M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 13
The Birth of Samson. 1 (A)The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, who therefore delivered them into the power of the Philistines for forty years.
2 There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,[a] whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children.(B) 3 (C)An angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her: Though you are barren and have had no children, you will conceive and bear a son. 4 (D)Now, then, be careful to drink no wine or beer and to eat nothing unclean, 5 for you will conceive and bear a son. No razor shall touch his head, for the boy is to be a nazirite for God[b] from the womb. It is he who will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.
6 The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me; he had the appearance of an angel of God, fearsome indeed. I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will conceive and bear a son. So drink no wine or beer, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be a nazirite for God from the womb, until the day of his death.’” 8 Manoah then prayed to the Lord. “Please, my Lord,” he said, “may the man of God whom you sent return to us to teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born.”
9 God heard the prayer of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly and told her husband. “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me,” she said to him; 11 so Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he reached the man, he said to him, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?” I am, he answered. 12 Then Manoah asked, “Now, when what you say comes true, what rules must the boy follow? What must he do?” 13 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah: Your wife must be careful about all the things of which I spoke to her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, she must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat anything unclean. Let her observe all that I have commanded her. 15 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Permit us to detain you, so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16 But the angel of the Lord answered Manoah: Though you detained me, I would not eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it up to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. 17 [c]Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, that we may honor you when your words come true?” 18 (E)The angel of the Lord answered him: Why do you ask my name? It is wondrous. 19 (F)Then Manoah took a young goat with a grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, who works wonders. While Manoah and his wife were looking on, 20 as the flame rose to the heavens from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground; 21 but the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife.(G) Then Manoah, realizing that it was the angel of the Lord, 22 said to his wife, “We will certainly die,[d] for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands! Nor would he have let us see all this, or hear what we have heard.”
24 The woman bore a son and named him Samson, and when the boy grew up the Lord blessed him. 25 The spirit of the Lord came upon him for the first time(H) in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Chapter 17
Paul in Thessalonica. 1 When they took the road through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.(A) 2 Following his usual custom, Paul joined them, and for three sabbaths he entered into discussions with them from the scriptures, 3 expounding and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that “This is the Messiah, Jesus, whom I proclaim to you.”(B) 4 Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas; so, too, a great number of Greeks who were worshipers, and not a few of the prominent women. 5 But the Jews became jealous and recruited some worthless men loitering in the public square, formed a mob, and set the city in turmoil. They marched on the house of Jason,(C) intending to bring them before the people’s assembly. 6 [a]When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city magistrates, shouting, “These people who have been creating a disturbance all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them.(D) They all act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar and claim instead that there is another king, Jesus.”[b] 8 They stirred up the crowd and the city magistrates who, upon hearing these charges, 9 took a surety payment from Jason and the others before releasing them.
Paul in Beroea. 10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas to Beroea during the night. Upon arrival they went to the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These Jews were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all willingness and examined the scriptures daily to determine whether these things were so.(E) 12 Many of them became believers, as did not a few of the influential Greek women and men. 13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had now been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea also, they came there too to cause a commotion and stir up the crowds. 14 So the brothers at once sent Paul on his way to the seacoast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind.(F) 15 After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Paul in Athens.[c] 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols. 17 So he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and daily in the public square with whoever happened to be there. 18 Even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers[d] engaged him in discussion. Some asked, “What is this scavenger trying to say?” Others said, “He sounds like a promoter of foreign deities,” because he was preaching about ‘Jesus’ and ‘Resurrection.’ 19 They took him and led him to the Areopagus[e] and said, “May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of?(G) 20 For you bring some strange notions to our ears; we should like to know what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians as well as the foreigners residing there used their time for nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus. 22 Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:[f]
“You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’[g] What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,(H) 25 nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. 26 He made from one[h] the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, 27 so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.(I) 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’[i] as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29 Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.(J) 30 God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent 31 because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.”(K)
32 When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We should like to hear you on this some other time.” 33 And so Paul left them. 34 But some did join him, and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Court of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
IV. The Temple Sermon
Chapter 26
Jeremiah Threatened with Death. 1 In the beginning of the reign[a] of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord and speak to the inhabitants of all the cities of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord; whatever I command you, tell them, and hold nothing back.(A) 3 Perhaps they will listen and turn, all of them from their evil way, so that I may repent of the evil I plan to inflict upon them for their evil deeds.(B) 4 Say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you do not obey me, by walking according to the law I set before you 5 and listening to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I kept sending you, even though you do not listen to them,(C) 6 I will treat this house like Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.(D)
7 Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people laid hold of him, crying, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the name of the Lord: ‘This house shall become like Shiloh,’ and ‘This city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the princes of Judah heard about these things, they came up from the house of the king to the house of the Lord and convened at the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11 The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “Sentence this man to death! He has prophesied against this city! You heard it with your own ears.”(E) 12 Jeremiah said to the princes and all the people: “It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and city everything you have heard. 13 Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds; listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so that the Lord will have a change of heart regarding the evil he has spoken against you.(F) 14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what is good and right in your eyes. 15 But you should certainly know that by putting me to death, you bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and its inhabitants. For in truth it was the Lord who sent me to you, to speak all these words for you to hear.”
16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve a death sentence; it is in the name of the Lord, our God, that he speaks to us.” 17 At this, some of the elders of the land arose and said to the whole assembly of the people, 18 “Micah of Moresheth[b] used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Zion shall be plowed as a field,
Jerusalem, a heap of ruins,
and the temple mount,
a forest ridge.(G)
19 Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, so that the Lord had a change of heart regarding the evil he had spoken against them? We, however, are about to do great evil against ourselves.”(H)
The Fate of Uriah. 20 There was another man who used to prophesy in the name of the Lord, Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim; he prophesied against this city and this land the same message as Jeremiah. 21 When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and princes heard his words, the king sought to have him killed. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. 22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan, son of Achbor, and others with him into Egypt, 23 and they brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to Jehoiakim the king, who struck him down with the sword and threw his corpse into the common burial ground. 24 But the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan,[c] protected Jeremiah, so they did not hand him over to the people to be put to death.
Chapter 12
Parable of the Tenants.[a] 1 He began to speak to them in parables.(A) “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.(B) 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. 5 He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. 6 He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture passage:(C)
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes’?”
12 They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
Paying Taxes to the Emperor. 13 [b]They sent some Pharisees(D) and Herodians to him to ensnare him(E) in his speech.[c] 14 They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” 15 Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.(F)
The Question About the Resurrection.[d] 18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and put this question to him, 19 saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’(G) 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. 21 So the second married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. 23 At the resurrection [when they arise] whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, [the] God of Isaac, and [the] God of Jacob’?(H) 27 He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
The Greatest Commandment.[e] 28 One of the scribes,(I) when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’(J) 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(K) 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(L) 34 And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.(M)
The Question About David’s Son.[f] 35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,(N) “How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said:
‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.”’(O)
37 David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” [The] great crowd heard this with delight.
Denunciation of the Scribes.[g] 38 In the course of his teaching he said,(P) “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, 39 seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
The Poor Widow’s Contribution.[h] 41 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.(Q) Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44 For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
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.