M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
23 ⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Never spread false rumors. Don’t join forces with wicked people by giving false testimony. 2 Never follow a crowd in doing wrong. When you testify in court, don’t side with the majority to pervert justice. 3 Never give special favors to poor people in court.
4 “Whenever you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering loose, be sure to take it back to him. 5 Whenever you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, don’t leave it there. Be sure to help him with his animal.
6 “Never deny justice to poor people in court. 7 Avoid telling lies. Don’t kill innocent or honest people, because I will never declare guilty people innocent. 8 Never take a bribe, because bribes blind those who can see and deny justice to those who are in the right.
9 “Never oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be foreigners because you were foreigners living in Egypt.
10 “For six years you may plant crops in your fields and harvest them, 11 but in the seventh year you must leave the land unplowed and unused. In that way the poor among your people will have food to eat, and wild animals may eat what the poor people leave. You must do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
12 “For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must not work. Then your ox and donkey can rest. The slaves born in your household and foreigners will also be refreshed.
13 “Be careful ⌞to do⌟ everything I told you.
“Never mention the names of other gods or let them be heard on your lips.
Laws for Three Festivals
14 “Three times a year you must celebrate a pilgrimage festival in my honor.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread: For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because that was when you left Egypt. No one may come into my presence without an offering.
16 “Celebrate the Festival of the Harvest with the first produce harvested from whatever you plant in your fields.
“Celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the year when you harvest your crops from the fields.
17 “These are the three times each year that all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the Lord.
18 “Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. The fat sacrificed at my festivals should never be left over in the morning.
19 “You must bring the best of the first produce harvested from your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Laws about God’s Messenger, Who Will Bring Israel to the Promised Land
20 “I’m going to send a Messenger in front of you to protect you on your trip and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him, and listen to him. Don’t defy him, because he will not forgive your disobedience. He is acting on my authority. 22 But if you will listen to him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an opponent to your opponents.
23 “My Messenger will go ahead of you and will bring you to ⌞the land of⌟ the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will wipe them out. 24 Never worship or serve their gods or follow their practices. Instead, you must destroy their gods and crush their sacred stones. 25 You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your food and water. I will take away all sickness from among you. 26 No woman in your land will miscarry or be unable to have children. I will let you live a normal life span.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw any nation you meet into a panic. I will make all your enemies flee from you. 28 I will spread panic ahead of you to force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way. 29 I will not force them out of your way in one year. Otherwise, the land would be deserted, and wild animals would take over. 30 Little by little I will force them out of your way until you have increased enough in number to take possession of the land.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Sinai Desert to the Euphrates River. I will put the people living in the land under your control, and you will force them out of your way. 32 Never make a treaty with them and their gods. 33 Never let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me and trap you into serving their gods.”
Jesus Changes Water into Wine
2 Three days later a wedding took place in the city of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had been invited too.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They’re out of wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come.”
5 His mother told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons.
7 Jesus told the servers, “Fill the jars with water.” The servers filled the jars to the brim. 8 Jesus said to them, “Pour some, and take it to the person in charge.” The servers did as they were told.
9 The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.”
11 Cana in Galilee was the place where Jesus began to perform miracles. He made his glory public there, and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, Jesus, his mother, brothers, and disciples went to the city of Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.
Jesus Throws Merchants and Moneychangers out of the Temple Courtyard
13 The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. 15 He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables.
16 He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.”
18 The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?”
19 Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”
20 The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?”
21 But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. 22 After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made.
23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed. 24 Jesus, however, was wary of these believers. He understood people 25 and didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature. He knew what people were really like.
The Lord Continues: Can You Conquer Leviathan, Job?
41 [a]“Can you pull Leviathan out ⌞of the water⌟ with a fishhook
or tie its tongue down with a rope?
2 Can you put a ring through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it plead with you for mercy
or speak tenderly to you?
4 Will it make an agreement with you
so that you can take it as your permanent slave?
5 Can you play with it like a bird
or keep it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders bargain over it
and divide it among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hand on it.
Think of the struggle!
Don’t do it again!
9 Certainly, any hope ⌞of defeating it⌟ is a false hope.
Doesn’t the sight of it overwhelm you?
10 No one is brave enough to provoke Leviathan.
Then who can stand in front of me? [b]
11 Who can confront me that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me!
12 “I will not be silent about Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength, or its graceful form.
13 Who can skin its hide?
Who can approach it with a harness?
14 Who can open its closed mouth?
Its teeth are surrounded by terror.
15 Its back has rows of scales that are tightly sealed.
16 One is so close to the other
that there is no space between them.
17 Each is joined to the other.
They are locked together and inseparable.
18 When Leviathan sneezes, it gives out a flash of light.
Its eyes are like the first rays of the dawn.
19 Flames shoot from its mouth.
Sparks of fire fly from it.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils
like a boiling pot heated over brushwood.
21 Its breath sets coals on fire,
and a flame pours from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck,
and power dances in front of it.
23 The folds of its flesh stick to each other.
They are solid and cannot be moved.
24 Its chest is solid like a rock,
solid like a millstone.
25 “The mighty are afraid when Leviathan rises.
Broken down, they draw back.
26 A sword may strike it but not pierce it.
Neither will a spear, lance, or dart.
27 It considers iron to be like straw
and bronze to be like rotten wood.
28 An arrow won’t make it run away.
Stones from a sling turn to dust against it.
29 It considers clubs to be like stubble,
and it laughs at a rattling javelin.
30 Its underside is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It stretches out like a threshing [c] sledge on the mud.
31 It makes the deep sea boil like a pot.
It stirs up the ocean like a boiling kettle.
32 It leaves a shining path behind it
so that the sea appears to have silvery hair.
33 Nothing on land can compare to it.
It was made fearless.
34 It looks down on all high things.
It is king of everyone who is arrogant.”
Paul Contrasts Himself with False Apostles
11 I want you to put up with a little foolishness from me. I’m sure that you will. 2 I’m as protective of you as God is. After all, you’re a virgin whom I promised in marriage to one man—Christ. 3 However, I’m afraid that as the snake deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 When someone comes to you telling about another Jesus whom we didn’t tell you about, you’re willing to put up with it. When you receive a spirit that is different from the Spirit you received earlier, you’re also willing to put up with that. When someone tells you good news that is different from the Good News you already accepted, you’re willing to put up with that too.
5 I don’t think I’m inferior in any way to your super-apostles. 6 Even though I’m not good with words, I know what I’m talking about. Timothy and I have made this clear to you in every possible way.
7 Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by telling you the Good News of God free of charge so that you could become important? 8 I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to serve you. 9 When I was with you and needed something, I didn’t bother any of you for help. My friends from the province of Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a financial burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do that.
10 As surely as I have Christ’s truth, my bragging will not be silenced anywhere in Greece. 11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows that I do love you. 12 But I’ll go on doing what I’m doing. This will take away the opportunity of those people who want to brag because they think they’re like us. 13 People who brag like this are false apostles. They are dishonest workers, since they disguise themselves as Christ’s apostles. 14 And no wonder, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it’s not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants who have God’s approval. In the end they will get what they deserve.
More Reasons for Paul to Brag
16 Again I say that no one should think that I’m a fool. But if you do, then take me for a fool so that I can also brag a little. 17 What I say as I start bragging is foolishness. It’s not something I would say if I were speaking for the Lord. 18 Since it’s common for people to brag, I’ll do it too. 19 You’re wise, so you’ll gladly put up with fools. 20 When someone makes you slaves, consumes your wealth, seizes your property, orders you around, or slaps your faces, you put up with it. 21 I’m ashamed to admit it, but Timothy and I don’t have the strength to do those things to you.
Whatever other people dare to brag about, I, like a fool, can also brag about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they Christ’s servants? It’s insane to say it, but I’m a far better one. I’ve done much more work, been in prison many more times, been beaten more severely, and have faced death more often. 24 Five times the Jewish leaders had me beaten with 39 lashes; 25 three times Roman officials had me beaten with clubs. Once people tried to stone me to death; three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a night and a day. 26 Because I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve faced dangers from raging rivers, from robbers, from my own people, and from other people. I’ve faced dangers in the city, in the open country, on the sea, and from believers who turned out to be false friends. 27 Because I’ve had to work so hard, I’ve often gone without sleep, been hungry and thirsty, and gone without food and without proper clothes during cold weather. 28 Besides these external matters, I have the daily pressure of my anxiety about all the churches. 29 When anyone is weak, I’m weak too. When anyone is caught in a trap, I’m also harmed.
30 If I must brag, I will brag about the things that show how weak I am. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is praised forever, knows that I’m not lying. 32 The governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me. 33 So I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.
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