M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
He rides into Jerusalem, drives the merchants out of the temple, curses the fig tree, and rebukes the Pharisees with the similitudes of the two sons and of the husbandmen who slew such as were sent to them.
21 When they drew near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, Go into the town that lies in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and her colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord has need of them, and straightaway he will let them go.
4 All this was done to fulfil that which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 Tell ye the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you, humble and sitting upon a donkey and a colt, the foal of a donkey bred to the yoke.
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus told them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and set him thereon. 8 And many of the people spread their garments in the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and strew them in the road. 9 Moreover, the people who went ahead, and also those who came after, cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
10 And when he came to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11 And the people said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, a town of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all the people who sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of the people who sold doves, 13 and said to them, It is written: My house shall be called the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 When the chief priests and scribes saw the marvels that he did, and the children calling out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant 16 and said to him, Do you hear what they say? Jesus said to them, Yea, have you never read: From the mouth of babes and sucklings, you have ordained praise?
17 And he left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and had his lodging there.
18 In the morning, as he returned into the city again, he hungered, 19 and saw a fig tree by the road, and went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and said to it, Let fruit never grow on you from this time forward. And at once the fig tree withered away. 20 And when his disciples saw that, they marvelled, saying, How has the fig tree withered away so suddenly? 21 Jesus answered and said to them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what I have done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, Take yourself away and cast yourself into the sea, it will be done. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer (if you believe), you will receive it.
23 And when he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?
24 Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask of you a certain question, which, if you answer me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John: whence was it? from heaven, or of men?
Then they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say to us, why did you not then believe him? 26 But if we say it was of men, then we fear the people. (For everyone held John to be a prophet.)
27 And they answered Jesus and said, We don’t know.
And he likewise said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 28 What do you say to this: A certain man had two sons, and went to the elder and said, Son, go and work today in my vineyard. 29 He answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented and went. 30 Then the father went to the second son and said likewise. And he answered and said, I will, Sir. Yet he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of the father?
And they said to him, The first.
Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the publicans and the harlots shall come into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the publicans and the harlots believed him. And yet you, though you saw it, were still not moved with repentance, so that you might afterward have believed him.
33 Hear another similitude: There was a certain householder who planted a vineyard. He hedged it round about and made a winepress in it, and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive the fruits of it. 35 And the husbandmen caught his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than at the first, and they treated them likewise. 37 Then last of all he sent to them his own son, saying, They will respect my son. 38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us take his inheritance for ourselves. 39 And they caught him and thrust him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40 Now when the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those husbandmen?
41 They said to him, He will miserably destroy those evil persons, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen who will render to him the fruit in their seasons.
42 Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders refused, the same is set in the principal part of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and will be given to the Gentiles, who will bring forth the fruits of it. 44 And whosoever falls on this stone, he shall be broken; but whomever it falls upon, it will grind him to powder.
45 When the chief priests and Pharisees heard these similitudes, they perceived that he was speaking of them. 46 And they went about to lay hands on him, but they feared the people because they took him as a prophet.
Paul’s journey by ship. Of Philip the evangelist, and of Agabus the prophet, who warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. He remains steadfast in his purpose, and is taken in the temple.
21 And once we had launched forth and drawn away from them, we went with a straight course to Cos, and the day following to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 And we found a ship ready to sail to Phoenicia, and went aboard and set sail. 3 Then we came in sight of Cyprus, and we passed it on the left hand and sailed to Syria. We put in at Tyre, because the ship was to unload her cargo there. 4 And when we found brethren, we stayed there seven days. And they told Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
5 And when the days were ended, we departed and went our ways; and they all brought us on our way, with their wives and children, till we got to the outskirts of the city. And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave of one another, 6 we boarded ship, and they returned home again.
7 When we had completed the voyage from Tyre, we went on to Ptolemais and greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day. 8 The next day, we who were of Paul’s company departed and went to Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven deacons, and stayed with him. 9 This man had four daughters, virgins who prophesied.
10 And while we tarried there a good many days, there came a certain prophet from Judea named Agabus. 11 When he had come to us, he took Paul’s girdle and bound his hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: in this manner the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man that owns this girdle, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
12 When we heard this, both we and others of the same place besought Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered and said, What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
14 When we could not turn his mind, we gave up, saying, May the will of the Lord be fulfilled.
15 After those days we made ourselves ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and they brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we would lodge. 17 And when we got to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And on the morrow, Paul went in with us to James. And all the elders came together. 19 And when he had greeted them, he told in order all the things that God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousand Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous over the law. 21 And they are informed of you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and say that they ought not to circumcise their children, nor live according to the customs. 22 What then? This group is bound to get together, because they will hear that you have come. 23 Do therefore what we say to you: We have four men who are under a vow. 24 Take them, and purify yourself with them, and bear their expenses so that they can shave their heads, and everyone will know that those things that they have heard concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk keeping the law. 25 For concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and concluded that they need observe no such things, but should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication.
26 Then the next day Paul took the men and purified himself with them, and entered into the temple, declaring that he was observing the days of purification until an offering should be offered for every one of them.
27 And as the seven days were almost ended, the Jews of Asia, when they saw Paul in the temple, moved all the people, and laid hands on him, 28 crying, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teaches everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he has also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place. 29 (For they had seen one Trophimus, an Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 And all the city was moved, and the people swarmed together. And they took Paul and drew him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut to.
31 As they went about to kill him, a report came to the high captain of the soldiers that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the high captain and the soldiers, the people stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the captain came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was and what he had done. 34 And one shouted this and another that among the people. And when he could not ascertain the facts due to the tumult, the captain commanded Paul to be taken into the castle. 35 And when Paul came to a flight of stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the people. 36 For the crowd of people followed after, crying, Away with him!
37 And as Paul began to be led into the castle, he said to the high captain, May I speak to you? He said, Can you speak Greek? 38 Are you not that Egyptian who before these days caused a riot, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
39 But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. I beseech you, allow me to speak to the people.
40 When he had given him leave, Paul stood on the steps and beckoned with his hand to the people, and there was a great silence. And he spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.