M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

24 Then Joshua gathered all the families of Israel to Shechem. He called for the leaders of Israel, the heads of the families and those who judged between what is right or wrong. And they showed themselves before God. ² Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers lived on the other side of the River. There was Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor. And they worshiped other gods. ³ Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River. I led him through all the land of Canaan. I gave him many children, and I gave him Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau for his own. But Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ⁵ I sent Moses and Aaron. I had to bring trouble upon Egypt by what I did among them. Then I brought you out. ⁶ I brought your fathers out of Egypt to the Sea. Egypt went after your fathers to the Red Sea with war-wagons and horsemen. ⁷ But when they cried out to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea upon them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the desert for a long time. ⁸ I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them to you. You took their land for your own when I destroyed them in front of you.

⁹ ’Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, came and fought against Israel. He sent for Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰ But I would not listen to Balaam. So he had to pray for good to come to you. And I saved you from his hand.

¹¹ ’You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you. And the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite fought against you. So I gave them into your hand. ¹² I sent the hornets ahead of you. They drove out the people and the two kings of the Amorites from in front of you. You did not do it by your sword or bow. ¹³ I gave you a land you did not work for. You live in cities you did not build. You are eating from vines and olive trees you did not plant.’

¹⁴ “So fear the Lord. Serve Him in faith and truth. Put away the gods your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. ¹⁵ If you think it is wrong to serve the Lord, choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods your fathers worshiped on the other side of the river, or choose the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ The people answered, “May it never be that we turn away from the Lord and serve other gods. ¹⁷ For the Lord our God is the One Who brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house where we were made to work. He did these powerful works in front of our eyes. He kept us safe everywhere we went, among all the nations we passed through. ¹⁸ The Lord drove away from in front of us all the nations, even the Amorites who lived in the land. So we will serve the Lord. For He is our God.”

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord. For He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your wrong-doing or your sins. ²⁰ If you turn away from the Lord and serve strange gods, He will turn and punish you. He will destroy you after He has been good to you.” ²¹ The people said to Joshua, “Not so, for we will serve the Lord.” ²² Then Joshua said to the people, “You have spoken for yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” And they said, “We have spoken for ourselves.” ²³ Joshua said, “So put away the strange gods that are among you. Give your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey His voice.” ²⁵ So Joshua made an agreement with the people that day. And he made Laws for them in Shechem. ²⁶ Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the tree that was by the holy place of the Lord. ²⁷ Joshua said to all the people, “See, this stone will be here to speak against us. For it has heard all the words the Lord spoke to us. So it will be here to speak against you, if you do not stay true to your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own land.

The Death of Joshua and Eleazar

²⁹ After this, Joshua the son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died. He was 110 years old. ³⁰ They buried him in the land he was given in Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ³¹ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and of the leaders who lived after him who had known all the works the Lord had done for Israel.

³² The people of Israel brought the bones of Joseph from Egypt. They buried them in Shechem, in the piece of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for 100 pieces of money. It became the land of Joseph’s children.

³³ Eleazar the son of Aaron died also. They buried him on the hill at Gibeah that was given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

Peter and John Are Put in Prison

4 The religious leaders and the leader of the house of God and some of the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Peter and John while they were talking to the people. ² They were angry because Peter and John had been teaching the people and preaching that Jesus had been raised from the dead. ³ So they took them and put them in prison until the next day because it was evening. ⁴ But many of those who heard what Peter and John said put their trust in Christ. The group of followers was now about 5,000 men.

Peter Speaks to the Religious Leaders’ Court

⁵ The next day the leaders of the court and the leaders of the people and the teachers of the Law came together in Jerusalem. ⁶ Annas the head religious leader was there. Caiaphas and John and Alexander were there also and all who were in the family of the head religious leader. ⁷ They put the missionaries in front of them and asked, “By what power or in whose name have you done this?”

⁸ Then Peter, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, said, “You who are leaders of the people, ⁹ are you asking us today about the good work we did to a man who needed help? Are you asking how he was healed? ¹⁰ You and all the Jews must know that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you nailed to a cross and God raised from the dead. It is through Him that this man stands in front of you well and strong. ¹¹ Christ is the Stone that was put aside by you workmen. But He has become the most important Stone in the building. ^{(A) 12} There is no way to be saved from the punishment of sin through anyone else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved.”

Peter and John Are Free to Go but Are Told Not to Preach

¹³ They were surprised and wondered how easy it was for Peter and John to speak. They could tell they were men who had not gone to school. But they knew they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ They were not able to argue about what Peter and John had said because the man who had been healed was standing with them.

¹⁵ The religious leaders told Peter and John to leave the court so the leaders could talk together. ¹⁶ They said, “What should we do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows a powerful work has been done by them. We cannot say that it did not happen. ¹⁷ Let us tell them with strong words that they must not speak again to anyone in this name. This will keep the news from going out among the people.”

¹⁸ Then they called them in and told them they must not speak or teach anymore in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ Peter and John said, “If it is right to listen to you more than to God, you decide about that. ²⁰ For we must tell what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ After they had spoken more sharp words to them, they let them go. They could not beat them because the people were giving thanks to God for what had happened. ²² The man on whom this powerful work of healing had been done was more than forty years old.

The Prayer of the Young Church

²³ As soon as the missionaries were free to go, they went back to their own group. They told them everything the religious leaders had said. ²⁴ When they heard it, they all prayed to God, saying, “Lord God, You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them. ²⁵ You said through the Holy Spirit by the mouth of our father David, ‘Why are the nations so shaken up and the people planning foolish things? ²⁶ The kings of the earth stood in a line ready to fight, and the leaders were all against the Lord and against His Christ.’ ^{(B) 27} You know that Herod and Pilate and the Jews and the people who are not Jews gathered together here against Jesus. He was Your Holy Son and the One You had chosen ²⁸ to do everything You planned and said would happen. ²⁹ And now, Lord, listen to their sharp words. Make it easy for your servants to preach Your Word with power. ³⁰ May You heal and do powerful works and special things to see through the name of Jesus, Your Holy Son!”

The Christians Are Filled with the Holy Spirit

³¹ When they had finished praying, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. It was easy for them to speak the Word of God.

The New Way of Life

³² The many followers acted and thought the same way. None of them said that any of their things were their own, but they shared all things. ³³ The missionaries told with much power how Jesus was raised from the dead. God’s favor was on them all. ³⁴ No one was in need. All who owned houses or pieces of land sold them and brought the money from what was sold. ³⁵ They gave it to the missionaries. It was divided to each one as he had need.

³⁶ Joseph was among them. The missionaries called him Barnabas. His name means Son of Comfort. He was from the family group of Levi and from the country of Cyprus. ³⁷ He had some land which he sold and brought the money to the missionaries.

The Linen Belt

13 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy a linen belt, and put it around yourself. But do not put it in water.” ² So I bought the belt as the Lord had said and put it around me. ³ Then the Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the belt that you have bought and are wearing, get up, and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had told me. ⁶ After many days the Lord said to me, “Get up and go to the Euphrates and get the belt which I told you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the belt from the place where I had hidden it. And I saw that the belt was worth nothing.

⁸ Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These sinful people would not listen to My words. They walk in the strong-will of their own hearts and have gone to serve and worship other gods. So let them be just like this linen belt, which is good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the belt holds on to a man’s body, so I made the whole family of Israel and the whole family of Judah hold on to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘This was so that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and an honor. But they would not listen.’

The Wine Bottles

¹² “So you are to tell this to them: ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every jar is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not know very well that every jar is to be filled with wine?’ ¹³ then tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I am about to fill all the people of this land, the kings who sit on David’s throne, the religious leaders, the men of God, and all the people of Jerusalem with too much drink. ¹⁴ And I will throw them against each other, both the fathers and sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not let pity or sorrow or loving-kindness keep Me from destroying them.”’”

Pride Comes before Punishment

¹⁵ Listen and hear. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. ¹⁶ Give honor to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark mountains. You hope for light, but He will turn it into darkness and it will be very dark. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen, my soul will cry in secret because of your pride. My eyes will cry with a bitter cry and tears will flow down, because the Lord’s people have been taken away in chains. ¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother, “Come down from your throne. Your beautiful crown has been taken from your head.” ¹⁹ The cities of the Negev have been locked up, and there is no one to open them. All Judah has been taken away. All the people of Judah have been taken to another land.

²⁰ “Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep? ²¹ What will you say when He sets over you those whom you have taught and who were your friends? Will not pain take hold of you, like a woman giving birth? ²² And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ It is because of your many sins that your clothing has been torn off and you suffer punishment. ²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are used to doing wrong. ²⁴ I will cause you to go everywhere like straw blown by the desert wind. ²⁵ This is what you get, the share given to you from Me,” says the Lord, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in lies. ²⁶ So I will pull your clothing up over your face, that your shame may be seen. ²⁷ As for your sex sins and cries of desire, your sinful sex acts on the hills in the field, I have seen your hated sins. It is bad for you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”

Jesus Stands in Front of Pilate ^(A)

27 Early in the morning all the head religious leaders of the Jews and the leaders of the people gathered together and talked about how they could put Jesus to death. ² They tied Him and took Him away. Then they handed Him over to Pilate who was the leader of the country.

³ Then Judas was sorry he had handed Jesus over when he saw that Jesus was going to be killed. He took back the thirty pieces of silver and gave it to the head religious leaders and the other leaders. ⁴ He said, “I have sinned because I handed over a Man Who has done no wrong.” And they said, “What is that to us? That is your own doing.” ⁵ He threw the money down in the house of God and went outside. Then he went away and killed himself by hanging from a rope.

⁶ The head religious leaders took the money. They said, “It is against the Law to put this money in the house of God. This money has bought blood.” ⁷ They talked about what to do with the money. Then they decided to buy land to bury strangers in. ⁸ Because of this, that land is called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ It happened as the early preacher Jeremiah said it would happen. He said, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver which was the price the Jews said they would pay for Him. ¹⁰ And they bought land to bury strangers in, as the Lord told me.” ^(B)

¹¹ Then Jesus stood in front of the leader of the country. The leader asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “What you say is true.” ¹² When the head religious leaders and the other leaders spoke against Him, He said nothing. ¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear all these things they are saying against You?” ¹⁴ Jesus did not say a word. The leader was much surprised and wondered about it.

Jesus or Barabbas Is to Go Free ^(C)

¹⁵ At the special supper each year the leader of the country would always let one person who was in prison go free. It would be the one the people wanted. ¹⁶ They had a man who was known by all the people whose name was Barabbas. ¹⁷ When they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to let go free? Should it be Barabbas or Jesus Who is called Christ?” ¹⁸ For the leader of the country knew the religious leaders had given Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting in the place where he judges, his wife sent him this word, “Have nothing to do with that good Man. I have been troubled today in a dream about Him.”

²⁰ The head religious leaders and the other leaders talked the many people into asking for Barabbas to go free and for Jesus to be put to death. ²¹ The leader of the country said to them, “Which one of the two do you want me to let go free?” They said, “Barabbas.” ²² Pilate said to them, “Then what am I to do with Jesus Who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Nail Him to a cross!” ²³ Then Pilate said, “Why, what bad thing has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Nail Him to a cross!”

²⁴ Pilate saw that he could do nothing. The people were making loud calls and there was much pushing around. He took water and washed his hands in front of the many people. He said, “I am not guilty of the blood of this good Man. This is your own doing.” ²⁵ Then all the people said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children!” ²⁶ Pilate let Barabbas go free but he had men whip Jesus. Then he handed Him over to be nailed to a cross.

The Crown of Thorns ^(D)

²⁷ Then the soldiers of Pilate took Jesus into a large room. A big group of soldiers gathered around Him. ²⁸ They took off His clothes and put a purple coat on Him. ²⁹ They put a crown of thorns on His head. They put a stick in His right hand. They got on their knees before Him and made fun of Him. They said, “Hello, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ They spit on Him. They took a stick and hit Him on the head. ³¹ After they had made fun of Him, they took the coat off and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to be nailed to a cross. ³² As they were on the way, they came to a man called Simon from the country of Cyrene. They made him carry the cross for Jesus.

Jesus on the Cross ^(E)

³³ They came to a place called Golgotha. This name means the place of a skull. ³⁴ They gave Him wine with something in it to take away the pain. After tasting it, He took no more. ³⁵ When they had nailed Him to the cross, they divided His clothes by drawing names. *It happened as the early preacher said it would happen. He said, “They divided My clothes among them by drawing names to see who would get My coat.” ^{(F) 36} Then they sat down and watched Him. ³⁷ Over His head they put in writing what they had against Him, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

The Two Robbers ^(G)

³⁸ They nailed two robbers to crosses beside Him. One was on His right side. The other was on His left side. ³⁹ Those who walked by shook their heads and laughed at Him. ⁴⁰ They said, “You are the One Who could destroy the house of God and build it up again in three days. Now save Yourself. If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

⁴¹ The head religious leaders and the teachers of the Law and the other leaders made fun of Him also. They said, ⁴² “He saved others but He cannot save Himself. If He is the King of the Jews, let Him come down from the cross. Then we will believe in Him. ⁴³ He trusts God. Let God save Him now, if God cares for Him. He has said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ And the robbers who were nailed to crosses beside Him made fun of Him the same way also.

The Death of Jesus ^(H)

⁴⁵ From noon until three o’clock it was dark over all the land. ⁴⁶ About three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You left Me alone?” ⁴⁷ When some of those who stood by heard that, they said, “This Man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ At once one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine. He put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink. ⁴⁹ The others said, “Let Him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come and save Him.” ⁵⁰ Then Jesus gave another loud cry and gave up His spirit and died.

The Powerful Works at the Time of His Death ^(I)

⁵¹ At once the curtain in the house of God was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks fell apart. ⁵² Graves were opened. Bodies of many of God’s people who were dead were raised. ⁵³ After Jesus was raised from the grave, these arose from their graves and went into Jerusalem, the Holy City. These were seen by many people.

⁵⁴ The captain of the soldiers and those with him who were watching Jesus, saw all the things that were happening. They saw the earth shake and they were very much afraid. They said, “For sure, this Man was the Son of God.”

The Women at the Cross ^(J)

⁵⁵ Many women were looking on from far away. These had followed Jesus from the country of Galilee. They had cared for Him. ⁵⁶ Among them was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

The Grave of Jesus ^(K)

⁵⁷ When it was evening, a rich man came from the city of Arimathea. His name was Joseph. He was a follower of Jesus also. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate said that the body should be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body and put clean linen cloth around it. ⁶⁰ He laid it in his own new grave. This grave had been cut out in the side of a rock. He pushed a big stone over the door of the grave and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed there. They were sitting near the grave.

⁶² The next day, the day after Jesus was killed, the head religious leaders and the proud religious law-keepers gathered together in front of Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember what that Man Who fooled people said when He was living, ‘After three days I am to rise from the dead.’ ⁶⁴ Speak the word to have the grave watched for three days. Then His followers cannot come at night and take Him away and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ The last mistake would be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “Take the soldiers. Go and watch the grave.” ⁶⁶ Then they went and made the soldiers stand by the grave. They put a lock on the big stone door.