M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jacob’s Family in Egypt
1 When Jacob (Israel) went to Egypt, his sons and their families went with him. Here are the names of those sons: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 Another son, Joseph, was already in Egypt. So Jacob’s whole family was with him in Egypt—70 descendants in all.
6 Later, Joseph, his brothers, and all the people of that generation died. 7 But the Israelites had many children, and their number grew until the country of Egypt was filled with them.
Trouble for the Israelites
8 Then a new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know Joseph. 9 This king said to his people, “Look at the Israelites. There are too many of them, and they are stronger than we are! 10 We must make plans to stop them from growing stronger. If there is a war, they might join our enemies, defeat us, and escape from the land!”
11 The Egyptians decided to make life hard for the Israelites, so they put slave masters over the people. These masters forced the Israelites to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses for the king. The king used these cities to store grain and other things.
12 The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work harder and harder. But the harder they worked, the more they grew and spread, and the more the Egyptians became afraid of them. 13 So the Egyptians made them work even harder.
14 They made life hard for the Israelites. They forced the Israelites to work hard at making bricks and mortar and to work hard in the fields. The Egyptians showed no mercy in all the hard work they made the Israelites do!
The Nurses Who Followed God
15 There were two Hebrew[a] nurses who helped the Israelite women give birth. They were named Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, 16 “You will continue to help the Hebrew women give birth to their children. If a girl baby is born, let the baby live. But if the baby is a boy, you must kill him!”
17 But the nurses trusted[b] God, so they did not obey the king’s command. They let all the baby boys live.
18 The king of Egypt called for the nurses and asked them, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the baby boys live?”
19 The nurses said to the king, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can go to help them.” 20-21 The nurses trusted God, so he was good to them and allowed them to have their own families.
The Hebrews continued to have more children, and they became very strong. 22 So Pharaoh gave this command to his own people: “If the Hebrew women give birth to a baby girl, let it live. But if they have a baby boy, you must throw it into the Nile River.”
Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil(A)
4 Now filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan River. And then the Spirit led him into the desert. 2 There the devil tempted Jesus for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing during this time, and when it was finished, he was very hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this rock to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say,
‘It is not just bread that keeps people alive.’” (B)
5 Then the devil took Jesus and in a moment of time showed him all the kingdoms of the world. 6 The devil said to him, “I will make you king over all these places. You will have power over them, and you will get all the glory. It has all been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want. 7 I will give it all to you, if you will only worship me.”
8 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God.
Serve only him.’” (C)
9 Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. He said to him, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 The Scriptures say,
‘God will command his angels
to take care of you.’ (D)
11 It is also written,
‘Their hands will catch you
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” (E)
12 Jesus answered, “But the Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”[a]
13 The devil finished tempting Jesus in every way and went away to wait until a better time.
Jesus Begins His Work in Galilee(F)
14 Jesus went back to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. Stories about him spread all over the area around Galilee. 15 He began to teach in the synagogues, and everyone praised him.
Jesus Goes to His Hometown(G)
16 Jesus traveled to Nazareth, the town where he grew up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue as he always did. He stood up to read. 17 The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.
He has chosen me to tell good news to the poor.
He sent me to tell prisoners that they are free
and to tell the blind that they can see again.
He sent me to free those who have been treated badly
19 and to announce that the time has come for the Lord to show his kindness.” (H)
20 Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the helper, and sat down. As everyone in the synagogue watched him closely, 21 he began to speak to them. He said, “While you heard me reading these words just now, they were coming true!”
22 Everyone there said good things about Jesus. They were amazed to hear him speak such wonderful words. They said, “How is this possible? Isn’t he Joseph’s son?”
23 Jesus said to them, “I know you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those same things here in your own hometown!’” 24 Then he said, “The truth is, a prophet is not accepted in his own hometown.
25-26 “During the time of Elijah it did not rain in Israel for three and a half years. There was no food anywhere in the whole country. There were many widows in Israel during that time. But the fact is, Elijah was sent to none of those widows in Israel. He was sent only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon.
27 “And there were many people with leprosy living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed; the only one was Naaman. And he was from the country of Syria, not Israel.”
28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were very angry. 29 They got up and forced Jesus to go out of town. Their town was built on a hill. They took Jesus to the edge of the hill to throw him off. 30 But he walked through the middle of the crowd and went away.
Jesus Frees a Man From an Evil Spirit(I)
31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. On the Sabbath day he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching because he spoke with authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man who had an evil spirit from the devil inside him. The man shouted loudly, 34 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come here to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!” 35 But Jesus warned the evil spirit to stop. He said, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down on the ground in front of everyone. Then the evil spirit left the man and did not hurt him.
36 The people were amazed. They said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits and they come out.” 37 And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law(J)
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon’s[b] house. Simon’s mother-in-law was very sick. She had a high fever. They asked Jesus to do something to help her. 39 He stood very close to her and ordered the sickness to go away. The sickness left her, and she got up and began serving them.
Jesus Heals Many Others
40 When the sun went down, the people brought their sick friends to Jesus. They had many different kinds of sicknesses. Jesus laid his hands on each sick person and healed them all. 41 Demons came out of many people. The demons shouted, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus gave a strong command for the demons not to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
Jesus Goes to Other Towns(K)
42 The next day Jesus went to a place to be alone. The people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to stop him from leaving. 43 But he said to them, “I must tell the Good News about God’s kingdom to other towns too. This is why I was sent.”
44 Then Jesus told the Good News in the synagogues in Judea.
Bildad Answers Job
18 Then Bildad from Shuah answered:
2 “When will you stop talking?
Be sensible; let us say something.
3 Why do you think we are stupid,
like dumb cows?
4 Your anger is hurting no one but you.
Do you think this world was made for you alone?
Do you think God should move mountains just to satisfy you?
5 “Yes, the light of those who are evil will go out.
Their fire will stop burning.
6 The light in their houses will become dark.
The lamps next to them will go out.
7 Their steps, once strong and fast, become weak.
Their own evil plans make them fall.
8 Their own feet lead them into a net.
They fall into its hidden pit and are caught.
9 A trap catches them by the heel,
and it holds them tight.
10 A rope is hidden on the ground to trip them.
A trap is waiting in their path.
11 On every side terrors frighten them.
Fears follow every step they take.
12 Disaster is hungry for them.
Ruin stands close by, waiting for them to fall.
13 Diseases will eat away their skin.
Death itself[a] will eat their arms and legs.
14 They will be taken away from the safety of their tents
and be led away to meet death, the king of terrors.
15 Nothing will be left in their tents,
which will be sprinkled with burning sulfur.
16 Their roots below will dry up,
and their branches above will die.
17 People on earth will not remember them.
Their names will be forgotten.
18 They will be forced from light into darkness.
They will be chased out of this world.
19 They will leave behind no children, no descendants.
None of their people will be left alive.
20 People in the west will be shocked at what happened to them.
People in the east will be numb with fear.
21 This is what will happen to the homes of those who are evil.
This is the place of those who don’t know God!”
Don’t Let Your People Live in Sin
5 I don’t want to believe what I am hearing—that there is sexual sin among you. And it is such a bad kind of sexual sin that even those who have never known God don’t allow it. People say that a man there has his father’s wife. 2 And still you are proud of yourselves! You should have been filled with sadness. And the man who committed that sin should be put out of your group. 3 I cannot be there with you in person, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did this. I judged him the same as I would if I were really there. 4 Come together in the name of our Lord Jesus. I will be with you in spirit, and you will have the power of our Lord Jesus with you. 5 Then turn this man over to Satan. His sinful self[a] has to be destroyed so that his spirit will be saved on the day when the Lord comes again.
6 Your proud talk is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” 7 Take out all the old yeast, so that you will be a new batch of dough. You really are bread without yeast—Passover bread.[b] Yes, Christ our Passover Lamb[c] has already been killed. 8 So let us eat our Passover meal, but not with the bread that has the old yeast, the yeast of sin and wrongdoing. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with people who sin sexually. 10 But I did not mean the people of this world. You would have to leave the world to get away from all the people who sin sexually, or who are greedy and cheat each other, or who worship idols. 11 I meant you must not associate with people who claim to be believers but continue to live in sin. Don’t even eat with a brother or sister who sins sexually, is greedy, worships idols, abuses others with insults, gets drunk, or cheats people.
12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the group of believers. God will judge them, but you must judge those who are part of your group. The Scriptures say, “Make the evil person leave your group.”[d]
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International