M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

John is taken and beheaded. Christ feeds 5,000 men with five loaves and two fishes, and appears to his disciples by night upon the lake.

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 is risen again from death, and therefore are such miracles wrought by him! ³ For Herod had seized John, and 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 But when Herod would have put him to death, he feared the people, because they counted John as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod, ⁷ whereupon he promised with an oath that he would give her whatever she would ask. ⁸ And she, being first instructed by her mother, said, Give me here the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

⁹ And the king sorrowed. Nevertheless, because of his oath, and because of the people who were sitting also at the table, he commanded it to be given her. ¹⁰ And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came and took up his body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

¹³ When Jesus heard about this, he withdrew from there by boat into an isolated place out of the way. But when the people heard of it, they followed him by foot out of their towns. ¹⁴ And Jesus went forth and saw the crowds of people, and his heart did melt upon them. And he healed among them those that were sick.

¹⁵ When evening was come, his disciples went to him, saying, This is an isolated place, and the day is spent. Let the people depart so that they can go into the towns and buy themselves some food. ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, They have no need to go away; you give them to eat. ¹⁷ Then they said to him, We have here only five loaves and two fishes. ¹⁸ And he said, Bring them here.

¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass, took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ And they did all eat, and were satisfied. And of the pieces that remained, they gathered twelve baskets full. ²¹ And the men that had eaten were in number about 5,000, as well as women and children.

²² Directly after, Jesus got his disciples to get into a boat, and to go over before him while he sent the people away. ²³ And as soon as he had sent the people away, he went up into a mountain alone to pray. And when night was come, he was there himself alone. ²⁴ And the boat was now in the middle of the sea, and was tossed with waves, for it was a contrary wind.

²⁵ In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when his disciples saw him walking on the water, they were troubled, saying, It is some spirit! And they cried out for fear. ²⁷ And straightaway Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. ²⁸ Peter answered him and said, Master, if it is you, get me to come to you on the water. ²⁹ And he said, Come!

And when Peter had gone down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw a mighty wind, he was afraid. And as he began to sink he cried out, saying, Master, save me! ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt? ³² And as soon as they were in the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Then the men in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, you are the Son of God.

³⁴ And when they had crossed over, they went into the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵ When the men of that place learned of him, they sent out into all the area round about, and brought to him all that were sick, ³⁶ and asked him if they might touch the hem of his vesture only. And as many as touched it were made well.

Paul and Barnabas preach at Iconium. Some believe, some stir up a revolt. At Lystra the people want to make sacrifice to Barnabas and Paul, who refuse it and exhort the people to worship the true God. Paul is stoned. After that, he goes to Derbe, and again to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.

14 And it happened in Iconium that Paul and Barnabas went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great number both of the Jews, and also of the Greeks, believed. ² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and disquieted the minds of the Gentiles against the brethren.

³ They remained there a long time, and acquitted themselves boldly with the help of the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, causing signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁴ The people of the city were divided: part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. ⁵ When an assault was planned, both by the Gentiles and also by the Jews with their leaders, to put them to shame and to stone them, ⁶ they were aware of it, and fled to Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia and to the region that lies round about, ⁷ and there preached the gospel.

⁸ And at Lystra there sat a certain man weak in his feet, being crippled from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man heard Paul preach. Paul looked at him and perceived that he had faith to be whole, ¹⁰ and said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet! And he started up and walked.

¹¹ And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, Gods have come down to us in the likeness of men! ¹² And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the preacher. ¹³ Then the priest of Jupiter, who dwelt in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the temple porch, and wanted to make sacrifice with the people.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the people, crying out and saying, ¹⁵ Sirs, why do you do this? We are mortal men like you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them – ¹⁶ who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness, in that he showed his goodness in giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. ¹⁸ And with these words, they barely refrained the people from making sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ But certain Jews from Antioch and lconium came there, and they won the people over, and stoned Paul and drew him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. ²⁰ However, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and went into the city.

And the next day, Paul departed with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹ After they had preached to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium and Antioch, ²² and strengthened the disciples’ souls, exhorting them to continue in the faith, affirming that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. ²³ And they appointed elders by election in every congregation, and prayed and fasted, and committed them to God on whom they believed.

²⁴ And they went through Pisidia, and came into Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had preached the word of God in Perga, they descended into Attalia, ²⁶ and from there returned by ship to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. ²⁷ When they arrived and had gathered the congregation together, they described all that God had done by them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained there a long time with the disciples.