M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
17 Paul and Silas went through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia. Then they reached the town of Thessalonica. Here the Jews had a meeting place.
2 As he had done in other places, Paul went into it. On three Sabbath days he explained what was written in the holy writings.
3 He proved these things from the writings. He said. `It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from death. And this Jesus, whom I am talking about, is the Christ.'
4 Some of the people believed him and they followed Paul and Silas. Some of them were Greek people who worshipped God. And some were leading women.
5 But some Jews did not believe, and they were jealous. So they called some of the bad men together and made a crowd. They started to fight and to make plenty of trouble and noise in the city. At Jason's house they went in by force to find Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them outside to the people.
6 But they did not find them. So they took Jason and some of the Christian brothers to the rulers of the city. They shouted, `These men have turned the world upside down. Now they have come here also.
7 Jason has taken them into his house. None of them obeys the laws of Caesar. They say there is another king named Jesus.'
8 All the people and the rulers of the city became angry when they heard this.
9 They made Jason and the other Christians pay much money. Then they let them go.
10 That night the Christian brothers sent Paul and Silas to the town of Berea. When they reached there, they went into the Jews' meeting place.
11 The people in Berea were better than the people of Thessalonica. They were glad to listen to Paul's words. Every day they studied the holy writings to see if what Paul said was right.
12 Through this, many of them believed. Some of the leading women of the Greek people and some of the men also believed.
13 The leaders of the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul told the word of God to the people at Berea. They came to Berea and talked to the people. They said things that made the people very angry against Paul.
14 The Christian brothers sent Paul to the seaside right away. But Silas and Timothy stayed on at Berea.
15 The men took Paul to the city of Athens. Paul told them to tell Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as they could.
16 Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy at Athens. He saw that the city was full of idols. His spirit was troubled about this.
17 In the meeting place he talked with the Jews and those who believed in the true God. In the market every day, he talked to people he met there.
18 There were some wise men who believed the teachings of Epicurius. They believed the teaching of other wise men called Stoics. Some of them began to talk with Paul. And some said, `What does this talker have to say?' Others said, `He seems to be talking about new gods.' This was because he was telling them about Jesus and how he was raised from death.
19 So they took Paul and brought him to a meeting at the hill called Areopagus. They said, `We want to know what this new teaching is that you are talking about.
20 You are telling us things we never heard before. We want to understand them.'
21 All the people of Athens and the strangers who lived there passed their time in one way. They liked to tell and to hear some new thing.
22 Then Paul stood up in the court and said, `You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious and worship many gods.
23 As I walked about, I looked at the things you worship. I saw one place where you make sacrifices. You have written on it, "To the God we do not know." You are worshipping that God, but you do not know him. I will tell you about him.
24 He made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of the sky and the earth. He does not live in houses that people make with their hands.
25 Men cannot worship him by things they make with their hands because he does not need anything. He is the one who gives life and breath and everything else to all people.
26 God made one man. From that one man he has made all the nations of men to live on the whole earth. He has given to each nation a certain time and a certain place to live.
27 He did this so they would look for him. He wanted them to reach out and find him. But he is not far from each one of us.
28 In him we live, and move, and are alive. Some of your own writers have said, "We have come from him".
29 `Therefore we have all come from God. So we should not think that God is something made of gold, or silver, or stone. He is not made by men's hands.
30 In times past God did not look at what people did. They did not know any better then. But now he is calling all people to stop doing those things.
31 God has set a day when he will judge the whole world in the right way. He has chosen a man to do this. He has proved to all people who the man is. He has raised him from death.'
32 When the people of Athens heard that someone had been raised from death, some of them laughed. Others said, `We want to hear you talk about this matter again some time.'
33 So then Paul left them.
34 But some men followed him and believed. Among those who believed was Dionysius. He was a judge in the Areopagus court. And a woman named Damaris believed. There were others also.
12 Jesus then began to speak to the disciples in stories. `A man planted a farm of vines for growing fruit called grapes. He put a fence of small trees around it. He dug a place to press the juice from the fruit. He built a high house from which men could watch over the farm. Then he let some men pay to use it and went to a country far away.
2 At harvest time the owner sent one his servants to get some of the fruit from the farm.
3 The men took the servant and beat him. They sent him away without any fruit.
4 He sent another servant. They hurt this one also, and cut his head. The things they did to him were very wrong.
5 So he sent another servant. The men killed him. He sent many others, and the men beat some and killed others.
6 There was one left. He was his own son. He sent him last. He said, "They will respect my son."
7 But the men said to each other, "This is the one who will have everything when his father dies. Let us kill him. Then everything will belong to us."
8 They killed him and threw his body outside the farm.
9 `What will the man who owned the farm do to them? He will come back and kill the men in the farm. And he will give the farm to other men to use.
10-11 ave you not read this writing: "The stone which the builders would not use is now the chief stone of the corner. The Lord did this. It looks wonderful to us."?'
12 They tried to catch Jesus but they feared the people. They knew that Jesus had spoken this against them. So they left him and went away.
13 They sent some Pharisees and some of Herod's people to Jesus. They planned how to make Jesus say something wrong.
14 They came and said to him, `Teacher, we know that you are true. You do not fear any person or care how great he is. But you teach the true way of God. Tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or is it not?
15 Should we pay taxes or not?' Jesus knew they were trying to get him into trouble. So he said to them, `Why are you trying to get me to do wrong? Bring me a piece of money. Let me look at it.'
16 They brought one to him. He asked, `Whose picture and name is this?' They answered, `Caesar's.'
17 So he said, `Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.' The Pharisees and Herod's people were much surprised at Jesus.
18 Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus. They say that people do not rise from death. They asked Jesus a question.
19 `Teacher,' they said, `Moses gave us this law: if a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, then his brother must marry the wife and raise a family for his brother.
20 There were seven brothers. The first one married. He died and left no child.
21 e second brother married the wife. He also died and left no child. It was the same with the third one.
22 All seven brothers married her. They all had no children. Last of all the woman died also.
23 Now then when people rise from death, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.'
24 Jesus said to them, `You are wrong! You do not know what the holy writings say. And you do not know what power God has.
25 When people rise from death, men and women do not marry. But they are like angels in heaven.
26 People do rise from death! Have you never read what Moses wrote? It is in the place where we read about the small tree which burned. Moses tells how God said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
27 He is not the God of dead people, but of living people. The way you look at things is wrong altogether.'
28 One of the scribes heard them talking. He saw that Jesus gave them a good answer. Then he came and asked, `Which law is the greatest law of all?'
29 Jesus answered, `The greatest one is, "Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love him with all your soul. Love him with all your mind. And love him with all your strength."
31 The second law is this: "Love your neighbour as you love yourself." No law is greater than these laws.'
32 Then the scribe answered Jesus, `Teacher, what you say is right. There is one God. There are no other gods.
33 Love God with all your heart. Love him with all your understanding. Love him with all your strength. That is much better than to burn offerings and make sacrifices. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. That is better than any of these offerings and sacrifices.'
34 Jesus saw that the scribe was wise. So he said to him, `You are not far from the kingdom of God.' After that everyone feared to ask him any more questions.
35 Jesus was teaching people in the temple. He said, `How can the scribes say that Christ is David's son?
36 The Holy Spirit spoke through David and he himself said: "The Lord said to my Lord, `Sit beside me until I make you master over your enemies.' "
37 `So David calls Christ his Lord. How can Christ be David's son?' Most of the people were glad to hear Jesus' teaching.
38 Jesus went on to teach them. He said, `Take care. Do not let the scribes fool you by the way they do things. They like to walk about with long gowns. They want people to greet them in the market.
39 They want to sit in the front seats in the meeting houses. They want to sit in the best places at feasts.
40 They take away the homes of women whose husbands are dead. They cover up the wrong things they do by talking to God a long time. They will be punished more!'
41 Jesus sat down in the temple near the place where people put in their money. He saw how the people put in money. Many rich people put in much money.
42 A poor woman, whose husband was dead, came. She put in two small pieces of money.
43 Jesus called his disciples. He said, `I tell you the truth. This poor woman has given more money than all the other people.
44 All these people had plenty of money and they gave only a part of it. She was poor and she gave everything she had. She has nothing left to live on.'
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