M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 42
The Brothers’ First Journey to Egypt.[a] 1 When Jacob learned that grain rations were for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do you keep looking at one another?” 2 He went on, “I hear that grain is for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive and not die.”(A) 3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought some disaster might befall him. 5 And so the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since there was famine in the land of Canaan.(B)
6 Joseph, as governor of the country, was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. When Joseph’s brothers came, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.(C) 7 He recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked them. They answered, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
8 When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him, 9 he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: “You are spies.(D) You have come to see the weak points[b] of the land.” 10 “No, my lord,” they replied. “On the contrary, your servants have come to buy food. 11 All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies.” 12 But he answered them: “Not so! It is the weak points of the land that you have come to see.” 13 “We your servants,” they said, “are twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is no more.”(E) 14 “It is just as I said,” Joseph persisted; “you are spies. 15 This is how you shall be tested: I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus will your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.
18 On the third day Joseph said to them: “Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in this prison, while the rest of you go and take home grain for your starving families. 20 But you must bring me your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.” To this they agreed.(F) 21 To one another, however, they said: “Truly we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. That is why this anguish has now come upon us.”(G) 22 Then Reuben responded, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do no wrong to the boy’? But you would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”(H) 23 They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. 24 But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one’s sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them, 26 they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed.
27 At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he saw his money there in the mouth of his bag. 28 He cried out to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my bag!” At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. 30 “The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go. 34 When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”
35 When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid. 36 Their father Jacob said to them: “Must you make me childless? Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin away! All these things have happened to me!” 37 Then Reuben told his father: “You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you! Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But Jacob replied: “My son shall not go down with you. Now that his brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to Sheol in grief.”(I)
Chapter 12
Parable of the Tenants.[a] 1 He began to speak to them in parables.(A) “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.(B) 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. 5 He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. 6 He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture passage:(C)
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes’?”
12 They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
Paying Taxes to the Emperor. 13 [b]They sent some Pharisees(D) and Herodians to him to ensnare him(E) in his speech.[c] 14 They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” 15 Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.(F)
The Question About the Resurrection.[d] 18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and put this question to him, 19 saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’(G) 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. 21 So the second married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. 23 At the resurrection [when they arise] whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, [the] God of Isaac, and [the] God of Jacob’?(H) 27 He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
The Greatest Commandment.[e] 28 One of the scribes,(I) when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’(J) 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(K) 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(L) 34 And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.(M)
The Question About David’s Son.[f] 35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,(N) “How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said:
‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.”’(O)
37 David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” [The] great crowd heard this with delight.
Denunciation of the Scribes.[g] 38 In the course of his teaching he said,(P) “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, 39 seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
The Poor Widow’s Contribution.[h] 41 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.(Q) Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44 For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
Chapter 8
Bildad’s First Speech. 1 Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 How long will you utter such things?
The words from your mouth are a mighty wind!
3 Does God pervert judgment,(A)
does the Almighty pervert justice?
4 If your children have sinned against him
and he has left them in the grip of their guilt,
5 Still, if you yourself have recourse to God
and make supplication to the Almighty,
6 Should you be blameless and upright,
surely now he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful home.
7 Though your beginning was small,
your future will flourish indeed.
8 Inquire of the former generations,
pay attention to the experience of their ancestors—(B)
9 As we are but of yesterday and have no knowledge,
because our days on earth are but a shadow—(C)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter their words of understanding?
11 [a]Can the papyrus grow up without mire?
Can the reed grass flourish without water?
12 While it is yet green and uncut,
it withers quicker than any grass.
13 So is the end of everyone who forgets God,
and so shall the hope of the godless perish.
14 His confidence is but a gossamer thread,
his trust is a spider’s house.
15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand;
he shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.
16 He thrives in full sun,
and over his garden his shoots go forth;
17 About a heap of stones his roots are entwined;
among the rocks he takes hold.
18 Yet if one tears him from his place,
it will disown him: “I have never seen you!”
19 There he lies rotting beside the road,
and out of the soil another sprouts.
20 Behold, God will not cast away the upright;
neither will he take the hand of the wicked.
21 Once more will he fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
VI. The Duties of Christians[a]
Chapter 12
Sacrifice of Body and Mind. 1 [b]I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.(A) 2 Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.(B)
Many Parts in One Body. 3 (C)For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. 4 (D)For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ[c] and individually parts of one another. 6 (E)Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them:[d] if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; 7 if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; 8 if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others,[e] with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Mutual Love. 9 Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good;(F) 10 love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.(G) 11 Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.(H) 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.(I) 13 Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,(J) exercise hospitality. 14 [f]Bless those who persecute [you],(K) bless and do not curse them.(L) 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.(M) 16 Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation.(N) 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.(O) 18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.(P) 19 Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”(Q) 20 Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”(R) 21 Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.