M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is praised for His greatness. He has thrown the horse and horseman into the sea. ² The Lord is my strength and song. He is the One Who saves me. He is my God and I will praise Him. He is my father’s God and I will honor Him. ³ The Lord is a fighter. The Lord is His name. ⁴ He has thrown Pharaoh’s war-wagons and army into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s leaders are under the Red Sea. ⁵ The water covers them. They went down in the deep water like a stone. ⁶ O Lord, Your right hand is great in power. O Lord, Your right hand destroys those who hate You. ⁷ In the greatness of Your power You destroy those who fight against You. You send Your burning anger and it burns them like straw. ⁸ The waters were lifted up by Your breath. The flowing waters stood up like a wall. The water became hard in the middle of the sea. ⁹ Those who hated us said, ‘I will go after them. I will catch them. I will divide the riches taken from them. My soul will have its way against them. I will take out my sword and my hand will destroy them.’ ¹⁰ You, Lord, blew with Your wind and the sea covered them. They went down like iron in the powerful sea. ¹¹ Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, great and holy, praised in fear, doing powerful works? ¹² You put out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them. ¹³ You have led with loving-kindness the people You have made free. You have led them in Your strength to Your holy place. ¹⁴ The nations have heard of it, and they shake in fear. Pain has come upon the people of Philistia. ¹⁵ Now the leaders of Edom are afraid. The leaders of Moab shake in fear. All the people of Canaan have become weak. ¹⁶ Much fear comes upon them. They see Your strength, O Lord. They are afraid and do not move until Your people have passed by, the people You have bought and made free. ¹⁷ You will bring them in and put them on Your own mountain. It is the place, O Lord, where You have made Your house, the holy place, which Your hands have built. ¹⁸ The Lord will rule forever and ever.”

¹⁹ For Pharaoh’s horses and war-wagons and horsemen went in the sea. The Lord brought the waters of the sea upon them. But the people of Israel walked on dry land through the sea. ²⁰ Then Aaron’s sister Miriam, the woman who spoke for the Lord, took a timbrel in her hand. And all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. ²¹ Miriam said to them, “Sing to the Lord, for He is praised for His greatness. He has thrown the horse and horseman into the sea.”

Bitter Water

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea. They went into the Desert of Shur. They went three days in the desert and found no water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. So it was given the name Marah. ²⁴ The people complained to Moses, saying, “What can we drink?” ²⁵ Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made a Law for them and tested them. ²⁶ He said, “Listen well to the voice of the Lord your God. Do what is right in His eyes. Listen to what He tells you, and obey all His Laws. If you do this, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord Who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy trees. They set up their tents there beside the water.

The Picture-Story of the Woman Whose Husband Had Died

18 Jesus told them a picture-story to show that men should always pray and not give up. ² He said, “There was a man in one of the cities who was head of the court. His work was to say if a person was guilty or not. This man was not afraid of God. He did not respect any man. ³ In that city there was a woman whose husband had died. She kept coming to him and saying, ‘Help me! There is someone who is working against me.’ ⁴ For awhile he would not help her. Then he began to think, ‘I am not afraid of God and I do not respect any man. ⁵ But I will see that this woman whose husband has died gets her rights because I get tired of her coming all the time.’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the sinful man who is head of the court. ⁷ Will not God make the things that are right come to His chosen people who cry day and night to Him? Will He wait a long time to help them? ⁸ I tell you, He will be quick to help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

The Picture-Story of the Proud Religious Law-Keepers and the Tax-Gatherers

⁹ Jesus told another picture-story to some people who trusted in themselves and thought they were right with God. These people did not think well of other men. ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Two men went up to the house of God to pray. One of them was a proud religious law-keeper. The other was a man who gathered taxes. ¹¹ The proud religious law-keeper stood and prayed to himself like this, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men. I am not like those who steal. I am not like those who do things that are wrong. I am not like those who do sex sins. I am not even like this tax-gatherer. ¹² I go without food two times a week so I can pray better. I give one-tenth part of the money I earn.’ ¹³ But the man who gathered taxes stood a long way off. He would not even lift his eyes to heaven. But he hit himself on his chest and said, ‘God, have pity on me! I am a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went back to his house forgiven, and not the other man. For whoever makes himself look more important than he is will find out how little he is worth. Whoever does not try to honor himself will be made important.”

Jesus Gives Thanks for Little Children ^(A)

¹⁵ People took their little children to Jesus so He could put His hand on them. When His followers saw it, they spoke sharp words to the people. ¹⁶ Jesus called the followers to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me. Do not try to stop them. The holy nation of God is made up of ones like these. ¹⁷ For sure, I tell you, whoever does not receive the holy nation of God as a child will not go into the holy nation.”

Jesus Teaches about Keeping the Law ^(B)

¹⁸ A leader of the people asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life that lasts forever?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? There is only One Who is good. That is God. ²⁰ You know the Laws. You must not do any sex sins. You must not kill another person. You must not steal. You must not tell a lie about someone else. Respect your father and your mother.” ²¹ The leader said, “I have obeyed all these Laws since I was a boy.”

²² When Jesus heard this, He said to the leader of the people, “There is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have. Give the money to poor people. Then you will have riches in heaven. Come and follow Me.” ²³ When the leader heard this, he was very sad because he had many riches. ²⁴ When Jesus saw that he was very sad, He said, “It is hard for those with riches to go into the holy nation of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the holy nation of God.”

²⁶ Those who heard this, said, “Then who can be saved from the punishment of sin?” ²⁷ Jesus said, “God can do things men cannot do.” ²⁸ Then Peter said, “See, we have left everything and have followed You.” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “For sure, I tell you, anyone who has left his house or parents or brothers or wife or children because of the holy nation of God ³⁰ will receive much more now. In the time to come he will have life that lasts forever.”

Jesus Tells of His Death the Third Time ^(C)

³¹ Then Jesus took the twelve followers to one side and said, “See! We are going up to Jerusalem. All the things the early preachers wrote about the Son of Man are going to happen. ³² He will be given over to the people who are not Jews. He will be made fun of. He will be hurt. He will be spit on. ³³ They will beat Him and kill Him. After three days He will be raised again.”

³⁴ The followers did not understand these words. The meaning of these words was hidden from them. They did not know what He said.

Healing of the Blind Man ^(D)

³⁵ Jesus was coming near Jericho. A blind man was sitting by the side of the road, begging. ³⁶ He heard many people going by and asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was going by. ³⁸ Then he cried out and said, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” ³⁹ The people spoke sharp words to him and told him not to call out. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”

⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and told the people to bring the blind man to Him. When the man was near, Jesus asked, ⁴¹ “What do you want Me to do for you?” He answered, “Lord, I want to see.” ⁴² Jesus said to him, “Then see! Your faith has healed you.” ⁴³ At once he could see. He followed Jesus and gave thanks to God. All the people gave thanks to God when they saw it.

Elihu Keeps On Speaking

33 “But now, Job, hear what I say. Listen to all my words. ² See, I open my mouth. My tongue in my mouth wants to speak. ³ My words come from my heart that is right. My lips speak in truth what I know. ⁴ The Spirit of God has made me. And the breath of the All-powerful gives me life. ⁵ Prove me wrong if you can. Get ready to answer me, and take your stand. ⁶ See, I belong to God like you. I also have been made from the clay. ⁷ See, you have no reason to be afraid of me. I should not make it hard for you.

⁸ “For sure you have spoken in my hearing. I have heard all you have said. ⁹ You said, ‘I am pure and without sin. I am not guilty, and there is no sin in me. ¹⁰ But see, God finds things against me. He thinks of me as someone who hates Him. ¹¹ He puts my feet in chains, and watches all my paths.’ ¹² See, I tell you, in this you are not right. For God is greater than man.

¹³ “Why do you complain against Him? He does not give a reason for all He does. ¹⁴ For God speaks once, or twice, and yet no one listens. ¹⁵ In a dream, a special dream of the night, when deep sleep comes upon men, while they sleep in their beds, ¹⁶ then He opens the ears of men. He teaches them and makes them afraid telling them of danger, ¹⁷ that He may turn man away from wrong-doing and keep him from pride. ¹⁸ He keeps his soul from going to the place of the dead. And He keeps his life from being destroyed by the sword.

¹⁹ “Man is also punished with pain on his bed and has pain all the time in his bones. ²⁰ So he hates bread, and has no desire for fine foods. ²¹ His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen. His bones which were not seen stick out. ²² His soul comes close to the grave, and his life to those who bring death.

²³ “If there is an angel, one out of a thousand, to speak with God for him, and to show a man what is right for him, ²⁴ then let him be kind to him, and say, ‘Save him from going down to the grave. I have found someone to pay the price to make him free. ²⁵ Let his flesh become young again. Let him return to the days when he was young and strong.’ ²⁶ Then he will pray to God, and God will be pleased with him. He will see His face with joy. And God will make man right with Him again. ²⁷ He will sing to men and say, ‘I have sinned and have not done what is right, but He did not punish me. ²⁸ He has kept my soul from going to the grave. And my life will see the light.’

²⁹ “See, God does all these things twice, even three times, to a man, ³⁰ to turn back his soul from the grave, that he may see the light of life. ³¹ Hear what I say, O Job, listen to me. Be quiet and let me speak. ³² If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I want to make you right with God. ³³ If not, listen to me. Be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”

The Old and the New Way

3 Are we making it sound as if we think we are so important? Other people write letters about themselves. Do we need to write such a letter to you? ² You are our letter. You are written in our hearts. You are known and read by all men. ³ You are as a letter from Christ written by us. You are not written as other letters are written with ink, or on pieces of stone. You are written in human hearts by the Spirit of the living God. ⁴ We can say these things because of our faith in God through Christ. ⁵ We know we are not able in ourselves to do any of this work. God makes us able to do these things. ⁶ God is the One Who made us preachers of a New Way of Worship. This New Way of Worship is not of the Law. It is of the Holy Spirit. The Law brings death, but the Holy Spirit gives life.

⁷ The Law of Moses was written on stone and it brought death. But God’s shining-greatness was seen when it was given. When Moses took it to the Jews, they could not look at his face because of the bright light. But that bright light in his face began to pass away. ⁸ The new way of life through the Holy Spirit comes with much more shining-greatness. ⁹ If the Law of Moses, that leads to death, came in shining-greatness, how much greater and brighter is the light that makes us right with God? ¹⁰ The Law of Moses came with shining-greatness long ago. But that light is no longer bright. The shining-greatness of the New Way of Worship that brings us life is so much brighter. ¹¹ The shining light that came with the Law of Moses soon passed away. But the new way of life is much brighter. It will never pass away.

¹² We speak without fear because our trust is in Christ. ¹³ We are not like Moses. He put a covering over his face so the Jews would not see that the bright light was passing away. ¹⁴ Their minds were not able to understand. Even to this day when the Law is read, there is a covering over their minds. They do not see that Christ is the only One Who can take the covering away. ¹⁵ Yes, to this day, there is a covering over their hearts whenever the Law of Moses is read. ¹⁶ But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the covering is taken away. ¹⁷ The heart is free where the Spirit of the Lord is. The Lord is the Spirit. ¹⁸ All of us, with no covering on our faces, show the shining-greatness of the Lord as in a mirror. All the time we are being changed to look like Him, with more and more of His shining-greatness. This change is from the Lord Who is the Spirit.