M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jacob and Joseph’s Sons

48 After this Joseph was told, “See, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “The All-powerful God showed Himself to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and He brought good to me. ⁴ He said to me, ‘See, I will give you many children. I will make you a group of nations. And I will give this land to your children and to your children’s children after you. It will belong to them forever.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ The children born to you after them will be yours. They will be called by the names of their brothers in their share of what the family is to receive. ⁷ For when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by my side in the land of Canaan before we came to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” ⁸ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So Israel said, “Bring them to me, so I may pray that good will come to them.”

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyes had become weak from being old, and he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him. And Israel kissed them and put his arms around them. ¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face. But see, God has let me see your children also.” ¹² Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed to the ground. ¹³ Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel’s left side. And with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel’s right side, placing them near him. ¹⁴ But Israel put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, the younger son. And he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands. But Manasseh was the first-born. ¹⁵ Then he prayed that good would come to Joseph, and said, “The God with Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has been my Shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the Angel Who has set me free from all sin, bring good to the boys. May my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac live on in them. May they become a great nation on the earth.”

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was not pleased. He took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father, for this one is the first-born. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father would not, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He will become a nation also, and he also will be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he. His children and their children’s children will become many nations.” ²⁰ Then he prayed that day that good would come to them. He said, “By you Israel will pray that good will come, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’” So he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “See, I am about to die. But God will be with you. He will return you to the land of your fathers. ²² I have given you more than your brothers. I have given you the side of the mountain that I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ At once Mary went from there to a town in the hill country of Judea. ⁴⁰ She went to the house of Zacharias to see Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, the baby moved in her body. At the same time Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴² Elizabeth spoke in a loud voice, “You are honored among women! Your Child is honored! ⁴³ Why has this happened to me? Why has the mother of my Lord come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as I heard your voice, the baby in my body moved for joy. ⁴⁵ You are happy because you believed. Everything will happen as the Lord told you it would happen.”

Mary’s Song of Thanks

⁴⁶ Then Mary said, “My heart sings with thanks for my Lord. ⁴⁷ And my spirit is happy in God, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin. ⁴⁸ The Lord has looked on me, His servant-girl and one who is not important. But from now on all people will honor me. ⁴⁹ He Who is powerful has done great things for me. His name is holy. ⁵⁰ The loving-kindness of the Lord is given to the people of all times who honor Him. ⁵¹ He has done powerful works with His arm. He has divided from each other those who have pride in their hearts. ⁵² He has taken rulers down from their thrones. He has put those who are in a place that is not important to a place that is important. ⁵³ He has filled those who are hungry with good things. He has sent the rich people away with nothing. ⁵⁴ He has helped Israel His servant. This was done to remember His loving-kindness. ⁵⁵ He promised He would do this to our early fathers and to Abraham and to his family forever.” ⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months. Then she went to her own home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷ When the time came, Elizabeth gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and family heard how the Lord had shown loving-kindness to her. They were happy for her. ⁵⁹ On the eighth day they did the religious act of the Jews on the child. They named him Zacharias, after his father. ⁶⁰ But his mother said, “No! His name is John.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “No one in your family has that name.”

⁶² Then they talked to his father with their hands to find out what he would name the child. ⁶³ He asked for something to write on. He wrote, “His name is John.” They were all surprised and wondered about it. ⁶⁴ Zacharias was able to talk from that time on and he gave thanks to God.

⁶⁵ All those who lived near them were afraid. The news of what had happened was told through all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ And all who heard those words remembered them and said, “What is this child going to be?” For the hand of the Lord was on him.

Zacharias’ Song of Thanks to God

⁶⁷ Zacharias, the father of John, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He told what was going to happen, saying, ⁶⁸ “Let us thank the Lord God of Israel. He has bought His people and made them free. ⁶⁹ He has raised up from the family of David One Who saves people from the punishment of their sins. ⁷⁰ His holy early preachers told us this long ago. ⁷¹ God told us that we should be saved from those who hate us and from all those who work against us. ⁷² He would show loving-kindness to our early fathers. He would remember His holy promise. ⁷³ God promised this to our early father Abraham. ⁷⁴ He promised that we would be saved from those who hate us and that we might worship Him without being afraid. ⁷⁵ We can be holy and right with God all the days of our life.

⁷⁶ “And you, my son, will be the one who speaks for the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to make the way ready for Him. ⁷⁷ You will tell His people how to be saved from the punishment of sin by being forgiven of their sins. ⁷⁸ Because the heart of our God is full of loving-kindness for us, a light from heaven will shine on us. ⁷⁹ It will give light to those who live in darkness and are under the shadow of death. It will lead our feet in the way of peace.”

⁸⁰ The child grew and became strong in spirit. He lived in a desert until the day he started to preach to the Jews.

Job Keeps On Talking—Death Is Sure

14 “Man who is born of woman lives only a short time and is full of trouble. ² He grows up and dries like a flower. He leaves like a shadow and does not stay. ³ You open Your eyes on him and decide about him. ⁴ Who can make clean what is unclean? No one! ⁵ A man’s days are numbered. You know the number of his months. He cannot live longer than the time You have set. ⁶ So now look away from him that he may rest, until he has lived the time set for him like a man paid to work.

⁷ “For there is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will grow again, and that its branches will not stop growing. ⁸ Its roots grow old in the ground, and the base of the tree dies in the dry ground. ⁹ But with water it will grow. Branches will grow from it like a plant. ¹⁰ But man dies and is laid low. Man dies, and where is he? ¹¹ As water goes into the air from the sea, and the river wastes away and dries up, ¹² so man lies down and does not get up again. Until the heavens are no more, he will not wake up or come out of his sleep.

¹³ “If only You would hide me in the place of the dead! If only You would hide me until Your anger is past, and set a time for me and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the days of my trouble until a change comes. ¹⁵ You will call and I will answer You. You will wait for the work of Your hands. ¹⁶ For now You number my steps. You do not write down my sin. ¹⁷ My sin is locked up in a bag. You cover my wrong-doing.

¹⁸ “But the mountain falls and breaks apart to nothing. The rock moves from its place. ¹⁹ Water wears away the stones. Its floods wash away the dust of the earth. So You destroy man’s hope. ²⁰ You have power over him forever, and he leaves. You change what he looks like and send him away. ²¹ His sons receive honor, but he does not know it. Or they lose honor, but he does not see it. ²² His body gives him pain, and he has sorrow only for himself.”

Paul Received the Good News from God

2 Christian brothers, when I came to you, I did not preach the secrets of God with big sounding words or make it sound as if I were so wise. ² I made up my mind that while I was with you I would speak of nothing except Jesus Christ and of His death on the cross. ³ When I was with you, I was weak. I was afraid and I shook. ⁴ What I had to say when I preached was not in big sounding words of man’s wisdom. But it was given in the power of the Holy Spirit. ⁵ In this way, you do not have faith in Christ because of the wisdom of men. You have faith in Christ because of the power of God.

True Wisdom Comes from God

⁶ We speak wisdom to full-grown Christians. This wisdom is not from this world or from the leaders of today. They die and their wisdom dies with them. ⁷ What we preach is God’s wisdom. It was a secret until now. God planned for us to have this honor before the world began. ⁸ None of the world leaders understood this wisdom. If they had, they would not have put Christ up on a cross to die. He is the Lord of shining-greatness. ⁹ The Holy Writings say, “No eye has ever seen or no ear has ever heard or no mind has ever thought of the wonderful things God has made ready for those who love Him.” ^{(A) 10} God has shown these things to us through His Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit Who looks into all things, even the secrets of God, and shows them to us. ¹¹ Who can know the things about a man, except a man’s own spirit that is in him? It is the same with God. Who can understand Him except the Holy Spirit? ¹² We have not received the spirit of the world. God has given us His Holy Spirit that we may know about the things given to us by Him. ¹³ We speak about these things also. We do not use words of man’s wisdom. We use words given to us by the Holy Spirit. We use these words to tell what the Holy Spirit wants to say to those who put their trust in Him. ¹⁴ But the person who is not a Christian does not understand these words from the Holy Spirit. He thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand them because he does not have the Holy Spirit to help him understand. ¹⁵ The full-grown Christian understands all things, and yet he is not understood. ¹⁶ For who has the thoughts of the Lord? Who can tell Him what to do? But we have the thoughts of Christ.