M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
3 Jesus went into the meeting house again. A man was there whose right hand was thin and weak.
2 The Pharisees watched Jesus to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day. They wanted to find something wrong about Jesus.
3 He spoke to the man whose hand was thin and weak. He said, `Stand here.'
4 Then he spoke to the Pharisees. He said, `Is it right to do good things on the Sabbath day or to do wrong things? Is it right to heal people so they will live, or to let them die?' But the Pharisees said nothing.
5 Jesus was angry as he looked at them. And he was sad that their hearts were so hard. Then he said to the man, `Hold out your hand.' The man did so, and it was made well like the other hand.
6 The Pharisees went out. Right away they and the servants of King Herod planned together how to kill Jesus.
8 Jesus and his disciples went away to the sea of Galilee. Many people went with Jesus. They came from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and from the other side of the Jordan River. And many more people came also, a great many from around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They also had heard about the great works that Jesus had done.
9 Jesus saw that the crowd was very big. He told the disciples to have a small boat ready for him so that he would have more room.
10 He did this because he healed many people. All who were sick tried to touch him.
11 When the bad spirits saw Jesus, they bowed down before him. They shouted, `You are God's Son!'
12 He told them they must not tell anyone who he was.
13 Then Jesus went up on the hill. He wanted some of the people to come with him. So he called them and they came.
14 He chose twelve disciples to stay with him. He wanted to send them out to other places to tell people God's word.
15 He gave them power to heal people and to drive bad spirits out of people.
16 One of the twelve was Simon, whom Jesus called Peter.
17 He also chose James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, whom he named Boanerges, which means "Men of Thunder."
19 He also chose Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon of Canan, and Judas Iscariot, the one who gave Jesus over to people who hated him. Then Jesus and his disciples went home.
20 So many people came again that they could not even eat.
21 When Jesus' family heard about this, they came to take him away. They said, `He is crazy.'
22 The scribes who came from Jerusalem also talked about Jesus. They said, `Beelzebub, the chief of bad spirits, is in this man. He drives out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub.'
23 Jesus called the people and talked to them in stories. He asked, `How can Satan drive out Satan?
24 If one part of a country fights against another part of the country, that country cannot be strong.
25 If one part of a family fights against the other part of the family, it cannot stand.
26 If Satan fights against himself and the bad spirits fight against each other, he cannot stand. It will be the end of him.
27 If anyone wants to go into a strong man's house and steal his things, he must first tie the strong man. Then he can steal his things.
28 `I tell you the truth. All wrong things that people do and say about anyone will be forgiven.
29 But people who say wrong things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. A person who does that will be punished for ever.'
30 Jesus said all this because the scribes said, `A bad spirit is in him.'
31 Jesus' mother and brothers came to him. They stood outside. They sent someone to him.
32 Many people were sitting around him. They said, `See, your mother and your brothers are outside. They want you.'
33 Jesus asked them, `Who are my mother and my brothers?'
34 Then he looked at the people who sat around him. He said, `These people are my mother and my brothers!
35 Anyone who obeys God is my brother, my sister, and my mother.'
3 Then what does a Jew have that others do not have? Or what good is it if a person has been circumcised?
2 It is much better in every way. First, God's law was given to the Jews.
3 But some Jews did not keep his law. Does that mean that God cannot be trusted?
4 No, it does not mean that. God must be true, even if every man is not true. The holy writings say this about God: `People will see that you are right in what you say. You will be without fault when you are judged.'
5 When we do wrong things, we show that God is right. What shall we say about that? Does God do wrong when he punishes us? (I speak the way people would think about it.)
6 No, he does not. If he did wrong, how could he judge the world?
7 Maybe I say what is not true. And that makes people praise God more because he is true. Then why does God still judge me and say I have done wrong?
8 Some people say wrong things about us. They say that we say, `Let us do wrong things so that good things will happen.' People who say such things should be punished.
9 So what shall we say? Are we Jews any better than other people? No, we are not! I have already shown that all men, both Jews and people who are not Jews have done wrong things.
10 The holy writings say, `No one is good. No, not one person.
11 No one is wise. No one wants to know God.
12 They all have turned away from the straight road. Together they have gone the wrong way. No one does good, not even one person!
13 Their mouth is like an open grave. They have used their tongues to fool people. The poison of bad snakes is under their lips.
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and saying bad words to people.
15 Their feet run quickly to kill people.
16 Death and trouble are on the ways they go.
17 They do not know the way of peace.
18 They do not fear God.'
19 We know that everything the law says, it says to the people who have the law. Then no one can say a word for themselves. All the people in the world will be brought to God to be judged.
20 No one will be put right with God because he has tried to obey the law. The law only makes people know what they have done wrong.
21 So now God has shown how people can be put right with him without the law. The law and the prophets said he would do it.
22 God puts people right with himself when they believe in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe. They are all alike.
23 All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God.
24 But God is kind and makes them right with himself. It is a gift. He does it because Christ Jesus paid the price to set them free.
25 God gave him as a sacrifice. When people believe in him, his blood pays for the wrong things they have done. This shows that God is good and right. He was right when he forgave the wrong things that people did long ago.
26 God also shows that he is right now. He does this when he makes right any person who believes in Jesus.
27 Then what have we to be proud of? Nothing at all. Why not? Does God put us right with himself because of anything we have done? No. He does it because we believe.
28 We know that if a person believes in Christ, God makes him right again. It is not because that person has obeyed the law.
29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of other people also? Yes, he is. There is only one God of all peoples.
30 He will put right people who have been circumcised [the Jews] because they believe. And he will also put right people who are not circumcised when they believe.
31 When we believe, does that make the law no good to us? No. That is not so. When we believe, we show that the law is right.
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