M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 2
Birth and Adoption of Moses. 1 Now a man[a] of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,(A) 2 and the woman conceived and bore a son. Seeing what a fine child he was, she hid him for three months.(B) 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket,[b] daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the Nile, while her attendants walked along the bank of the Nile. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. 6 On opening it, she looked, and there was a baby boy crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, “It is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and summon a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter answered her, “Go.” So the young woman went and called the child’s own mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.”[c] So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew,[d] she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.(C) She named him Moses; for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses’ Flight to Midian. 11 (D)On one occasion, after Moses had grown up,[e] when he had gone out to his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen. 12 Looking about and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14 But he replied, “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of the affair, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to the land of Midian.[f](E) There he sat down by a well.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 But shepherds came and drove them away. So Moses rose up in their defense and watered their flock. 18 When they returned to their father Reuel,[g] he said to them, “How is it you have returned so soon today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian[h] delivered us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock!” 20 “Where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 Moses agreed to stay with him, and the man gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 22 She conceived and bore a son, whom he named Gershom;[i] for he said, “I am a stranger residing in a foreign land.”(F)
II. The Call and Commission of Moses
The Burning Bush. 23 A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their bondage and cried out, and from their bondage their cry for help went up to God.(G) 24 God heard their moaning and God was mindful of his covenant(H) with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 25 God saw the Israelites, and God knew….[j]
Chapter 5
The Call of Simon the Fisherman.[a](A) 1 (B)While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 (C)After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9 For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, 10 and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”(D) 11 When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything[b] and followed him.(E)
The Cleansing of a Leper.(F) 12 Now there was a man full of leprosy[c] in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. 14 Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;[d] that will be proof for them.”(G) 15 The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, 16 but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.(H)
The Healing of a Paralytic.(I) 17 [e]One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees[f] and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. 18 And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. 19 But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles[g] into the middle in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”[h] 21 Then the scribes[i] and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?”(J) 22 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts?(K) 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 [j](L)But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 25 He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26 Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
The Call of Levi.(M) 27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything behind,[k] he got up and followed him. 29 (N)Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
The Question About Fasting.(O) 33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” 34 [l]Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests[m] fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36 [n]And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. 37 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38 Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. 39 [And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”[o]
Chapter 19
Job’s Fifth Reply. 1 [a]Then Job answered and said:
2 How long will you afflict my spirit,
grind me down with words?
3 These ten times you have humiliated me,
have assailed me without shame!
4 Even if it were true that I am at fault,
my fault would remain with me;
5 If truly you exalt yourselves at my expense,
and use my shame as an argument against me,
6 Know then that it is God who has dealt unfairly with me,
and compassed me round with his net.
7 If I cry out “Violence!” I am not answered.(A)
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has barred my way and I cannot pass;
veiled my path in darkness;
9 He has stripped me of my glory,
taken the diadem from my brow.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me;
he counts me one of his enemies.(B)
12 His troops advance as one;
they build up their road to attack me,
encamp around my tent.
13 My family has withdrawn from me,(C)
my friends are wholly estranged.
14 My relatives and companions neglect me,
my guests have forgotten me.
15 Even my maidservants consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer,
though I plead aloud with him.
17 My breath is abhorrent to my wife;(D)
I am loathsome to my very children.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I appear, they speak against me.
19 All my intimate friends hold me in horror;
those whom I loved have turned against me!(E)
20 My bones cling to my skin,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.[b]
21 Pity me, pity me, you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you pursue me like God,
and prey insatiably upon me?
23 Oh, would that my words were written down!(F)
Would that they were inscribed in a record:[c]
24 That with an iron chisel and with lead
they were cut in the rock forever!
25 As for me, I know that my vindicator lives,[d]
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust.(G)
26 This will happen when my skin has been stripped off,
and from my flesh I will see God:
27 I will see for myself,
my own eyes, not another’s, will behold him:
my inmost being is consumed with longing.
28 But you who say, “How shall we persecute him,
seeing that the root of the matter is found in him?”
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves,
for your anger is a crime deserving the sword;
that you may know that there is a judgment.
Chapter 6
Lawsuits Before Unbelievers.[a] 1 How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones? 2 [b]Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?(A) 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? Then why not everyday matters? 4 If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters, do you seat as judges people of no standing in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to be able to settle a case between brothers? 6 But rather brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers?
7 Now indeed [then] it is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?(B) 8 Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. 9 [c]Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes[d] nor sodomites(C) 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.(D)
Sexual Immorality.[e] 12 “Everything is lawful for me,”[f] but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is lawful for me,” but I will not let myself be dominated by anything.(E) 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both the one and the other. The body, however, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; 14 God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.(F)
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ’s members and make them the members of a prostitute?[g] Of course not!(G) 16 [Or] do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.”(H) 17 But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.(I) 18 Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body.[h] 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple[i] of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?(J) 20 For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.(K)
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.