M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Law of the Firstborn
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give every firstborn male to me. Every firstborn male among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”
3 Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, the day you left Egypt. You were slaves in that land, but the Lord with his great power brought you out of it. You must not eat bread made with yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt. 5 The Lord will lead you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the land he promised your ancestors he would give you, a fertile land. There you must celebrate this feast during the first month of every year. 6 For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there will be a feast to honor the Lord. 7 So for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. There must be no bread made with yeast anywhere in your land. 8 On that day you should tell your son: ‘We are having this feast because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This feast will help you remember, like a mark on your hand or a reminder on your forehead. This feast will remind you to speak the Lord’s teachings, because the Lord used his great power to bring you out of Egypt. 10 So celebrate this feast every year at the right time.
11 “And when the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanites, the land he promised to give you and your ancestors, 12 you must give him every firstborn male. Also every firstborn male animal must be given to the Lord. 13 Buy back every firstborn donkey by offering a lamb. But if you don’t want to buy the donkey back, then break its neck. You must buy back from the Lord every firstborn of your sons.
14 “From now on when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you will answer, ‘With his great power, the Lord brought us out from Egypt, the land where we were slaves. 15 The king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us leave. But the Lord killed every firstborn male in Egypt, both human and animal. That is why I sacrifice every firstborn male animal to the Lord, and that is why I buy back each of my firstborn sons from the Lord.’ 16 This feast is like a mark on your hand and a reminder on your forehead to help you remember that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power.”
The Way Out of Egypt
17 When the king sent the people out of Egypt, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was the shortest way. God said, “If they have to fight, they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.” 18 So God led them through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were dressed for fighting when they left the land of Egypt.
19 Moses carried the bones of Joseph with him, because before Joseph died, he had made the Israelites promise to do this. He had said, “When God saves you, remember to carry my bones with you out of Egypt.”
20 The Israelites left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. 21 The Lord showed them the way; during the day he went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud, and during the night he was in a pillar of fire to give them light. In this way they could travel during the day or night. 22 The pillar of cloud was always with them during the day, and the pillar of fire was always with them at night.
True Wealth
16 Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can’t be my manager any longer.’ 3 The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe?’ 6 He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.’ 7 Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.’ 8 So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.”
God’s Law Cannot Be Changed
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God’s sight.
16 “The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John[a] came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force. 17 It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes and lived in luxury every day. 20 And a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores, was laid at the rich man’s gate. 21 He wanted to eat only the small pieces of food that fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 Later, Lazarus died, and the angels carried him to the arms of Abraham. The rich man died, too, and was buried. 23 In the place of the dead, he was in much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus at his side. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering in this fire!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember when you were alive you had the good things in life, but bad things happened to Lazarus. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Besides, there is a big pit between you and us, so no one can cross over to you, and no one can leave there and come here.’ 27 The rich man said, ‘Father, then please send Lazarus to my father’s house. 28 I have five brothers, and Lazarus could warn them so that they will not come to this place of pain.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets; let them learn from them.’ 30 The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! If someone goes to them from the dead, they would believe and change their hearts and lives.’ 31 But Abraham said to him, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not listen to someone who comes back from the dead.’”
31 “But I made an agreement with my eyes
not to look with desire at a girl.
2 What has God above promised for people?
What has the Almighty planned from on high?
3 It is ruin for evil people
and disaster for those who do wrong.
4 God sees my ways
and counts every step I take.
5 “If I have been dishonest
or lied to others,
6 then let God weigh me on honest scales.
Then he will know I have done nothing wrong.
7 If I have turned away from doing what is right,
or my heart has been led by my eyes to do wrong,
or my hands have been made unclean,
8 then let other people eat what I have planted,
and let my crops be plowed up.
9 “If I have desired another woman
or have waited at my neighbor’s door for his wife,
10 then let my wife grind another man’s grain,
and let other men have sexual relations with her.
11 That would be shameful,
a sin to be punished.
12 It is like a fire that burns and destroys;
all I have done would be plowed up.
13 “If I have been unfair to my male and female slaves
when they had a complaint against me,
14 how could I tell God what I did?
What will I answer when he asks me to explain what I’ve done?
15 God made me in my mother’s womb, and he also made them;
the same God formed both of us in our mothers’ wombs.
16 “I have never refused the appeals of the poor
or let widows give up hope while looking for help.
17 I have not kept my food to myself
but have given it to the orphans.
18 Since I was young, I have been like a father to the orphans.
From my birth I guided the widows.
19 I have not let anyone die for lack of clothes
or let a needy person go without a coat.
20 That person’s heart blessed me,
because I warmed him with the wool of my sheep.
21 I have never hurt an orphan
even when I knew I could win in court.
22 If I have, then let my arm fall off my shoulder
and be broken at the joint.
23 I fear destruction from God,
and I fear his majesty, so I could not do such things.
24 “I have not put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security.’
25 I have not celebrated my great wealth
or the riches my hands had gained.
26 I have not thought about worshiping the sun in its brightness
nor admired the moon moving in glory
27 so that my heart was pulled away from God.
My hand has never offered the sun and moon a kiss of worship.
28 If I had, these also would have been sins to be punished,
because I would have been unfaithful to God.
29 “I have not been happy when my enemies fell
or laughed when they had trouble.
30 I have not let my mouth sin
by cursing my enemies’ life.
31 The servants of my house have always said,
‘All have eaten what they want of Job’s food.’
32 No stranger ever had to spend the night in the street,
because I always let travelers stay in my home.
33 I have not hidden my sin as others do,
secretly keeping my guilt to myself.
34 I was not so afraid of the crowd
that I kept quiet and stayed inside
because I feared being hated by other families.
35 (“How I wish a court would hear my case!
Here I sign my name to show I have told the truth.
Now let the Almighty answer me;
let the one who accuses me write it down.
36 I would wear the writing on my shoulder;
I would put it on like a crown.
37 I would explain to God every step I took,
and I would come near to him like a prince.)
38 “If my land cries out against me
and its plowed rows are not wet with tears,
39 if I have taken the land’s harvest without paying
or have broken the spirit of those who worked the land,
40 then let thorns come up instead of wheat,
and let weeds come up instead of barley.”
The words of Job are finished.
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy our brother in Christ.
To the church of God in Corinth, and to all of God’s people everywhere in Southern Greece:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul Gives Thanks to God
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. 4 He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. 5 We share in the many sufferings of Christ. In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ. 6 If we have troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation, and if we have comfort, you also have comfort. This helps you to accept patiently the same sufferings we have. 7 Our hope for you is strong, knowing that you share in our sufferings and also in the comfort we receive.
8 Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there that were beyond our own strength. We even gave up hope of living. 9 Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead. 10 God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again. 11 And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.
The Change in Paul’s Plans
12 This is what we are proud of, and I can say it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest[a] and sincere heart from God. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. 13-14 We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope that as you have understood some things about us, you may come to know everything about us. Then you can be proud of us, as we will be proud of you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
15 I was so sure of all this that I made plans to visit you first so you could be blessed twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. 17 Do you think that I made these plans without really meaning it? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, so that I say yes, yes and at the same time no, no.
18 But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. 19 The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I preached to you, was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. 20 The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God. 21 Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people. 22 He put his mark on us to show that we are his, and he put his Spirit in our hearts to be a guarantee for all he has promised.
23 I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was to keep you from being punished or hurt. 24 We are not trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own joy.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.