M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the garden; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You will not eat of it, nor will you touch it, or else you will die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this,
You are cursed above all livestock,
and above every beast of the field;
you will go on your belly,
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he will bruise your head,
and you will bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth,
and in pain you will bring forth children;
your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 And to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’
Cursed is the ground on account of you;
in hard labor you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 Thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you will eat bread
until you return to the ground,
because out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you will return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skins for both Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 The Lord God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now, he might reach out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove the man out, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The Preaching of John the Baptist(A)
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make His paths straight.’ ”[a]
4 This same John had clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him, 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to escape from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is put to the tree roots. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus(B)
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 But John prohibited Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water. And suddenly the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove. 17 And a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Rebuilding the Altar
3 When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel had resettled in their cities, and the people gathered themselves together, as one man, to Jerusalem. 2 Then Joshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, along with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it had been written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. 3 They set the altar upon its foundations and, because they were living in fear of some of the peoples of the region, they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord—morning and evening. 4 They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it had been written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in accordance with the daily schedule, according to each day’s custom. 5 Thereafter, observance of the burnt offering became a perpetual sacrifice with regard to the New Moon sacrifices and all of the appointed feasts of the Lord that had been consecrated, and all of the voluntary freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they had begun to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.
Rebuilding the Temple
7 They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre so that they would bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, at Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
8 Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Joshua the son of Jozadak, along with the remnant of their brothers the Levitical priests and all who had come out of captivity back to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the work on the house of the Lord. 9 Then Joshua with his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel with his sons, who are the sons of Judah, along with the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers—all Levites—stood together to supervise the workers on the house of God.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their apparel stood with trumpets and, from the Levites, the sons of Asaph stood with cymbals to praise the Lord, following the example of David king of Israel. 11 They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks unto the Lord,
“For He is good,
for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”
And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 Now many of the older Levitical priests and chiefs of the fathers’ households who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice as the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes, though many others shouted exuberantly for joy. 13 As a result, the people could not distinguish the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people since the people had raised such a loud noise that could be heard from afar off.
The Lame Man Healed at the Temple Gate
3 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. 2 A man lame from birth was being carried, whom people placed daily at the gate of the temple called Beautiful to ask alms from those who entered the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. 4 Peter, gazing at him with John, said, “Look at us.” 5 So he paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened. 8 Jumping up, he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 They knew that it was he who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.
Peter’s Speech at Solomon’s Porch
11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the entrance that is called Solomon’s Porch, greatly amazed. 12 When Peter saw it, he answered the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Or why do you stare at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Son Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Creator of Life, whom God has raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, by faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. And faith which comes through Him has given him perfect health in your presence.
17 “Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold through all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled. 19 Therefore repent and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send the One who previously was preached to you, Jesus Christ, 21 whom the heavens must receive until the time of restoring what God spoke through all His holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall hear whatever He may say to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly eliminated from the people.’[a]
24 “Indeed, all the prophets since Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’[b] 26 God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you from your iniquities.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.