M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Isaac marries Rebekah

24 As the days went by and Abraham became older, the Lord blessed Abraham in every way. ² Abraham said to the oldest servant of his household, who was in charge of everything he owned, “Put your hand under my thigh. ³ By the Lord, God of heaven and earth, give me your word that you won’t choose a wife for my son from the Canaanite women among whom I live. ⁴ Go to my land and my family and find a wife for my son Isaac there.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “What if the woman doesn’t agree to come back with me to this land? Shouldn’t I take your son back to the land you left?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “Be sure you don’t take my son back there. ⁷ The Lord, God of heaven—who took me from my father’s household and from my family’s land, who spoke with me and who gave me his word, saying, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’—he will send his messenger in front of you, and you will find a wife for my son there. ⁸ If the woman won’t agree to come back with you, you will be free from this obligation to me. Only don’t take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant put his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and gave him his word about this mission.

¹⁰ The servant took ten of his master’s camels and all of his master’s best provisions, set out, and traveled to Nahor’s city in Aram-naharaim. ¹¹ He had the camels kneel down outside the city at the well in the evening, when women come out to draw water. ¹² He said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make something good happen for me today and be loyal to my master Abraham. ¹³ I will stand here by the spring while the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. ¹⁴ When I say to a young woman, ‘Hand me your water jar so I can drink,’ and she says to me, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels water too,’ may she be the one you’ve selected for your servant Isaac. In this way I will know that you’ve been loyal to my master.” ¹⁵ Even before he finished speaking, Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother—was coming out with a water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman was very beautiful, old enough to be married, and hadn’t known a man intimately. She went down to the spring, filled her water jar, and came back up.

¹⁷ The servant ran to meet her and said, “Give me a little sip of water from your jar.”

¹⁸ She said, “Drink, sir.” Then she quickly lowered the water jar with her hands and gave him some water to drink. ¹⁹ When she finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw some water for your camels too, till they’ve had enough to drink.” ²⁰ She emptied her water jar quickly into the watering trough, ran to the well again to draw water, and drew water for all of the camels. ²¹ The man stood gazing at her, wondering silently if the Lord had made his trip successful or not.

²² As soon as the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring, weighing a half shekel,^[a] and two gold bracelets for her arms, weighing ten shekels. ²³ He said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴ She responded, “I’m the daughter of Bethuel, who is the son of Milcah and Nahor.” ²⁵ She continued, “We have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and a place to spend the night.”

²⁶ The man bowed down and praised the Lord: ²⁷ “Bless the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who hasn’t given up his loyalty and his faithfulness to my master. The Lord has shown me the way to the household of my master’s brother.”

²⁸ The young woman ran and told her mother’s household everything that had happened. ²⁹ Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran to the man outside by the spring. ³⁰ When he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah say, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man, who was still standing by the spring with his camels. ³¹ Laban said, “Come in, favored one of the Lord! Why are you standing outside? I’ve prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³² So the man entered the house. Then Laban unbridled the camels, provided straw and feed for them and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him, ³³ and set out a meal for him.

But the man said, “I won’t eat until I’ve said something.”

Laban replied, “Say it.”

³⁴ The man said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has richly blessed my master, has made him a great man, and has given him flocks, cattle, silver, gold, men servants, women servants, camels, and donkeys. ³⁶ My master’s wife Sarah gave birth to a son for my master in her old age, and he’s given him everything he owns. ³⁷ My master made me give him my word: ‘Don’t choose a wife for my son from the Canaanite women, in whose land I’m living. ³⁸ No, instead, go to my father’s household and to my relatives and choose a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I said to my master, ‘What if the woman won’t come back with me?’ ⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘The Lord, whom I’ve traveled with everywhere, will send his messenger with you and make your trip successful; and you will choose a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s household. ⁴¹ If you go to my relatives, you will be free from your obligation to me. Even if they provide no one for you, you will be free from your obligation to me.’

⁴² “Today I arrived at the spring, and I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you wish to make the trip I’m taking successful, ⁴³ when I’m standing by the spring and the young woman who comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jar,” ⁴⁴ and she responds to me, “Drink, and I will draw water for your camels too,” may she be the woman the Lord has selected for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵ Before I finished saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder and went down to the spring to draw water. And I said to her, ‘Please give me something to drink.’ ⁴⁶ She immediately lowered her water jar and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels something to drink too.’ So I drank and she also gave water to the camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son whom Milcah bore him.’ I put a ring in her nose and bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸ I bowed and worshipped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who led me in the right direction to choose the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹ Now if you’re loyal and faithful to my master, tell me. If not, tell me so I will know where I stand either way.”

⁵⁰ Laban and Bethuel both responded, “This is all the Lord’s doing. We have nothing to say about it. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah, right in front of you. Take her and go. She will be the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord said.” ⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed low before the Lord. ⁵³ The servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. To her brother and to her mother he gave the finest gifts. ⁵⁴ He and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.

When they got up in the morning, the servant said, “See me off to my master.”

⁵⁵ Her brother and mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us not more than ten days, and after that she may go.”

⁵⁶ But he said to them, “Don’t delay me. The Lord has made my trip successful. See me off so that I can go to my master.”

⁵⁷ They said, “Summon the young woman, and let’s ask her opinion.” ⁵⁸ They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹ So they sent off their sister Rebekah, her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah, saying to her,

⁶¹ Rebekah and her young women got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶² Now Isaac had come from the region of^[b] Beer-lahai-roi and had settled in the arid southern plain. ⁶³ One evening, Isaac went out to inspect the pasture,^[c] and while staring he saw camels approaching. ⁶⁴ Rebekah stared at Isaac. She got down from the camel ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is this man walking through the pasture to meet us?”

The servant said, “He’s my master.” So she took her headscarf and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. ⁶⁷ Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He received Rebekah as his wife and loved her. So Isaac found comfort after his mother’s death.

Ways of the legal experts and the Pharisees

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, ² “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. ³ Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. ⁴ For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. ⁶ They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. ⁷ They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’

⁸ “But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. ⁹ Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. ¹⁰ Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. ¹¹ But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.

Condemnation of the legal experts and the Pharisees

¹³ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter yourselves, and you won’t allow those who want to enter to do so.^[a]

¹⁵ “How terrible it will be for you, legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make one convert. But when they’ve been converted, they become twice the child of hell you are.

¹⁶ “How terrible it will be for you blind guides who say, ‘If people swear by the temple, it’s nothing. But if people swear by the gold in the temple, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁷ You foolish and blind people! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ You say, ‘If people swear by the altar, it’s nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁹ You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ Therefore, those who swear by the altar swear by it and by everything that’s on it. ²¹ Those who swear by the temple swear by it and by everything that’s part of it. ²² Those who swear by heaven swear by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You give to God a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith. You ought to give a tenth but without forgetting about those more important matters. ²⁴ You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.

²⁷ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. ²⁸ In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.

²⁹ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors’ days, we wouldn’t have joined them in killing the prophets.’ ³¹ You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, complete what your ancestors did. ³³ You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell? ³⁴ Therefore, look, I’m sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city. ³⁵ Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation.

Crying over Jerusalem

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you deserted. ³⁹ I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”^[b]

Restoring the temple

13 On that day, when the scroll from Moses was being read to the people, they found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter God’s assembly. ² This is because they hadn’t met the Israelites with food and water but instead hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ When the people heard this law, they separated out from Israel all those of mixed descent.

⁴ Now before this, however, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed to be in charge of the storerooms of our God’s house and who was related to Tobiah, ⁵ prepared a large room for Tobiah to use. This was the room where they had previously kept the grain offering, the incense, and the equipment, together with the tenth-part gifts of grain, wine, and oil. These items were for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers as well as the portions for the priests.

⁶ I wasn’t in Jerusalem while this was happening because I had gone to Babylon’s King Artaxerxes in the thirty-second year of the king. After some time, I asked the king’s permission ⁷ and returned to Jerusalem. That was when I saw the wrong that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by preparing him a room in the courtyards of God’s house. ⁸ I was very angry and threw all of Tobiah’s household furniture out of the room. ⁹ Then I gave orders that the rooms be purified, and I put back the temple equipment, along with the grain offering and the incense.

¹⁰ I also found out that the Levites hadn’t been given their portions, so they and the singers who did the work had gone back to their fields. ¹¹ So I scolded the officials, asking, “Why is God’s house being neglected?” I gathered them together and set them in their stations.

¹² Then all Judah brought the tenth-part gifts of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³ I appointed the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites to be in charge over the storehouses. I also appointed Hanan, Zaccur’s son and Mattaniah’s grandson, as their assistant. These men were considered trustworthy, and their task was to hand out shares to their colleagues.

¹⁴ Remember me, my God, concerning this. Don’t erase my good deeds that I have done for my God’s house and for its services.

Keeping the Sabbath

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah using the winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also collecting piles of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of load, and then bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath. I warned them at that time against selling food.

¹⁶ In addition, people from Tyre who lived in the city were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them to the people of Judah on the Sabbath. This happened in Jerusalem itself!

¹⁷ So I scolded the officials of Judah: “What is this evil thing that you are doing?” I asked. “You are making the Sabbath impure! ¹⁸ This is just what your ancestors did, and God brought all this evil upon us and upon this city. And now you are bringing more wrath upon Israel by making the Sabbath impure!”

¹⁹ So when it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the doors should be shut. I also ordered that they shouldn’t be reopened until after the Sabbath. To make sure that no load would come into the city^[a] on the Sabbath, I stationed some of my own men at the gates. ²⁰ Once or twice the traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them: “Why are you spending the night by the wall? If you do that again, I will lay hands on you!” At that point, they stopped coming on the Sabbath. ²² I also commanded the Levites to purify themselves and to come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember this also in my favor, my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.

Marrying foreign women

²³ Also in those days I saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴ Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of various peoples; they couldn’t speak the language of Judah.

²⁵ So I scolded them and cursed them, and beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. I also made them swear a solemn pledge in the name of God, saying, “You won’t give your daughters to their sons in marriage, or take their daughters in marriage for your sons or yourselves. ²⁶ Didn’t Israel’s King Solomon sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was well loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet foreign wives led even him into sin! ²⁷ Should we then listen to you and do all this great evil, acting unfaithfully toward our God by marrying foreign women?”

²⁸ Now one of the sons of Joiada son of the high priest Eliashib was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I chased him away from me.

²⁹ Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priests and the Levites!

³⁰ So I purified them of everything foreign and established the services of the priests and Levites with specific duties for each person. ³¹ I also provided for the wood offering at appointed times as well as for the early produce.

Remember me, my God, for good.

23 Paul stared at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with an altogether clear conscience right up to this very day.” ² The high priest Ananias ordered those standing beside Paul to strike him in the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is about to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit and judge me according to the Law, yet disobey the Law by ordering that I be struck.”

⁴ Those standing near him asked, “You dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵ Paul replied, “Brothers, I wasn’t aware that he was the high priest. It is written, You will not speak evil about a ruler of your people.”^[a]

⁶ Knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, Paul exclaimed in the council, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I am on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷ These words aroused a dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ This is because Sadducees say that there’s no resurrection, angel, or spirit, but Pharisees affirm them all. ⁹ Council members were shouting loudly. Some Pharisees who were legal experts stood up and insisted forcefully, “We find nothing wrong with this man! What if a spirit or angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ The dispute became so heated that the commander feared they might tear Paul to pieces. He ordered soldiers to go down and remove him by force from their midst. Then they took him back to the military headquarters.

¹¹ The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Be encouraged! Just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so too you must testify in Rome.”

A murder plot discovered

¹² The next morning some Jewish leaders formulated a plot and solemnly promised that they wouldn’t eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ More than forty people were involved in the conspiracy. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have solemnly promised to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ You and the council must explain to the commander that you need Paul brought down to you. Pretend that you want to examine his case more closely. We’re prepared to kill him before he arrives.”

¹⁶ Paul’s sister had a son who heard about the ambush and he came to the military headquarters and reported it to Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called for one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander because he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸ He took him to the commander and said, “The prisoner Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”

¹⁹ The commander took him by the hand and withdrew to a place where they could speak privately. He asked, “What do you have to report to me?”

²⁰ He replied, “The Jewish leaders have conspired to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow. They will pretend that they want to investigate his case more closely. ²¹ Don’t fall for it! More than forty of them are waiting to ambush him. They have solemnly promised not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, awaiting your consent.”

²² The commander dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Don’t tell anyone that you brought this to my attention.”

²³ The commander called two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴ Have horses ready for Paul to ride, so they may take him safely to Governor Felix.” ²⁵ He wrote the following letter:

³¹ Following their orders, the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris. ³² The following day they let the horsemen continue on with Paul while they returned to the military headquarters in Jerusalem. ³³ The horsemen entered Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and brought Paul before him. ³⁴ After he read the letter, he asked Paul about his home province. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ the governor said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept in custody in Herod’s palace.