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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The classic M'Cheyne plan--read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels every day.

Duration: 365 days

Genesis 1

Origin of the World and Humankind^[a]

Creation and the Fall

Chapter 1

Origin of the Universe.^[b] ¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.^[c] ²The earth was formless and barren, and darkness covered the abyss while the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

³God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵And he called the light day, and he called the darkness night. This was the evening and the morning of the first day.

⁶God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters to separate one set of waters from the other.”^[d] ⁷God separated the firmament from the waters, those waters that are under the firmament from those that are above the firmament. And it was so. ⁸God called the firmament the heavens. This was the evening and the morning of the second day.

⁹God said, “Let the waters that are under the heavens be gathered into one place and let a dry place appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry place the land, and the gathered waters he called the sea. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹God said, “Let the land bring forth plants, those that produce seeds and fruit trees that have seeds inside of the fruit they bear, each according to its own kind. And it was so. ¹²The land brought forth plants, each according to its kind, and trees that have fruit with seeds inside of them, each according to its kind.” God saw that they were good. ¹³This was the evening and the morning of the third day.

¹⁴God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; let them be markers to separate seasons and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night, and he also made the stars. ¹⁷God placed them in the firmament of the heavens to light the earth ¹⁸and to rule over the day and the night and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹This was the evening and the morning of the fourth day.

²⁰God said, “Let the waters be filled with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth in the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹God created the great sea creatures and all the other creatures that fill the waters, each according to its kind, and all the birds that fly in the sky, each according to its kind. ²²God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds multiply upon the earth.” ²³And this was the evening and the morning of the fifth day.

²⁴God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to its kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the savage beasts according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind and all of the reptiles according to their kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶And God said, “Let us^[e] make man in our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the wild animals and reptiles that crawl upon the earth.”

²⁷God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”

²⁹And God said, “Behold, I give you every plant that produces seeds upon the earth and every tree that has fruit with its seed inside of it: these shall be your food. ³⁰And I give all green plants to every wild animal and to all the birds of the air and to all creatures that move upon the surface of the earth and that have the breath of life in them.” And it was so.

³¹God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. This was the evening and the morning of the sixth day.

Footnotes

Genesis 1:1 The description of the origins of the universe and of humankind is not based on human testimony but is the fruit of reflection that was inspired by God and directed by him over the centuries. The Lord is the supreme master of the universe; he has from eternity formed a plan for the salvation of all the peoples of the earth. Humankind was brought to ruin by its own sin; the sin of Adam disfigured the divine work, but God loves humankind and, in order to lead it to salvation, chooses for himself a special people.
Genesis 1:1 This majestic song in rhythmical prose was composed, it seems, in the priestly circles of Israel, perhaps after the Exile. It reflects the naive ideas of that time on the physical structure of the world: the heavens, for example, are imagined to be a solid vault in which the stars are set. The biblical text is akin to ancient Babylonian stories, now known to us, but it rises far above them. Here, everything that exists is the work of a single God; it takes only his word to create the universe. The Spirit, that is, the “breath,” of God presides over creation. A day will come when, through the Spirit on Pentecost, God will give rise to the new creation, the new humankind that is reborn in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).
Genesis 1:1 The story of creation is not intended as a scientific theory about the origins of the universe and human beings; it takes as its starting point ideas current in that part of the world and intends to teach certain fundamental and perennial truths about God as one, transcendent, existing prior to the universe, and about human beings as his creatures.
Genesis 1:6 The ancient Semites viewed the heavens as a vault made of a solid material—the firmament—which holds back the waters above and separates them from the waters below; from openings in it—the floodgates (see Gen 7:11)—the flood will pour down.
Genesis 1:26 Let us: the plural “us” here is not a plural of majesty (this does not exist in Hebrew) but rather shows the divine process of deliberation as a consultation of God with himself (or with the angels?). When Isaiah describes the divine majesty (6:8), he too feels the need of using the plural; the same in Gen 3:22.

Matthew 1

Prologue: The Birth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth^[a]

Chapter 1

The Genealogy of Jesus.^[b] ¹The account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,^[c] the son of David, the son of Abraham.

²Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, with Tamar^[d] being their mother.

Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴Ram the father of Amminadab.

Amminadab was the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, with Rahab being his mother.

Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.

Obed was the father of Jesse,

⁶and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.

⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa.

⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,

Joram the father of Uzziah.

⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amos,

Amos the father of Josiah.

¹¹Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹²After the deportation to Babylon,

Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubabbel the father of Abiud.

Abiud was the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴Azor the father of Zadok.

Zadok was the father of Achim,

Achim the father of Eliud,

¹⁵Eliud the father of Eleazar.

Eleazar was the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob.

¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Christ.^[e]

¹⁷Therefore, in total there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, another fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and another fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ.

¹⁸The Birth of Jesus.^[f] The birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph was a just man and did not wish to expose her to the ordeal of public disgrace; therefore, he resolved to divorce her quietly.

²⁰After he had decided to follow this course of action, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary into your home as your wife. For this child has been conceived in her womb through the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus,^[g] for he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place in order to fulfill what the Lord had announced through the prophet:

²³“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

a name that means “God is with us.”^[h]

²⁴When Joseph rose from sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him. He took Mary into his home as his wife, ²⁵but he engaged in no marital relations^[i] with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

Footnotes

Matthew 1:1 Who was Jesus? Where did he come from? The prologue of Matthew’s Gospel immediately confronts us with this question. The author has not simply gathered up some scattered recollections to complete his album on the life of Christ; rather, from the very first moment he is transmitting the Church’s testimony of faith.
Matthew 1:1 To the ancients a genealogical tree was not only a set of data on one’s civil status but also a manifestation of one’s membership in a community and the importance of ancestry (Gen 5:1-11; Ex 6:14-24; 1 Chr 1–9; Ezr 2:59-63). The genealogy of Jesus is drawn up with special care; it is perhaps somewhat artificial, but it is quite solemn. In bringing Jesus on the scene, the entire history of the nation is recapitulated. He is the son of Abraham, in whom all the nations shall be blessed (Gen 18:18); he is the son of David, to whom the future of the people was entrusted (2 Sam 7:13-14); in other words, he is the one who will carry out God’s plan for Israel and the entire human race; he is the One Sent, the consecrated of God (Messiah, Christ).
The opening sentences of the Gospel are thus a “Book of Genesis,” an account of the new beginning of humanity and the world (Gen 2:4; 5:1). Luke will carry the genealogy of Jesus back to Adam himself (Lk 3:23-38). In Matthew’s list Joseph plays a well-defined part: it is by means of him that Jesus is given a de jure place in history. But at this point the Gospel unexpectedly avoids the phrase “the father of” (“begot”), and Joseph is simply the husband of Mary. The entire mystery of Jesus’ origin is already stated in these few words.
Matthew 1:1 Christ: is the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Messiah,” which means “anointed,” that is, consecrated. Priests were anointed (Lev 4:3, 5; 16:15); so were kings (1 Sam 10:1 [Saul]; 16:11 [David], etc.), so much so that the reigning monarch was sometimes given the title of “Messiah,” or “Anointed One” (see Pss 2:2; 89:38; etc.). The name “Jesus Christ,” which at this point was still an alternative for or associated with “Jesus of Nazareth,” is already to be found in the initial preaching of the apostles (see Acts 3:6).
Matthew 1:3 The genealogy names four women: Tamar (see Gen 38; 1 Chr 2:4), Rahab (see Jos 2; 6:17), the wife of Uriah, i.e., Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11; 12:24), and Ruth (see Book of Ruth). These four women were foreigners who in some way became part of the history of Israel. They symbolize the salvation that God intends for all peoples.
Matthew 1:16 It is important to note that in the case of Christ’s birth, the text uses a formula that is far different from the one used for the other persons in the genealogy. In doing so, the evangelist is paving the way for the teaching of Christ’s virginal conception, which took place without the intervention of any man.
Matthew 1:18 At the beginning of creation the Spirit made the waters fruitful (Gen 1:2; Ps 33:6-7); the Spirit restored life to a people who had been destroyed and were in exile (Ezek 37:1-14; Isa 44:2-4). Now the Spirit creates the new human being, the new Israel, in the womb of the Virgin. How mysterious the interventions of God that turn upside down the course of events and the ways of human beings! Joseph, who is irrevocably bound to Mary because at that time an espousal was a definitive act, is witness to the incomprehensible; he has too much trust in his wife to abandon her to the sentence imposed by the Law if she were to be thought an adulteress. But who will show him the way out of this impossible situation? A revelation of heaven makes his mission known to him in a dream, as the announcement of angels and messengers had to the patriarchs. Joseph obeys, and through him Jesus finds a place publicly in the dynasty of David.
What will this son become, whose name “Jesus” is already a program, since it means “God saves”? The prophecy of Isaiah, which had remained mysterious to the minds of believers, is now fulfilled. Such is the main message of this text that was originally addressed to Jews, namely, that God is in our midst to give us victory and to live the covenant to the full. “Emmanuel” means “God is with us” (Lk 1:31; Jn 1:14). That is the ultimate message.
Matthew 1:21 Jesus: is a transcription of the Greek Iêsous, which in turn is a transcription of the Hebrew Jehoshuah (“Joshua” in translations) or Jeshua in its later form. It means “God saves.”
Matthew 1:23 See Isa 7:14. God’s promise of salvation to Judah in the time of Isaiah is seen to be fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. This is the first of some 60 citations, most of them Messianic, that Matthew takes from the Old Testament.
Matthew 1:25 Engaged in no marital relations: literally, “did not know,” “know” being the usual word for conjugal relations (see Gen 4:1). The meaning of “he engaged in no marital relations with her . . . ” is: “without his knowing her, she bore a son.” The Hebrew word “until” neither implies nor excludes marital conduct after Jesus’ birth.

Ezra 1

The Return from the Exile

Chapter 1

The Decree of Cyrus. ¹In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue the following proclamation throughout his kingdom and also have it put in writing:

²“King Cyrus of Persia says this: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and in addition he has designated me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. ³May God be with all those among you who belong to his people.^[a] They are to go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴And let everyone who has survived, and who has settled down to reside in that locale, be assisted by the people of that place with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, in addition to the voluntary offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

⁵Then the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the priests and Levites—all those whose spirit has been aroused by God—prepared to go forth and rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. ⁶All of their neighbors assisted them with gifts of every kind—silver and gold, goods and livestock, and many valuable gifts, in addition to all of their free-will offerings.

⁷Furthermore, King Cyrus himself handed over the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed them in the temple of his gods. ⁸Cyrus, the king of Persia, ordered them to be released into the charge of Mithredath, the treasurer, who made a complete inventory of them before turning them over to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.^[b]

⁹^[c]This was the final inventory: thirty gold dishes; one thousand silver dishes, in addition to twenty-nine others that had been repaired; ¹⁰thirty gold bowls; four hundred and ten silver bowls; one thousand other articles. ¹¹The final total of all the gold and silver vessels was five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with him when he led the exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Acts 1

At Jerusalem^[a]

From Jesus to the Community of the Lord^[b]

Chapter 1

Prologue.^[c] ¹In my previous book, Theophilus,^[d] I wrote of everything that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day he was taken up, after first giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

The Promise of the Spirit.^[e] ³After his passion Jesus had presented himself alive to them by many proofs. He appeared to them during forty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. ⁴When they were gathered together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, saying, “Wait there for the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak. ⁵For John baptized with water, but within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶As they were all gathered together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the dates or the times that the Father has designated by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the farthest ends of the earth.”

The Ascension of Jesus.^[f] ⁹After he said this, he was lifted up as they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. ¹⁰While he was departing as they gazed upward toward the sky, suddenly two men dressed in white robes stood beside them, ¹¹and they said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

¹²The First Community Waiting for the Spirit. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, no farther distant than a Sabbath day’s journey.^[g] ¹³When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴All of these were constantly engaged in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.^[h]

¹⁵The Choice of Judas’s Successor.^[i] In those days, Peter stood up before the assembled brothers, numbering about one hundred and twenty, and said, ¹⁶“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit revealed through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷He was one of our number and was granted a share in this ministry.

¹⁸“With the money from his traitorous act, this man purchased a plot of land upon which he fell headlong, and he burst open, all of his entrails pouring out. ¹⁹The news about this became known to all the people living in Jerusalem, so that in their own language that plot of land was called ‘Hakeldama,’ which means ‘Field of Blood.’^[j] ²⁰For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

‘May his encampment become deserted,
and may there be no one to dwell in it.’

And again,

‘Let another take over his position.’

²¹“Therefore, it is necessary to choose one of the men who have accompanied us during the entire time that the Lord Jesus lived with us, ²²beginning from his baptism by John until the day when he was taken up from us. For he must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

²³And so they nominated two candidates: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴Then they prayed, saying, “Lord, you know the hearts of everyone. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas abandoned to go to his own place.” ²⁶Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was then added to the eleven apostles.

Footnotes

Acts 1:1 In the Gospel of Luke, the life of Jesus takes the form of an ascent to Jerusalem, where through him God will decisively intervene in the destiny of humanity. The Book of Acts allows us to be present at the spread of the Gospel from that center to the ends of the earth. The Holy City is very important as the starting point of evangelization.
The experience of the young Christian community becomes exemplary, as in stories of foundations. Thus in chs. 1–7 everything takes place in Jerusalem, while in chs. 8–12 the city serves as the starting point and point of return of the stories. The Church of Jerusalem, then, is the source of Christianity: it is the mother Church and the inspiration for every other Church and for the whole Church.
Acts 1:1 The first two chapters of Acts serve a special purpose. In them we move from the risen Jesus to the community that is founded and established in the midst of the Jewish people—the community that is the starting point of the main routes along which the life of the Church develops. For readers of that period, the language used constantly recalls the great traditions of the Old Testament: the entire plan of God is recapitulated in these passages that in turn establish the perspective for what follows.
Acts 1:1 One author conceived the third Gospel and the Book of Acts as a single whole; the combination is not the result of chance. The first work tells the story of the actions and teachings of Jesus, “beginning from [John’s] baptism” (see Acts 1:22; 10:37); the second shows us the life and activity of the risen Lord, which is likewise made visible in the deeds and acts of the various communities.
Acts 1:1 Theophilus: perhaps a rich and distinguished person who has paid for the publication of the work. He is the same person as in Lk 1:3.
Acts 1:3 This is the important theme that characterizes the period of the Lord’s appearances (the period lasts forty days, between Easter and Pentecost; the number 40, which recurs so often in the Bible, is a symbol of fullness). The story highlights what it means to experience the risen Lord.
It is the Spirit who links the past phase of the life of Jesus with its present phase. This Spirit, often promised by Jesus (Lk 11:13; 24:49), brings to fulfillment all the blessings that the Messiah was to bring (see Joel 4:9; Am 9:11). The day of national restoration is no longer something to be awaited; the decisive moment has already arrived, and the Spirit is beginning to unite the peoples.
Acts 1:9 The Ascension is not the final act, but the beginning of the time to come. The cloud that hides Jesus from the eyes of the disciples recalls the cloud that covered the people in the wilderness, accompanying them night and day on their journey (Ex 40:36-38); it is a sign of God’s presence, of his glory (Lk 9:34f). The risen Jesus reunites earth with heaven, i.e., the world of human beings with the world of God.
Acts 1:12 Sabbath day’s journey: about two-thirds of a mile.
Acts 1:14 This is the only place in which the mother of Jesus is mentioned in Acts; the collateral relatives of Jesus, his brethren, will later on have an important place in the Jerusalem community (Acts 12:20; 15:13; 21:18; see note on Mt 12:46).
Acts 1:15 The ministry (diakonia: service) of the apostle (“one who is sent”) appears from the outset as a solidly established institution, and one that is indispensable for the people of God. The apostles are twelve in number, as though to preside over the twelve tribes, i.e., the true Israel (see Acts 26:7), and it is around them that this community of one hundred and twenty (or ten for each apostle) has formed.
Acts 1:19 The language spoken is Aramaic.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Origin of the World and Humankind[a]

Creation and the Fall

Chapter 1

Footnotes

Prologue: The Birth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth[a]

Chapter 1

Footnotes

The Return from the Exile

Chapter 1

Footnotes

At Jerusalem[a]

From Jesus to the Community of the Lord[b]

Chapter 1

Footnotes

Origin of the World and Humankind^[a]

Prologue: The Birth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth^[a]

At Jerusalem^[a]

From Jesus to the Community of the Lord^[b]