M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Naomi Loses
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the land of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelek, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelek, the husband of Naomi, died, so she was left alone with her two sons. 4 They took Moabite wives for themselves; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. 5 Then Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 So she got up with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for in the land of Moab, she had heard that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food. 7 She set out from the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to return to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with your deceased husbands and with me. 9 May the Lord grant that you each find rest in the house of another husband.”
Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept aloud. 10 They said to her, “We will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there sons in my womb, who could become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought that there was still hope for me, that I could have a husband tonight and give birth to sons, 13 would you wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from getting married? No, my daughters. It is much more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has turned against me.”
14 Then they raised their voices and wept aloud once more. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return with her!”
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do thus to me, and worse, if anything but death separates you and me!” 18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19 So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women asked, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has brought great bitterness to me. 21 I was full when I left, but the Lord has caused me to return empty. Why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has opposed me? The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me!”
22 So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law. They came to Bethlehem at the start of the spring barley harvest.
Paul’s Defense Before Agrippa
26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.”
So Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that today I shall make my defense before you against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially because you are an expert in all customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to patiently listen to me.
4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning in my own nation and at Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They knew me from the beginning and could testify, if they wished, how according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand on trial for hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God day and night. Concerning this hope, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why is it judged incredible by you that God raises the dead?
9 “I, too, thought that I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, 10 which I indeed did in Jerusalem and locked up many of the saints in prison by authority from the chief priests. And when they were killed, I cast my vote against them. 11 I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being extremely enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
Paul Tells of His Conversion(A)
12 “So I went to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests. 13 At midday, O King, I saw along the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 “I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’
“He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness both of what you have seen and of what I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
Paul’s Testimony to Jews and Gentiles
19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do works proving their repentance. 21 For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 Therefore having obtained help from God, I continue to this day, testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen: 23 that the Christ must suffer, that He would be the first who would rise from the dead, and would announce light to His own people and to the Gentiles.”
Paul Appeals to Agrippa to Believe
24 So as he made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are mad. Much learning is turning you to madness.”
25 Paul said, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus. I speak the words of truth and reason. 26 The king, before whom I also speak freely, knows about these things. For I am persuaded that none of this is hidden from him, for this was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.”
29 Paul said, “I pray to God that not only you, but all who hear me this day, might become not only almost, but thoroughly and altogether, what I am, except for these chains.”
30 When he had said this, the king rose, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them. 31 When they had gone aside, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing deserving death or imprisonment.”
32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Jeremiah’s Scroll Is Burned
36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster which I intend to do to them, so that every man may turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. 5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am shut in. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6 Therefore go and read from the scroll that you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people in the house of the Lord on a fast day. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. 7 Perhaps their supplication will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”
8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord. 9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord, in the ears of all the people.
11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, 12 then he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And all the officials sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Akbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the ears of the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our ears.”
So Baruch read it in their ears. 16 When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” 17 They also asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? Was it at his mouth?”
18 Then Baruch answered them, “He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no man know where you are.”
20 Then they went to the king in the court, but they laid up the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll, and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire burning on the hearth before him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25 Although Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah entreated the king not to burn the scroll, yet he would not listen to them. 26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord hid them.
Jeremiah and Baruch Rewrite the Scroll
27 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the book and the words which Baruch had written at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying: 28 Take again another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first book, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 You shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah: Thus says the Lord: You have burned this book, saying, Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause man and beast to cease from here? 30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will also punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; but they did not listen.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And there were added to them many like words.
A Message to Baruch
45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying: 2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, “Alas, woe is me! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” 4 Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: That which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. 5 But are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord, but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you go.”
Psalm 9
For the Music Director. To the melody of “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will declare all Your marvelous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies are turned back,
they will stumble and perish at Your presence.
4 For You have maintained my right and my cause;
You sat on the throne judging what is right.
5 You have rebuked the nations,
You have destroyed the wicked,
You have wiped out their name forever and ever.
6 O you enemy, destructions have come to you for a perpetual end.
You have destroyed cities;
their memory perished with them.
7 But the Lord remains forever;
He has established His throne for judgment.
8 He will judge the world in righteousness;
He will give judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion;
declare His deeds among the people.
12 He who avenges deaths remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the humble.
13 Be gracious to me, O Lord; consider my trouble from those who hate me,
O You who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all Your praise
in the gates of the daughter of Zion,
that I may rejoice in Your salvation.
15 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made;
their own foot is caught in the net which they hid.
16 The Lord is known by the judgment that He executes;
the wicked one is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah
17 The wicked will be turned to Sheol,
and all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor will the hope of the poor perish forever.
19 Arise, O Lord, may mortals not prevail;
let the nations be judged in Your sight.
20 Put them in fear, O Lord,
that the nations themselves may know they are mortals. Selah
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.