M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Sinful Man

6 When men became many in number on the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not stay in man forever, for he is flesh. But yet he will live for 120 years.” ⁴ Very large men were on the earth in those days, and later also, when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, who gave birth to their children. These were the powerful men of long ago, men of much strength.

⁵ Then the Lord saw that man was very sinful on the earth. Every plan and thought of the heart of man was sinful always. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth. He had sorrow in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have made from the land, man and animals, things that move upon the earth and birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

⁹ This is the story of Noah and his family. Noah was right with God. He was without blame in his time. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ Now the earth was sinful in the eyes of God. The earth was filled with people hurting each other. ¹² God looked at the earth and saw how sinful it was. For all who lived on the earth had become sinful in their ways.

¹³ Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to make an end to all the people on the earth. They are the cause of very much trouble. See, I will destroy them as I destroy the earth. ¹⁴ Make a large boat of gopher wood for yourself. Build rooms in the boat. And cover it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The boat is to be as long as 150 long steps, as wide as twenty-five long steps, and eight times taller than a man. ¹⁶ Make a window for the boat, that goes down a cubit from the roof. Put a door in the side of the boat. And make it with first, second, and third floors. ¹⁷ See, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh under heaven that has the breath of life. Everything on earth will be destroyed. ¹⁸ But I will make My agreement with you. You will go into the large boat, you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the large boat two of every kind of living thing of all flesh, to keep them alive with you. They will be male and female. ²⁰ Two of all the kinds of birds, and animals, and every thing that moves on the ground are to be with you to keep them alive. ²¹ And take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it. It will be food for you and for them.” ²² Noah did just what God told him to do.

Jesus Teaches on the Mountain about Helping Others

6 “Be sure you do not do good things in front of others just to be seen by them. If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to the poor, do not be as those who pretend to be someone they are not. They blow a horn in the places of worship and in the streets so people may respect them. For sure, I tell you, they have all the reward they are going to get. ³ When you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand gives. ⁴ Your giving should be in secret. Then your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus Teaches about Prayer

⁵ “When you pray, do not be as those who pretend to be someone they are not. They love to stand and pray in the places of worship or in the streets so people can see them. For sure, I tell you, they have all the reward they are going to get. ⁶ When you pray, go into a room by yourself. After you have shut the door, pray to your Father Who is in secret. Then your Father Who sees in secret will reward you. ⁷ When you pray, do not say the same thing over and over again making long prayers like the people who do not know God. They think they are heard because their prayers are long. ⁸ Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

⁹ “Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, Your name is holy. ¹⁰ May Your holy nation come. What You want done, may it be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us the bread we need today. ¹² Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

¹³ ‘Do not let us be tempted, but keep us from sin. *Your nation is holy. You have power and shining-greatness forever. Let it be so.’

Jesus Teaches about Forgiveness

¹⁴ “If you forgive people their sins, your Father in heaven will forgive your sins also. ¹⁵ If you do not forgive people their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Jesus Teaches about Not Eating So You Can Pray Better

¹⁶ “When you go without food so you can pray better, do not be as those who pretend to be someone they are not. They make themselves look sad so people will see they are going with out food. For sure, I tell you, they have all the reward they are going to get. ¹⁷ When you go without food so you can pray better, put oil on your head and wash your face. ¹⁸ Then nobody knows you are going without food. Then your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus Teaches about Having Riches

¹⁹ “Do not gather together for yourself riches of this earth. They will be eaten by bugs and become rusted. Men can break in and steal them. ²⁰ Gather together riches in heaven where they will not be eaten by bugs or become rusted. Men cannot break in and steal them. ²¹ For wherever your riches are, your heart will be there also. ²² The eye is the light of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ If your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark. If the light in you is dark, how dark it will be! ²⁴ No one can have two bosses. He will hate the one and love the other. Or he will listen to the one and work against the other. You cannot have both God and riches as your boss at the same time.

Jesus Teaches about Cares of Life

²⁵ “I tell you this: Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear. Is not life more important than food? Is not the body more important than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do not gather grain. They do not put grain into a building to keep. Yet your Father in heaven feeds them! Are you not more important than the birds? ²⁷ Which of you can make himself a little taller by worrying? ²⁸ Why should you worry about clothes? Think how the flowers grow. They do not work or make cloth. ²⁹ But I tell you that Solomon in all his greatness was not dressed as well as one of these flowers. ³⁰ God clothes the grass of the field. It lives today and is burned in the stove tomorrow. How much more will He give you clothes? You have so little faith! ³¹ Do not worry. Do not keep saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘What will we wear?’ ³² The people who do not know God are looking for all these things. Your Father in heaven knows you need all these things. ³³ First of all, look for the holy nation of God. Be right with Him. All these other things will be given to you also. ³⁴ Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own worries. The troubles we have in a day are enough for one day.

Cyrus’ Book Found

6 Then King Darius had men look through the books which were kept in Babylon. ² And in Ecbatana, the most important city in the land of Media, a book was found in which was written: ³ “In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king said that this was to be done about the house of God at Jerusalem: ‘Let the house of God, the place where burnt gifts are given in worship, be built again with a good base. It should be sixteen times taller than a man, and as wide as thirty long steps. ⁴ There should be three very large stones laid on the top of each other, and then one large piece of wood laid. Let it be paid for from the king’s money. ⁵ Let the gold and silver objects which Nebuchadnezzar took from the house of God in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon be returned to their places in the house of God in Jerusalem. You must put them in the house of God.’

⁶ “So now, Tattenai, leader over the land on the other side of the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your friends who are leaders in the lands on the other side of the River, stay away from there. ⁷ Leave this work on the house of God alone. Let the leaders of the Jews build this house of God again where it stood before. ⁸ Also, I am making it known what you are to do for these leaders of Judah for the building of this house of God. All of it is to be paid for from the king’s money out of the taxes from the lands on the other side of the River. And waste no time to get it to them. ⁹ Be sure to give them each day whatever is needed, young bulls, rams and lambs for a burnt gift to the God of heaven, and grain, salt, wine, and oil for pouring. ¹⁰ This is so they may give pleasing gifts in worship to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. ¹¹ I here make it known that if anyone does not do what I say, a piece of wood will be taken from his house and he will be nailed on it. And his house will become a place to gather waste. ¹² May the God Who has caused His name to be there take away the power of any king or people who will try to change what I have said, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have told this to you. Let it be done with much care.”

The House of God Is Set Apart for Use

¹³ Then Tattenai, the leader over the land on the other side of the River, and Shethar-bozenai and their friends obeyed the words of the king with much care, just as King Darius had told them. ¹⁴ The leaders of the Jews did well in building, through the words spoken by Haggai the man who spoke for God and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished building as they had been told to do by the God of Israel, and by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ¹⁵ The house of God was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the rule of King Darius.

¹⁶ The people of Israel, the religious leaders, the Levites, and the rest of the people who returned from Babylon, set apart this house of God with joy. ¹⁷ To set apart this house of God they gave 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs. For a sin gift for all Israel they gave twelve male goats, one for each number of the families of Israel. ¹⁸ Then they put the religious leaders and the Levites into groups by the work they were to do for God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

The Passover

¹⁹ The people who had returned from Babylon kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²⁰ For the religious leaders and the Levites had made themselves holy together. All of them were clean. Then they killed the Passover lamb for all the people, for their brothers the religious leaders, and for themselves. ²¹ It was eaten by the people of Israel who returned from Babylon and all those who had separated themselves from the sin of the nations of the land to join them and to look for the Lord God of Israel. ²² They kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them very happy. He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to give them strength in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Church Leaders Are Chosen

6 In those days the group of followers was getting larger. Greek-speaking Jews in the group complained against the Jews living in the country around Jerusalem. The Greek-speaking Jews said that their women whose husbands had died were not taken care of when the food was given out each day. ² So the twelve missionaries called a meeting of the many followers and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to hand out food. ³ Brothers, choose from among you seven men who are respected and who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will have them take care of this work. ⁴ Then we will use all of our time to pray and to teach the Word of God.”

⁵ These words pleased all of them. They chose Stephen who was a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. They also chose Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch who had become a Jew. ⁶ These men were taken to the missionaries. After praying, the missionaries laid their hands on them.

⁷ The Word of God spread further. The group of followers became much larger in Jerusalem. Many of the religious leaders believed in the faith of the Christians.

Stephen Is Brought in Front of the Religious Leaders’ Court

⁸ Stephen was a man full of faith and power. He did many great things among the people. ⁹ But some men came from their place of worship who were known as the Free people. They started to argue with Stephen. These men were from the countries of Cyrene and Alexandria and Cilicia and Asia. ¹⁰ Stephen spoke with wisdom and power given by the Holy Spirit. They were not able to say anything against what he said. ¹¹ So they told other men to say, “We have heard him say things against Moses and God.” ¹² In this way they got the people talking against Stephen. The leaders of the people and the teachers of the Law came and took him to the religious leaders’ court. ¹³ The people were told to lie and say, “This man keeps on talking against this place of worship and the Law of Moses. ¹⁴ We have heard him say, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is going to pull down this place. He is going to change what Moses taught us.’”

¹⁵ The men sitting in the religious leaders’ court were looking at Stephen. They all saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.