Lord has commanded you.”

Peter Speaks in Cornelius’ House

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak, saying, “Truthfully, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. ³⁵ But in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. ³⁶ The word which He sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, ³⁷ the word, which you know, that was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

³⁹ “We are witnesses of all that He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. ⁴⁰ But God raised Him on the third day and presented Him publicly, ⁴¹ not to all the people, but to witnesses previously chosen by God, to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ To Him all the prophets bear witness that whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins through His name.”

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. ⁴⁵ All the believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in other tongues and magnifying God.

Then Peter continued, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these, who have received the Holy Spirit as we have?” ⁴⁸ So he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

The Broken Jar

19 Thus says the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. ² Then go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, ³ and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring such disaster upon this place, at which whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle. ⁴ Because they have forsaken Me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, ⁵ and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into My mind— ⁶ therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

⁷ I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives. And their corpses I will give to be food for the fowl of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸ I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss because of all the wounds. ⁹ I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone will eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will distress them.

¹⁰ Then you will break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with you, ¹¹ and say to them: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be made whole again; and they will bury them in Topheth until there is no other place to bury. ¹² Thus I will do to this place and to the inhabitants, says the Lord, and even make this city as Topheth. ¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled as the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the house of the Lord and said to all the people: ¹⁵ Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am about to bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks so that they might not heed My words.

The Healing of the Gadarene Demoniac^(A)

5 They went to the other side of the sea to the region of the Gadarenes. ² When He had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him. ³ He lived among the tombs. And no one could constrain him, not even with chains, ⁴ because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. But he had pulled the chains apart and broken the shackles to pieces. And no one could subdue him. ⁵ Always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran up and kneeled before Him, ⁷ and cried out with a loud voice, “What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me.” ⁸ For Jesus said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

⁹ Then He asked him, “What is your name?”

He answered, “My name is Legion. For we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Him repeatedly not to send them away out of the country.

¹¹ Now there was a great herd of swine feeding near the mountains. ¹² All the demons pleaded with Him, asking, “Send us to the swine, so that we may enter them.” ¹³ At once, Jesus gave them leave. Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. And the herd, numbering about two thousand, ran wildly down a steep hill into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ Those who fed the swine fled and reported it in the city and in the country. And people went out to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw him who had been possessed with the legion of demons sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who saw it told them how it befell him who had been possessed with the demons and also concerning the swine. ¹⁷ Then they began to plead with Him to depart out of their region.

¹⁸ When He entered the boat, he who had been possessed with the demons prayed Him that he might be with Him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He has had compassion on you.” ²⁰ So he departed and began to proclaim in the Decapolis^[a] what great things Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

Jairus’ Daughter and the Woman Who Touched Jesus’ Garment^(B)

²¹ When Jesus had crossed again by boat to the other side, many people gathered to Him. And He was beside the sea. ²² One of the rulers of the synagogue, named Jairus, saw Jesus and came and fell at His feet ²³ and earnestly asked Him, “My little daughter is lying at the point of death. I ask You, come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed. And she will live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

And many people followed Him and pressed in on Him. ²⁵ And a certain woman had a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶ and had suffered much under many physicians. She had spent all that she had, and was not better but rather grew worse. ²⁷ When she had heard of Jesus, she came in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she said, “If I may touch His garments, I shall be healed.” ²⁹ And immediately her hemorrhage dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

³⁰ At once, Jesus knew within Himself that power had gone out of Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”

³¹ His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

³² And He looked around to see her who had done it. ³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the entire truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, some came from the house of the synagogue ruler and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

³⁶ As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid, only believe.”

³⁷ He let no one follow Him, except Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. ³⁸ He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw the tumult, and those who wept and wailed loudly. ³⁹ When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this uproar and weep? The girl is not dead, but sleeping.” ⁴⁰ They laughed at Him in ridicule.

But when He had put them all out, He took the father and the mother of the girl and those who were with Him and entered where the girl was lying. ⁴¹ He took the girl by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” ⁴² Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were greatly astonished. ⁴³ He strictly ordered them to let no one know of it and directed them to give her something to eat.