M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Gideon, Israel’s Fifth Judge
6 Later on, the Israelis practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, so the Lord handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years. 2 Midian’s control predominated throughout Israel, and because of Midian the Israelis went out to find temporary hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and fortified places.
3 Whenever the Israelis sowed their crops,[a] the Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups[b] from the east would come up and invade them. 4 They set up their military encampments to fight them, destroyed the harvest of the land as far as Gaza, and left nothing in Israel, whether harvested grain, sheep, oxen, or donkeys. 5 They would invade with their livestock and tents, swooping in as numerous as locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels—and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 Because Israel was deeply impoverished due to the Midianites, they[c] cried out to the Lord.
7 When the Israelis cried out to him about Midian, 8 the Lord sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelis and told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, delivering you from the house of servitude. 9 I delivered you from the domination of Egypt and from the domination of all of your oppressors, expelling them right in front of you and giving their land to you. 10 I told you, “I am the Lord your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you’ll be living.”’ But you haven’t obeyed what I said.”
Gideon is Visited by the Angel of the Lord
11 After this, the angel of the Lord arrived and sat down in the shade of[d] the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, a descendant of Abiezer, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it[e] from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, “The Lord is with you, you valiant warrior!”
13 But Gideon replied, “Right… Sir, if the Lord is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, ‘The Lord brought us up from Egypt, didn’t he?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!”
14 The Lord looked straight at him and replied, “Go with this determination[f] of yours and deliver Israel from Midian’s domination. I’ve directed[g] you, haven’t I?”
15 “Right…,” Gideon[h] responded. “Sir, how will I deliver Israel? Look—my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my father’s household.”
16 The Lord told him, “Because I’ll be with you, and you’ll defeat Midian—every single one of them!”
17 So Gideon asked him, “Please, if I have received favor from you, then do a miracle for me that shows that you’re making this[i] promise to me. 18 And please don’t leave here until I’ve come back to you, brought my offering, and set it down in front of you.”
The Lord[j] replied, “I’ll stay until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel[k] right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering. 20 The angel, who was God,[l] replied, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this boulder. Then pour out the broth.” So he did that. 21 The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire broke out from inside the boulder, consuming the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished in front of him.[m]
God Reassures Gideon
22 When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the Lord himself, he cried out, “Oh no! Lord God! I’ve been looking right at the angel of the Lord—and face-to-face at that!”
23 “Calm down![n] Don’t be afraid.” the Lord replied. “You’re not going to die!” 24 So Gideon built an altar right there to the Lord and called it “The Lord is peace.” (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)
25 Later that very night, the Lord told Gideon,[o] “Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that’s seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal[p] that your father owns, cut down the Asherah[q] that’s beside it, 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah that you’ll be cutting down.”
Gideon Destroys His Father’s Altar
27 So Gideon went with ten men who were his servants and did just what the Lord had told him to do, though he did it at night because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the leading[r] men of the city to do it during the day. 28 When the leading[s] men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected.
29 They asked each other, “Who did this thing?” When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, “Joash’s son Gideon did it.”[t] 30 So the leading[u] men of the city ordered Joash, “Bring us that son of yours. He’s going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!”
31 But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, “Do you really intend to fight on Baal’s behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering[v] that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal[w] is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down.” 32 So that very day he named Gideon[x] Jerubbaal, that is, “Let Baal fight,” since he had torn down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and certain groups[y] from the east gathered together, crossed the Jordan River, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley. 34 So the Spirit of the Lord took control of[z] Gideon, who blew a trumpet, mustering the descendants of Abiezer to follow him into battle.[aa] 35 He sent messengers to the entire tribe of Manasseh, calling them to follow him, and he also sent word to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, calling them to meet him.
Gideon Asks for a Sign from God
36 Then Gideon told God, “If you intend to deliver Israel by my efforts[ab] as you’ve said, 37 then take a look at this wool fleece that I’m placing on the threshing floor. If dew appears only on the fleece—and it’s dry on the ground all around it—then I’ll know that you’ll deliver Israel by my efforts[ac] like you’ve said.” 38 And that is what happened:[ad] When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece to drain the dew from it and extracted[ae] a bowl full of water.
39 Then Gideon told God, “Don’t let yourself be angry with me! I want to ask you once again: please let me make a test with the fleece just once more. Cause it to be dry only on the fleece, but let there be dew all around on the ground.” 40 And God did it just like that later that night. It was dry only on the fleece, but dew was all around on the ground.
Cornelius Has a Vision
10 Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion[a] in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.
3 One day, about three in the afternoon,[b] he had a vision and clearly saw an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 He stared at the angel[c] in terror and asked, “What is it, Lord?”
The angel[d] answered him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder[e] to God. 5 Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. 6 He is a guest of Simon, a leatherworker, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius[f] summoned two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of those who served him regularly. 8 He explained everything to them and sent them to Joppa.
Peter Has a Vision
9 Around noon[g] the next day, while they were on their way and coming close to the town, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became very hungry and wanted to eat, and while the food[h] was being prepared, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven open and something like a large linen sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the ground. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air.
13 Then a voice told him,[i] “Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.”
14 But Peter said, “Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!”
15 Again the voice came to him a second time, “You must stop calling unclean what God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times. Then the sheet[j] was quickly taken back into heaven.
17 While Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men sent by Cornelius asked for Simon’s house and went to the gate. 18 They called out and asked if Simon who was called Peter was staying there. 19 Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, “Look! Three men are looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 So Peter went to the men and said, “I’m the man you’re looking for. Why are you here?”
22 The men replied, “Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say.”
23 So Peter[k] welcomed them as his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along with him.
Peter Speaks with Cornelius
24 The next day, they arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called his relatives and close friends together. 25 When Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him, bowed down at his feet, and began to worship him. 26 But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up! I, too, am only a man.”
27 As Peter[l] talked with him, he went in and found that many people had gathered. 28 He told them, “You understand how wrong it is for a Jew to associate or visit with unbelievers.[m] But God has shown me that I should stop calling anyone common or unclean, 29 and that is why I didn’t hesitate when I was sent for. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, three o’clock in the afternoon,[n] I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. God has remembered your gifts to the poor, 32 so send messengers[o] to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, to come to you. He is a guest in the home of Simon, a leatherworker, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. All of us are here now in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has ordered you to say.”
34 Then Peter began to speak: “Now I understand that God shows no partiality. 35 Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation. 36 He has sent his word to the descendants of Israel and brought them the good news of peace through Jesus the Messiah.[p] This man is the Lord of everyone. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. 38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, he went around doing good and healing everyone who was oppressed by the Devil. 39 We are witnesses of everything Jesus[q] did in the land of the Jews, including Jerusalem.
“They hung him on a tree and killed him, 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear— 41 not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God to be witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He also ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus[r] receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message. 45 Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too, 46 because they heard them speaking in foreign languages[s] and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 “No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?”[t] 48 So Peter[u] ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah.[v] Then they asked him to stay there for several days.
The Lesson of the Broken Jug
19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a potter’s clay jug. Take along[a] some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. 2 Go out to the Valley of Hinnom[b] at the entrance to the Potsherd Gate, and there proclaim the words that I’m telling you.
3 “You are to say, ‘Hear this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem!
“‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I’m about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle. 4 For they have forsaken me and have treated this place as foreign. In it they have burned incense to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah knew. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocent people. 5 They built the high places[c] for Baal to burn their children in the fire as a burnt offering to Baal—something I didn’t command, didn’t say, nor did it ever enter my mind!
6 “‘“Therefore, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. 7 I’ll shatter[d] the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I’ll make them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hands of those seeking their lives. I’ll give their dead bodies as food to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the land. 8 I’ll make this city into a desolate place and an object of scorn.[e] All who pass by it will be astonished and will scoff[f] because of all its wounds. 9 I’ll cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters,[g] and people will eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege and in the distress to which their enemies and those seeking their lives will subject them.”’”
10 “Then you are to break the jug in front of the men who have come with you, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: “In this same way I’ll break this people and this city, just as someone breaks a potter’s vessel which he then cannot put back together again. They’ll bury corpses[h] in Topheth until there is no more room to bury anyone.[i] 12 This is what I’ll do to this place and its residents,” declares the Lord, “making this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be polluted like Topheth, as will be all the houses on whose roofs people[j] burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out liquid offerings to other gods.”’”
14 Then Jeremiah went from Topheth where the Lord had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple, saying to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I’m about to bring on this city and all its towns all the disaster that I declared against it because they were determined[k] not to obey my message.’”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man(A)
5 They arrived at the other side of the sea in the territory of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 Just as Jesus[b] stepped out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him. 3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, not even with a chain. 4 He had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but had snapped the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one could tame him. 5 He kept screaming night and day among the tombs and on the mountainsides, and kept cutting himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell down in front of him, 7 screaming in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you in the name of[c] God never to torment me!”
8 Jesus[d] had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Jesus[e] asked him, “What’s your name?”
He told him, “My name is Legion,[f] because there are many of us.” 10 He kept pleading with Jesus[g] not to send them out of that region.
11 Now a large herd of pigs was grazing on a hillside nearby. 12 So the demons[h] begged him, “Send us among the pigs, so that we can go into them!” 13 So he let them do this. The unclean spirits came out of the man[i] and went into the pigs, and the herd of about 2,000 rushed down a steep slope into the sea and drowned there.[j]
14 Now when those who had been taking care of the pigs ran away, they reported what had happened[k] in the city and countryside. So the people[l] went to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there dressed and in his right mind, they were frightened. 16 The people who had seen it told them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 So they began to beg Jesus[m] to leave their territory.
18 As Jesus[n] was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging him to let him go with him. 19 But Jesus[o] wouldn’t let him. Instead, he told him, “Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you.” 20 So the man[p] left and began proclaiming in the Decapolis[q] how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was utterly amazed.
Jesus Heals a Woman and Resurrects a Girl(B)
21 When Jesus again had crossed to the other side in a boat,[r] a large crowd gathered around him by the seashore. 22 Then a synagogue leader named Jairus arrived. When he saw Jesus,[s] he fell at his feet 23 and begged him urgently, saying, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may get well and live.” 24 So Jesus[t] went with him. A huge crowd kept following him and jostling him.
25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. 26 Although she had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all of her money, she had not been helped at all, but rather grew worse. 27 Since she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe, 28 because she had been saying, “If I can just touch his robe, I will get well.” 29 Her bleeding stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her illness.
30 Immediately Jesus became aware that power had gone out of him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples asked him, “You see the crowd jostling you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept looking around to look at the woman who had done this. 33 So the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came forward fearfully, fell down trembling in front of him, and told him the whole truth.
34 He told her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed from your illness.”
35 While he was still speaking, some people[u] came from the synagogue leader’s home[v] and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?”
36 But when Jesus heard[w] what they said, he told the synagogue leader, “Stop being afraid! Just keep on believing.” 37 Jesus[x] allowed no one to go further with him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus[y] saw mass confusion. People[z] were crying and sobbing loudly. 39 He entered the house[aa] and asked them, “Why all this confusion and crying? The child isn’t dead. She’s sleeping.” 40 They laughed and laughed at him. But when he had driven all of them outside, he took the child’s father and mother, along with the men who were with him, and went into the room[ab] where the child was.
41 He took her by the hand and told her, “Talitha koum,”[ac] which means, “Young lady, I tell you, get up!” 42 The young lady got up at once and started to walk. She was twelve years old. Instantly they were overcome with astonishment. 43 But Jesus[ad] strictly ordered them not to let anyone know about this. He also told them to give her something to eat.
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