M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Creation
1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light. 4 God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light day, and the darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning—the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a horizon in the middle of the water in order to separate the water.” 7 So God made the horizon and separated the water above and below the horizon. And so it was. 8 God named ⌞what was above⌟ the horizon sky. There was evening, then morning—a second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear.” And so it was. 10 God named the dry land earth. The water which came together he named sea. God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type.” And so it was. 12 The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type. God saw that they were good. 13 There was evening, then morning—a third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years. 15 They will be lights in the sky to shine on the earth.” And so it was. 16 God made the two bright lights: the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God put them in the sky to give light to the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening, then morning—a fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with swimming creatures, and let birds fly through the sky over the earth.” 21 So God created the large sea creatures, every type of creature that swims around in the water and every type of flying bird. God saw that they were good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the sea, and let there be many birds on the earth.” 23 There was evening, then morning—a fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every type of living creature: every type of domestic animal, crawling animal, and wild animal.” And so it was. 25 God made every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, and every type of creature that crawls on the ground. God saw that they were good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his image.
In the image of God he created them.
He created them male and female.
28 God blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the earth, and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
29 God said, “I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food. 30 I have given all green plants as food to every land animal, every bird in the sky, and every animal that crawls on the earth—every living, breathing animal.” And so it was.
31 And God saw everything that he had made and that it was very good. There was evening, then morning—the sixth day.
The Family Line of Jesus Christ
1 This is the list of ancestors of Jesus Christ, descendant of David and Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah and Tamar were the father and mother of Perez and Zerah.
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon and Rahab were the father and mother of Boaz.
Boaz and Ruth were the father and mother of Obed.
Obed was the father of Jesse,
6 Jesse the father of King David.
David and Uriah’s wife ⌞Bathsheba⌟ were the father and mother of Solomon.
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
They lived at the time when the people were exiled to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
15 Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary.
Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So there were
14 generations from Abraham to David,
14 generations from David until the exile to Babylon,
14 generations from the exile until the Messiah.
The Virgin Birth of Jesus
18 The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way: His mother Mary had been promised to Joseph in marriage. But before they were married, Mary realized that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph was an honorable man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So he decided to break the marriage agreement with her secretly.
20 Joseph had this in mind when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said to him, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus [He Saves], because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this happened so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: 23 “The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. 25 He did not have marital relations with her before she gave birth to a son. Joseph named the child Jesus.
Cyrus Allows the Jews to Return from Babylon(A)
1 The promise the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah was about to come true in Cyrus’ first year as king of Persia. The Lord inspired the king to make this announcement throughout his whole kingdom and then to put it in writing.
2 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the world. Then he ordered me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem (which is in Judah). 3 May God be with all of you who are his people. You may go to Jerusalem (which is in Judah) and build a temple for the Lord God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 All who ⌞choose to⌟ remain behind, wherever they may be living, should provide the people who are leaving with silver, gold, supplies, livestock, and freewill offerings to be used in God’s temple in Jerusalem.
Sheshbazzar Returns with the Temple Furnishings
5 Then the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites—everyone God had inspired—came forward to rebuild the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors ⌞who were remaining behind⌟ provided them with articles made from silver and gold, supplies, livestock, and valuable gifts besides everything that was freely offered. 7 King Cyrus brought out the utensils belonging to the Lord’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar had taken these utensils from Jerusalem and put them in the temple of his own god. 8 King Cyrus of Persia put the treasurer Mithredath in charge of bringing them out. So Mithredath made a list of them for Prince Sheshbazzar of Judah.[a] 9 This is the inventory:
gold dishes … 30
silver dishes … 1,000
knives … 29
10 gold bowls … 30
other silver bowls … 410
other utensils … 1,000
11 The gold and silver utensils totaled … 5,400.
Sheshbazzar took all these utensils with him when the exiles left Babylon to go to Jerusalem.
Introduction
1 In my first book, Theophilus, I wrote about what Jesus began to do and teach. This included everything from the beginning ⌞of his life⌟ 2 until the day he was taken to heaven. Before he was taken to heaven, he gave instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen.
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
3 After his death Jesus showed the apostles a lot of convincing evidence that he was alive. For 40 days he appeared to them and talked with them about God’s kingdom.
4 Once, while he was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, “I’ve told you what the Father promises: 5 John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 So when the apostles came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.
10 They were staring into the sky as he departed. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood near them. 11 They asked, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking at the sky? Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”
A New Apostle Takes Judas’ Place
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives. It is near Jerusalem, about half a mile away.
13 When they came into the city, Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon the Zealot, and Judas (son of James) went to the second-story room where they were staying.
14 The apostles had a single purpose as they devoted themselves to prayer. They were joined by some women, including Mary (the mother of Jesus), and they were joined by his brothers.
15 At a time when about 120 disciples had gathered together, Peter got up and spoke to them.
He said, 16 “Brothers, what the Holy Spirit predicted through David in Scripture about Judas had to come true. Judas led the men to arrest Jesus. 17 He had been one of us and had been given an active role in this ministry. 18 With the money he received from the wrong he had done, he bought a piece of land where he fell headfirst to his death. His body split open, and all his internal organs came out. 19 Everyone living in Jerusalem knows about this. They even call that piece of land Akeldama, which means ‘Field of Blood’ in their dialect. 20 You’ve read in Psalms, ‘Let his home be deserted, and let no one live there,’ and ‘Let someone else take his position.’
“Therefore, someone must be added to our number to serve with us as a witness that Jesus came back to life. 21 He must be one of the men who accompanied Jesus with us the entire time that the Lord Jesus was among us. 22 This person must have been with us from the time that John was baptizing people to the day that Jesus was taken from us.” [a]
23 The disciples determined that two men were qualified. These men were Joseph (who was called Barsabbas and was also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s thoughts. Show us which of these two you have chosen. 25 Show us who is to take the place of Judas as an apostle, since Judas abandoned his position to go to the place where he belongs.”
26 They drew names to choose an apostle. Matthias was chosen and joined the eleven apostles.
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