M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Magdalene anoints Christ. They eat the Passover lamb and the supper of the Lord. Christ prays in the garden. Judas betrays him. Peter strikes off Malcus’ ear. Christ is accused by false witnesses. Peter denies him.

26 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, ² You know that after two days will be the Passover. And the Son of man will be delivered to be crucified.

³ Then the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people assembled together at the palace of the high priest called Caiaphas ⁴ and held a council, how they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. ⁵ But, they said, not on the holy day, lest any uproar arise among the people.

⁶ When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, ⁷ there came to him a woman who had an alabaster jar of precious anointing oil, and poured it on his head as he sat at the board. ⁸ When his disciples saw that, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? ⁹ This oyntment might well have been sold, and the money given to the poor. ¹⁰ When Jesus understood this he said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? She has wrought a good work upon me. ¹¹ For you will have poor folk always with you, but me you will not have always. ¹² And in that she poured this oyntment on my body, she did it to bury me with. ¹³ Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout all the world, there also will this that she has done be told, for a memorial of her.

¹⁴ Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and said, What will you give me, and I will deliver him to you? And they agreed with him for thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ And from that time, he sought an opportunity to betray him.

¹⁷ On the first day of sweet bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, Where would you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover lamb? ¹⁸ And he said, Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Master says, My time is at hand; I will keep my Passover at your place with my disciples.

¹⁹ And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and made ready the Passover lamb.

²⁰ When the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve. ²¹ And as they were eating he said, Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me. ²² And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say to him, Is it I, Master? ²³ He answered and said, He who dips his hand with me in the dish, the same will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of man goes as it is written of him. But woe is to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.

²⁵ Then Judas who betrayed him answered and said, Is it I, Master? Jesus said to him, You have said it.

²⁶ As they were eating, Jesus took bread and gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is my body. ²⁷ And he took the cup, and thanked, and gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, everyone. ²⁸ For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹ I say to you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

³⁰ And when they had sung praises, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ³¹ Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad. ³² But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

³³ Peter answered and said to him, Even if everyone were to fall away because of you, yet I would never fall away. ³⁴ Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this same night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. ³⁵ Peter said to him, If I had to die with you, yet I would not deny you. Likewise also said all the disciples.

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place which is called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray yonder. ³⁷ And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and to be in an agony. ³⁸ Then said Jesus to them, My soul is heavy, even unto death. You stay here, and watch with me.

³⁹ And he went a little apart and fell flat on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

⁴⁰ And he came back to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, What, could you not watch with me for one hour? ⁴¹ Watch, and pray that you do not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

⁴² He went away once more and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me but that I drink of it, thy will be fulfilled. ⁴³ And he came and found his disciples asleep again. For their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ And he left them and went again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵ Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Sleep on now, and take your rest! Take heed: the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Arise, let us be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.

⁴⁷ While he was yet speaking, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a large band of men bearing swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ And he who betrayed him had arranged a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one; lay hands on him. ⁴⁹ And at once he went up to Jesus and said, Hail, Master! and kissed him. ⁵⁰ And Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come? Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him.

⁵¹ And at that, one of the men who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. ⁵² Then said Jesus to him, Put your sword back in its sheath. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³ Or do you think I cannot now pray to my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled? For this is how it must be.

⁵⁵ At the same time Jesus said to the throng, You have come out as if against a thief, with swords and clubs to take me. I sat daily teaching in the temple among you, and you did not take me. ⁵⁶ All this was done so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.

⁵⁷ Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

And they took Jesus and led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. ⁵⁸ And Peter followed him from afar off to the high priest’s palace, and went in and sat with the servants, to see the end of it.

⁵⁹ The chief priests and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus in order to put him to death, ⁶⁰ but found none. Though many false witnesses came forward, yet they found none. At the last came two false witnesses, ⁶¹ and said, This fellow said, I can destroy the temple of God and build it again in three days.

⁶² And the chief priest arose and said to Jesus, Do you answer nothing? How is it that these men bear witness against you? ⁶³ But Jesus held his peace. And the chief priest spoke and said to him, I charge you in the name of the living God to tell us if you are Christ, the Son of God.

⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, It is as you have said. But I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and come in the clouds of the sky.

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has blasphemed! Why do we need any more witnesses? Here, now you have heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What do you think? They answered and said, He is worthy to die. ⁶⁷ Then they spat in his face and buffeted him with fists. And others struck him with the palm of their hands on the face, ⁶⁸ saying, Tell us, Christ, who is it that hit you?

⁶⁹ Peter was sitting out in the centre courtyard. And a maidservant came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus of Galilee. ⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all, saying, I don’t know what you are saying. ⁷¹ When he had gone out into the porch, another servant girl saw him and said to the people who were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. ⁷² And again Peter denied with an oath that he knew the man. ⁷³ And after a while, some people standing nearby came up and said to Peter, Surely you are also one of them, for your speech gives you away.

⁷⁴ Then he began to curse, and to swear that he did not know the man. And immediately the cock crew. ⁷⁵ And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, who had said to him, Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out at the doors and wept bitterly.

King Agrippa hears Paul, who describes his calling from the beginning.

26 Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand and answered for himself:

² I think myself fortunate, King Agrippa, because I may answer this day before you to all the things I am accused of by the Jews, ³ especially because you are expert in all the customs and questions that are among the Jews. Therefore I beseech you to hear me patiently.

⁴ My life from my childhood, which was at first among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews ⁵ who knew me from the beginning know, if they would testify it. For in accordance with the most strict sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁶ And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷ to which promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God day and night, hope to attain. For which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. ⁸ Why should it be thought a thing incredible to you, that God should raise the dead up again?

⁹ I also truly thought in myself that I ought to do many things to utterly oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth – ¹⁰ which things I also did in Jerusalem, where I shut up many of the saints in prison, having received authority from the high priests. And when they were put to death, I joined in giving the sentence. ¹¹ And I punished them often in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and was even more mad upon them, and persecuted them even to distant cities.

¹² In going about these things, as I was going to Damascus with leave and authority from the high priests, ¹³ at midday, O King, I saw in the road a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round about me and those who were journeying with me. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the pricks. ¹⁵ And I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. ¹⁶ But rise and stand up on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose: to make you a minister and a witness both of those things you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷ delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, and may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

¹⁹ And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but preached first to those of Damascus, and then at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do the right works of repentance. ²¹ Because of this, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. ²² Nevertheless, I obtained help from God, and continue to this day witnessing both to small and to great, speaking of no other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say would come: ²³ that Christ would suffer, and that he would be the first to rise from death, and would show light to the people and to the Gentiles.

²⁴ As he thus answered for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning has made you mad.

²⁵ And Paul said, I am not mad, most dear Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness. ²⁶ The king knows of these things, before whom I speak freely. I do not think any of these things are hidden from him. For this was not done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know well that you believe.

²⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, You bring me in mind somewhat to become a Christian.

²⁹ And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, were not only somewhat, but altogether such as I am, except for these bonds.

³⁰ And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up with the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them. ³¹ And when they had gone apart, they talked between themselves, saying, This man does nothing worthy of death, nor of bonds. ³² Then Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar.