M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The First Sin and the First Promise

3 The snake was more clever than all the wild animals Yahweh Elohim had made. He asked the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman answered the snake, “We’re allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden ³ except the tree in the middle of the garden. Elohim said, ‘You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!’”

⁴ “You certainly won’t die!” the snake told the woman. ⁵ “Elohim knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ The woman saw that the tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷ Then their eyes were opened, and they both realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves.

⁸ In the cool of the evening, the man and his wife heard Yahweh Elohim walking around in the garden. So they hid from Yahweh Elohim among the trees in the garden. ⁹ Yahweh Elohim called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

¹¹ Elohim asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man answered, “That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then Yahweh Elohim asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The snake deceived me, and I ate,” the woman answered.

¹⁴ So Yahweh Elohim said to the snake, “Because you have done this,

¹⁶ He said to the woman,

¹⁷ Then he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, ‘You must never eat its fruit.’

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve [Life] because she became the mother of every living person.

²¹ Yahweh Elohim made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.

²² Then Yahweh Elohim said, “The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever.” ²³ So Yahweh Elohim sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed. ²⁴ After he sent the man out, Elohim placed angels^[a] and a flaming sword that turned in all directions east of the Garden of Eden. He placed them there to guard the way to the tree of life.

John Prepares the Way^(A)

3 Later, John the Baptizer appeared in the desert of Judea. His message was, ² “Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” ³ Isaiah the prophet spoke about this man when he said,

⁴ John wore clothes made from camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.

⁵ Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole Jordan Valley went to him. ⁶ As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God’s coming anger? ⁸ Do those things that prove you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. ⁹ Don’t think you can say, ‘Abraham is our ancestor.’ I can guarantee that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰ The ax is now ready to cut the roots of the trees. Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire. ¹¹ I baptize you with water so that you will change the way you think and act. But the one who comes after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing^[a] shovel is in his hand, and he will clean up his threshing floor.^[b] He will gather his wheat into a barn, but he will burn the husks in a fire that can never be put out.”

John Baptizes Jesus^(B)

¹³ Then Yeshua appeared. He came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to stop him and said, “I need to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me?”

¹⁵ Yeshua answered him, “This is the way it has to be now. This is the proper way to do everything that God requires of us.”

Then John gave in to him. ¹⁶ After Yeshua was baptized, he immediately came up from the water. Suddenly, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove to him. ¹⁷ Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love—my Son with whom I am pleased.”

Worship at the Temple Site Begins Again

3 When the seventh month came, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. (The Israelites had already settled in their cities.) ² Then Jozadak’s son Jeshua and his relatives who were priests and Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel and his relatives built an altar for the Elohim of Israel. They built it in order to sacrifice burnt offerings. They followed the directions written in Moses’ Teachings. (Moses was a man of Elohim). ³ So they rebuilt the altar on its original site, though they were afraid of the people in the neighboring regions. They sacrificed burnt offerings on it to Yahweh every morning and evening.

⁴ Following the written directions, they celebrated the Festival of Booths. Each day they sacrificed the required number of burnt offerings. ⁵ After that, they sacrificed the daily burnt offerings, the offerings for the New Moon Festival and all the other holy festivals of Yahweh, and all the freewill offerings brought to Yahweh. ⁶ They started to bring these burnt offerings to Yahweh on the first day of the seventh month, even though the foundation of Yahweh’s temple had not yet been laid.

Work on the Temple Begins

⁷ So they gave money to the stonecutters and carpenters. Then they gave food, drink, and olive oil to the men from Sidon and Tyre in exchange for cedar, which the men would bring by sea from Lebanon to Joppa as King Cyrus of Persia had authorized them to do.

⁸ Zerubbabel (who was Shealtiel’s son), Jeshua (who was Jozadak’s son), and the rest of the Jews, (the priests, Levites, and all the others who had come back from exile to Jerusalem) began to rebuild the temple. This happened in the second month of the second year following their return to the site of Elohim’s house in Jerusalem. They began by appointing the Levites who were at least 20 years old to direct the work on Yahweh’s house. ⁹ Then Jeshua with his sons and relatives and Kadmiel with his sons who were Judah’s descendants joined Henadad’s family and their sons and relatives, the Levites, in directing those working on Elohim’s house.

A Celebration After the Laying of the Temple’s Foundation

¹⁰ The builders laid the foundation of Yahweh’s temple. Then the priests who were dressed in their robes took their places with trumpets, and the Levites who were Asaph’s descendants took their places with cymbals to praise Yahweh according to the instructions of King David of Israel. ¹¹ As they praised and gave thanks to Yahweh, they sang antiphonally:

Then all the people shouted, “Praise Yahweh,” because the foundation for the house of Yahweh had been laid.

¹² But many of the priests, Levites, and the heads of the families who were old enough to have seen the first temple with their own eyes began to sob when they saw the foundation of this temple. Many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish between the joyful shouts and the loud sobbing because the people were shouting so loudly. The noise was heard from far away.

A Lame Man Is Healed

3 Peter and John were going to the temple courtyard for the three o’clock prayer. ² At the same time, a man who had been lame from birth was being carried by some men. Every day these men would put the lame man at a gate in the temple courtyard. The gate was called Beautiful Gate. There he would beg for handouts from people going into the courtyard. ³ When the man saw that Peter and John were about to go into the courtyard, he asked them for a handout.

⁴ Peter and John stared at him. “Look at us!” Peter said. ⁵ So the man watched them closely. He expected to receive something from them. ⁶ However, Peter said to him, “I don’t have any money, but I’ll give you what I do have. Through the power of Yeshua Christ from Nazareth, walk!” ⁷ Peter took hold of the man’s right hand and began to help him up. Immediately, the man’s feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ Springing to his feet, he stood up and started to walk. He went with Peter and John into the temple courtyard. The man was walking, jumping, and praising God.

⁹ All the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰ They knew that he was the man who used to sit and beg at the temple’s Beautiful Gate. The people were amazed and stunned to see what had happened to him. ¹¹ They were excited, and everyone ran to see them at the place called Solomon’s Porch. The man wouldn’t let go of Peter and John.

¹² When Peter saw this, he said to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed about this man? Why are you staring at us as though we have made him walk by our own power or godly life? ¹³ The God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has glorified his servant Yeshua. You handed Yeshua over to Pilate. You rejected him in Pilate’s presence, even though Pilate had decided to let him go free. ¹⁴ You rejected the man who was holy and innocent. You asked to have a murderer given to you, ¹⁵ and you killed the source of life. But God brought him back to life, and we are witnesses to that. ¹⁶ We believe in the one named Yeshua. Through his power alone this man, whom you know, was healed, as all of you saw.

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that like your rulers you didn’t know what you were doing. ¹⁸ But in this way God made the sufferings of his Messiah come true. God had predicted these sufferings through all the prophets. ¹⁹ So change the way you think and act, and turn to God to have your sins removed. ²⁰ Then times will come when the Lord will refresh you. He will send you Yeshua, whom he has appointed to be the Christ. ²¹ Heaven must receive Yeshua until the time when everything will be restored as God promised through his holy prophets long ago.

²² “Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me. Listen to everything he tells you. ²³ Those who won’t listen to that prophet will be excluded from the people.’ ²⁴ Samuel and all the prophets who followed him spoke about these days. ²⁵ You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the promise^[a] that God made to our ancestors when he said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendant all people on earth will be blessed.’ ²⁶ God has brought his servant back to life and has sent him to you first. God did this to bless you by turning every one of you from your evil ways.”