M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Abrahamic Covenant
15 After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram.
I am your shield,
your exceedingly great reward.[a]”
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess[b] it.”
8 But Abram said, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then Abram brought all of these to Him and cut them in two and laid each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and terror and a great darkness fell on him. 13 Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will live as strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 14 But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and you will be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation, your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 When the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
The Death of John the Baptist(A)
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead. And therefore mighty works are at work in him.”
3 For Herod had laid hold of John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 When Herod would have put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they counted him as a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask. 8 Being previously instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter.” 9 The king was sorry. Nevertheless, for the oath’s sake and those who sat with him at supper, he commanded it to be given to her. 10 He sent and beheaded John in the prison. 11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took up the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus.
The Feeding of the Five Thousand(B)
13 When Jesus heard this, He departed from there by boat for a deserted place. But when the people heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 Jesus went ashore and saw a great assembly. And He was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a lonely place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to depart. You give them something to eat.”
17 They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to His disciples; and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Walking on the Water(C)
22 Then Jesus commanded His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 When He sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was turbulent.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit.” And they cried out in fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, bid me come to You on the water.”
29 He said, “Come.”
And when Peter got out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
The Healing of the Sick in Gennesaret(D)
34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word to all the surrounding country and brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
Opposition to the Rebuilding
4 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly irritated, and he mocked the Jews. 2 He spoke before his relatives and the army of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they fortifying themselves? Will they make sacrifices? Can they complete this in a day? Can they revive the burned-up stones out of the rubbish heaps?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Even what they are rebuilding, if even a fox climbed it, that would break down their stone wall.”
4 Hear, O our God, that we are despised. Turn their reproach back upon their own head, and give them as spoil in a land of captivity: 5 No longer cover their iniquity nor blot out their sin, which is before You since they have made insults against the builders.
6 So we rebuilt the wall until all of it was solidified up to half its height. The people had a passion for the work.
7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard how the restoration of Jerusalem’s walls was progressing and how the breaches had begun to be sealed, it made them extremely furious. 8 So they all conspired together to fight against Jerusalem in order to cause it chaos. 9 Nevertheless we prayed to our God, and, because of them, we set up a watch for them day and night.
10 Judah had said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing though there is much rubble. And we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.”
11 Our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see until we have entered in among them and slain them. Indeed, we will stop the work!”
12 When the Jews living near them came, they told us ten times, “From every place where you turn, they will be against us.”
13 Therefore I set guards at the lowest positions along the wall and just inside the wall at the unrepaired areas. I also stationed the people by families providing them individually their own swords, spears, and bows. 14 After I looked around, I stood up and said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “Stop being terrified because of them! Remember instead that the Lord is great and awesome. So fight for each other—and for your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
15 Now when our enemies heard that this had become known to us and that God had brought their counsel to nothing, then we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
16 After that day, half of my servants did the work while the other half handled the spears, shields, bows, and body armor. Commanders were appointed to support every house of Judah. 17 Those rebuilding the wall and those hauling the loads were working with one hand doing the task, but with the other hand holding the weapon. 18 For the builders, everyone had his sword bound to his side, even while rebuilding. The trumpet blower worked beside me.
19 I said to the nobles, the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “The work is vast and over a large area. Since we are spread along the wall far from each other, 20 assemble to us there at the place where you hear the trumpet sounded. Our God shall fight for us.”
21 So we labored in the work with half of them holding spears from sunrise to the rising of the stars. 22 Likewise at the same time I said to the people, “Every man and his servant must lodge within Jerusalem. By night, they may be a guard to us; by day, a laborer for the work.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon, even when washing.
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
14 At Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and so spoke that a great crowd of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and embittered their minds against the brothers. 3 So they continued there a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to His gracious word, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, and others with the apostles. 5 When an assault was planned by both Gentiles and Jews, with their leaders, to attack them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7 And there they preached the gospel.
Paul and Barnabas in Lystra
8 In Lystra there sat a man, crippled in his feet, who had never walked and was lame from birth. 9 He heard Paul speaking, who looked intently at him and perceived that he had faith to be healed 10 and said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he jumped up and walked.
11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the main speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, who was in front of the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates to offer sacrifices with the crowds.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, preaching to you to turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them, 16 who in times past allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying our hearts with food and gladness.” 18 With these words they scarcely restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and persuaded the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. 20 But as the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. The next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the minds of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, to go through many afflictions and thus enter the kingdom of God. 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they believed. 24 Then they passed throughout Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia.
26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. 27 When they arrived and had assembled the church, they reported what God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And there they stayed a long time with the disciples.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.