M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Cutting a Covenant

² But Abram said, “My Lord Adonai, what will You give me, since I am living without children, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look! You have given me no seed, so a house-born servant is my heir.”

⁴ Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him saying, “This one will not be your heir, but in fact, one who will come from your own body will be your heir. ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up now, at the sky, and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”

⁶ Then he believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷ Then He said to him, “I am Adonai who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸ So he said, “My Lord Adonai, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ Then He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old young cow, a three year old she-goat, a three year old ram, a turtle-dove and a young bird.”

¹⁰ So he brought all these to Him and cut them in half, and put each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹² When the sun was about to set and a deep sleep fell on Abram, behold, terror of great darkness was falling upon him! ¹³ Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. ¹⁴ But I am going to judge the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will go out with many possessions. ¹⁵ But you, you will come to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ Then in the fourth generation they will return here—for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” ¹⁷ When the sun set and it became dark, behold, there was a smoking oven and a fiery torch that passed between these pieces.

¹⁸ On that day Adonai cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: ¹⁹ the Kenite, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaites, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Yeshua’s Cousin Beheaded

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Yeshua. ² He said to his servants, “This is John the Immerser—he has risen from the dead! Because of this, these powers are at work in Him.” ³ For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, ⁴ because John had been telling him, “It is not permitted for you to have her.” ^{[a] 5} Although Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd because they considered John a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday celebration came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Immerser, here on a platter!” ⁹ The king became sorrowful; but because of his oaths and those reclining with him, he commanded it to be given. ¹⁰ And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² John’s disciples came forth and took the body and buried it. Then they went and reported to Yeshua.

Feeding Hungry Followers

¹³ Now when Yeshua heard this, He went away from there privately by boat to an isolated place. But when the crowds heard, they followed Him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ As Yeshua came ashore, He saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When it became evening, the disciples came to Him, saying, “This place is isolated, and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ But Yeshua said to them, “They don’t need to leave—you give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish,” they said to Him.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to Me,” He said.

¹⁹ Ordering the crowd to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish; and looking up to heaven, He offered the bracha. After breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces left over. ²¹ Now those eating were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Testing Peter’s Faith to Walk on Water

²² Right away, Yeshua made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³ After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the hillside by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone. ²⁴ But the boat was already a long way^[b] from land, tossed around by the waves, for the wind was against it. ²⁵ Now in the fourth watch^[c] of the night, Yeshua came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It’s a ghost!” And they cried out with fear.

²⁷ But immediately, Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “Take courage! I am. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ Answering, Peter said to Him, “Master, if it’s You, command me to come to You on the water.”

²⁹ And He said, “Come!”

And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to go to Yeshua. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became terrified. And beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Master, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Yeshua reached out His hand and grabbed him. And He said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³² When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You really are Ben-Elohim!”^[d]

³⁴ After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Yeshua, they sent word into all the surrounding region. And they brought to Him all those who were in bad shape ³⁶ and kept begging Him that they might just touch the tzitzit of His garment—and all who touched it were cured.

4 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was proceeding and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they became extremely angry. ² They all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to stir up trouble against it. ³ But we prayed to our God and stationed a guard against them day and night.

⁴ Meanwhile the people of Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing. There is so much rubble that we are unable to rebuild the wall.”

⁵ Our adversaries also said, “They will not know or perceive anything, until we come among them and kill them, and put an end to the work!”

⁶ So it happened that the Jews living near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us!”

Working and Watching

⁷ So I stationed people in the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. I stationed the people by families with their swords, spears and bows. ⁸ When I looked things over, I rose up and said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

⁹ Now when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. ¹⁰ From that day on, half of my men were doing the work, while half of them took hold of the spears, shields, bows and breastplates, and the leaders were behind the entire house of Judah. ¹¹ Those building the wall and those bearing heavy burdens kept one hand on the work and the other holding a weapon. ¹² So each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while they were building, and the shofar blower was beside me.

¹³ Then I said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from one another on the wall. ¹⁴ Wherever you hear the sound of the shofar, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”

¹⁵ So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from dawn until the stars came out. ¹⁶ Also at that time I said to the people, “Let every man and his helper lodge inside Jerusalem, so they can be guards for us by night and workers by day.” ¹⁷ So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my workers, nor the guards who were with me took off our clothes; each man even had his weapon at the water.

Mixed Crowds Believe Amidst Persecution

14 Now in Iconium, the same thing happened—they entered as usual into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large number of Jewish and Greek people believed. ² But the Jewish people who would not believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³ So they stayed there a considerable time, speaking boldly in the Lord—who was testifying to the message of His grace, granting signs and wonders to come about by their hands. ⁴ But the population of the city split; some were with the Jewish leaders and some were with the emissaries. ⁵ Now it happened that an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jewish people, along with their rulers, to abuse and stone them. ⁶ But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding countryside. ⁷ There they proclaimed the Good News.

⁸ Now a man was sitting in Lystra without strength in his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked. ⁹ This man heard Paul speaking. When Paul looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰ he said with a loud voice, “Stand right up! On your feet!” And the man leaped up and began to walk around!

¹¹ Now the crowd, seeing what Paul had done, lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have become like men and come down to us!” ¹² And they began calling Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes” (because he was the main speaker).

¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was before the front gate of the city, brought bulls and garlands; he wanted to offer a sacrifice with the people. ¹⁴ But when the emissaries Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out among the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are human, just like you! We proclaim the Good News to you, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ^{[a] 16} In past generations He allowed all the nations to go their own ways. ^{[b] 17} Yet He did not leave Himself without a witness—He did good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with joy and gladness.” ^{[c] 18} Even saying these things, they barely restrained the crowd from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹ But Jewish people came from Antioch and Iconium; and after they won the crowd over and stoned Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. ²⁰ But while the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went back into the city. On the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. ²¹ After proclaiming the Good News to that city and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. ²² They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in faith, and saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ When they had handpicked elders for them in every community, and prayed with fasting, they placed them in the care of the Lord—in whom they had put their trust.

²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphyllia. ²⁵ After speaking the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed back to Antioch (where they had been entrusted to the gracious care of God for the work now completed). ²⁷ When they arrived and gathered together Messiah’s community, they began to report all that God had done in helping them and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they stayed quite awhile with the disciples.