M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem(A)
15 So David built houses for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, “No one may carry the ark of God except the Levites since the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before Him always.”
3 David assembled all Israel to Jerusalem in order to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. 4 And David gathered representatives of the sons of Aaron and the Levites, as follows:
5 from the sons of Kohath,
Uriel the leader and one hundred and twenty of his brothers;
6 from the sons of Merari,
Asaiah the leader and two hundred and twenty of his brothers;
7 from the sons of Gershom,
Joel the leader and one hundred and thirty of his brothers;
8 from the sons of Elizaphan,
Shemaiah the leader and two hundred of his brothers;
9 from the sons of Hebron,
Eliel the leader and eighty of his brothers;
10 from the sons of Uzziel,
Amminadab the leader and one hundred and twelve of his brothers.
11 Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests and for the Levites: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 He said to them, “You are the captains of the fathers’ houses for the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it 13 because on the first attempt without you the Lord struck out against us since we did not seek Him properly.” 14 So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 The sons of the Levites lifted up the ark of God just as Moses commanded, with the poles on their shoulders, according to the word of the Lord.
16 Then David told the leaders of the Levites to position their brothers the singers with musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals to resound with joyful songs.
17 So the Levites placed Heman the son of Joel, and from his brothers, Asaph the son of Berekiah, and from their brothers the sons of Merari, Ethan the son of Kushaiah, 18 and with them their brothers of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.
19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were directed to sound cymbals of brass. 20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to accompany with harps on Alamoth. 21 Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres on the Sheminith. 22 Kenaniah, leader of the Levites, was to conduct the music because he was skillful.
23 Berekiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were assigned to sound trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were gatekeepers for the ark.
25 So David, the elders of Israel, and the leaders of the thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with rejoicing. 26 Since God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. 27 Now David was clothed in a fine linen robe, as were the Levites who carried the ark, the singers, and Kenaniah, the conductor of singing and singers. David himself wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with a shout and with the sound of the ram’s horn and with trumpets and cymbals, making music on harps and lyres.
29 Now as the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal the daughter of Saul was looking down from the window, and when she saw King David dancing and spinning, she despised him in her heart.
Warning Against Partiality
2 My brothers, have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without partiality. 2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your assembly, and also a poor man in ragged clothing comes in, 3 and you have respect for him who wears the fine clothing and say to him, “Sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor, “Stand there,” or “Sit here under my footstool,” 4 have you not then become partial among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and drag you before the judgment seats? 7 Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called?
8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as sinners. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of breaking the whole law. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “Do not kill.”[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, yet you kill, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he who has shown no mercy will have judgment without mercy, for mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
18 But a man may say, “You have faith and I have works.”
Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.
20 But do you want to be shown, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 The Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”[d] and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.
Destruction of the Sanctuary
9 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and He said:
Strike the capitals
so that the thresholds shake;
break them off onto the heads of all of them.
Those who remain I will slay with the sword.
Not one of them will get away;
not one fugitive will survive.
2 Though they dig down to Sheol,
from there My hand will capture them;
though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down;
3 though they hide on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search and catch them;
though they hide from My sight on the bottom of the sea,
from there will I command the serpent to bite them;
4 and though they go into captivity before their enemies,
from there will I command the sword to slay them.
I will set My eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.
5 The Lord God of Hosts,
He who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live on it mourn;
it all rises up like the Nile,
and subsides like the river of Egypt;
6 who builds His chambers in the heavens,
and founds His vault over the earth;
who summons the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
the Lord is His name.
7 Are you not like the Ethiopians to Me,
O children of Israel?
says the Lord.
Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
but also the Philistines from Caphtor,
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 The eyes of the Lord God
are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it
from off the face of the earth,
though I will not completely destroy
the house of Jacob,
says the Lord.
9 See, I am giving the command,
and I will sift the house of Israel
among all the nations,
as one sifts with a sieve,
and not a pebble falls to the ground.
10 All the sinners of My people
will die by the sword,
those who say,
“Never will disaster reach or overtake us.”
Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom
11 On that day will I raise up
the hut of David that is fallen;
I will close up its breached walls,
raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and of all the nations called by My name,
says the Lord who will do this.
13 Indeed, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when the plowman will overtake the one who is reaping,
and the treader of grapes the one who is sowing the seed;
the mountains will drip sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and no more will they be uprooted
out of their land which I have given them.
The Lord your God has spoken.
The Temptation of Jesus(A)
4 Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted by the devil for forty days. During those days He ate nothing. And when they were ended, He was hungry.
3 The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’[a]”
5 The devil, taking Him up onto a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this power and their glory, for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will. 7 If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’[b]”
9 He brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge concerning you,
to preserve you,’
11 and
‘In their hands they shall hold you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”
12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’[d]”
13 When the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from Him until another time.
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry(B)
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And His fame went throughout the surrounding region. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by everyone.
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth(C)
16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. When He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”[e]
20 Then He rolled up the scroll, and He gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All bore witness to Him, and wondered at the gracious words which came from His mouth. Then they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say to Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal Yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”
24 He also said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truthfully, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. 26 Yet to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, a city of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. But none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. 29 They rose up and thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down headlong. 30 But passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
The Man With an Unclean Spirit(D)
31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 They were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Leave us alone! What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
35 Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him and did not hurt him.
36 They were all amazed and said among themselves, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 And His fame went out to every place in the surrounding countryside.
The Healing of Many People(E)
38 He went out of the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was taken ill with a high fever, and they asked Him about her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose and served them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to Him. And He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons came out of many, crying out, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” But He rebuked them and did not permit them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.
Preaching in the Synagogues(F)
42 When it was day He departed and went into a remote place. And searching for Him, the people came to Him and tried to prevent Him from leaving them. 43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for this is why I was sent.” 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.