M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal^[a] which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, ³ but from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods,^[b] knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When^[c] the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then^[d] she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then^[e] the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings.

⁸ Then^[f] they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden at the windy time of day.^[g] And the man^[h] and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ And Yahweh God called to the man^[i] and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he replied,^[j] “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid myself.” ¹¹ Then he^[k] asked,^[l] “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?”^{[m] 12} And the man^[n] replied,^[o] “The woman whom you gave to be with me—she gave to me from the tree and I ate.” ¹³ Then^[p] Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ Then^[q] Yahweh God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam^[v] he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I forbade you to eat,^[w]

²⁰ And the man^[y] named^[z] his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all life. ²¹ And Yahweh God made for Adam^[aa] and for his wife garments of skin, and he clothed them.

²² And Yahweh God said, “Look—the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. What if^[ab] he stretches out his hand and takes also from the tree of life and eats, and lives forever?” ²³ And Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So^[ac] he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming, turning sword^[ad] to guard the way to the tree of life.

John the Baptist Begins His Ministry

3 Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Judean wilderness ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” ³ For this is the one who was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah, saying,

⁴ Now John himself had his clothing made from camel’s hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they^[b] confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he^[c] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! ⁹ And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ Already now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹ I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John in order to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent^[d] him, saying, “I need^[e] to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered and^[f] said to him, “Permit it now, for in this way it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted him. ¹⁶ Now after he^[g] was baptized, Jesus immediately went up from the water, and behold, the heavens opened^[h] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming^[i] upon him. ¹⁷ And behold, there was^[j] a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Worship in Jerusalem Restored

3 Now the seventh month drew near and the Israelites^[a] were in the cities, so the people gathered as one^[b] in Jerusalem. ² And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. ³ They set up the altar on its foundations, because they were in terror^[c] because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening. ⁴ And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered burnt offerings day by day in number according to the ordinance as described for each day.^{[d] 5} After this, they presented the daily sacrifice of burnt offerings, the offerings for the New Moon Festival, and for all of the appointed times consecrated for Yahweh and for all who gave a freewill offering to Yahweh. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh. But the temple of Yahweh was not yet founded. ⁷ So they gave money to the stone craftsmen and skilled craftsmen, and food, drink, and olive oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the authorization over them of Cyrus king of Persia.

Foundation of the Temple is Laid

⁸ In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak began their work, and the remainder of their brothers the priests and the Levites and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed the Levites from twenty years and older^[e] to direct the work of the house of Yahweh. ⁹ And Jeshua with his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons—the sons of Judah—together directed the workers in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers the Levites.

¹⁰ And the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, and the priests in their apparel with the trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with the cymbals, were positioned to praise Yahweh, as described by^[f] King David of Israel. ¹¹ And they sang responsively,^[g] with praising and thanksgiving to Yahweh saying, “For he is good, for his loyal love is everlasting for Israel.”

And all of the people responded with a great shout of joyful acclaim in praise to Yahweh because the house of Yahweh was laid. ¹² But many of the elderly priests, Levites, and heads of the families who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house, but many shouted aloud with joy.^{[h] 13} No person could distinguish the sound of joyful acclaim from the sound of people weeping, for the people shouted with great joyful acclaim and the sound was heard from afar.

A Lame Beggar Healed at the Temple

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ² And a certain man was being carried who was lame from birth.^[a] He^[b] was placed every day at the gate of the temple called “Beautiful,” so that he could ask for charitable gifts from those who were going into the temple courts.^{[c] 3} When he^[d] saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts,^[e] he began asking to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter looked intently at him, together with John, and^[f] said, “Look at us!” ⁵ So he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not possess,^[g] but what I have, this I give to you—in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”^{[h] 7} And taking hold of him by the right hand, he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸ And leaping up, he stood and began walking around^[i] and entered into the temple courts^[j] with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ And they recognized him, that this one^[k] was the one who used to sit asking for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Peter’s Sermon in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹ And while^[l] he was holding fast to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, utterly astonished. ¹² And when he^[m] saw it,^[n] Peter replied to the people, “Men and Israelites, why are you astonished at this? Or why are you staring at us, as if by our own power or godliness we have made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham and of Isaac^[o] and of Jacob,^[p] the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, after^[q] he had decided to release him.^{[r] 14} But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and demanded that a man—a murderer—be granted to you. ¹⁵ And you killed the originator of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses! ¹⁶ And on the basis of faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. ¹⁷ And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. ¹⁸ But the things which God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ^[s] would suffer, he has fulfilled in this way. ¹⁹ Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send the Christ^[t] appointed for you—Jesus, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from earliest times. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God^[u] will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you.^{[v] 23} And it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed utterly from the people.’^{[w] 24} And indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and all those who followed him^[x] have spoken about and proclaimed these days. ²⁵ You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’^{[y] 26} God, after he^[z] had raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each of you back from your wickedness!”