M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Children of Israel Suffer in Egypt

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. Each one came with those of his house: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, ⁴ Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵ There were seventy people in Jacob’s family. But Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Joseph and all his brothers died and all their families of that time. ⁷ But the sons of Israel had many children, and the people became many in number. There were so many that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king came into power over Egypt. He did not know Joseph. ⁹ He said to his people, “See, the people of Israel are too many and too powerful for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us be wise in how we act towards them, or they will become more in number. If there is a war, they might join with those who hate us. They might fight against us and then leave the land.”

¹¹ So they put men in power over them to make them work hard. And they built the store-cities Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh the king. ¹² But the more the Egyptians made them suffer, the more they became until they spread throughout the land. So the Egyptians were afraid of the people of Israel. ¹³ The Egyptians made the people of Israel work very hard. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with hard work building with stones and with all kinds of work in the field. They made them work very hard.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew nurses. The name of one was Shiphrah. The name of the other was Puah. ¹⁶ He said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth, and see the baby before the mother does, if it is a son, kill him. But if it is a daughter, let her live.” ¹⁷ But the nurses feared God. They did not do what the king of Egypt told them. They let the boys live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the nurses and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the boys live?” ¹⁹ The nurses answered Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are strong. They give birth before the nurse comes to them.” ²⁰ So God was good to the nurses. And the people became many and strong. ²¹ Because the nurses feared God, He gave them families. ²² Then Pharaoh told all his people, “Throw every son who is born to the Hebrews into the Nile. But keep every daughter alive.”

Jesus Was Tempted ^(A)

4 Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit when He returned from the Jordan River. Then He was led by the Holy Spirit to a desert. ² He was tempted by the devil for forty days and He ate nothing during that time. After that He was hungry. ³ The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to be made into bread.” ⁴ Jesus said to him, “It is written, ‘Man is not to live by bread alone.’” ^{(B) 5} The devil took Jesus up on a high mountain. He had Jesus look at all the nations of the world at one time. ⁶ The devil said to Jesus, “I will give You all this power and greatness. It has been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If You will worship me, all this will be Yours.” ⁸ Jesus said to the devil, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. You must obey Him only.’” ^{(C) 9} Then the devil took Jesus up to Jerusalem. He had Jesus stand on the highest part of the house of God. The devil said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written, ‘He has told His angels to care for You and to keep You. ¹¹ In their hands they will hold You up. Then Your foot will not hit against a stone.’” ^{(D) 12} Jesus said to the devil, “It is written, ‘You must not tempt the Lord your God.’” ^{(E) 13} When the devil finished tempting Jesus in every way, he went away from Jesus for awhile.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee ^(F)

¹⁴ Jesus went back to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. People talked about Him so much that He was well-known through all the country. ¹⁵ Jesus taught in their places of worship and was honored by all people.

In Nazareth They Do Not Believe in Jesus

¹⁶ Jesus came to Nazareth where He had grown up. As He had done before, He went into the Jewish place of worship on the Day of Rest. Then He stood up to read. ¹⁷ Someone handed Him the book of the early preacher Isaiah. He opened it and found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me. He has put His hand on Me to preach the Good News to poor people. He has sent Me to heal those with a sad heart. He has sent Me to tell those who are being held that they can go free. He has sent Me to make the blind to see and to free those who are held because of trouble. ¹⁹ He sent Me to tell of the time when men can receive favor with the Lord.” ^(G)

²⁰ Jesus closed the book. Then He gave it back to the leader and sat down. All those in the Jewish place of worship kept their eyes on Him. ²¹ Then He began to say to them, “The Holy Writings you have just heard have been completed today.”

²² They all spoke well of Jesus and agreed with the words He spoke. They said, “Is not this the son of Joseph?” ²³ He said to them, “I wonder if you will tell this old saying to Me, ‘Doctor, heal Yourself. What You did in the city of Capernaum, do in Your own country!’” ²⁴ He said, “A man who speaks for God is not respected in his own country. ²⁵ It is true that there were many women whose husbands had died in the Jewish land when Elijah lived. For three and a half years there was no rain and there was very little food in the land. ²⁶ Elijah was sent to none of them, but he was sent to a woman in the city of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. This woman’s husband had died. ²⁷ There were many people in the Jewish land who had a bad skin disease when the early preacher Elisha lived. None of them was healed. But Naaman from the country of Syria was healed.”

²⁸ All those in the Jewish place of worship were angry when they heard His words. ²⁹ They got up and took Jesus out of town to the top of a high hill. They wanted to throw Him over the side. ³⁰ But Jesus got away from among them and went on His way.

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon ^(H)

³¹ Jesus went down to Capernaum in Galilee. He taught them on the Days of Rest. ³² The people were surprised and wondered about His teaching. His words had power. ³³ A man in the Jewish place of worship had a demon. He cried with a loud voice, ³⁴ “What do You want of us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know Who You are. You are the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ Jesus spoke sharp words to the demon and said, “Do not talk! Come out of him!” When the demon had thrown the man down, he came out without hurting the man.

³⁶ The people were all surprised. They asked each other, “What kind of word is this? He speaks to the demons with power and they come out!” ³⁷ The news about Jesus went through all the country.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed ^(I)

³⁸ Jesus went away from the Jewish place of worship and went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed, very sick. They asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ He stood by her and told the disease to leave. It went from her. At once she got up and cared for them.

Jesus Heals in Galilee ^(J)

⁴⁰ As the sun went down, the people took all that were sick with many kinds of diseases to Jesus. He put His hands on all of them and they were healed. ⁴¹ Also demons came out of many people. The demons cried out and said, “You are Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus spoke strong words to them and would not let them speak. They knew He was the Christ.

Jesus Keeps On Preaching in Galilee ^(K)

⁴² In the morning He went out to a desert. The people looked for Him. When they found Him, they were trying to keep Him from going away from them. ⁴³ He said to them, “I must preach about the holy nation of God in other cities also. This is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And He kept on preaching in the Jewish places of worship in Galilee.

Bildad Talks

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, ² “How long will you keep talking? Show understanding and then we can talk. ³ Why are we thought of as animals? Why do you see us as not being able to think? ⁴ You who tear yourself in your anger, will the earth be left alone because of you? Or will the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ “Yes, the light of the sinful is put out. His fire does not give light. ⁶ The light in his tent is made dark, and his lamp goes out above him. ⁷ His strong steps are made short, and his own plans make him fall. ⁸ For he is thrown down into a net by his own feet and walks on it. ⁹ A trap catches him by the foot and holds him. ¹⁰ A tied rope is hidden in the ground for him. A trap is set for him on the path. ¹¹ He is filled with fear on every side. It follows him at every step. ¹² His strength leaves him because trouble is waiting for him at every side. ¹³ His skin is eaten by disease and the beginning of death eats his legs. ¹⁴ He is taken away from his tent where he was safe, and is brought to the king of fears. ¹⁵ Fire destroys everything in his tent and sulphur is spread where he lives. ¹⁶ His roots are dried below and his branch is cut off above. ¹⁷ No one on earth will remember him. His name will not be known in the land. ¹⁸ He is sent from light into darkness, and driven away from where people live. ¹⁹ He has no children among his people to carry on his name where he lived. ²⁰ Those in the west are surprised and afraid at what happened to him. And those in the east are filled with fear. ²¹ For sure, these are the houses of the sinful. This is the place of him who does not know God.”

Sin in the Church

5 Someone has told me about a sex sin among you. It is so bad that even the people who do not know God would not do it. I have been told that one of the men is living with his father’s wife as if she were his wife. ² Instead of being sorry, you are proud of yourselves. The man who is living like that should be sent away from you. ³ I am far from you. Even if I am not there, my spirit is with you. I have already said that the man is guilty of this sin. I am saying this as if I were there with you. ⁴ Call a meeting of the church. I will be with you in spirit. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power, ⁵ hand this person over to the devil. His body is to be destroyed so his spirit may be saved on the day the Lord comes again.

⁶ It is not good for you to be proud of the way things are going in your church. You know a little yeast makes the whole loaf of bread rise. ⁷ Clean out the old yeast. Then you will be new bread with none of the old yeast in you. The Jews killed lambs when they left Egypt. Christ is our lamb. He has already been killed as a gift on the altar to God for us. ⁸ Bread with yeast in it is like being full of sin and hate. Let us eat this supper together with bread that has no yeast in it. This bread is pure and true.

⁹ I told you in my letter not to keep on being with people who do any kind of sex sins. ¹⁰ I was not talking about people doing sex sins who are bad people of this world. I was not talking about people of this world who always want to get more or those who get things in a wrong way or those who worship false gods. To get away from people like that you would have to leave this world! ¹¹ What I wrote was that you should not keep on being with a person who calls himself a Christian if he does any kind of sex sins. You should not even eat with a person who says he is a Christian but always wants to get more of everything or uses bad language or who gets drunk or gets things in a wrong way. ¹² It is not for me to judge those outside the church. You are to judge those who belong to the church. ¹³ God will judge those outside the church. So you must put that sinful person out of your church.