M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Proof of the Agreement
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Obey me and do what is right. 2 I will make an agreement between us, and I will make you the ancestor of many people.”
3 Then Abram bowed facedown on the ground. God said to him, 4 “I am making my agreement with you: I will make you the father of many nations. 5 I am changing your name from Abram[a] to Abraham[b] because I am making you a father of many nations. 6 I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. 7 And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. 8 You live in the land of Canaan now as a stranger, but I will give you and your descendants all this land forever. And I will be the God of your descendants.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “You and your descendants must keep this agreement from now on. 10 This is my agreement with you and all your descendants, which you must obey: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 Cut away your foreskin to show that you are prepared to follow the agreement between me and you. 12 From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave, who is not one of your descendants. 13 Circumcise every baby boy whether he is born in your family or bought as a slave. Your bodies will be marked to show that you are part of my agreement that lasts forever. 14 Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my agreement.”
Isaac—the Promised Son
15 God said to Abraham, “I will change the name of Sarai,[c] your wife, to Sarah.[d] 16 I will bless her and give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”
17 Abraham bowed facedown on the ground and laughed. He said to himself, “Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth to a child when she is ninety?” 18 Then Abraham said to God, “Please let Ishmael be the son you promised.”
19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife will have a son, and you will name him Isaac.[e] I will make my agreement with him to be an agreement that continues forever with all his descendants.
20 “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will bless him and give him many descendants. And I will cause their numbers to grow greatly. He will be the father of twelve great leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son whom Sarah will have at this same time next year.” 22 After God finished talking with Abraham, God rose and left him.
23 Then Abraham gathered Ishmael, all the males born in his camp, and the slaves he had bought. So that day Abraham circumcised every man and boy in his camp as God had told him to do. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. 25 And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. 26 Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day. 27 Also on that day all the men in Abraham’s camp were circumcised, including all those born in his camp and all the slaves he had bought from other nations.
The Leaders Ask for a Miracle
16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick him. So they asked him to show them a miracle from God.
2 Jesus answered,[a] “At sunset you say we will have good weather, because the sky is red. 3 And in the morning you say that it will be a rainy day, because the sky is dark and red. You see these signs in the sky and know what they mean. In the same way, you see the things that I am doing now, but you don’t know their meaning. 4 Evil and sinful people ask for a miracle as a sign, but they will not be given any sign, except the sign of Jonah.”[b] Then Jesus left them and went away.
Guard Against Wrong Teachings
5 Jesus’ followers went across the lake, but they had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.”
8 Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. 9 Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the five thousand? And remember that you filled many baskets with the leftovers? 10 Or the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand and the many baskets you filled then also? 11 I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? I am telling you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 12 Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ
13 When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his followers, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah, and still others say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 Then Jesus asked them, “And who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because no person taught you that. My Father in heaven showed you who I am. 18 So I tell you, you are Peter.[c] On this rock I will build my church, and the power of death will not be able to defeat it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things that God does not allow, and the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.” 20 Then Jesus warned his followers not to tell anyone he was the Christ.
Jesus Says that He Must Die
21 From that time on Jesus began telling his followers that he must go to Jerusalem, where the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make him suffer many things. He told them he must be killed and then be raised from the dead on the third day.
22 Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that. He said, “God save you from those things, Lord! Those things will never happen to you!”
23 Then Jesus said to Peter, “Go away from me, Satan![d] You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important.”
24 Then Jesus said to his followers, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me. 25 Those who want to save their lives will give up true life, and those who give up their lives for me will have true life. 26 It is worthless to have the whole world if they lose their souls. They could never pay enough to buy back their souls. 27 The Son of Man will come again with his Father’s glory and with his angels. At that time, he will reward them for what they have done. 28 I tell you the truth, some people standing here will see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom before they die.”
More Problems for Nehemiah
6 Then Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was not one gap in it. But I had not yet set the doors in the gates. 2 So Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, Nehemiah, let’s meet together in Kephirim on the plain of Ono.”
But they were planning to harm me. 3 So I sent messengers to them with this answer: “I am doing a great work, and I can’t come down. I don’t want the work to stop while I leave to meet you.” 4 Sanballat and Geshem sent the same message to me four times, and each time I sent back the same answer.
5 The fifth time Sanballat sent his helper to me with the message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter. 6 This is what was written:
A report is going around to all the nations, and Geshem says it is true, that you and the Jewish people are planning to turn against the king and that you are rebuilding the wall. They say you are going to be their king 7 and that you have appointed prophets to announce in Jerusalem: “There is a king of Judah!” The king will hear about this. So come, let’s discuss this together.
8 So I sent him back this answer: “Nothing you are saying is really happening. You are just making it up in your own mind.”
9 Our enemies were trying to scare us, thinking, “They will get too weak to work. Then the wall will not be finished.”
But I prayed, “God, make me strong.”
10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. Shemaiah had to stay at home. He said, “Nehemiah, let’s meet in the Temple of God. Let’s go inside the Temple and close the doors, because men are coming at night to kill you.”
11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Should I run for my life into the Temple? I will not go.” 12 I knew that God had not sent him but that Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to prophesy against me. 13 They paid him to frighten me so I would do this and sin. Then they could give me a bad name to shame me.
14 I prayed, “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat and what they have done. Also remember the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who have been trying to frighten me.”
The Wall Is Finished
15 The wall of Jerusalem was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul. It took fifty-two days to rebuild. 16 When all our enemies heard about it and all the nations around us saw it, they were shamed. They then understood that the work had been done with the help of our God.
17 Also in those days the important people of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and he answered them. 18 Many Jewish people had promised to be faithful to Tobiah, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah. And Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 These important people kept telling me about the good things Tobiah was doing, and then they would tell Tobiah what I said about him. So Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.
Timothy Goes with Paul
16 Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, where a follower named Timothy lived. Timothy’s mother was Jewish and a believer, but his father was a Greek.
2 The believers in Lystra and Iconium respected Timothy and said good things about him. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, but all the people living in that area knew that Timothy’s father was Greek. So Paul circumcised Timothy to please his mother’s people. 4 Paul and those with him traveled from town to town and gave the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches became stronger in the faith and grew larger every day.
Paul Is Called Out of Asia
6 Paul and those with him went through the areas of Phrygia and Galatia since the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the Good News in Asia. 7 When they came near the country of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went to Troas. 9 That night Paul saw in a vision a man from Macedonia. The man stood and begged, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to leave for Macedonia, understanding that God had called us to tell the Good News to those people.
Lydia Becomes a Christian
11 We left Troas and sailed straight to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to Neapolis.[a] 12 Then we went by land to Philippi, a Roman colony[b] and the leading city in that part of Macedonia. We stayed there for several days.
13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the river where we thought we would find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them. 14 One of the listeners was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira whose job was selling purple cloth. She worshiped God, and he opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. 15 She and all the people in her house were baptized. Then she invited us to her home, saying, “If you think I am truly a believer in the Lord, then come stay in my house.” And she persuaded us to stay with her.
Paul and Silas in Jail
16 Once, while we were going to the place for prayer, a servant girl met us. She had a special spirit[c] in her, and she earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God. They are telling you how you can be saved.”
18 She kept this up for many days. This bothered Paul, so he turned and said to the spirit, “By the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately, the spirit came out.
19 When the owners of the servant girl saw this, they knew that now they could not use her to make money. So they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the city rulers in the marketplace. 20 They brought Paul and Silas to the Roman rulers and said, “These men are Jews and are making trouble in our city. 21 They are teaching things that are not right for us as Romans to do.”
22 The crowd joined the attack against them. The Roman officers tore the clothes of Paul and Silas and had them beaten with rods. 23 Then Paul and Silas were thrown into jail, and the jailer was ordered to guard them carefully. 24 When he heard this order, he put them far inside the jail and pinned their feet down between large blocks of wood.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God as the other prisoners listened. 26 Suddenly, there was a strong earthquake that shook the foundation of the jail. Then all the doors of the jail broke open, and all the prisoners were freed from their chains. 27 The jailer woke up and saw that the jail doors were open. Thinking that the prisoners had already escaped, he got his sword and was about to kill himself.[d] 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t hurt yourself! We are all here.”
29 The jailer told someone to bring a light. Then he ran inside and, shaking with fear, fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.” 32 So Paul and Silas told the message of the Lord to the jailer and all the people in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took Paul and Silas and washed their wounds. Then he and all his people were baptized immediately. 34 After this the jailer took Paul and Silas home and gave them food. He and his family were very happy because they now believed in God.
35 The next morning, the Roman officers sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let these men go free.”
36 The jailer said to Paul, “The officers have sent an order to let you go free. You can leave now. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to the police, “They beat us in public without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens.[e] And they threw us in jail. Now they want to make us go away quietly. No! Let them come themselves and bring us out.”
38 The police told the Roman officers what Paul said. When the officers heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. 39 So they came and told Paul and Silas they were sorry and took them out of jail and asked them to leave the city. 40 So when they came out of the jail, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw some of the believers and encouraged them. Then they left.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.