M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
2: Frogs
8 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is the message from the Lord: Let my people go so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send thousands of frogs to bring trouble to your whole country. 3 The Nile river will be full of frogs. The frogs will go into your house. They will jump into your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants. They will go into the houses of your people. They will jump into your ovens and into your dishes. 4 The frogs will jump all over you. They will jump on your people and on all your servants.” ’
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your stick in your hand. Then raise your hand over the rivers, the streams and the pools. You will cause frogs to come up over the whole of Egypt.” ’
6 So Aaron lifted up his hand over the water of Egypt. Then the frogs came up and they covered the whole of Egypt.
7 But the magicians used their magic to do the same thing. They also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘Pray to the Lord. Ask him to remove the frogs from me and from my people. Then I will let your people go. They can offer sacrifices to the Lord.’
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘I will let you choose the time when I should pray to God. Then I will ask God to do this for you, for your servants and for your people. I will ask God to remove the frogs from you and from all your houses. The frogs will remain only in the Nile river.’
10 Pharaoh said, ‘Do it tomorrow.’ Moses answered, ‘I will do what you have asked. Then you will know that there is nobody like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will go away from you and your houses. They will go away from your servants and your people. They will remain only in the river.’
12 So Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh. Then Moses prayed to the Lord about the frogs that he had brought to punish Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, in the yards and in the fields all died. 14 The people swept the frogs together to make big heaps. There was a very bad smell over the whole country. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that the trouble had gone, his mind became hard again. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Lord had said that this would happen, and it did!
3: Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Lift up your stick and hit the dirt on the ground. It will become gnats in the whole land of Egypt.” ’
17 Moses and Aaron obeyed God. Aaron lifted up his hand and he hit the dirt with his stick. The dirt became gnats that flew onto all the people and onto all the animals. The dirt on the ground became gnats all over Egypt. 18 Then the Egyptian magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear. But they could not do it. The gnats were on all the people and on all the animals.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the work of God.’ But there was no change in Pharaoh's thoughts. He would not listen to them. The Lord had said that this would happen, and it did!
4: Flies
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning. Meet Pharaoh when he goes out to the river. Then say to him, “The Lord says: You must let my people go. Let them go to worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send thousands of flies on you. I will send them on your servants and on your people. I will send them into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The flies will cover all the ground where people live.
22 But it will be different in the region of Goshen, where my people live. I will not send flies there. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am doing my work here in this land. 23 I will make a difference between my people and your people. This miracle will happen tomorrow.” ’
24 That is what the Lord did. Great numbers of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into his servants' houses. The flies went all over Egypt and they destroyed the whole land.
25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said to them, ‘Go! You can offer sacrifices to your God here, in Egypt.’ 26 But Moses said, ‘It would not be right to do that. The Egyptians do not like our sacrifices of animals. If we offer these sacrifices to the Lord our God, the Egyptians will be angry with us. They will throw stones at us to kill us. 27 So we must go on a journey for three days into the desert. We will offer sacrifices to the Lord our God there, as he has told us to do.’
28 So Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go. You may go into the desert and offer sacrifices to the Lord your God there. But do not go very far away. And pray for me too.’
29 Then Moses said, ‘I will leave you now, and I will pray to the Lord. Tomorrow, all the flies will go away from you, your officers and your people. But be careful! Do not deceive us, as you did before. You must really let the people go away to offer sacrifices to the Lord.’
30 So Moses left Pharaoh and he prayed to the Lord. 31 The Lord did what Moses asked him. All the flies left Pharaoh, his officers and his people. Not one fly remained! 32 But again, Pharaoh's mind became hard. He refused to let the people go.
Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray
11 One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. He finished praying. Then, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Master, John taught his disciples how to pray. Please teach us as he did.’
2 Jesus replied, ‘When you pray, you should say this:
“God, our Father, we want people to give honour to you.
We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon.
3 Please give to us the food that we need each day.
4 Forgive us for our sins,
because we also forgive everyone who has done wrong things against us.
And do not let us agree to do wrong things.” ’
5 Jesus then told a story to teach them how to pray. He said, ‘Let me tell you about someone who goes to a friend's home at midnight. “My friend,” he says, “please give me three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine is on a journey and he has arrived at my house. But I have no food to give him.” 7 But his friend answers from inside his house. He says, “Do not cause problems for me! I have locked my door. My children and I have gone to bed. So I cannot get up and give you any bread.” ’
8 Then Jesus said, ‘I will tell you what will happen. Perhaps your friend will not give you anything just because you are good friends. But if you continue to knock and ask for bread, your friend will get up. He will give you bread, as much as you need.
9 So I tell you this. Continue to ask God for what you need. Then God will give it to you. Continue to look for what you need. Then you will find it. Continue to knock at the door and God will open it for you. 10 Everyone that asks for something will receive it. Everyone that looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone that knocks on it. 11 Some of you are fathers. If your son asks you for a fish, you would not give him a snake instead. 12 If he asks you for an egg, you would not give him something dangerous. 13 You are bad. But even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. So he will give the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks him.’[a]
Jesus teaches about the Devil
14 One day, Jesus was telling a bad spirit to go out of a man. Because of the bad spirit, the man could not speak. But after it had gone out of him, the man could speak again. All the people that were watching were surprised at this. 15 But some people in the crowd were not happy with Jesus and they said, ‘This man can send bad spirits out of people because Beelzebul gives him authority.[b] That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits.’
16 Some other people wanted to test Jesus to see what he would do. So they asked him, ‘Do something powerful for us to see. Then we will know that God has really sent you.’[c]
17 But Jesus knew what those people were thinking. He said to them, ‘If armies in a country start to fight each other, they will destroy their own country. If people in one family fight against each other, they will destroy their own family. 18 So Satan would not fight against himself. If he did that, it would be the end of his kingdom. But you say that Beelzebul helps me to destroy bad spirits. 19 If that is true, what do you say about your own disciples? They also send bad spirits out of people. You would not say that it is Satan's power that helps them. So your own people show that you are wrong about this. 20 When I send bad spirits out of people, I use the power of God. This shows that God has come to rule among you.
21 When a strong man has all the weapons he needs to fight with, he can take care of his own house. Nobody will be able to rob him of the things inside his house. 22 But someone may come who is stronger than he is. That man will attack him and beat him. The strong man believed his weapons would keep him safe. But the stronger man will take his weapons away. He will take the strong man's things and give them to other people.[d]
23 If someone does not agree to help me, he is working against me. You should work with me to bring people to me for help. If you do not do that, you are making people run away from me.’[e]
24 Jesus then said, ‘When a bad spirit goes out of a person, it travels through dry places. It looks for a new place to live. But maybe it does not find anywhere. So it says to itself, “I will return to the place where I lived before.” 25 Then it goes back to that person. It finds that the place is empty. Everything there is now good and clean. 26 So the bad spirit goes out and it brings back seven other spirits. They are even worse than itself. They all go into the person and they live there. Now the person's life is even worse than it was before.’[f]
27 While Jesus was saying this, a woman in the crowd shouted out. ‘How happy is the woman that gave birth to you! How happy is the woman that fed you from her breasts!’
28 Jesus replied, ‘It is the people who hear God's message who are happy. They are happy if they obey it.’
Jesus talks about Jonah
29 The crowd around Jesus was growing very large, so he began to speak to them. ‘The people that are alive today are very bad,’ he said. ‘They want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for Jonah.[g] 30 Jonah showed God's power to the people who lived in Nineveh. They knew that God had sent him. In the same way the Son of Man will show God's power to the people that are living today. Then they will know that God has sent me.
31 Also, the queen of Sheba travelled a long way to see King Solomon. She wanted to hear his wise words. When God judges everyone, she will stand up. She will speak against you who are alive today. She will show that you are bad people. She listened to King Solomon. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Solomon was.[h]
32 When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.’
Jesus talks about light
33 Then Jesus said, ‘When someone lights a lamp, he does not hide it. Nor does he put it under a pot. Instead, he puts it in a high place. Then other people who come into the room can see the light from the lamp. 34 Your eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. Be careful that your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light. But if your eyes are dirty, your whole body will be completely in the dark. 35 So you must be careful. Be sure that you really have light in you. Be sure that you are not still in the dark. 36 Your whole body needs to have lots of light. Nothing dark should be there. It will be as if a lamp is shining its bright light on you.’[i]
Jesus warns some Pharisees
37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and he sat down at the table. 38 Jesus did not wash his hands before he ate the meal. This surprised the Pharisee. 39 So the Lord Jesus said to him, ‘You Pharisees are like someone who only cleans the outside of his cup and his plate. You only clean the part that people can see. But inside, your mind is full of bad thoughts.[j] You like to take things from other people. 40 What fools you are! God made the inside of you as well as the outside. He knows all about you. 41 So be ready to give things to poor people. Then you will be really clean, on the inside as well as the outside.
42 It will be very bad for you Pharisees! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not do the most important things. You do not help people in a good way. You do not really love God. You should have done the important things as well as the other little things.
43 Yes, it will be very bad for you Pharisees! You like to sit in the best seats in the meeting place. And you like people to praise you in the market place.
44 It will be very bad for you. You want to seem good to other people, but you are bad on the inside. You are like a grave that has nothing to show that it is there. People walk on that place because they do not know that there is a dead person there.’[k]
45 Then a teacher of God's Law spoke out. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘when you say these things, you are also saying bad things about us.’
46 Jesus replied, ‘It will be very bad for you as well, teachers of God's Law. You give rules to people to obey. Those rules are like things that are too heavy for people to carry.[l] You do not even help people to carry them. Not even with one finger do you help them!
47 Yes, it will be very bad for you! A long time ago, your ancestors killed God's prophets. Now, you build up beautiful stones to show the place where they buried them. 48 You know that your ancestors killed the prophets. Now you build up the places where they buried them. So you show that you agree with your ancestors. You agree with what they did. 49 God is wise. Because you do not obey what is true, he said, “I will send my prophets and apostles to go to them. But they will kill some of my servants. They will hurt others of them.” 50 Since the beginning of the world, people have killed God's prophets. But God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders. 51 Abel was the first to die like this and Zechariah was the last. They even killed Zechariah in the yard of the temple, near the altar.[m] Yes, God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders.
52 It will be very bad for you teachers of God's Law! You have studied God's message. But you do not then accept it. You have also stopped people who really wanted to know God's message. Then they could not go on to accept it and go into God's kingdom.’
53 Then Jesus left that place. The Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law were angry against Jesus. They were asking him many difficult questions. 54 They wanted to make him say something wrong. Then they could take hold of him.
Bildad speaks a third time[a]
25 Then Bildad, the man from Shuah, replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘God rules everything
and we should be afraid of his great power.
In heaven above he causes there to be peace.
3 The number of angels in his armies are too many to count.
His light shines over everyone.
4 No human is righteous when he stands in front of God.
He cannot be pure.
5 When God looks at the moon and the stars,
they do not seem to be pure and bright.
6 So when God looks at us humans,
we do not seem important to him.
To him, we are as useless as worms.’
Job replies to Bildad[b]
26 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘Do not think that you have helped me,
a weak and helpless man.
Nothing that you have said makes me feel stronger.
3 What good advice have you given me
to make me wise?
You have not really shown me how clever you are!
4 Someone must have helped you to say these wise words.
Who has put all these thoughts in your minds?
5 Dead people shake with fear.
They are under the deep waters.
6 God sees everything that happens
in the place of dead people.
Nothing can hide that terrible place from him.
7 He puts the skies in their place in the north,
so that they cover empty space.
He hangs the earth in the skies
and it stays there.
8 He fills the clouds with water.
They become heavy but they do not break.
9 When the moon is big and round, he hides it.
He causes clouds to cover it.
10 He marks the border between the sea and the sky.
It is the place where the night finishes and the day begins.
11 When God is angry,
he shouts at the pillars under the sky.
When they hear his command,
they shake with fear.
12 He used his power to control the sea.
He used his wisdom to destroy Rahab,
the great sea monster.
13 He used his breath to make the sky become bright.
With his hand he cut the great sea snake
as it ran away.
14 These are only a few of the things that God does.
We only know about a few small things.
If he used all of his power,
we could never understand.’
Gifts from God's Spirit
12 My Christian friends, I want you to understand clearly about spiritual gifts. 2 You know how you lived before you came to know God. You let idols lead you in many wrong ways. And those idols cannot even speak! 3 This is what I want you to understand now. God's Spirit will never lead anyone to say, ‘God has cursed Jesus.’ And it is only God's Spirit that will lead someone to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
4 The Holy Spirit helps us with different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Spirit who gives them. 5 We serve the Lord in different ways, but all of us serve the same Lord. 6 We do different kinds of work. But it is the same God who helps us all to work in different ways.
7 God helps each of us with a gift from his Spirit. He does that so that we can help others.
8 The Spirit helps some people to speak wise messages. Other people can speak messages that help people to know what is true. It is the same Spirit that helps them to do that. 9 The same Spirit causes other people to trust God strongly. He gives to other people gifts to make sick people well. 10 The same Spirit gives other people power to do miracles. Other people can speak messages from God. Some people can recognize whether spirits are good or bad. Some people can speak in different kinds of languages. And other people can explain what those languages mean. 11 There is only one Holy Spirit. The same Spirit helps people to do all these different things. He decides which gifts he will give to each person.
One body with many parts
12 Each person has only one body, but that body has many parts. All those different parts make only one body. It is like that with Christ too. 13 When they baptized us, we all became parts of one body. It was the one Spirit who brought us together. It made no difference whether we were Jews or Gentiles. It made no difference whether we were slaves or free people. God poured his one Spirit into all of us.
14 A person's body does not have only one part. It has many parts. 15 If the foot could speak, it might say, ‘I am not a hand, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It is still a part of the body. 16 If the ear could speak, it might say, ‘I am not an eye, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It still belongs to the body. 17 If the whole body was an eye, the body would not hear anything. If the whole body was an ear, it would not recognize different smells. 18 But God has decided where each different part of our body should be.
19 If our body was all the same part, it would not be a proper body. 20 But as it is, a body has many parts. It is still only one whole body. 21 For that reason, the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you.’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’ 22 No. Even the parts of a body that seem to be weaker are very necessary. 23 Think about the parts of our body that are not very special. We dress them carefully! And we take special care of those parts that we do not want people to see. 24 But we do not need to do this with the beautiful parts of our body.
God has put all these parts together in one body. Some parts seem to be not very special. But God has shown that those parts are very valuable. 25 He has done that to bring all the parts together as one body. All the parts work together to help each other. 26 Then if one part of the body hurts, every other part also hurts. If people praise one part, every part of the body is also happy.
27 All of you together are Christ's body. And each of you is a part of that body. 28 Like the parts of a body, God has put people in different places in his church. First, there are apostles. Second, there are people who speak messages from God. Third, there are teachers. After that, there are people who do miracles. There are people who have gifts to make sick people well. There are people who help others in special ways. There are people who can lead others. And there are people who can speak different kinds of languages.
29 Not everyone in the church is an apostle. Not everyone speaks messages from God. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can do miracles. 30 Not everyone has the gifts to make sick people well. Not everyone can speak in different kinds of languages. Nor can everyone explain what messages in those languages mean. You know that. 31 But it is good if you really want the more valuable gifts from God.
Now I will show you a way that is better than anything else.
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