M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God Tests Abraham
22 And it happened that after these things, God tested Abraham. And he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 And he said, “Take your son, your only child, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains where[a] I will tell you.” 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place at a distance. 5 And Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go up there. We will worship, then we will return to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went together. 7 And Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “God will provide[b] the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went together.
9 And they came to the place that God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar atop the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 And the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy; do not do anything to him. For now I know that you are one who fears[c] God, since you have not withheld your son, your only child, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh will provide,”[d] for which reason[e] it is said today, “on the mountain of Yahweh it shall be provided.”[f] 15 And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven. 16 And he said, “I swear by myself, declares Yahweh, that because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only child, 17 that I will certainly bless you and greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the shore of the sea. And your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies. 18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring, because you have listened to my voice.” 19 And Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived in Beersheba.
20 And it happened that after these things, it was told to Abraham, “Look, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 and Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Now, Bethuel fathered Rebekah). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, the brother of Abraham. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
The Triumphal Entry
21 And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village before you, and right away you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them[a] and[b] bring them[c] to me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you will say, ‘The Lord needs them,’[d] and he will send them at once.” 4 Now this took place so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
and[e] on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.’”[f]
6 So the disciples went[g] and did[h] just as Jesus directed them, 7 and[i] brought the donkey and the colt and put their[j] cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 And a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them[k] on the road. 9 And the crowds who went ahead of him and the ones who followed were shouting, saying,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord![l]
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”[m]
10 And when[n] he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee!”
The Cleansing of the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple courts[o] and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. 13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[p] but you have made it a cave of robbers!”
14 And the blind and the lame came up to him in the temple courts[q] and he healed them. 15 But when[r] the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children shouting in the temple courts[s] and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. 16 And they said to him, “Do you hear what these children[t] are saying?” So Jesus said to them, “Yes, have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing babies you have prepared for yourself praise’?”[u] 17 And leaving them, he went outside of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
A Barren Fig Tree Cursed
18 Now early in the morning, as he[v] was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, “May there be no more fruit from you forever,[w] and the fig tree withered at once. 20 And when they[x] saw it,[y] the disciples were astonished, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered and[z] said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will do not only what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen! 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you[aa] believe, you will receive.”
Jesus’ Authority Challenged
23 And after[ab] he arrived at the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he[ac] was teaching, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24 And Jesus answered and[ad] said to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell the answer[ae] to me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 From where was the baptism of John—from heaven or from men?” And they began to discuss[af] this[ag] among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all look upon John as a prophet.” 27 And they answered and[ah] said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “Now what do you think? A man had two sons. He approached[ai] the first and[aj] said, ‘Son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered and[ak] said, ‘I do not want to!’ But later he changed his mind and[al] went. 30 And he approached the second[am] and[an] said the same thing. So he answered and[ao] said, ‘I will, sir,’ and he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his[ap] father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God! 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And when[aq] you saw it,[ar] you did not even change your minds later so as to believe in him.
The Parable of the Tenant Farmers in the Vineyard
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a man—a master of a house—who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. 34 And when the season of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. 35 And the tenant farmers seized his slaves, one of whom they beat, and one of whom they killed, and one of whom they stoned. 36 Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first ones, and they did the same thing to them. 37 So finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when[as] the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance!’ 39 And they seized him and[at] threw him[au] out of the vineyard and killed him.[av] 40 Now when the master of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those tenant farmers?” 41 They said to him, “He will destroy those evil men completely and lease the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruits in their season.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
this has become the cornerstone.[aw]
This came about from the Lord,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?[ax]
43 For this reason, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people[ay] who produce its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls—it will crush him!” 45 And when[az] the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them, 46 and although they[ba] wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they looked upon him as a prophet.
The Leaders and Servants in Jerusalem
11 Now the commanders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the remainder of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, the other nine’s place was in the other cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.
3 These are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah each one lived on his property in their cities: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants[a] of Solomon’s servants. 4 And some from the descendants[b] of Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the descendants[c] of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, from the descendants[d] of Perez; 5 and Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-Hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Jehoiarib, son of Zechariah, son[e] of the Shilonite. 6 All of the descendants[f] of Perez who were living in Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight able-bodied men.
7 These are the descendants[g] of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah. 8 And following after him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred and twenty-eight. 9 And Joel son of Zicri, their chief officer; and Judah son of Hassenuah, second in command over the city.
10 From the priests: Jedaiah son of Jehoiarib, Jakin, 11 Seraiah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub—the leader of the house of God— 12 and their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred and twenty-two. And Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malkijah, 13 and his brothers, heads of the families,[h] two hundred and forty-two. And Amashai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer, 14 and their brothers; mighty warriors of strength, one hundred and twenty-eight. The chief officer over them was Zabdiel son of Hagedolim.
15 Now from the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni; 16 and Shabbethai and Jehozabad, leaders over the work of the Levites outside of the house of God; 17 Mattaniah son of Micah, son of Zabdi, son[i] of Asaph, who was the leader to begin the thanksgiving prayer, and Bakbukiah the second of his brothers; Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun. 18 All of the Levites in the holy city were two hundred and eighty-four.
19 The gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, the keepers of the gates, one hundred and seventy-two. 20 And the remainder of Israel, the priests and the Levites, in all of the cities of Judah, each in his inheritance. 21 But the temple servants were living on the Ophel; Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants.
22 The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, from the descendants[j] of Asaph, the singers over the work of the house of God. 23 For there was a command of the king concerning them and a regulation concerning the singers, required day by day.[k] 24 And Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, from the descendants[l] of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the hand of the king in all matters concerning the people.
Villages Outside of Jerusalem
25 As for the villages in their territories, some from the descendants[m] of Judah lived in Kiriath-Arba and its settlements,[n] Dibon and its settlements,[o] Jekabzeel and its settlements,[p] 26 Jeshua, Moladah, Beth Pelet, 27 Hazar Shual, Beersheba and its settlements,[q] 28 Ziklad, Meconah and its settlements,[r] 29 En-Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuch, 30 Zanoah, Adullam and their settlements,[s] Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its settlements.[t] So they camped from Beersheba up to the Valley of Hinnom. 31 The descendants[u] of Benjamin from Geba, Micmash, Aija, Bethel and their settlements,[v] 32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, 34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, 35 Lod, and Ono the valley of the artisans. 36 And from the Levites the working groups of Judah were assigned to Benjamin.
Paul Travels on to Jerusalem
21 And it happened that after we tore ourselves away[a] from them, we put out to sea, and[b] running a straight course we came to Cos and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 And finding a ship that was crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and[c] put out to sea. 3 And after we[d] sighted Cyprus and left it behind on the port side,[e] we sailed to Syria and arrived at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its[f] cargo there. 4 And we stayed there seven days after we[g] found the disciples, who kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5 And it happened that when our days were over, we departed and[h] went on our way, while[i] all of them accompanied us, together with their[j] wives and children, as far as outside the city. And after[k] falling to our knees on the beach and[l] praying, 6 we said farewell to one another and embarked in the ship, and they returned to their own homes.
7 And when[m] we had completed the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. And after we[n] greeted the brothers, we stayed one day with them. 8 And on the next day we departed and[o] came to Caesarea, and entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and[p] stayed with him. 9 (Now this man had[q] four virgin daughters who prophesied.)
10 And while we[r] were staying there[s] many days, a certain prophet named[t] Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And he came to us and took Paul’s belt. Tying up his own feet and hands, he said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will deliver him[u] into the hands of the Gentiles.’” 12 And when we heard these things, both we and the local residents urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus!” 14 And because[v] he would not be persuaded, we remained silent, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”
15 So after these days we got ready and[w] went up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of the disciples from Caesarea also traveled together with us, bringing us[x] to a certain Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing,[y] with whom we were to be entertained as guests.
Paul Visits the Leaders of the Jerusalem Church
17 And when[z] we came to Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. 18 And on the next day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 And after[aa] greeting them, he began to relate[ab] one after the other[ac] the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when[ad] they heard this,[ae] they began to glorify[af] God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many ten thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous adherents of the law. 21 And they have been informed about you that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles the abandonment of Moses, telling them not to circumcise their[ag] children or to live according to our[ah] customs. 22 What then is to be done?[ai] Doubtless they will all hear that you have come! 23 Therefore do this that we tell you: we have[aj] four men who have taken a vow upon themselves.[ak] 24 Take these men and[al] purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses[am] so that they can shave their[an] heads, and everyone will know that the things which they had been informed about you are nothing, but you yourself also agree with observing the law. 25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter after[ao] deciding they should avoid food sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality.” 26 Then Paul took along the men on the next day, and[ap] after he[aq] had purified himself together with them, he entered into the temple courts,[ar] announcing the completion of the days of purification until the time[as] the offering would be presented on behalf of each one of them.
Paul Arrested in the Temple Courts
27 But when the seven days were about to be completed, the Jews from Asia[at] who had seen him in the temple courts[au] stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 shouting, “Israelite men, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place! And furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place!” 29 (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they thought that Paul had brought into the temple.) 30 And the whole city was stirred up, and the people came running together, and they seized Paul and[av] dragged him outside of the temple courts,[aw] and immediately the doors were shut.
31 And as they[ax] were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the military tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 He[ay] immediately took along soldiers and centurions and[az] ran down to them. And when[ba] they saw the military tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the military tribune came up and[bb] arrested him and ordered him[bc] to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what it was that he had done. 34 But some in the crowd were shouting one thing and others another, and because[bd] he was not able to find out the truth on account of the commotion, he gave orders to bring him into the barracks.[be] 35 And when he came to the steps, it happened that he had to be carried by the soldiers on account of the violence of the crowd, 36 for the crowd of people was following them,[bf] shouting, “Away with him!”
Paul Permitted to Address the Crowd
37 And as he[bg] was about to be brought into the barracks,[bh] Paul said to the military tribune, “Is it permitted for me to say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Then you are not the Egyptian who before these days raised a revolt and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins?”[bi] 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no unimportant city. Now I ask you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 So when[bj] he permitted him,[bk] Paul, standing there on the steps, motioned with his[bl] hand to the people. And when there[bm] was a great silence, he addressed them[bn] in the Aramaic language, saying,
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