M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jesus’ genealogy
1 The book of the family tree of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac of Jacob, Jacob of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah of Peres and Zara (by Tamar), Peres of Esrom, Esrom of Aram, 4 Aram of Aminadab, Aminadab of Naason, Naason of Salmon, 5 Salmon of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz of Obed (by Ruth), Obed of Jesse, 6 and Jesse of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 7 Solomon of Rehoboam, Rehoboam of Abijah, Abijah of Asaph, 8 Asaph of Jehosaphat, Jehosaphat of Joram, Joram of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah of Joatham, Joatham of Ahaz, Ahaz of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah of Manasseh, Manasseh of Amoz, Amoz of Josiah, 11 Josiah of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the exile in Babylon.
12 After the Babylonian exile, Jeconiah became the father of Salathiel, Salathiel of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel of Abioud, Abioud of Eliakim, Eliakim of Azor, 14 Azor of Sadok, Sadok of Achim, Achim of Elioud, 15 Elioud of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, Matthan of Jacob, 16 and Jacob of Joseph the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called “Messiah.”
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David add up to fourteen; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; and from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
The birth of Jesus
18 This was how the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place. His mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph; but before they came together she turned out to be pregnant—by the holy spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband-to-be, was an upright man. He didn’t want to make a public example of her. So he decided to set the marriage aside privately. 20 But, while he was considering this, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream.
“Joseph, son of David,” said the angel, “don’t be afraid to get married to Mary. The child she is carrying is from the holy spirit. 21 She is going to have a son. You are to give him the name Jesus; he is the one who will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this happened so that what the Lord said through the prophet might be fulfilled: 23 “Look: the virgin is pregnant, and will have a son, and they shall give him the name Emmanuel,”—which means, in translation, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up from his sleep he did what the Lord’s angel had told him to. He married his wife, 25 but he didn’t have sexual relations with her until after the birth of her son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Here comes the sequel!
1 Dear Theophilus,
The previous book which I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach. 2 I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the holy spirit to his chosen apostles.
3 He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs. He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God’s kingdom. 4 As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, but to wait, as he put it, “for the father’s promise, which I was telling you about earlier. 5 John baptized with water, you see; but in a few days from now you will be baptized with the holy spirit.”
When, what and how?
6 So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus.
“Master,” they said, “is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 “It’s not your business to know about times and dates,” he replied. “The father has placed all that under his own direct authority. 8 What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.”
Ascension!
9 As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared. Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.
11 “Galileans,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
12 Then they went back to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem, about the distance you could travel on a sabbath. 13 They then entered the city (“they” here means Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James) and went to the upstairs room where they were staying. 14 They all gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer, with the women, including Mary, Jesus’ mother, and his brothers.
Restoring the Twelve
15 Around that time Peter stood up in the middle of the gathering, which by this stage numbered about a hundred and twenty.
16 “My dear family,” he said, “the holy spirit spoke long ago, through the mouth of David, about Judas, who became a guide to the people who arrested Jesus. There it is in the Bible, and it had to come true. 17 He was counted along with us, and he had his own share in the work we’ve been given.”
(18 Judas, you see, had bought a field with the money his wickedness had brought him, where he fell headlong and burst open, with all his innards gushing out. 19 This became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem, so that the field was called, in their local language, “Akeldamach,” which means “Blood-place.”)
20 “For this is what it says in the book of Psalms:
Let his home become desolate
and let nobody live in it;
and again,
Let someone else receive his overseeing task.
21 “So this is what has to be done. There are plenty of people who have gone about with us all the time that our master Jesus was coming and going among us, 22 starting from John’s baptism until the day he was taken from us. Let one of them be chosen to be alongside us as a special witness of his resurrection.”
23 So they chose two: Joseph who was called Barsabbas, with the surname Justus, and Matthias.
24 “Lord,” they prayed, “you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to receive this particular place of service and apostleship, from which Judas went away to go to his own place.”
26 So they cast lots for them. The lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled along with the eleven apostles.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.