M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Christ gives answer concerning marriage, accepts the young children, and teaches not to be full of cares, nor to love worldly riches.

19 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished those sayings, he left Galilee, and went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. ² And crowds of people followed him, and he healed them there. ³ Then the Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any reason at all? ⁴ He answered and said to them, Have you not read how it was that he who made man at the beginning made them man and woman, ⁵ and said, For this thing shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh? ⁶ So then, now they are not two, but one flesh. Let not man therefore put apart that which God has joined together.

⁷ Then they said to him, Why did Moses direct to give a testimonial of divorce and to put her away? ⁸ He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. ⁹ I say therefore to you, whoever puts away his wife (unless it be for fornication) and marries another, breaks wedlock. And whoever marries her who is divorced, commits adultery.

¹⁰ Then Jesus’ disciples said to him, If this is the case between man and wife, then it is not good to marry. ¹¹ He said to them, Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. ¹² Some are chaste who were so born from their mother’s womb. And others are chaste who were made so by men. And others are chaste who have made themselves chaste for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who can receive it, let him receive it.

¹³ Then young children were brought to him so that he could put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked the people. ¹⁴ But Jesus said, Allow the children, and do not forbid them to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. ¹⁵ And when he had put his hands on them, he departed from there.

¹⁶ And a man came and said to Jesus, Good Teacher, what good thing should I do so that I may have eternal life? ¹⁷ He said to him, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. But if you would enter into life, keep the commandments. ¹⁸ The other asked him, Which? And Jesus said, Break no wedlock. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. ¹⁹ Honour father and mother. And love your neighbour as yourself.

²⁰ The young man said to him, I have observed all these things from my youth. What do I yet lack? ²¹ And Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, and follow me.

²² When the young man heard these words, he went away grieved, for he had great wealth.

²³ Then Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And moreover I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

²⁵ When his disciples heard that, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? ²⁶ Jesus regarded them and said to them, With men it is not possible, but with God all things are possible.

²⁷ Then Peter answered and said to him, Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?

²⁸ Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, when the Son of man sits in the seat of his majesty, you who have followed me in the new birth shall sit also upon twelve seats and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And whosoever gives up houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, the same shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. ³⁰ Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Of the twelve men that Paul baptized at Ephesus, and what miracles were done by him. Demetrius incites riot in the city.

19 It came about, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul passed through the upper regions and went to Ephesus, and found certain disciples, ² and said to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit or not. ³ And he said to them, With what then were you baptized? And they said, With John’s baptism. ⁴ Then Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who was to come after him; that is, on Christ Jesus.

⁵ When they heard that, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. ⁷ And the men were about twelve in all.

⁸ And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, teaching and giving them exhortations of the kingdom of God. ⁹ When some grew hardhearted and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way, and that before the assembly, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples. And he held discussions daily in the school of one called Tyrannus. ¹⁰ And this continued for two years, so that all those who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God worked no small miracles by the hands of Paul. ¹² Napkins or partlets were even brought from his body to the sick, and their diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, We exorcise you by Jesus whom Paul preaches! ¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew and chief of the priests, who did this. ¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? ¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was ran on them and overcame them, and so prevailed against them that they fled out of that house with their clothes torn off and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all, both the Jews and Greeks that dwelt at Ephesus. And fear came on them all, and they magnified the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁸ And many who believed came and confessed, and showed their works. ¹⁹ Many of those who had been involved in occult practices brought their books and burned them openly. They estimated the value of them, and found it fifty thousand silverlings. ²⁰ Thus the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

²¹ After these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to pass over Macedonia and Achaia and to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. ²² And he sent into Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus; but he himself remained in Asia for a season.

²³ At that time there arose no little ado about the Way. ²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, brought no little income to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called these men together, with the workmen of related occupations, and said, Sirs, you know that we profit from this trade. ²⁶ Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that things made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ As a result, not only is this our craft at risk of being discredited, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may fall into disrepute, and her magnificence be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.

²⁸ When they heard this, the men were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! ²⁹ And all the city was on a roar, and the people rushed into the public theatre with one assent and caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions.

³⁰ When Paul would have entered in to the people, the disciples prevented him. ³¹ Also, certain of the leading Asians that were his friends sent to him, urging him not to press into the theatre. ³² Some cried one thing and some another, and the crowd was all out of order, and the majority did not know why they had come together.

³³ Some of the crowd drew Alexander out, the Jews thrusting him forward. Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to give the people an answer. ³⁴ But when they knew that he was a Jew, there arose a shout for almost two hours, everyone crying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!

³⁵ When the town clerk had quieted the people, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is it that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana and of the image that came from heaven? ³⁶ Seeing then that no one here denies this, you ought to be quiet, and do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought here these men who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. ³⁸ And so if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have any charge against anyone, the court is open, and there are deputies. Let them bring complaints against one another. ³⁹ If you have any other matter, it may be determined in a lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are at risk of charges being made against us for this day’s uproar, since there is no good reason we can give to account for this mob of people.

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he let the assembly depart.