M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had not given birth to any children. She had a woman servant from Egypt whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “Now see, the Lord has kept me from having children. Go in to the woman who serves me. It may be that I will get children through her.” Abram listened to what Sarai said. ³ So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, who served her, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. That was after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan. ⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she was going to have a child. And when she saw that she was going to have a child, she began to hate Sarai. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you. I gave the woman who served me into your arms. But when she saw that she was going to have a child, she began to hate me. May the Lord judge who is guilty or not between you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “See, the woman who serves you is in your power. Do what you want with her.” So Sarai made it hard for Hagar. And Hagar ran away from her.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a well of water in the desert on the way to Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, you who serve Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from Sarai, the one I serve.” ⁹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your boss. Put yourself under her power.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will give you so many people in your family through the years that they will be too many to number.” ¹¹ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “See, you are going to have a child. And you will give birth to a son. You will give him the name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard how you have suffered. ¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against all people. And the hand of all people will be against him. He will live to the east of all his brothers.” ¹³ So Hagar gave this name to the Lord Who spoke to her, “You are a God Who sees.” For she said, “Have I even stayed alive here after seeing Him?” ¹⁴ So the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. And Abram gave his son who was born of Hagar the name Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to his son Ishmael.

Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Leaders ^(A)

15 Some of the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers from Jerusalem came to Jesus. They asked, ² “Why do Your followers not obey the teaching that was given to them by our fathers? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ Jesus said to them, “Why do you break the Law of God by trying to keep their teaching? ⁴ For God said, ‘Show respect to your father and mother.’ ^(B) And, ‘He who curses his father or mother will be put to death.’ ^{(C) 5} But you say that if a man says to his parents that anything he has, that might have been of help to them, is already given to God, ⁶ he does not have to show respect by helping his father and mother. You are putting aside the Word of God to keep their teaching. ⁷ You who pretend to be someone you are not, Isaiah told about you. He said, ⁸ ’These people show respect to Me with their mouth, but their heart is far from Me. ⁹ Their worship of Me is worth nothing. They teach what men have made up.’” ^(D)

¹⁰ Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, “Listen and understand this! ¹¹ It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes his mind and heart sinful. It is what comes out of a man’s mouth that makes him sinful.”

¹² His followers came to Him. They said, “Did You know the proud religious law-keepers were ashamed and turned away because of You when they heard this?” ¹³ He said, “Every plant that My Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. If one blind man leads another blind man, they will both fall into a hole.”

¹⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Tell us this picture-story so we can understand it.” ¹⁶ Jesus said, “Do you not understand yet? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But whatever comes from the mouth has come out of the heart. These things make the man unclean inside. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come bad thoughts, killing other people, sex sins of a married person, sex sins of a person not married, stealing, lying, speaking against God. ²⁰ These are the things that make the man unclean inside. It does not make a man sinful to eat with hands that have not been washed.”

Jesus Puts a Demon Out of a Girl ^(E)

²¹ Jesus went from there to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A woman came from the land of Canaan. She cried out to Jesus and said, “Take pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter has a demon and is much troubled.” ²³ But Jesus did not speak a word to her. His followers kept asking, saying, “Send her away for she keeps calling us.” ²⁴ He said, “I was sent only to the Jewish people who are lost.” ²⁵ Then she came and got down before Jesus and worshiped Him. She said, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ But He said, “It is not right to take children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces that fall from the table of their owners.” ²⁸ Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have much faith. You will have what you asked for.” Her daughter was healed at that very time.

Jesus Heals All Who Come to Him

²⁹ Jesus went from there and came to the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up the mountain and sat down. ³⁰ Many people came to Him. They brought with them those who were not able to walk. They brought those who were not able to see. They brought those who were not able to hear or speak and many others. Then they put them at the feet of Jesus and He healed them. ³¹ All the people wondered. They saw how those who could not speak were now talking. They saw how those who could not walk were now walking. They saw how those who could not see were now seeing, and they gave thanks to the God of the Jews.

The Feeding of the Four Thousand ^(F)

³² Then Jesus called His followers to Him. He said, “I pity these people because they have been with Me three days and they have no food. I do not want to send them home without food. They might get too weak as they go.” ³³ The followers said to Jesus, “Where can we get enough bread to feed them all in this desert?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?” They said, “Seven loaves and a few small fish.” ³⁵ He told the people to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He broke them and gave them to His followers. The followers gave them to the people. ³⁷ They all ate and were filled. They picked up seven baskets full of pieces of bread and fish after the people finished eating. ³⁸ Four thousand men ate. Women and children ate also. ³⁹ After this Jesus sent the people away. Then He got into a boat and came to a place called Magadan.

Help for Poor People

5 Now the people and their wives began to cry in a loud voice against their Jewish brothers. ² For some said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” ³ And some said, “We are giving up our fields, our grape-vines and our houses, that we might get grain because of no food.” ⁴ Others said, “We have taken money from others to pay the king’s tax on our fields and our grape-vines, and we must pay back this money. ⁵ Our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers. Our children are like their children. Yet we are made to sell our sons and daughters to work for others. Some of our daughters have already been sold and taken away. We cannot do anything, because our fields and vines belong to others.”

⁶ I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. ⁷ I thought about it, and spoke sharp words to the rulers and leaders. I said to them, “You are making the people pay back more money than you give them to use!” So I gathered many people together against them. ⁸ And I said to them, “As we have been able, we have bought and freed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations. But you would even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were quiet and could not find a word to say. ⁹ So I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to stop the nations who hate us from putting us to shame? ¹⁰ I, my brothers and my servants are giving them money and grain. Let us stop making them pay back more than they are given. ¹¹ Return to them this very day their fields, vines, olive trees, and houses. Also return to them one-hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine, and oil, that you have been making them pay.” ¹² Then they said, “We will give these back and will ask nothing from them. We will do just as you say.” So I called the religious leaders, and had them promise that they would keep their word. ¹³ I shook out the front of my clothing and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from all he has worked for, who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and made empty.” And all the people said, “Let it be so!” and praised the Lord. Then they did as they had promised.

Nehemiah Does Not Think of Himself

¹⁴ Also, in the twelve years after I was chosen to be their ruler in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, I and my brothers did not eat the food allowed to the ruler. ¹⁵ The rulers who were before me made the people work very hard. They took bread and wine from them, besides forty pieces of silver. Even their servants ruled over the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God. ¹⁶ I also worked on this wall myself, and we did not buy any land. And all my servants were gathered there for the work. ¹⁷ Also, there were 150 Jews and leaders at my table, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. ¹⁸ One bull, six of the best sheep, and birds were made ready for me each day. All kinds of wine were brought in every ten days. Yet for all this I did not make them give me the food allowed to me as ruler, because the work was very hard for these people. ¹⁹ O my God, remember me for good for all I have done for these people.

A Meeting of Church Leaders in Jerusalem

15 Some men came down from the country of Judea and started to teach the Christians. They said, “Unless you go through the religious act of becoming a Jew as Moses taught, you cannot be saved from the punishment of sin.” ² Paul and Barnabas argued with them. Then Paul and Barnabas and some other men were chosen to go up to Jerusalem. They were to talk to the missionaries and church leaders about this teaching. ³ The church sent them on their way. They went through the countries of Phoenicia and Samaria and told how those who were not Jews were turning to God. This made the Christians very happy.

⁴ When they got to Jerusalem, the church and the missionaries and the church leaders were glad to see them. Paul and Barnabas told them what God had done through them.

⁵ Some of the Christians there had been proud religious law-keepers. They got up and said, “Doing the religious act of becoming a Jew and keeping the Law of Moses are two things that must be done.” ⁶ The missionaries and church leaders got together to talk about this. ⁷ After a long time of much talking, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know in the early days God was pleased to use me to preach the Good News to the people who are not Jews so they might put their trust in Christ. ⁸ God knows the hearts of all men. He showed them they were to have His loving-favor by giving them the Holy Spirit the same as He gave to us. ⁹ He has made no difference between them and us. They had their hearts made clean when they put their trust in Him also. ¹⁰ Why do you test God by putting too heavy a load on the back of the followers? It was too heavy for our fathers or for us to carry. ¹¹ We believe it is by the loving-favor of the Lord Jesus that we are saved. They are saved from the punishment of sin the same way.”

¹² All those who were gathered together said nothing. They listened to Paul and Barnabas who told of the powerful works God had done through them among the people who are not Jews.

God’s Call Is Also for the People Who Are Not Jews

¹³ When they finished speaking, James said, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon Peter has told how God first visited the people who are not Jews. He was getting a people for Himself. ¹⁵ This agrees with what the early preacher said, ¹⁶ ’After this I will come back and build again the building of David that fell down. Yes, I will build it again from the stones that fell down. I will set it up again. ¹⁷ Then all the nations may look for the Lord, even all the people who are not Jews who are called by My name. The Lord said this. He does all these things. ¹⁸ God has made all His works known from the beginning of time.’ ^(A)

The People Who Are Not Jews Are Not Under the Law

¹⁹ “So we should not trouble these people who are not Jews who are turning to God. ²⁰ We should write to them that they should keep away from everything that is given to gods. They should keep away from sex sins and not eat blood or meat from animals that have been killed in ways against the Law. ²¹ For the Law of Moses has been read in every city from the early days. It has been read in the Jewish places of worship on every Day of Rest.”

²² Then the missionaries and the church leaders and the whole church chose some men from among them. They were to be sent to the city of Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas Barsabbas and Silas. These men were leaders among the Christians.

²³ They sent them with this letter: “The missionaries and church leaders and Christians greet the brothers who are not Jews in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. ²⁴ We have heard that some from our group have troubled you and have put doubt in your minds. They said that you must go through the religious act of becoming a Jew and you must keep the Law of Moses. We did not tell them to say these things. ²⁵ All of us have wanted to send men to you with our much-loved Paul and Barnabas. ²⁶ Their lives have been in danger for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ So now we send Judas and Silas to you. They will tell you the same things. ²⁸ It pleased the Holy Spirit and us to ask you to do nothing more than these things that have to be done. ²⁹ You are to keep away from everything that is given to gods. Do not eat blood or meat from animals that have been killed in ways against the Law. Keep away from sex sins. If you keep yourselves free from these things you will do well. Good-by.”

The Missionaries Go Back to Antioch

³⁰ When the meeting was finished, they went to Antioch. As soon as they gathered the people together, they gave them the letter. ³¹ When they read it, they were glad for the comfort and strength it brought them. ³² Judas and Silas were preachers also. They preached to the Christians and helped them to become stronger in the faith.

³³ They were there for some time. Then they were sent back in peace to the missionaries who had sent them. ³⁴ But Silas thought he should stay there. ³⁵ Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. With the help of many others, they preached and taught the Word of God.

Paul Starts Out the Second Time

³⁶ After awhile, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the Christians in every city where we have preached the Word of God. Let us see how they are doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them. ³⁸ Paul did not think it was good to take him because he had left them while they were in Pamphylia. He had not helped them in the work. ³⁹ They argued so much that they left each other. Barnabas took John Mark with him and went by ship to the island of Cyprus. ⁴⁰ Paul chose Silas. After the Christians asked for the Lord’s favor to be on Paul and Silas, they went on their way. ⁴¹ They went through Syria and Cilicia making the churches stronger in the faith.