M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Ten Commandments(A)
20 Then God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
3 “Never have any other god. 4 Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. 5 Never worship them or serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. 6 But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.
7 “Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished.
8 “Remember the day of rest by observing it as a holy day. 9 You have six days to do all your work. 10 The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your cattle, and the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⌞on that day⌟. 11 In six days the Lord made heaven, earth, and the sea, along with everything in them. He didn’t work on the seventh day. That’s why the Lord blessed the day he stopped his work and set this day apart as holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “Never murder.
14 “Never commit adultery.
15 “Never steal.
16 “Never lie when you testify about your neighbor.
17 “Never desire to take your neighbor’s household away from him.
“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”
The People’s Reaction
18 All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the blast of the ram’s horn and saw the mountain covered with smoke. So they shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die!”
20 Moses answered the people, “Don’t be afraid! God has come only to test you, so that you will be in awe of him and won’t sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses went closer to the dark cloud where God was.
General Rules for Worship
22 The Lord said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the Israelites: You’ve seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23 Never make any gods of silver or gold for yourselves. Never worship them.
24 “You must build an altar for me made out of dirt. Sacrifice your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, goats, and cattle on it. Wherever I choose to have my name remembered, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me. 26 Never use stairs to go up to my altar. Otherwise, people will be able to see under your clothes.”
Pilate Questions Jesus(A)
23 Then the entire assembly stood up and took him to Pilate.
2 They began to accuse Jesus by saying, “We found that he stirs up trouble among our people: He keeps them from paying taxes to the emperor, and he says that he is Christ, a king.”
3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered.
4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I can’t find this man guilty of any crime.”
Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod
5 The priests and the crowd became more forceful. They said, “He stirs up the people throughout Judea with his teachings. He started in Galilee and has come here.”
6 When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was from Galilee. 7 When Pilate found out that he was, he sent Jesus to Herod. Herod ruled Galilee and was in Jerusalem at that time.
8 Herod was very pleased to see Jesus. For a long time he had wanted to see him. He had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some kind of miracle. 9 Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. 10 Meanwhile, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings stood there and shouted their accusations against Jesus.
11 Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt and made fun of him. They put a colorful robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 So Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They had been enemies before this.
13 Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people. 14 He told them, “You brought me this man as someone who turns the people against the government. I’ve questioned him in front of you and haven’t found this man guilty of the crimes of which you accuse him. 15 Neither could Herod. So he sent this man back to us. This man hasn’t done anything to deserve the death penalty. 16 So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.” [a]
The Crowd Rejects Jesus(B)
18 The whole crowd then shouted, “Take him away! Free Barabbas for us.” 19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for his involvement in a riot that had taken place in the city and for murder.)
20 But because Pilate wanted to free Jesus, he spoke to the people again.
21 They began yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22 A third time Pilate spoke to them. He asked, “Why? What has he done wrong? I haven’t found this man deserving of the death penalty. So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.”
23 But the crowd pressured Pilate. They shouted that Jesus had to be crucified, and they finally won. 24 Pilate decided to give in to their demand. 25 He freed Barabbas, who had been put in prison for rioting and murdering, because that’s what they wanted. But he let them do what they wanted to Jesus.
Jesus Is Led Away to Be Crucified
26 As the soldiers led Jesus away, they grabbed a man named Simon, who was from the city of Cyrene. Simon was coming into Jerusalem. They laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
27 A large crowd followed Jesus. The women in the crowd cried and sang funeral songs for him. 28 Jesus turned to them and said, “You women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me! Rather, cry for yourselves and your children! 29 The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who couldn’t get pregnant, who couldn’t give birth, and who couldn’t nurse a child.’ 30 Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 31 If people do this to a green tree, what will happen to a dry one?”
32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be executed with him.
The Crucifixion(C)
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him. The criminals were also crucified, one on his right and the other on his left.
34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” [b]
Meanwhile, the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice.
35 The people stood there watching. But the rulers were making sarcastic remarks. They said, “He saved others. If he’s the Messiah that God has chosen, let him save himself!” 36 The soldiers also made fun of him. They would go up to him, offer him some vinegar, 37 and say, “If you’re the king of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 A written notice was placed above him. It said, “This is the king of the Jews.”
Criminals Talk to Jesus
39 One of the criminals hanging there insulted Jesus by saying, “So you’re really the Messiah, are you? Well, save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal scolded him: “Don’t you fear God at all? Can’t you see that you’re condemned in the same way that he is? 41 Our punishment is fair. We’re getting what we deserve. But this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”
43 Jesus said to him, “I can guarantee this truth: Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus Dies on the Cross(D)
44 Around noon darkness came over the entire land and lasted until three in the afternoon. 45 The sun had stopped shining. The curtain in the temple was split in two.
46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” After he said this, he died.
47 When an army officer saw what had happened, he praised God and said, “Certainly, this man was innocent!” 48 Crowds had gathered to see the sight. But when all of them saw what had happened, they cried and returned to the city. 49 All his friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance and watched everything.
Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb(E)
50 There was a good man who had God’s approval. His name was Joseph. He was a member of the Jewish council, 51 but he had not agreed with what they had done. He was from the Jewish city of Arimathea, and he was waiting for God’s kingdom.
52 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 After he took it down from the cross, he wrapped it in linen. Then he laid the body in a tomb cut in rock, a tomb in which no one had ever been buried. 54 It was Friday, and the day of rest—a holy day, was just beginning.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed closely behind Joseph. They observed the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went back to the city and prepared spices and perfumes. But on the day of rest—a holy day, they rested according to the commandment.
The Lord Speaks: Who Is Able to Challenge Me?
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
2 “Who is this that belittles my advice
with words that do not show any knowledge ⌞about it⌟?
3 Brace yourself like a man!
I will ask you, and you will teach me.
The Lord Speaks about Creation
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have ⌞such⌟ insight.
5 Who determined its dimensions?
Certainly, you know!
Who stretched a measuring line over it?
6 On what were its footings sunk?
Who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut the sea behind gates
when it burst through and came out of the womb,
9 when I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it up in dark clouds,
10 when I set a limit for it
and put up bars and gates,
11 when I said, ‘You may come this far but no farther.
Here your proud waves will stop’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning
or assigned a place for the dawn
13 so that it could grab the earth by its edges
and shake wicked people out of it?
14 The earth changes like clay stamped by a seal,
and ⌞parts of it⌟ stand out like ⌞folds in⌟ clothing.
15 Wicked people are deprived of their light,
and an arm raised ⌞in victory⌟ is broken.
16 Have you gone to the springs in the sea
or walked through the valleys of the ocean depths?
17 Have the gateways to death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gateways to total darkness?
18 Have you ⌞even⌟ considered how wide the earth is?
Tell me, if you know all of this!
19 “What is the way to the place where light lives?
Where is the home of darkness
20 so that you may lead it to its territory,
so that you may know the path to its home?
21 You must know because you were born then
and have lived such a long time!
22 Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored
or seen the warehouses for hail
23 that I have stored up for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 Which is the way to the place where light is scattered
and the east wind is spread across the earth?
25 “Who made a channel for the flooding rains
and a path for the thunderstorms
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on a desert where there are no humans,
27 to saturate the desolate wasteland
in order to make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who gave birth to the dewdrops?
29 From whose womb came the ice,
and who has given birth to the frost in the air?
30 The water hardens like a stone,
and the surface of the ocean freezes over.
31 “Can you connect the chains of the ⌞constellation⌟ Pleiades
or untie the ropes of Orion?
32 Can you bring out the constellations at the right time
or guide Ursa Major with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the sky
or make them rule the earth?
34 Can you call to the clouds
and have a flood of water cover you?
35 Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you,
‘Here we are’?
36 Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave understanding to the mind?
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds
or pour out the water jars of heaven
38 when the dirt hardens into clumps
and the soil clings together?
The Lioness
39 “Can you hunt prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of her cubs
40 as they crouch in their dens
and lie ready to ambush from their lairs?
The Crow
41 “Who provides food for the crow
when its young ones cry to God
and wander around in need of food?
The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem
8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know how God showed his kindness [a] to the churches in the province of Macedonia. 2 While they were being severely tested by suffering, their overflowing joy, along with their extreme poverty, has made them even more generous. 3 I assure you that by their own free will they have given all they could, even more than they could afford. 4 They made an appeal to us, begging us to let them participate in the ministry of God’s kindness to his holy people ⌞in Jerusalem⌟. 5 They did more than we had expected. First, they gave themselves to the Lord and to us, since this was God’s will. 6 This led us to urge Titus to finish his work of God’s kindness among you in the same way as he had already started it.
7 Indeed, the more your faith, your ability to speak, your knowledge, your dedication, and your love for us increase, the more we want you to participate in this work of God’s kindness.
8 I’m not commanding you, but I’m testing how genuine your love is by pointing out the dedication of others. 9 You know about the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor in order to make you rich through his poverty.
10 I’m giving you my opinion because it will be helpful to you. Last year you were not only willing ⌞to take a collection⌟ but had already started to do it. 11 So finish what you began to do. Then your willingness will be matched by what you accomplish 12 with whatever contributions you have. Since you are willing to do this, ⌞remember⌟ that people are accepted if they give what they are able to give. God doesn’t ask for what they don’t have.
13 I don’t mean that others should have relief while you have hardship. Rather, it’s a matter of striking a balance. 14 At the present time, your surplus fills their need so that their surplus may fill your need. In this way things balance out. 15 This is what Scripture says: “Those who had gathered a lot didn’t have too much, and those who gathered a little didn’t have too little.”
16 I thank God for making Titus as dedicated to you as I am. 17 He accepted my request and eagerly went to visit you by his own free will.
18 With him we have sent our Christian brother whom all the churches praise for the way he tells the Good News. 19 More than that, the churches elected him to travel with us and bring this gift of God’s kindness. We are administering it in a way that brings glory to the Lord and shows that we are doing it willingly. 20 We don’t want anyone to find fault with the way we are administering this generous gift. 21 We intend to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of people.
22 We have also sent with them our Christian brother whom we have often tested in many ways and found to be a dedicated worker. We find that he is much more dedicated now than ever because he has so much confidence in you.
23 If any questions are raised, remember that Titus is my partner and coworker to help you. The other men are representatives of the churches and bring glory to Christ. 24 So give these men a demonstration of your love. Show their congregations that we were right to be proud of you.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.