M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 23
1 You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be a witness supporting violence.(A) 2 You shall not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When testifying in a lawsuit, you shall not follow the crowd in perverting justice. 3 You shall not favor the poor in a lawsuit.(B)
4 When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you must see to it that it is returned.(C) 5 When you notice the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you should not desert him; you must help him with it.
6 You shall not pervert justice for the needy among you in a lawsuit. 7 You shall keep away from anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. 8 Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the words of the just.(D) 9 You shall not oppress a resident alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.(E)
Religious Laws. 10 (F)For six years you may sow your land and gather in its produce. 11 But the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and fallow, that the poor of your people may eat of it and their leftovers the wild animals may eat. So also shall you do in regard to your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 For six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest,(G) that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the resident alien may be refreshed. 13 Give heed to all that I have told you.
You shall not mention the name of any other god; it shall not be heard from your lips.
14 (H)Three times a year you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast to me.[a] 15 You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for it was then that you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before me[b] empty-handed. 16 You shall also keep the feast of the grain harvest with the first fruits of the crop that you sow in the field; and finally, the feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you collect your produce from the fields. 17 Three times a year shall all your men appear before the Lord God.
18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened;(I) nor shall the fat of my feast be kept overnight till the next day. 19 The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the Lord, your God.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.[c]
Reward of Fidelity. 20 See, I am sending an angel(J) before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Be attentive to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority is within him.[d] 22 If you obey him and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.
23 My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out. 24 Therefore, you shall not bow down to their gods and serve them, nor shall you act as they do; rather, you must demolish them and smash their sacred stones.[e](K) 25 You shall serve the Lord, your God; then he will bless your food and drink, and I will remove sickness from your midst; 26 no woman in your land will be barren or miscarry; and I will give you a full span of life.
27 I will have the terror of me precede you, so that I will throw into panic every nation you reach.(L) I will make all your enemies turn from you in flight, 28 and ahead of you I will send hornets[f] to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them all out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of the land. 31 (M)I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines,[g] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates; all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall not make a covenant with them or their gods. 33 They must not live in your land. For if you serve their gods, this will become a snare to you.(N)
Chapter 2
The Wedding at Cana. 1 [a]On the third day there was a wedding[b] in Cana[c] in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.(A) 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 [d][And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”(B) 5 His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”(C) 6 [e]Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,(D) each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”[f] So they took it. 9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs[g] in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.(E)
12 [h]After this, he and his mother, [his] brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.[i]
Cleansing of the Temple. 13 [j]Since the Passover[k] of the Jews was near,(F) Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 [l]He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,[m] as well as the money-changers seated there.(G) 15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”(H) 17 [n]His disciples recalled the words of scripture,(I) “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”(J) 19 Jesus answered and said to them,[o](K) “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,[p] and you will raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.(L)
23 While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.(M) 24 But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 25 and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.(N)
Chapter 41
1 Whoever might vainly hope to do so
need only see him to be overthrown.
2 No one is fierce enough to arouse him;
who then dares stand before me?
3 Whoever has assailed me, I will pay back—
Everything under the heavens is mine.
4 I need hardly mention his limbs,
his strength, and the fitness of his equipment.
5 Who can strip off his outer garment,
or penetrate his double armor?
6 Who can force open the doors of his face,
close to his terrible teeth?
7 Rows of scales are on his back,
tightly sealed together;
8 They are fitted so close to each other
that no air can come between them;
9 So joined to one another
that they hold fast and cannot be parted.
10 When he sneezes, light flashes forth;
his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
11 Out of his mouth go forth torches;
sparks of fire leap forth.
12 From his nostrils comes smoke
as from a seething pot or bowl.
13 His breath sets coals afire;
a flame comes from his mouth.
14 Strength abides in his neck,
and power leaps before him.
15 The folds of his flesh stick together,
it is cast over him and immovable.
16 His heart is cast as hard as stone;
cast as the lower millstone.
17 When he rises up, the gods are afraid;
when he crashes down, they fall back.
18 Should a sword reach him, it will not avail;
nor will spear, dart, or javelin.
19 He regards iron as chaff,
and bronze as rotten wood.
20 No arrow will put him to flight;
slingstones used against him are but straw.
21 Clubs he regards as straw;
he laughs at the crash of the spear.
22 Under him are sharp pottery fragments,
spreading a threshing sledge upon the mire.
23 He makes the depths boil like a pot;
he makes the sea like a perfume bottle.
24 Behind him he leaves a shining path;
you would think the deep had white hair.
25 Upon the earth there is none like him,
he was made fearless.
26 He looks over all who are haughty,
he is king over all proud beasts.
Chapter 11
Preaching Without Charge.[a] 1 If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me![b] Please put up with me.(A) 2 [c]For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.(B) 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve[d] by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ.(C) 4 For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus[e] than the one we preached,(D) or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough. 5 [f](E)For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these “superapostles.” 6 Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;(F) in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.[g]
7 [h]Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?(G) 8 I plundered other churches by accepting from them in order to minister to you. 9 And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.(H) 10 By the truth of Christ in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.(I) 11 [i]And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!(J)
12 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to end this pretext of those who seek a pretext for being regarded as we are in the mission of which they boast. 13 [j]For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Paul’s Boast: His Labors. 16 [k]I repeat, no one should consider me foolish;[l] but if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.[m] 17 What I am saying I am not saying according to the Lord but as in foolishness, in this boastful state. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves. 20 [n]For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I say that we were too weak![o]
But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. 22 [p]Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.(K) 23 [q]Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.)(L) I am still more,[r] with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. 24 Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.(M) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep;(N) 26 on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.(O) 28 And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?(P)
Paul’s Boast: His Weakness.[s] 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 [t]The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows, he who is blessed forever, that I do not lie. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus, in order to seize me, 33 but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.(Q)
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.