M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
People Become Evil
6 The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children.
Then the Lord said, “People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years.”[a]
During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.
5 The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. 6 The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah pleased the Lord.
Noah and the Great Flood
9 This is the history of Noah’s family. He was a good man all his life, and he always followed God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11-12 When God looked at the earth, he saw that people had ruined it. Violence was everywhere, and it had ruined their life on earth.
13 So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. 14 Use cypress wood[b] and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.
15 “This is the size I want you to make the boat: 300 cubits[c] long, 50 cubits[d] wide, and 30 cubits[e] high. 16 Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit[f] below the roof.[g] Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.
17 “Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. 18 I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat. 19 Also, you will take two of every living thing on the earth with you into the boat. Take a male and female of every kind of animal so that they might survive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you so that you might keep them alive. 21 Also bring every kind of food into the boat, for you and for the animals.”
22 Noah did everything God commanded him.
Jesus Teaches About Giving
6 “Be careful! When you do something good, don’t do it in front of others so that they will see you. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “When you give to those who are poor, don’t announce that you are giving. Don’t be like the hypocrites. When they are in the synagogues and on the streets, they blow trumpets before they give so that people will see them. They want everyone to praise them. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. 3 So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing.[a] 4 Your giving should be done in private. Your Father can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.
Jesus Teaches About Prayer(A)
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray loudly. They want people to see them. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. 6 But when you pray, you should go into your room and close the door. Then pray to your Father. He is there in that private place. He can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, don’t be like the people who don’t know God. They say the same things again and again. They think that if they say it enough, their god will hear them. 8 Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So this is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
we pray that your name will always be kept holy.
10 We pray that your kingdom will come—
that what you want will be done here on earth, the same as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for today.
12 Forgive our sins,
just as we have forgiven those who did wrong to us.
13 Don’t let us be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One.’[b]
14 Yes, if you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, then your Father in heaven will also forgive your wrongs. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, then your Father in heaven will not forgive the wrongs you do.
Jesus Teaches About Fasting
16 “When you fast, don’t make yourselves look sad like the hypocrites. They put a look of suffering on their faces so that people will see they are fasting. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. 17 So when you fast, wash your face and make yourself look nice. 18 Then no one will know you are fasting, except your Father, who is with you even in private. He can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.
You Cannot Serve Two Masters(B)
19 “Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. 20 Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21 Your heart will be where your treasure is.
22 “The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light. 23 But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness.[c]
24 “You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one and love the other, or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money[d] at the same time.
Put God’s Kingdom First(C)
25 “So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? 27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the wildflowers in the field. See how they grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. 29 But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. 30 If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It’s just grass—one day it’s alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you. Your faith is so small!
31 “Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. 33 What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. 34 So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.
The Order of Darius
6 So King Darius gave an order to search the writings of the kings before him. The writings were kept in Babylon in the same place the money was kept. 2 A scroll was found in the fortress of Ecbatana. (Ecbatana is in the province of Media.) This is what was written on that scroll:
Official Note: 3 During the first year that Cyrus was king, he gave an order about the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The order said:
Let the Temple of God be rebuilt. It will be a place to offer sacrifices. Let its foundations be built. The Temple must be 60 cubits[a] high and 60 cubits wide. 4 Its wall will be in layers that have three rows of large stones[b] and one row of wooden timbers. The cost of building the Temple must be paid for from the king’s treasury. 5 Also, the gold and silver things from God’s Temple must be put back in their places. Nebuchadnezzar took them from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. They must be put back in God’s Temple.
6 So King Darius sent this message to his officials:
To Tattenai, governor of the area west of the Euphrates River, to Shethar Bozenai, and to all the officials living in that province. I order you to stay away from Jerusalem. 7 Don’t bother the workers. Don’t try to stop the work on this Temple of God. Let the Jewish governor and the Jewish leaders rebuild it. Let them rebuild God’s Temple in the same place it was in the past.
8 Now I give this order. You must do this for the Jewish leaders building God’s Temple: The cost of the building must be fully paid from the king’s treasury. The money will come from the taxes collected from the provinces in the area west of the Euphrates River. Do these things quickly, so the work will not stop. 9 Give them anything they need. If they need young bulls, rams, or male lambs for sacrifices to the God of heaven, give these things to them. If the priests of Jerusalem ask for wheat, salt, wine, and oil, give these things to them every day without fail. 10 Give them to the Jewish priests so that they may offer sacrifices that please the God of heaven. Give these things so that the priests may pray for me and my sons.
11 Also, I give this order: If anyone changes this order, a wooden beam must be pulled from their house and pushed through their body. Then their house must be destroyed until it is only a pile of rocks.
12 God put his name there in Jerusalem. May God defeat any king or other person who tries to change this order. If anyone tries to destroy this Temple in Jerusalem, may God destroy that person.
I, Darius, have ordered it. This order must be obeyed quickly and completely.
The Temple Completed and Dedicated
13 So Tattenai the governor of the area west of the Euphrates River, Shethar Bozenai, and the men with them obeyed King Darius’ order. They obeyed the order quickly and completely. 14 So the Jewish leaders continued to build. Encouraged by the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, they had great success. They finished building the Temple as the God of Israel had commanded and as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia, had ordered. 15 The Temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar.[c] That was in the sixth year of the rule of King Darius.[d]
16 Then the Israelites celebrated the dedication of God’s Temple with much happiness. The priests, the Levites, and all the other people who came back from captivity joined in the celebration.
17 This is the way they dedicated God’s Temple: They offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs. And they offered twelve male goats for all Israel for a sin offering. That is one goat for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 18 Then they chose the priests in their groups and the Levites in their groups to serve in God’s Temple in Jerusalem. They did these things as it is written in the Book of Moses.
The Passover
19 [e] On the fourteenth day of the first month,[f] the Jews who came back from captivity celebrated the Passover. 20 The priests and Levites made themselves pure. They all made themselves clean and ready to celebrate the Passover. The Levites killed the Passover lamb for all the Jews who came back from captivity. They did that for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21 So all the Israelites who came back from captivity ate the Passover meal. Other people washed themselves and made themselves pure from the unclean things of the people living in that country. These pure people also shared in the Passover meal. They did this so that they could go to the Lord, the God of Israel, for help. 22 They celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with much joy for seven days. The Lord made them very happy because he had changed the attitude of the king of Assyria.[g] So the king of Assyria had helped them do the work on God’s Temple.
Seven Men Chosen for a Special Work
6 More and more people were becoming followers of Jesus. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers began to complain against the other Jewish followers. They said that their widows were not getting their share of what the followers received every day. 2 The twelve apostles called the whole group of followers together.
The apostles said to them, “It would not be right for us to give up our work of teaching God’s word in order to be in charge of getting food to people. 3 So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men who have a good reputation. They must be full of wisdom and the Spirit. We will give them this work to do. 4 Then we can use all our time to pray and to teach the word of God.”
5 The whole group liked the idea. So they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philip,[a] Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a man from Antioch who had become a Jew). 6 Then they put these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.[b]
7 The word of God was reaching more and more people. The group of followers in Jerusalem became larger and larger. Even a big group of Jewish priests believed and obeyed.
Some Jews Against Stephen
8 Stephen received a great blessing. God gave him power to do great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9 But some of the Jews there were from the synagogue of Free Men, as it was called. The group included Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. They started arguing with Stephen. 10 But the Spirit was helping him speak with wisdom. His words were so strong that these Jews could not argue with him.
11 So they told some men to say, “We heard Stephen say bad things against Moses and against God!” 12 By doing this, these Jews upset the people, the older Jewish leaders, and the teachers of the law. They became so angry that they came and grabbed Stephen and took him to a meeting of the high council.
13 The Jews brought some men into the meeting to tell lies about Stephen. These men said, “This man is always saying things against this holy place and against the Law of Moses. 14 We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change what Moses told us to do.” 15 Everyone there in the council meeting was staring at Stephen. They saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International