M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Book of Deuteronomy, which precedes Joshua, records Moses giving a similar farewell speech prior to his death. Moses reminded the people of Israel where they had come from and foretold many of the things that later came to pass when they entered into the promised land of Canaan. Joshua’s speech does the same thing. He reminds the Israelites of their story, and he warns the people of Israel that if they turn from their faith in God they should expect curses instead of the blessings they have experienced.
24 So Joshua summoned all of the tribes of Israel together at Shechem, all the leaders, judges, officers, and elders, and they stood in the presence of the True God.
Joshua: 2 The Eternal One, the True God of Israel has told me to give you this message: “Many years ago, your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River where they served other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham and led him over the river and into the land of Canaan, and I made his descendants numerous. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the highlands of Seir for a possession, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 When the time came for them to be delivered, I sent Moses and Aaron, I struck Egypt with plagues, and I brought you out of Egypt.
6 When I brought you out of Egypt, your ancestors were closely pursued by soldiers in their chariots of war to the Red Sea itself. 7 When they cried out to the Eternal, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea to cover and drown them, every one, in the sea. Your own eyes saw this. You lived in the desert for a long time, wandering in the wilderness. 8 Finally I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought against you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them before you.
9 When Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, decided to attack Israel, he called on Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. All he could do was bless you. I delivered you out of his clutches.
11 When you crossed over the Jordan into the land of Canaan and came to Jericho, the leaders[a] of Jericho fought against you. So did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave them all into your power.
12 I sent hornets ahead of you to run off the two kings of the Amorites; it was not done by your bow or sword. 13 I delivered to you fields you had not worked and towns you had not built, yet today you live in them. You eat the fruit of olive trees and of grape vineyards you did not even have to plant.”
14 So remember: fear the Eternal and serve Him sincerely and faithfully. Put away from you any gods your ancestors served across the Euphrates River or in Egypt, and serve only Him. 15 If you decide that you’re not willing to serve Him, then today is the day for you to choose whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors bowed to in the land beyond the great River, or the gods of the Amorites whose country you possess. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Eternal.
This people that complained in the wilderness now acknowledges that God alone gave them this land, and they pledge their faithfulness to Him.
People of Israel (responding): 16 Nothing could be further from our minds than abandoning the Eternal to serve other gods. 17 We know that the Eternal One our God rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. We remember that He performed all those great signs in front of us. He protected us from the people we passed as we traveled. 18 And we know that He removed the Amorites and all the peoples who lived in Canaan. We, too, will serve the Eternal One, for He is our True God.
Joshua (warning them): 19 If you think you will be able to serve the Eternal, you are wrong. He is a holy God and a jealous God; He will not tolerate your shortcomings and your sins. 20 If you desert Him and worship these foreign gods, He will fall upon you and totally consume you, even though He has done all this great good for you.
People of Israel: 21 All the same, we choose to serve the Eternal.
Joshua: 22 All right, then. You are witnesses—against yourselves, if it comes to that—that you have made this choice to serve the Eternal.
Israel: We are witnesses to it.
Joshua (repeating): 23 Then you must put all other gods away from you and turn your hearts to the Eternal God of Israel.
Israel: 24 We will serve the Eternal One, our God, and we will obey His voice.
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem and gave them statutes and ordinances to obey. 26 Joshua wrote the words in the scroll of the law, and he had a large stone set up underneath the oak tree near the Eternal’s holy place.
Joshua (to all the people): 27 This stone will also be a witness to your vow. It has heard all the words the Eternal spoke to us, so it will be a witness if you turn your backs on your True God.
28 So he sent the people away, back to the lands He had given them.
29 After that, Joshua, the son of Nun, the Eternal’s servant, died at the age of 110. 30 They buried him in the land he had been given at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim to the north of Mount Gaash.
31 And Israel served the Eternal faithfully for as long as Joshua lived, and then throughout the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had seen all the mighty things that the Eternal One did for Israel.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had carried out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the land Jacob had bought from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver, and which had been passed on to the people of Joseph as an inheritance.
33 Eventually Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died. They buried him at Gibeah, in the city his son Phinehas had been granted in the highlands of Ephraim.
4 The conversation continued for a few hours there in Solomon’s porch. Suddenly, the head of the temple police and some members of the Sadducean party interrupted Peter and John. 2 They were annoyed because Peter and John were enthusiastically teaching that in Jesus, resurrection of the dead is possible—an idea the Sadducees completely rejected. 3 So they arrested Peter, John, and the man who was healed and kept them in jail overnight. 4 But during these few afternoon hours between the man’s miraculous healing and their arrest, Peter and John already had convinced about 5,000 more people to believe their message about Jesus!
5 The next morning, the Jewish leaders—their officials, elders, and scholars—called a meeting in Jerusalem 6 presided over by Annas (the patriarch of the ruling priestly clan), along with Caiaphas (his son-in-law), John, Alexander, and other members of their clan. 7 They made their prisoners stand in the middle of the assembly and questioned them.
Jewish Leaders: Who gave you the authority to create that spectacle in the temple yesterday?
Peter (filled with the Spirit): 8 Rulers and elders of the people, 9 yesterday a good deed was done. Someone who was sick was healed. If you’re asking us how this happened, 10 I want all of you and all of the people of Israel to know this man standing in front of you—obviously in good health—was healed by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One. This is the same Jesus whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead. 11 He is “the stone that you builders rejected who has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation”[a] on which a new temple is being built. 12 There is no one else who can rescue us, and there is no other name under heaven given to any human by whom we may be rescued.
13 Now the leaders were surprised and confused. They looked at Peter and John and realized they were typical peasants—uneducated, utterly ordinary fellows—with extraordinary confidence. The leaders recognized them as companions of Jesus, 14 then they turned their attention to the third man standing beside them—recently lame, now standing tall and healthy. What could they say in response to all this?
15 Because they were at a loss about what to do, they excused the prisoners so the council could deliberate in private.
Jewish Leaders: 16 What do we do with these fellows? Anyone who lives in Jerusalem will know an unexplainable sign has been performed through these two preachers. We can’t deny their story. 17 The best we can do is try to keep it from spreading. So let’s warn them to stop speaking to anybody in this name.
18 The leaders brought the prisoners back in and prohibited them from doing any more speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John listened quietly and then replied,
Peter and John: You are the judges here, so we’ll leave it up to you to judge whether it is right in the sight of God to obey your commands or God’s. 20 But one thing we can tell you: we cannot possibly restrain ourselves from speaking about what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.
21-22 The council threatened them again, but finally let them go because public opinion strongly supported Peter and John and this man who had received this miraculous sign. He was over 40 years old, so his situation was known to many people, and they couldn’t help but glorify God for his healing.
23 Peter and John, upon their release, went right to their friends and told the story—including the warning from the council. 24 The whole community responded with this prayer to God:
Community of Believers: God, our King, You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything they contain.[b] 25 You are the One who, by the Holy Spirit, spoke through our ancestor David, Your servant, with these words:
Why did the nations rage?
Why did they imagine useless things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand;
their rulers assembled in opposition
against the Eternal One and His Anointed King.[c]
27 This is exactly what has happened among us, here in this city. The foreign ruler Pontius Pilate and the Jewish ruler Herod, along with their respective peoples, have assembled in opposition to Your holy servant Jesus, the One You chose. 28 They have done whatever Your hand and plan predetermined should happen. 29 And now, Lord, take note of their intimidations intended to silence us. Grant us, Your servants, the courageous confidence we need to go ahead and proclaim Your message 30 while You reach out Your hand to heal people, enabling us to perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.
31 They finished their prayer, and immediately the whole place where they had gathered began to shake. All the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began speaking God’s message with courageous confidence.
The Holy Spirit changes everyone and everything. If there is any doubt about the power of the Spirit, just take a look at Peter. When Jesus was captured, Peter cowered in fear that he might be identified as a man who loved Jesus. Now this same man is preaching, healing, and pointing his finger in the face of Jewish officials who have captured him and John. With a boldness that is not his own, he blames them for the death of Jesus and does not cower at their show of violence.
32 During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common. 33 The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace. 34 Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds 35 to the emissaries[d] of the Lord. They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs. 36-37 One fellow, a Cyprian Levite named Joseph, earned a nickname because of his generosity in selling a field and bringing the money to the apostles in this way. From that time on, they called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.”
13 The Eternal directed me.
Eternal One: Go and buy a linen undergarment; put it around your waist next to your body beneath your clothes, but do not wash it.
2 So I bought the undergarment, just as the Eternal had told me, and put it around my waist. 3 Then the Eternal spoke to me a second time.
Eternal One: 4 Now take off this undergarment you’ve purchased and have been wearing around your waist, and go to the Euphrates. I want you to hide it in a crevice in the rocks there.
5 So I took the undergarment to the Euphrates and hid it in the rocks, just as the Eternal told me. 6 After many days had passed, the Eternal spoke to me a third time.
Eternal One: Now go back to the Euphrates, and get the linen undergarment I told you to hide there.
7 When I went back and dug up this garment from the place where I’d hidden it, I found it had begun to rot. This garment that was once new and clean was now completely worthless. 8 The word of the Eternal came to me to drive home His point.
At times God’s message given through Jeremiah must be acted out. He wants so badly for His people to understand, that mere words aren’t sufficient. This is one such moment.
Eternal One: 9 Mark My words, for the same thing will happen to the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 I will ruin these haughty and wicked people who ignore My words, who follow their own stubborn hearts, who run after other gods, who bow down to lifeless idols. They will end up like this rotten undergarment in your hands—completely worthless! 11 Just as the undergarment clings to a person’s waist, so did I, the Eternal One, make Israel and Judah to cling tightly to Me. They were to be My people, known by all, bringing honor and glory to My name. That was My plan for them, but they did not listen.
This is the first of several symbolic actions or prophetic dramas in the book. God made Israel and Judah to stick close to him—as close as an undergarment—but because they disobey Him and refuse to live within the bonds of the covenant, God will bury them in exile, and they will be ruined.
Eternal One: 12 Speak this word to the people as well: “Listen to what the Eternal, the God of Israel, has to say: ‘Every jug will be filled with wine.’ When they respond, ‘Tell us something we don’t already know, prophet! Don’t you think we know that every jug will be filled with wine?’ 13 Go on telling them, ‘This is what the Eternal says: “I am going to fill all who live in this land with drunkenness—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the false prophets, and all the citizens of Jerusalem. 14 And then I will smash them together in confusion and panic—smashing fathers against sons in the chaos of the enemy invasion. I will have no pity on them. My sorrow or compassion will not keep Me from ruining them.”’”
15 Listen carefully to me!
Stop being so smug, because the Eternal has spoken.
16 It is time to honor the Eternal your God before He makes the darkness fall
and you stumble on the darkening mountains.
You will long for the light,
but He will make the darkness deepen as the gloom settles in.
17 If you still won’t listen, I will weep for you in secret.
From the depths of my soul, I will cry bitter tears,
Because the Eternal’s own flock will be taken captive.
18 Tell the king and the queen mother:
“Come down from your thrones, and take a seat in a humble place,
for your glorious crowns will be taken from you.”
19 The cities in the Negev have already shut their gates.
There will be no one to open them.
The people of Judah will be taken captive,
all of them carried away into exile.
20 (to Jerusalem) Now look to the north and see who is marching toward you.
Where is the beautiful flock that was entrusted to you?
21 What will you say when He appoints your so-called allies,
the very ones you trained, to rule over you?
Will not the pain stab at you
as it does a woman in childbirth?
22 When you begin to ask yourself, “Why is all this happening to me?”
know this: it is because of the weight of your sins.
This is why your enemies will tear off your skirts and violate your bodies.
23 And still, you will not change.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin?
Can a leopard change its spots?
It seems just as unlikely that you will change your ways and do good,
when you are so used to doing evil—it has become such a part of you.
24 Eternal One (to His people): This is why I will scatter you
like chaff driven by the desert wind.
25 This is now your fate—retribution measured out for you from the Eternal—
for you have forgotten Me and trusted in the lies of another.
26 For all this, I will be the One who lifts your skirts over your face,
exposing you and letting others see your disgrace.
27 As for your faithlessness, your adulteries and your lustful ways,
as for the degrading way you prostitute yourself to other gods out in the open, I see it all.
For all this, your fate is sealed. O Jerusalem—how bad it will be for you!
How long before you are clean again?
27 Eventually the chief priests and the elders looked around and saw that it was morning. They convened a council meeting whose sole purpose was to hand down Jesus’ death sentence. 2 They tied Jesus up, took Him away, and handed Him over to the governor of Judea, a man called Pilate.
3 Judas—the one who had betrayed Him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver—saw that Jesus had been condemned, and suddenly Judas regretted what he had done. He took the silver back to the chief priests and elders and tried to return it to them.
Judas Iscariot: 4 I can’t keep this money! I’ve sinned! I’ve betrayed an innocent man! His blood will be on my hands.
The priests and elders want nothing to do with Judas, and they refuse to take his money.
Chief Priests and Elders: We’re through with you, friend. The state of your soul is really none of our affair.
5 Judas threw down the money in the temple, went off, and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests looked at the silver coins and picked them up.
Chief Priests and Elders: You know, according to the law, we can’t put blood money in the temple treasury.
7 After some deliberation, they took the money and bought a plot of land called Potter’s Field; they would use it to bury foreigners, suicides, and others who were unfit for a full Jewish burial. 8 (To this day, the field is called Blood Field, because it was bought with blood money.) 9 And when the priests bought Potter’s Field, they unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy made long ago by the prophet Jeremiah: “They took 30 pieces of silver, the price set on the head of the man by the children of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Eternal One instructed.”[a]
11 Jesus was standing before the governor, Pilate.
Pilate: Are You the King of the Jews?
Jesus: So you say.
12 The chief priests and the elders stood and poured out their accusations: that Jesus was a traitor, a seditious rebel, a crazy, a would-be Savior, and a would-be king. Jesus stood in the stream of accusations, but He did not respond.
Pilate: 13 Do You hear these accusations they are making against You?
14 Still Jesus said nothing, which Pilate found rather astounding—no protests, no defense, nothing.
15 Now the governor had a custom. During the great Jewish festival of Passover, he would allow the crowd to pick one of the condemned men, and he, Pilate, would set the man free. Just like that. Gratuitous, gracious freedom. 16 At this time, they had a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd gathered, Pilate offered them a choice:
Pilate: Whom do you want me to free? Barabbas or Jesus, whom some call the Anointed One?
Pilate could call Him “Jesus of Nazareth” or “Jesus the Carpenter,” but he says, “whom some call the Anointed One.” It is significant that Pilate is in a position where he passes judgment. He determines who will live and who will die, and he is preparing to hold court.
18 Pilate knew the chief priests and elders hated Jesus and had delivered Him up because they envied Him.
19 Then Pilate sat down on his judgment seat, and he received a message from his wife: “Distance yourself utterly from the proceedings against this righteous man. I have had a dream about Him, a dream full of twisted sufferings—He is innocent, I know it, and we should have nothing to do with Him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders convinced the crowd to demand that Barabbas, not Jesus, whom-some-call-the-Anointed-One, be freed and that Jesus be put to death.
Pilate (standing before the crowd): 21 Which of these men would you have me free?
Crowd (shouting): Barabbas!
Pilate: 22 What would you have me do with this Jesus, whom some call the Anointed One?
Crowd (shouting): Crucify Him!
Pilate: 23 Why? What crime has this man committed?
Crowd (responding with a shout): Crucify Him!
It is clear Pilate has laid his own trap. He realizes he has given the crowd a choice, but the crowd doesn’t choose as he expects them to.
24 Pilate saw that unless he wanted a riot on his hands, he now had to bow to their wishes. So he took a pitcher of water, stood before the crowd, and washed his hands.
Pilate: You will see to this crucifixion, for this man’s blood will be upon you and not upon me. I wash myself of it.
Crowd: 25 Indeed, let His blood be upon us—upon us and our children!
26 So Pilate released Barabbas, and he had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified.
27 The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into a great hall, gathered a great crowd, 28 and stripped Jesus of His clothes, draping Him in a bold scarlet cloak, the kind that soldiers sometimes wore. 29 They gathered some thorny vines, wove them into a crown, and perched that crown upon His head. They stuck a reed in His right hand, and then they knelt before Him, this inside-out, upside-down King. They mocked Him with catcalls.
Soldiers: Hail, the King of the Jews!
30 They spat on Him and whipped Him on the head with His scepter of reeds, 31 and when they had their fill, they pulled off the bold scarlet cloak, dressed Him in His own simple clothes, and led Him off to be crucified.
32 As they were walking, they found a man called Simon of Cyrene and forced him to carry the cross. 33 Eventually they came to a place called Golgotha, which means “Place of the Skull.” 34 There they gave Him a drink—wine mixed with bitter herbs. He tasted it but refused to drink it.
35 And so they had Him crucified. They divided the clothes off His back by drawing lots,[b] 36 and they sat on the ground and watched Him hang. 37 They placed a sign over His head: “This is Jesus, King of the Jews.” 38 And then they crucified two thieves next to Him, one at His right hand and one at His left hand.
39 Passersby shouted curses and blasphemies at Jesus. They wagged their heads at Him and hissed.
Passersby: 40 You’re going to destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days? Why don’t You start with saving Yourself? Come down from the cross if You can, if You’re God’s Son.
Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders (mocking Him): 41-42 He saved others, but He can’t save Himself. If He’s really the King of Israel, then let Him climb down from the cross—then we’ll believe Him. 43 He claimed communion with God—well, let God save Him, if He’s God’s beloved Son.
44 Even the thieves hanging to His right and left poured insults upon Him. 45 And then, starting at noon, the entire land became dark. It was dark for three hours. 46 In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?[c]
Bystanders: 47 He’s calling on Elijah.
48 One bystander grabbed a sponge, steeped it in vinegar, stuck it on a reed, and gave Jesus the vinegar to drink.
Others: 49 We’ll see—we’ll see if Elijah is going to come and rescue Him.
50 And then Jesus cried out once more, loudly, and then He breathed His last breath. 51 At that instant, the temple curtain was torn in half, from top to bottom. The earth shook; rocks split in two; 52 tombs burst open, and bodies of many sleeping holy women and men were raised up. 53 After Jesus’ resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and showed themselves to people.
54 When the Centurion and soldiers who had been charged with guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw the rocks splitting and the tombs opening, they were, of course, terrified.
Soldiers: He really was God’s Son.
55 A number of women, who had been devoted to Jesus and followed Him from Galilee, were present, too, watching from a distance. 56 Mary Magdalene was there, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
57 At evening time, a rich man from Arimathea arrived. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked to be given Jesus’ body; Pilate assented and ordered his servants to turn Jesus’ body over to Joseph. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped Jesus in a clean sheath of white linen, 60 and laid Jesus in his own new tomb, which he had carved from a rock. Then he rolled a great stone in front of the tomb’s opening, and he went away. 61 Mary Magdalene was there, and so was the other Mary. They sat across from the tomb, watching, remembering.
62 The next day, which is the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. 63 They reminded him that when Jesus was alive He had claimed that He would be raised from the dead after three days.
Chief Priests and Pharisees: 64 So please order someone to secure the tomb for at least three days. Otherwise His disciples might sneak in and steal His body away, and then claim that He has been raised from the dead. If that happens, then we would have been better off just leaving Him alive.
Pilate: 65 You have a guard. Go and secure the grave.
66 So they went to the tomb, sealed the stone in its mouth, and left the guard to keep watch.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.