M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The King Rides Into Jerusalem On a Donkey, As Predicted In Zechariah

21 And when they drew-near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent forth two disciples, ² saying to them, “Proceed to the village before you, and immediately you will find a donkey having been tied, and a colt with her. Having untied them, bring them to Me. ³ And if someone says something to you, you shall say that ‘The Lord has need of them’, and immediately he will send them forth”. ⁴ Now this has taken place in order that the thing might be fulfilled having been spoken through the prophet saying: ⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you— gentle, and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, a foal of a beast-of-burden’” [Zech 9:9]. ⁶ And the disciples— having proceeded, and having done just as Jesus directed them— ⁷ brought the donkey and the colt. And they put their cloaks on them. And He sat on them^[a]. ⁸ And most-of the crowd^[b] spread their cloaks in the road. And others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ And the crowds going ahead of Him, and the ones following Him, were crying out, saying, “Hosanna^[c] to the Son of David. Blessed is the One coming in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest [heavens]”.

The King Arrives In Jerusalem, And The Whole City Is Shaken

¹⁰ And He having entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken^[d], saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee”.

Jesus Cleanses The Temple And Accepts Praises From Boys. The Chief Priests Object

¹² And Jesus entered into the temple. And He threw-out all the ones selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers^[e] and the seats of the ones selling the doves^[f]. ¹³ And He says to them, “It has been written [in Isa 56:7]: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. But you are making it a den of robbers^[g]”. ¹⁴ And blind ones and lame ones came to Him in the temple, and He cured them. ¹⁵ But the chief priests and the scribes— having seen the marvelous things which He did, and the boys^[h] crying-out in the temple and saying “Hosanna to the Son of David”— were indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these boys are saying?” And Jesus says to them, “Yes— did you never read [in Ps 8:2] that ‘You prepared-Yourself praise out of the mouth^[i] of children and nursing ones’?” ¹⁷ And having left them behind, He went outside of the city to Bethany and spent-the-night there.

Jesus Curses a Fruitless Fig Tree

¹⁸ Now early-in-the-morning while returning to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹ And having seen one fig tree near the road, He went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only^[j]. And He says to it, “May fruit no longer come from you— forever”. And the fig tree was dried-up at-once. ²⁰ And having seen it, the disciples marveled, saying, “How was the fig tree dried up at once?” ²¹ And having responded, Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you— if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do the thing of the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and be thrown into the sea’, it will be done. ²² And you will receive all that you ask in prayer, believing”.

The Priests Ask, By What Authority Do You Do This?

²³ And He having come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came-to Him while He was teaching, saying, “By what-kind-of ^[k] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ And having responded, Jesus said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I also will tell you by what-kind-of authority I am doing these things— ²⁵ From where was the baptism of John, from heaven or from humans?” And the ones were discussing among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, He will say to us, ‘Then for what reason did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From humans’, we fear the crowd. For they all are holding John as a prophet”. ²⁷ And having responded to Jesus, they said, “We do not know”. He also said to them, “Nor am I telling you by what-kind-of authority I am doing these things.

One Son Feigns Obedience, One Disobeys But Repents. Which Did The Father’s Will?

²⁸ “But what seems right to you?— A man had two children. And having gone to the first he said, ‘Child, go, work today in the vineyard’. ²⁹ And the one, having responded, said, ‘I will not’. But having regretted^[l] it later, he went. ³⁰ And having gone to the other, he spoke similarly. And the one, having responded, said, ‘I will, sir’, and he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say, “The first”.

You Priests Feign Obedience To God, But Did Not Believe John, God’s Messenger

Jesus says to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going-ahead-of you into the kingdom of God. ³² For John came to you in^[m] the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And you, having seen it, did not-even regret it later, that you might believe him.

You Priests Are Like Farmers Who Killed The Owner’s Messengers And Son

³³ “Listen-to another parable. There was a man who was a house-master, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he rented it to farmers and went-on-a-journey. ³⁴ And when the time of the fruits drew-near, he sent forth his slaves to the farmers to receive his fruits. ³⁵ And the farmers, having taken his slaves, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent-forth other slaves— more than the first. And they did similarly to them. ³⁷ But finally he sent forth his son to them, saying, ‘They will have-regard-for my son’. ³⁸ But the farmers, having seen the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let us have his inheritance’. ³⁹ And having taken him, they threw him outside of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” ⁴¹ They say to Him, “He will miserably destroy the miserable ones themselves! And he will rent the vineyard to other farmers who will give-back the fruits to him in their seasons”.

The Kingdom Will Be Taken Away Because You Rejected God’s Cornerstone

⁴² Jesus says to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the ones building rejected, this became the head^[n] of the corner. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? [Ps 118:22-23]. ⁴³ For this reason^[o] I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken-away from you, and will be given to a nation^[p] producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And the one having fallen upon this stone will be broken-to-pieces^[q]. And upon whomever it may fall, it will crush^[r] him”.

When The Invited Refuse To Attend The Wedding of The King’s Son, They Are Destroyed

⁴⁵ And having heard His parables, the chief priests and the Pharisees knew that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And while seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were holding Him for a prophet.

Paul Travels By Ship To Tyre, Where He Is Again Warned Not To Go To Jerusalem

21 And when it came about that having withdrawn^[a] from them we put-to-sea, having run-a-straight-course we came to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ² And having found a ship crossing-over to Phoenicia, having boarded, we put-to-sea. ³ And having sighted Cyprus, and having left it behind on the left, we were sailing to Syria. And we came down to Tyre, for there the ship was unloading its cargo. ⁴ And having found the disciples, we stayed there seven days— who were telling Paul through the Spirit not to be setting-foot in Jerusalem. ⁵ But when it came about that we finished the days, having gone out, we were proceeding—everyone accompanying us, with wives and children, as far as outside the city. And having put down our knees on the beach, having prayed, ⁶ we said-farewell to one another. And we went-up into the ship, and those ones returned to their own things.

When Paul Arrives In Caesarea, Agabas The Prophet Foretells Imprisonment

⁷ And we, having completed^[b] the voyage from Tyre, arrived in Ptolemais. And having greeted the brothers, we stayed with them one day. ⁸ And having gone-out on the next day, we came to Caesarea. And having entered into the house of Philip the evangelist (being one of the seven^[c]), we stayed with him ⁹ (and this one had four virgin daughters prophesying!). ¹⁰ And while we were staying-on for more days, a certain prophet from Judea, Agabus by name, came down. ¹¹ And having come to us, and having taken Paul’s belt, having bound his own feet and hands, he said, “These things says the Holy Spirit: ‘In this manner the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man whose belt this is, and hand him over into the hands of the Gentiles’”. ¹² And when we heard these things, both we and the local-residents were begging that he not be going up to Jerusalem. ¹³ Then Paul responded, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus”. ¹⁴ And he not being persuaded, we were quiet, having said, “Let the Lord’s will be done”.

Paul Arrives In Jerusalem

¹⁵ And after these days, having made-preparations, we were going up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ And some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, bringing^[d] us to Mnason— a certain Cyprian, an old disciple, with whom we might lodge. ¹⁷ And we having come-to-be in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.

Paul Meets James. They Formulate a Plan For His Acceptance Among The Jews

¹⁸ And on the following day Paul was going in with us to James, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹ And having greeted them, he was describing individually each of the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ministry. ²⁰ And the ones, having heard it, were glorifying God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of the ones having believed there are among the Jews! And they are all zealots^[e] for the Law. ²¹ And they were informed about you— that you are teaching all the Jews^[f] throughout the nations apostasy from Moses, saying that they should not be circumcising their children, nor walking in their customs. ²² What, then, is to be done? They will surely hear that you have come. ²³ Therefore do this which we tell you: There are four men with us having a vow upon themselves. ²⁴ Having taken along these men, be purified together-with them. And spend^[g] money for them, so that they will shave^[h] the head. And everyone will know that there is nothing true of the things which they have been informed about you, but even you yourself are walking-in-line^[i], keeping the Law. ²⁵ But concerning the Gentiles having believed— we wrote-to them, having determined that they should guard-themselves as to food-sacrificed-to-an-idol and blood and the strangled thing and sexual immorality”.

While Executing The Plan, Paul Is Recognized By Ephesian Jews And Attacked

²⁶ Then Paul— having taken along the men on the next day, having been purified together-with them— was going into the temple, giving-notice as to the completion of the days of purification, until which time the offering was offered for each one of them. ²⁷ But as the seven days were about to be completed, the Jews from Asia^[j], having seen him in the temple, were stirring-up the whole crowd. And they put their hands on him, ²⁸ crying-out, “Men, Israelites, help! This is the man teaching everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place. And furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place”. ²⁹ For they had previously-seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they were supposing that Paul brought into the temple. ³⁰ And the whole city was set-in-motion, and a running-together of the people took place. And having taken-hold-of Paul, they were dragging him outside of the temple. And immediately the doors were shut.

The Romans Swoop Down And Take Paul Into Custody

³¹ And while they were seeking to kill him, a report went up to the commander^[k] of the [Roman] cohort^[l] that all Jerusalem was stirred-up— ³² who at-once, having taken along soldiers and centurions^[m], ran down upon them. And the ones, having seen the commander and the soldiers, ceased striking Paul. ³³ Then having drawn-near, the commander took-hold-of him. And he ordered that he be bound with two chains. And he was inquiring as to who he might be and what he has done. ³⁴ But other^[n] ones in the crowd were calling-out another thing. And he not being able to know the certainty of it because of the uproar— he ordered that he be brought into the barracks. ³⁵ But when he^[o] came-to-be on the stairs, it happened that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd— ³⁶ for the multitude of the people were following, crying-out, “Take him away”.

Paul Asks To Speak To The Mob

³⁷ And being about to be brought into the barracks, Paul says to the commander, “Is it permissible for me to say something to you?” And the one said, “You know Greek? ³⁸ Then are you not the Egyptian— the one before these days having caused-an-upset^[p] and led out into the wilderness the four-thousand men of the Assassins^[q]?” ³⁹ And Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from-Tarsus^[r] of Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city— and I beg you, permit me to speak to the people”. ⁴⁰ And he having permitted it, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned with his hand to the people. And a great silence having come about, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: