M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Water From the Rock
17 All the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin, from place to place, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, “Give us water so that we may drink.”
And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why is it that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Pass over before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. And take in your hand your rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Indeed, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and there water shall come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Then Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contending of the children of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
The Amalekites Defeated
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought against Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy. So they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua laid low Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and rehearse it to Joshua, for I will utterly wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Then Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner; 16 for he said, “For the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
The Question of Jesus’ Authority(A)
20 One day, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up to Him, 2 and said to Him, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Who is he who gave You this authority?”
3 He answered them, “I will also ask you one thing. Answer Me: 4 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”
5 They debated with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8 Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Parable of the Vineyard and the Vinedressers(B)
9 He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to vinedressers, and went to a distant country for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the vinedressers so they might give him some fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 Again, he sent another servant. But they beat him also, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 Once again, he sent a third. And they wounded him also and drove him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him when they see him.’
14 “But when the vinedressers saw him, they debated among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 So they drove him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill these vinedressers and will give the vineyard to others.”
When they heard this, they said, “May it not be so!”
17 He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’[a]?
18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken. But he on whom it falls will be crushed to powder.”[b]
19 The chief priests and the scribes tried to lay their hands on Him that same hour, but they feared the people. For they perceived that He had told this parable against them.
The Question of Paying Taxes(C)
20 They watched Him and sent out spies who pretended to be righteous men, that they might seize Him in His words to hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So they asked Him, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach rightly. And You do not show partiality, but You truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 He perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius.[c] Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”
25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
26 They could not catch Him in His words before the people. And they marveled at His answer and were silent.
The Question About the Resurrection(D)
27 Some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, then this man should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.[d] 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless. 30 The second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31 And then the third took her, and in like manner, all seven died and left no children. 32 Last of all, the woman died also. 33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus answered them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 For they cannot die any more, for they are equal to the angels and are the sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 Now, at the bush, even Moses pointed out that the dead are raised when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[e] 38 For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For to Him all live.”
39 Some of the scribes said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” 40 After that they dared not ask Him any question at all.
The Question About David’s Son(E)
41 Then Jesus said to them, “How do they say that Christ is David’s Son? 42 David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
43 until I make Your enemies
Your footstool.”[f]’
44 David therefore calls Him ‘Lord.’ How is He then his Son?”
The Denouncing of the Scribes(F)
45 Then as all the people heard, He said to His disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes who desire to walk in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces and the prominent seats in the synagogues and the seats of honor at banquets, 47 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive greater condemnation.”
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness
35 Elihu spoke again and said:
2 “Do you think this is right,
that you say, ‘My righteousness is before God’?
3 For you said, ‘What advantage will it be to me?
What profit will I have if I am cleansed from my sin?’
4 “I will answer you,
and your companions with you.
5 Look unto the heavens and see,
and behold the clouds that are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?
Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what does it do to Him?
7 If you are righteous, what does it give Him?
Or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness may hurt a man like you,
and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
9 “Because of the many oppressions they cry out;
they cry out because of the arm of the mighty.
10 But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’
12 There they cry out, but He does not answer
because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God will not hear vanity,
nor will the Almighty regard it.
14 Although you say you do not see Him,
yet judgment is before Him,
and you must trust in Him.
15 But now, because He has not punished in His anger,
nor taken much notice of folly,
16 therefore Job opens his mouth in vain;
he multiplies words without knowledge.”
5 We know that if our earthly house, this tent, were to be destroyed, we have an eternal building of God in the heavens, a house not made with hands. 2 In this one we groan, earnestly desiring to be sheltered with our house which is from heaven. 3 Thus being sheltered, we shall not be found unsheltered. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we wish to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal might be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has created us for this very thing is God, who also has given to us the guarantee of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Instead, I say that we are confident and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 So whether present or absent, we labor that we may be accepted by Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his recompense in the body, according to what he has done, whether it was good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are revealed to God, and I trust we are also revealed in your consciences. 12 For we are not commending ourselves again to you. Instead, we give you occasion to boast on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13 If we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge: that if one died for all, then all have died. 15 And He died for all, that those who live should not from now on live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 So from now on we do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Yes, though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we do not regard Him as such from now on. 17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new. 18 All this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you in Christ’s stead: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.