M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Yahweh Cuts a Covenant with Abram
15 After these things (A)the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying,
2 And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the [b]heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “[c]Since You have given no seed to me, behold, [d]one (E)born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; (F)but one who will come forth from your own [e]body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and (G)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “(H)So shall your seed be.” 6 (I)Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of (J)Ur of the Chaldeans, to (K)give you this land to [f]possess it.” 8 And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, (L)how may I know that I will [g]possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “[h]Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he [i]brought all these to Him and (M)split them into parts [j]down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he (N)did not split apart the birds. 11 Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 Now it happened that when the sun was going down, (O)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, [k]terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that (P)your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, [l]and (Q)they will be enslaved and mistreated (R)four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out (S)with [m]many possessions. 15 As for you, (T)you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in (U)the fourth generation they will return here, for (V)the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17 Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which (W)passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying,
“(X)To your seed I have given this land,
From (Y)the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 (Z)the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 (A)At that [a]time (B)Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, 2 and said to his servants, “(C)This is John the Baptist; [b]he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 For when (D)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him (E)in prison because of (F)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him, “(G)It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they were regarding [c]John as (H)a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of (I)Herodias danced [d]before them and pleased (J)Herod, 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Now having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of [e]his dinner guests. 10 And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took away the body and buried [f]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
13 (K)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself; and when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when He went [g]ashore, He (L)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and (M)healed their sick.
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already [h]late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” 17 But they *said to Him, “We have here only (N)five loaves and two fish.” 18 And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 And ordering the crowds to [i]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He (O)blessed the food. And breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, 20 and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full (P)baskets. 21 And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
Jesus Walks on the Sea
22 (Q)Immediately He [j]made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 And after He had sent the crowds away, (R)He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was already many [k]stadia away from the land, [l]being battered by the waves; for the wind was [m](S)against them. 25 And in (T)the [n]fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 Now when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is (U)a ghost!” And they cried out [o]in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “(V)Take courage, [p]it is I; (W)do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “(X)You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly (Y)God’s Son!”
34 (Z)And when they had crossed over, they came to land at (AA)Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place [q]recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; 36 and they were pleading with Him that they might just touch (AB)the fringe of His garment; and as many as (AC)touched it were cured.
Sanballat and Tobiah Mock the Jews’ Work
4 [a]Now it happened that when (A)Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very vexed and mocked the Jews. 2 He spoke in the presence of his brothers and (B)the [b]wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the [c](C)dusty rubble, though they are burned?” 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—(D)if a fox should [d]jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”
4 (E)Hear, O our God, for we are despised! (F)Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not [e](G)forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have [f]vexed the builders.
6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.
7 [g]Now it happened that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the [h]repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the places broken down began to be closed, they were very angry. 8 All of them (H)joined together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. 9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we (I)stood a guard against them day and night.
10 Then Judah said,
“The [i]strength of the burden bearers is failing,
Yet there is much [j]rubbish;
And we ourselves are unable
To rebuild the wall.”
11 Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.” 12 Now it happened when the Jews who lived near them came and said to us ten times, “[k]They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,” 13 that I had men stand in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the [l]exposed places, and I (J)had the people stand by families with their swords, spears, and bows. 14 Then I saw their fear. And I arose and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “(K)Do not fear them; remember the Lord who is great and fearsome, and (L)fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
Doing the Work and Holding a Weapon
15 Now it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that (M)God had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. 16 And it happened that from that day on, half of my young men carried on the work while half of them took hold of the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates; and the commanders were behind the whole house of Judah. 17 Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. 18 As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while [m]the trumpeter stood near me. 19 I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. 20 At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, there gather together to us. (N)Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we kept doing the work with half of them holding spears from [n]dawn until the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Let each man with his young man spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a worker by day.” 23 So neither I, my brothers, my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.
In Iconium
14 Now it happened that in (A)Iconium (B)they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner (C)that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of (D)Greeks. 2 But (E)the [a](F)unbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the [b]minds of the Gentiles against (G)the brothers. 3 Therefore they spent a long time there (H)speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that [c](I)signs and wonders be done through their hands. 4 (J)But the multitude of the city was divided; and some [d]sided with (K)the Jews, and some with (L)the apostles. 5 And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and (M)the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to (N)stone them, 6 they became aware of it and fled to the cities of (O)Lycaonia, (P)Lystra and (Q)Derbe, and the surrounding region; 7 and there they continued to (R)proclaim the gospel.
In Lystra and Derbe
8 And at (S)Lystra (T)a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, (U)when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had (V)faith to be [e]saved from being lame, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” (W)And he leaped up and began to walk. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the (X)Lycaonian language, “(Y)The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” 12 And they began calling Barnabas, [f]Zeus, and Paul, [g]Hermes, because he was [h]the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was [i]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and (Z)was wanting to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when (AA)the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they (AB)tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also (AC)men of the same nature as you, (AD)proclaiming the gospel to you that you should turn from these [j](AE)vain things to a (AF)living God, (AG)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 [k]In the generations gone by He (AH)permitted all the [l]nations to (AI)go their own ways; 17 and yet (AJ)He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and (AK)gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 And saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.
19 But (AL)Jews came from (AM)Antioch and (AN)Iconium, and after winning over the crowds and (AO)stoning Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 But while (AP)the disciples stood around him, he rose up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to (AQ)Derbe. 21 And after they had (AR)proclaimed the gospel to that city and had (AS)made many disciples, they returned to (AT)Lystra and to (AU)Iconium and to (AV)Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of (AW)the disciples, encouraging them to continue in (AX)the faith, and saying, “(AY)Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 And when (AZ)they had appointed (BA)elders for them in every church, having (BB)prayed with fasting, they (BC)commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
The Return to Antioch
24 And when they passed through (BD)Pisidia, they came into (BE)Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in (BF)Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 And from there they sailed to (BG)Antioch, from (BH)where they had been (BI)committed to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to (BJ)report all things that God had done with them and [m]how He had opened a (BK)door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they spent not a little time with (BL)the disciples.
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