M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
12 ) At that time Herod the king caught some of the church people and troubled them.
2 He killed James the brother of John with a long knife or sword.
3 He saw that this pleased the leaders of the Jews, so he caught Peter also. This happened at the Jewish feast which they had each year to remember leaving Egypt. (It was called the Passover Feast.)
4 After Herod had caught Peter, he put him in prison. He told four groups of soldiers to guard him. There were four soldiers in each group. He planned to bring him out for trial before the people. But he would do it after the Passover Feast.
5 So Peter was kept in prison. And the church people asked God to help him.
6 The night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was tied to them with two chains. Guards were at the door of the prison.
7 An angel from the Lord came to him and a light shone in the prison. He hit Peter's side and woke him up. `Be quick,' he said. `Get up!' His chains fell off his hands.
8 `Put on your belt and your shoes,' said the angel. Peter did so. `And now,' said the angel, `put on your coat and follow me.'
9 Peter followed him out. He did not know that what the angel had done was true. He thought he was dreaming.
10 They passed the first and the second guard. Then they came to the iron gate out to the city. It opened for them by itself. So they went all the way down a street. Then the angel left him.
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, `Now I know truly that the Lord has sent his angel. He has saved me from Herod and from all that the Jewish leaders are hoping will happen to me.'
12 And when he thought about this, he went to Mary's house. Mary was John Mark's mother. Many people were meeting there, talking to God [about Peter].
13 Peter knocked at the outside door. A young servant woman named Rhoda went to answer.
14 When she knew it was Peter's voice, she was very glad. She did not open the door. But she ran in and told the people that Peter was at the door.
15 They said, `You are crazy.' But she kept on saying that Peter was really there. Then they said, `It must be his angel.'
16 Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were very much surprised.
17 He put out his hand for them to be quiet. Then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, `Tell James and the brothers about this.' Then he went away to another place.
18 In the morning the soldiers tried hard to find Peter.
19 Herod had looked for him and had not found him. So he questioned the guards and ordered them to be taken away and killed. And then Peter went from Judea to Caesarea to live for a while.
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. But they got Blastus to speak to the king for them. Blastus was one of the men who worked in the king's house. They came to Herod together. They wanted to make peace with him because their country got its food from his country.
21 On a certain day Herod put on his king's robes and sat on his chair and made a speech.
22 The people shouted, `A god is talking to us. He is not a man.'
23 At once an angel from God put a bad sickness on Herod because he did not give God the praise. Worms ate him and he died.
24 The word of God spread further and further and more people believed.
25 Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had finished their work. They brought John Mark with them.
7 Then some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus.
2 They saw some of the disciples eating food. They had not washed their hands before they ate. The Pharisees said that was wrong.
3 They and all the Jews keep the laws made by men. God did not give them those laws. They do not eat until they wash their hands very well.
4 When they come from the market, they do not eat until they have washed themselves. They also keep many other laws such as washing cups, pots, brass pans, and beds.
5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, `Why do your disciples not keep the law our fathers made? Why do they eat with hands that are not clean?'
6-7 esus said to them, `Isaiah spoke the truth about you people! You are not true to yourselves! He wrote about you this way: "These people respect me with their mouths. But their hearts are far from me. They do not mean it in their hearts when they worship me. Their teachings are only words of men."
8 `You do not keep the law of God, but you keep the laws made by people. Those laws are about washing pots and cups. You do many other things like that also.
9 `You break God's law so that you can keep your own law.
10 Moses said, "Respect your father and your mother. Anyone who says wrong things to his father or his mother will die."
11 You say, "Tell your father or your mother that what you were going to give to them is Corban." (That means a gift to God.)
12 So you stop him from doing anything for his father and mother.
13 You make God's law to mean nothing so that you can keep your own laws. You do many other things like that also.'
14 Then Jesus called the people to him again. He said, `Listen to me, all of you, and understand what I say.
15 What goes into a person's mouth does not make him dirty. But what comes out of a person's mouth makes him dirty.
16 Everyone who has ears to hear, listen!'
17 Jesus left the people and went into a house. His disciples asked him the meaning of the story.
18 He said, `Do you still not understand? Do you not know this? What goes into a person from the outside cannot make a person dirty.
19 It does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and then it goes out of the body.' By saying this, Jesus meant that food does not make a person dirty.
20 But he said, `What comes out of a person makes him dirty. 21,
21 Here is what comes from the heart: wrong thoughts, all kinds of adultery, stealing, killing, wanting things that other people have, doing very wrong things, fooling people, breaking the law, jealousy, saying wrong things about people, being proud, being foolish.
22 All these wrong things come from a person's heart and make him dirty.'
23 Then Jesus went away to the country of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. But he could not hide from the people.
24 Right away a woman heard of him. She came and kneeled down before him. Her daughter had a bad spirit in her.
25 The woman was not a Jew and had been born in the country of Phoenicia in Syria. She begged Jesus to drive the bad spirit out of her daughter.
26 But Jesus said to her, `We will give the children all they want to eat first. It is not right to take the children's food and give it to the little dogs.'
27 She answered, `Yes, Sir. But even the little dogs under the table eat food that falls from the children's table.'
28 Jesus said to her, `Because you have said this, you may go home. The bad spirit has gone out of your daughter.'
29 When she came to her house, she found that the bad spirit had left. Her daughter was lying on the bed.
30 Jesus went away from Tyre and Sidon and came to the sea of Galilee. He passed through the country of the Ten Towns.
31 The people brought a man to Jesus who could not hear and could not talk well. They begged Jesus to put his hand on him.
32 So Jesus took him away alone. He put his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue.
33 He looked up to heaven and sighed. He said, `Ephphatha!' That means, `Be opened!'
34 Right away the man's ears were opened and his tongue was made free. He could talk well.
35 Jesus said, `Do not tell anyone.' But the more he told them not to tell, the more they told it everywhere.
36 The people were very much surprised. They said, `He has done everything well. The people who could not hear can hear. The people who could not talk can talk.'
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