M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Deliverance Through the Flood
7 Then Adonai said to Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark. For you only do I perceive as righteous before Me in this generation. 2 Of every clean animal you shall take with you seven of each kind, male and female; and of the animals which themselves are not clean two, male and female; 3 also of the flying creatures of the sky seven of every kind, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole land. 4 For in seven more days, I am going to make it rain upon the land forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out all existence that I made from the face of the ground. 5 So Noah did all just as Adonai commanded him.
6 Now Noah was 600 years old when the flood came—water upon the land. 7 So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, entered the ark because of the floodwaters. 8 Of the clean animals and unclean animals, the flying creatures and everything that crawls on the ground, 9 two by two they came to Noah, into the ark, male and female, just as God commanded Noah.
10 After the seven days, the floodwaters were upon the land. 11 In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day, all the water sources of the great deep burst open, and the windows of the sky were opened. 12 Then there was rain upon the land 40 days and 40 nights.
13 On that same day Noah, along with Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s wife and the three wives of Noah’s sons with them, entered the ark, 14 they and every animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to its kind, and every crawling creature that crawls on the land according to its kind, and every flying creature according to its kind, every bird, every winged creature. 15 So to Noah and into the ark they went by twos—all flesh in which was the spirit of life. 16 Those that came, male and female of all flesh, came just as God commanded him. Then Adonai shut him in.
17 The flood was forty days upon the land, and the waters increased and lifted the ark, so that it rose above the land. 18 The waters overpowered and became very mighty over the land, and the ark drifted on the surface of the water. 19 The waters completely overpowered the land so that all the high mountains beneath the entire sky were covered. 20 The waters rose 15 cubits higher, as the mountains were covered. 21 All flesh perished—those that crawl on the land, the flying creatures, livestock, wild animals, all creatures that swarm upon the land, and all humankind. 22 Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land—died. 23 So He wiped out all existence that was upon the surface of the ground, everything from people to livestock, to crawling creatures, and to flying creatures of the sky. They were wiped out off the land. Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived. 24 The waters overpowered the land for 150 days.
Measuring Your Measure
7 “Stop judging, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the beam is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet, then turn and rip you to shreds.
7 “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened.
9 “For what man among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or when he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, being 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! 12 So in all things, do to others what you would want them to do to you—for this is the Torah and the Prophets.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Judging the Fruit
15 “Watch out for false prophets,[a] who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes aren’t gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? 17 Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”[b]
Building on a Firm Foundation
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and yet it did not fall, for its foundation had been built on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And 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 Yeshua had finished these words, the crowds were astounded at His teaching, 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority and not as their Torah scholars.
Ezra Returns From Babylon
7 Now after these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 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 Aaron the kohen gadol— 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Torah of Moses that Adonai the God of Israel had given. The king granted him everything he requested, because the hand of Adonai his God was upon him. 7 Some of Bnei-Yisrael and some of the kohanim, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the sanctuary servants also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
8 He arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. 9 He began his aliyah from Babylon on the first day of the first month and entered Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, because the good hand of his God was upon him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to seek the Torah of Adonai, to observe and to teach its statues and ordinances in Israel.
King Artaxerxes’ Letter to Ezra
11 Now this is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the kohen, the scribe, a teacher of matters pertaining to the mitzvot of Adonai and His statutes over Israel:
12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings,
“To Ezra the kohen, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven.
13 “I have now issued a decree that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel—even the kohanim and Levites—who wish to go up to Jerusalem with you may go. 14 For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, 15 and to bring the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 together with all the silver and gold that you find in the whole province of Babylon, as well as the freewill offerings of the people and the kohanim for the House of their God in Jerusalem. 17 Furthermore, with this silver you should be sure to buy bulls, rams and lambs, along with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and offer them on the altar of the House of your God in Jerusalem. 18 You may do whatever seems good to you and your brothers with the remaining silver and gold, according to the will of your God.
19 “The vessels that are entrusted to you for the service of the House of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20 The rest of the needs for the House of your God that you may have occasioned to supply, you may provide from the royal treasury.
21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue a decree to all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates to diligently provide all that Ezra the kohen, scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may ask of you— 22 up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without limit. 23 Everything that the God of heaven has required, let it be done with diligence for the House of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? 24 We also notify you that you have no authority to impose tribute, tax or duty on any of the kohanim, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, sanctuary servants, or attendants at this House of God.
25 “Now you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint judges and magistrates who may administer justice to all the people in Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach those who do not know them. 26 Let anyone who does not observe the Law of your God and the law of the king, be punished with due diligence, whether it is death or banishment, confiscation of goods or imprisonment.”
27 Blessed be Adonai, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the heart of the king to beautify the House of Adonai in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and all the king’s mighty princes. I gained strength, as the hand of Adonai my God was upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
7 Then the kohen gadol said, “Are these things so?”
2 Stephen declared, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 He said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come here to the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God moved him to this land where you now live. 5 He gave him no inheritance in it—not even a foothold—yet He promised ‘to give it to him as a possession to him and to his descendants after him,’ even though he had no child.
6 “But God spoke in this way, that his ‘descendants would be foreigners in a land belonging to others, and they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7 But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’[a]
8 “Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.[b] So he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and so Isaac with Jacob, and Jacob with the twelve patriarchs. 9 The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him. 10 He rescued him out of all his troubles and granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and all his household.
11 “Famine and great suffering came over all Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh. 14 So Joseph sent and called for Jacob and all his relatives—seventy-five persons. 15 Jacob went down to Egypt and died, he and our fathers. 16 They were carried to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time drew near for the promise God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt— 18 until ‘there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.’ [c] 19 Dealing with our people with cruel cunning, this king mistreated our fathers and forced them to abandon their infants so they would not survive.
20 “At this time Moses was born—extraordinary before God. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house. 21 And when he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and raised him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was approaching forty years of age, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, Bnei-Yisrael. 24 When he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he went to the defense of the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He was assuming that his brothers understood that by his hand God was delivering them, but they did not understand. 26 So on the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting. He tried to reconcile them in shalom, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’
27 “But the one doing wrong to his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? 28 You don’t want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ [d] 29 At this remark, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “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. But when he came up to look, there came the voice of Adonai: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’[e]
“Moses trembled in fear and did not dare to look. 33 But Adonai said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. Now come—let Me send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses—whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you as ruler and judge?’—is the one whom God sent as both ruler and redeemer, by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to Bnei-Yisrael, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’[f]
38 “This is the one who was in the community in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living words to pass on to us. 39 Our fathers did not want to be obedient to him, but shoved him aside. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us. For this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we have no idea what has happened to him.’[g]
41 “And they made a calf in those days, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘It was not to Me that you brought sacrifices and offerings
for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O House of Israel?
43 You also took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images you made to worship.
And I will deport you beyond Babylon.’[h]
44 “Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness—just as the One speaking to Moses had directed him to make it according to the design he had seen. 45 Our fathers received it in turn and brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the land of the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it remained until the days of David, 46 who found favor in God’s sight. He asked to find a dwelling place for the God[i] of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built a house for Him. 48 However, Elyon does not dwell in man-made houses. As the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is the footstool of My feet.
What kind of house will you build for Me, says Adonai,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 Did not My Hand make all these things?’[j]
51 “O you stiff-necked people! You uncircumcised of heart and ears! You always resist the Ruach ha-Kodesh; just as your fathers did, you do as well. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed the ones who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. Now you have become His betrayers and murderers— 53 you who received the Torah by direction of angels and did not keep it!”
54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God—and Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 But they covered their ears; and crying out with a loud voice, they rushed at him with one impulse. 58 Driving him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out, “Lord Yeshua, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” After he said this, he died.[k]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.