M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Song of Moses
15 Then Moses and the Israelites began singing this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord!
He has done great things.
He threw horse and rider
into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength.
He saves me,
and I sing songs of praise to him.[a]
He is my God,
and I praise him.
He is the God of my ancestors,
and I honor him.
3 The Lord is a great soldier.
The Lord is his name.
4 He threw Pharaoh’s chariots
and soldiers into the sea.
Pharaoh’s very best soldiers
drowned in the Red Sea.[b]
5 The deep water covered them,
and they sank to the bottom like rocks.
6 “Lord, your right hand is amazingly strong.
With your right hand, Lord, you broke the enemy to pieces.
7 In your great majesty you destroyed
those who stood against you.
Your anger destroyed them,
like fire burning straw.
8 The wind you sent in anger
piled the water high.
The flowing water became a wall,
solid to its deepest parts.
9 “The enemy said,
‘I’ll chase them and catch them.
I’ll take all their riches.
I’ll take it all with my sword.
I’ll take everything for myself.’
10 But you blew on them
and covered them with the sea.
They sank like lead
into the deep sea.
11 “Are there any gods like the Lord?
No, there are no gods like you—
you are wonderfully holy!
You are amazingly powerful!
You do great miracles!
12 You raised your right hand to punish the enemy,
and the ground opened up to swallow them.
13 But with your kindness
you led the people you saved.
And with your strength
you led them to your holy land.[c]
14 “The other nations will hear this story,
and they will be frightened.
The Philistines will shake with fear.
15 The commanders of Edom will tremble.
The leaders of Moab will be afraid.
The people of Canaan will lose courage.
16 They will be filled with fear
when they see your strength.
They will be as still as a rock, Lord,
while your people, the ones you made, pass by.
17 You will lead your people
to your own mountain.
You will let them live by the place that you, Lord, prepared as your home.
It is the Temple, Lord, that you yourself built.
18 “The Lord will rule forever and ever!”
19 Yes, it really happened! Pharaoh’s horses and riders, and chariots went into the sea. And the Lord brought all the water of the sea down on top of them. But the Israelites walked through that sea on dry land.
20 Then Aaron’s sister, the woman prophet Miriam, took a tambourine. She and the women began singing and dancing. 21 Miriam repeated the words,
“Sing to the Lord!
He has done great things.
He threw horse and rider
into the sea ….”
Israel Goes Into the Desert
22 Moses led the Israelites away from the Red Sea and into the desert of Shur. They traveled for three days in the desert. They could not find any water. 23 Then they came to Marah.[d] There was water at Marah, but it was too bitter to drink. (That is why the place was named Marah.)
24 The people began complaining to Moses. They said, “Now what will we drink?”
25 So Moses called to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a large piece of wood. When Moses put the wood in the water, the water became good to drink.
There the Lord put in place a law and a command for him and tested him to see if he would obey.[e] 26 He said to him, “I am the Lord your God. If you listen to me and do what I say is right, and if you obey all my commands and laws, then I will not give you any of the sicknesses that I gave the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.”
27 Then the people traveled to Elim. At Elim there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees. So the people made their camp there near that water.
God Will Answer His People
18 Then Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. He used this story to teach them: 2 “Once there was a judge in a town. He did not care about God. He also did not care what people thought about him. 3 In that same town there was a woman whose husband had died. She came many times to this judge and said, ‘There is a man who is doing bad things to me. Give me my rights!’ 4 But the judge did not want to help the woman. After a long time, the judge thought to himself, ‘I don’t care about God. And I don’t care about what people think. 5 But this woman is bothering me. If I give her what she wants, then she will leave me alone. But if I don’t give her what she wants, she will bother me until I am sick.’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen, there is meaning in what the bad judge said. 7 God’s people shout to him night and day, and he will always give them what is right. He will not be slow to answer them. 8 I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find people on earth who believe in him?”
Being Right With God
9 There were some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else. Jesus used this story to teach them: 10 “One time there was a Pharisee and a tax collector. One day they both went to the Temple to pray. 11 The Pharisee stood alone, away from the tax collector. When the Pharisee prayed, he said, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not as bad as other people. I am not like men who steal, cheat, or commit adultery. I thank you that I am better than this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of everything I get!’
13 “The tax collector stood alone too. But when he prayed, he would not even look up to heaven. He felt very humble before God. He said, ‘O God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, when this man finished his prayer and went home, he was right with God. But the Pharisee, who felt that he was better than others, was not right with God. People who make themselves important will be made humble. But those who make themselves humble will be made important.”
Jesus Welcomes Children(A)
15 Some people brought their small children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them to bless them. But when the followers saw this, they told the people not to do this. 16 But Jesus called the little children to him and said to his followers, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. 17 The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.”
A Rich Man Refuses to Follow Jesus(B)
18 A religious leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 20 And you know his commands: ‘You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, you must respect your father and mother ….’[a]”
21 But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to the leader, “But there is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to those who are poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.” 23 But when the man heard Jesus tell him to give away his money, he was sad. He didn’t want to do this, because he was very rich.
24 When Jesus saw that the man was sad, he said, “It will be very hard for rich people to enter God’s kingdom. 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”
Who Can Be Saved?
26 When the people heard this, they said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “God can do things that are not possible for people to do.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we left everything we had and followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “I can promise that everyone who has left their home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for God’s kingdom 30 will get much more than they left. They will get many times more in this life. And in the world that is coming they will get the reward of eternal life.”
Jesus Talks Again About His Death(C)
31 Then Jesus talked to the twelve apostles alone. He said to them, “Listen, we are going to Jerusalem. Everything that God told the prophets to write about the Son of Man will happen. 32 He will be handed over to the foreigners, who will laugh at him, insult him, and spit on him. 33 They will beat him with whips and then kill him. But on the third day after his death, he will rise to life again.” 34 The apostles tried to understand this, but they could not; the meaning was hidden from them.
Jesus Heals a Blind Man(D)
35 Jesus came near the city of Jericho. There was a blind man sitting beside the road. He was begging people for money. 36 When he heard the people coming down the road, he asked, “What is happening?”
37 They told him, “Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is coming here.”
38 The blind man was excited and said, “Jesus, Son of David, please help me!”
39 The people who were in front leading the group criticized the blind man. They told him to be quiet. But he shouted more and more, “Son of David, please help me!”
40 Jesus stopped there and said, “Bring that man to me!” When he came close, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “You can see now. You are healed because you believed.”
43 Then the man was able to see. He followed Jesus, thanking God. Everyone who saw this praised God for what happened.
33 “Now, Job, listen to me.
Listen carefully to what I say.
2 I am ready to speak.
3 My heart is honest, so my words are sincere.
I will speak the truth about what I know.
4 God’s Spirit made me.
My life comes from God All-Powerful.
5 Listen to me and answer if you can.
Get your arguments ready to face me.
6 You and I are the same before God.
He used clay to make us both.
7 Don’t be afraid of me.
I will not be hard on you.
8 “But, Job, I heard what you said.
These were your very words:
9 ‘I am pure and innocent;
I did nothing wrong; I am not guilty!
10 But God found an excuse to attack me.
He treats me like an enemy.
11 He put chains on my feet
and watches everything I do.’
12 “But you are wrong about this, and I will prove it to you.
God knows more than any of us.[a]
13 You are arguing with God!
Why do you think he should explain everything to you?
14 But maybe God does explain what he does
but speaks in ways that people don’t understand.
15 He may speak in a dream, or in a vision at night,
when people are in a deep sleep lying in their beds.
16 He may whisper something in their ear,
and they are frightened when they hear his warnings.
17 God warns people to stop them from doing wrong
and to keep them from becoming proud.
18 He does this to save them from death.[b]
He wants to keep them from being destroyed.
19 “Or those who are sick in bed might be suffering punishment from God.
The pain that makes their bones ache might be a warning from him.
20 They feel so bad they cannot eat.
Even the best food makes them sick.
21 Their bodies might waste away until they become thin
and all their bones stick out.
22 They might be close to death,
their lives about to end.
23 But maybe one of God’s thousands of angels is watching over them,
to speak for them and tell about the good things they have done.
24 Maybe the angel will be kind and say to God,
‘Save this one from the place of death!
I have found a way to pay for his life.’
25 Then that person’s body will become young and strong again.
He will be as he was when he was young.
26 He will pray and God will answer.
He will worship God and shout with joy.
He will again stand as right before God.
27 He will tell everyone, ‘I sinned.
I changed good into bad,
but God didn’t give me the punishment I deserved!
28 God saved me from going down to the place of death.
Now I can enjoy life again.’
29 “God does all these things for people again and again.
30 He wants them to be saved from death
so that they can enjoy life.
31 “Job, pay attention and listen to me.
Be quiet and let me talk.
32 But if you have an answer, go ahead and speak.
Tell me your argument.
I would be happy to know that you are innocent!
33 But if you have nothing to say, then listen to me.
Be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Servants of God’s New Agreement
3 Why are we beginning again to tell you all these good things about ourselves? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? 2 No, you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by all people. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone[a] tablets but on human hearts.
4 We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. 5 I don’t mean that we are able to do anything good ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. 6 He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
An Agreement With Greater Glory
7 The old agreement[b] that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. 8 So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. 9 This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory. 10 That old agreement had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of the new agreement. 11 If the agreement that was brought to an end came with glory, then the agreement that never ends has much greater glory.
12 We are so sure of this hope that we can speak very openly. 13 We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face. He covered his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. 14 But their minds were closed. And even today, when those people read the writings of the old agreement,[c] that same covering hides the meaning. That covering has not been removed for them. It is taken away only through Christ. 15 Yes, even today, when they read the Law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. 16 But when someone changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. 17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And our faces are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International