M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Great Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.^{(A) 2} Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate;^{(B) 3} and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.^{(C) 8} Of clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.^{(D) 12} The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.^{(E) 13} On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons entered the ark,^{(F) 14} they and every wild animal of every kind and all domestic animals of every kind and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth and every bird of every kind.^{[a] 15} They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.^{(G) 16} And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.^(H)

¹⁷ The flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.^{(I) 18} The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.^{(J) 19} The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; ²⁰ the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. ²¹ And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings;^{(K) 22} everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.^{(L) 23} He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those with him in the ark.^{(M) 24} And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.^(N)

Judging Others

7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.^{(A) 2} For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ³ Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

Profaning the Holy

⁶ “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.^(B)

Ask, Search, Knock

⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.^{(C) 8} For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.^{(D) 9} Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? ¹⁰ Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Golden Rule

¹² “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.^(E)

The Narrow Gate

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy^[a] that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.^{(F) 14} For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.^{(G) 16} You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles?^{(H) 17} In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.^{(I) 20} Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Concerning Self-Deception

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^{(J) 22} On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’^{(K) 23} Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’^(L)

Hearers and Doers

²⁴ “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^{(M) 25} The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

²⁸ Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,^{(N) 29} for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.

The Coming and Work of Ezra

7 After this, in the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,^{(A) 2} son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron— ⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.^(B)

⁷ Some of the people of Israel and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants also went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.^{(C) 8} They came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹ On the first day of the first month the journey up from Babylon was begun, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him.^{(D) 10} For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.^(E)

The Letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, a scholar of the words of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven: Peace.^[a] And now^{(F) 13} I decree that any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you. ¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand,^{(G) 15} and also to convey the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,^{(H) 16} with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.^{(I) 17} With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs and their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.^{(J) 18} Whatever seems good to you and your colleagues to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God that you are responsible for providing, you may provide out of the king’s treasury.^(K)

²¹ “I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,^{(L) 22} up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred cors of wheat, one hundred baths^[b] of wine, one hundred baths^[c] of oil, and unlimited salt. ²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, or wrath will come upon the realm of the king and his heirs.^{(M) 24} We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of your God, and you shall teach those who do not know them.^{(N) 26} All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem^{(O) 28} and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.^(P)

Stephen’s Speech to the Council

7 Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things so?” ² And Stephen replied:

“Brothers^[a] and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,^{(A) 3} and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’^{(B) 4} Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living.^{(C) 5} He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.^{(D) 6} And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years.^{(E) 7} ‘But I will judge the people whom they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’^{(F) 8} Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham^[b] became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did likewise to Jacob and Jacob to the twelve patriarchs.^(G)

⁹ “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him^{(H) 10} and rescued him from all his afflictions and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.^{(I) 11} Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food.^{(J) 12} But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit.^{(K) 13} On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.^{(L) 14} Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all;^{(M) 15} so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors,^{(N) 16} and their bodies^[c] were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.^(O)

¹⁷ “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied^{(P) 18} until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. ¹⁹ He dealt craftily with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.^{(Q) 20} At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, ²¹ and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.^(R)

²³ “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his kinfolk, the Israelites.^{(S) 24} When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷ But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses^[d] aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.^{(T) 33} Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^{(U) 34} I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’^(V)

³⁵ “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.^{(W) 36} He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.^{(X) 37} This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’^{(Y) 38} He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us.^{(Z) 39} Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’^{(AA) 41} At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.^{(AB) 42} But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God^[e] directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.^{(AD) 45} Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the peoples whom God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David,^{(AE) 46} who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.^{[f](AF) 47} But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands;^[g] as the prophet says,^(AG)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.^{(AI) 52} Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.^{(AJ) 53} You are the ones who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”^(AK)

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.^{[h] 55} But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(AL) 56} “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”^{(AM) 57} But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. ⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(AN) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^{(AO) 60} Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.^[i](AP)