M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

15 And a while after, when the days of the wheat harvest were at hand, Samson came, meaning to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid of the flock. And when he would have gone into her chamber as usual, her father would not suffer him, saying:

² I thought thou hadst hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend: but she hath a sister, who is younger and fairer than she, take her to wife instead of her.

³ And Samson answered him: From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils.

⁴ And he went and caught three hundred foxes, and coupled them tail to tail, and fastened torches between the tails.

⁵ And setting them on fire he let the foxes go, that they might run about hither and thither. And they presently went into the standing corn of the Philistines. Which being set on fire, both the corn that was already carried together, and that which was yet standing, was all burnt, insomuch, that the flame consumed also the vineyards and the oliveyards.

⁶ Then the Philistines said: Who hath done this thing? And it was answered: Samson the son in law of the Thamnathite, because he took away his wife, and gave her to another, hath done these things. And the Philistines went up and burnt both the woman and her father.

⁷ But Samson said to them: Although you have done this, yet will I be revenged of you, and then I will be quiet.

⁸ And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam.

⁹ Then the Philistines going up into the land of Juda, camped in the place which afterwards was called Lechi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army was spread.

¹⁰ And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us.

¹¹ Wherefore three thousand men of Juda, went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them.

¹² And they said to him, We are come to bind thee and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them: Swear to me, and promise me, that you will not kill me.

¹³ They said: We will not kill thee: but we will deliver thee up bound. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock Etam.

¹⁴ Now when he was come to the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines shouting went to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him: and as the flax is wont to be consumed at the approach of fire, so the bands with which he was bound were broken and loosed.

¹⁵ And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, be slew therewith a thousand men.

¹⁶ And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men.

¹⁷ And when he had ended these words singing, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted the lifting up of the jawbone.

¹⁸ Arid being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: Thou hast given this very great deliverance and victory into the hand of thy servant: and behold I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.

¹⁹ Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day.

²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

19 And it came to pass, while Apollo was at Corinth, that Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.

² And he said to them: Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they said to him: We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost.

³ And he said: In what then were you baptized? Who said: In John's baptism.

⁴ Then Paul said: John baptized the people with the baptism of penance, saying: That they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus.

⁵ Having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

⁷ And all the men were about twelve.

⁸ And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing and exhorting concerning the kingdom of God.

⁹ But when some were hardened, and believed not, speaking evil of the way of the Lord, before the multitude, departing from them, he separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

¹⁰ And this continued for the space of two years, so that all they who dwelt in Asia, heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles.

¹¹ And God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles.

¹² So that even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of them.

¹³ Now some also of the Jewish exorcists who went about, attempted to invoke over them that had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying: I conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.

¹⁴ And there were certain men, seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, that did this.

¹⁵ But the wicked spirit, answering, said to them: Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?

¹⁶ And the man in whom the wicked spirit was, leaping upon them, and mastering them both, prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ And this became known to all the Jews and the Gentiles that dwelt at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

¹⁸ And many of them that believed, came confessing and declaring their deeds.

¹⁹ And many of them who had followed curious arts, brought together their books, and burnt them before all; and counting the price of them, they found the money to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰ So mightily grew the word of God, and was confirmed.

²¹ And when these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying: After I have been there, I must see Rome also.

²² And sending into Macedonia two of them that ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself remained for a time in Asia.

²³ Now at that time there arose no small disturbance about the way of the Lord.

²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver temples for Diana, brought no small gain to the craftsmen;

²⁵ Whom he calling together, with the workmen of like occupation, said: Sirs, you know that our gain is by this trade;

²⁶ And you see and hear, that this Paul by persuasion hath drawn away a great multitude, not only of Ephesus, but almost of all Asia, saying: They are not gods which are made by hands.

²⁷ So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, but also the temple of great Diana shall be reputed for nothing; yea, and her majesty shall begin to be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

²⁸ Having heard these things, they were full of anger, and cried out, saying: Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

²⁹ And the whole city was filled with confusion; and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

³⁰ And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

³¹ And some also of the rulers of Asia, who were his friends, sent unto him, desiring that he would not venture himself into the theatre.

³² Now some cried one thing, some another. For the assembly was confused, and the greater part knew not for what cause they were come together.

³³ And they drew forth Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews thrusting him forward. And Alexander beckoning with his hand for silence, would have given the people satisfaction.

³⁴ But as soon as they perceived him to be a Jew, all with one voice, for the space of about two hours, cried out: Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

³⁵ And when the town clerk had appeased the multitudes, he said: Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great Diana, and of Jupiter's offspring.

³⁶ For as much therefore as these things cannot be contradicted, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

³⁷ For you have brought hither these men, who are neither guilty of sacrilege, nor of blasphemy against your goddess.

³⁸ But if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts of justice are open, and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another.

³⁹ And if you inquire after any other matter, it may be decided in a lawful assembly.

⁴⁰ For we are even in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no man guilty (of whom we may give account) of this concourse. And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

28 And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying:

² Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³ As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon.

⁴ And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

⁵ And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord:

⁶ And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words, which thou hast prophesied: that the vessels may be brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the captives may return out of Babylon to this place.

⁷ Nevertheless hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the ears of all the people:

⁸ The prophets that have been before me, and before thee from the beginning, and have prophesied concerning many countries, and concerning great kingdoms, of war, and of affliction, and of famine.

⁹ The prophet that prophesied peace when his word shall come to pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the Lord hath sent in truth.

¹⁰ And Hananias the prophet took the chain from the neck of Jeremias the prophet, and broke it.

¹¹ And Hananias spoke in the presence of all the people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon after two full years from off the neck of all the nations.

¹² And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying:

¹³ Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron.

¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also I have given him the beasts of the earth.

¹⁵ And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now, Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people to trust in a lie.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast spoken against the Lord.

¹⁷ And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.

14 Now the feast of the pasch, and of the Azymes was after two days; and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might by some wile lay hold on him, and kill him.

² But they said: Not on the festival day, lest there should be a tumult among the people.

³ And when he was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, and was at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard: and breaking the alabaster box, she poured it out upon his head.

⁴ Now there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said: Why was this waste of the ointment made?

⁵ For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

⁶ But Jesus said: Let her alone, why do you molest her? She hath wrought a good work upon me.

⁷ For the poor you have always with you: and whensoever you will, you may do them good: but me you have not always.

⁸ She hath done what she could: she is come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.

⁹ Amen, I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memorial of her.

¹⁰ And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests, to betray him to them.

¹¹ Who hearing it were glad; and they promised him they would give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

¹² Now on the first day of the unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the pasch, the disciples say to him: Whither wilt thou that we go, and prepare for thee to eat the pasch?

¹³ And he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith to them: Go ye into the city; and there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him;

¹⁴ And whithersoever he shall go in, say to the master of the house, The master saith, Where is my refectory, where I may eat the pasch with my disciples?

¹⁵ And he will shew you a large dining room furnished; and there prepare ye for us.

¹⁶ And his disciples went their way, and came into the city; and they found as he had told them, and they prepared the pasch.

¹⁷ And when evening was come, he cometh with the twelve.

¹⁸ And when they were at table and eating, Jesus saith: Amen I say to you, one of you that eateth with me shall betray me.

¹⁹ But they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one: Is it I?

²⁰ Who saith to them: One of the twelve, who dippeth with me his hand in the dish.

²¹ And the Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that man had not been born.

²² And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body.

²³ And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it.

²⁴ And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.

²⁵ Amen I say to you, that I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new in the kingdom of God.

²⁶ And when they had said an hymn, they went forth to the mount of Olives.

²⁷ And Jesus saith to them: You will all be scandalized in my regard this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed.

²⁸ But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

²⁹ But Peter saith to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, yet not I.

³⁰ And Jesus saith to him: Amen I say to thee, to day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice.

³¹ But he spoke the more vehemently: Although I should die together with thee, I will not deny thee. And in like manner also said they all.

³² And they came to a farm called Gethsemani. And he saith to his disciples: Sit you here, while I pray.

³³ And he taketh Peter and James and John with him; and he began to fear and to be heavy.

³⁴ And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you here, and watch.

³⁵ And when he was gone forward a little, he fell flat on the ground; and he prayed, that if it might be, the hour might pass from him.

³⁶ And he saith: Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chalice from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt.

³⁷ And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping. And he saith to Peter: Simon, sleepest thou? couldst thou not watch one hour?

³⁸ Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

³⁹ And going away again, he prayed, saying the same words.

⁴⁰ And when he returned, he found them again asleep, (for their eyes were heavy,) and they knew not what to answer him.

⁴¹ And he cometh the third time, and saith to them: Sleep ye now, and take your rest. It is enough: the hour is come: behold the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴² Rise up, let us go. Behold, he that will betray me is at hand.

⁴³ And while he was yet speaking, cometh Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve: and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the ancients.

⁴⁴ And he that betrayed him, had given them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he; lay hold on him, and lead him away carefully.

⁴⁵ And when he was come, immediately going up to him, he saith: Hail, Rabbi; and he kissed him.

⁴⁶ But they laid hands on him, and held him.

⁴⁷ And one of them that stood by, drawing a sword, struck a servant of the chief priest, and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸ And Jesus answering, said to them: Are you come out as to a robber, with swords and staves to apprehend me?

⁴⁹ I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not lay hands on me. But that the scriptures may be fulfilled.

⁵⁰ Then his disciples leaving him, all fled away.

⁵¹ And a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him.

⁵² But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked.

⁵³ And they brought Jesus to the high priest; and all the priests and the scribes and the ancients assembled together.

⁵⁴ And Peter followed him from afar off, even into the court of the high priest; and he sat with the servants at the fire, and warmed himself.

⁵⁵ And the chief priests and all the council sought for evidence against Jesus, that they might put him to death, and found none.

⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against him, and their evidences were not agreeing.

⁵⁷ And some rising up, bore false witness against him, saying:

⁵⁸ We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another not made with hands.

⁵⁹ And their witness did not agree.

⁶⁰ And the high priest rising up in the midst, asked Jesus, saying: Answerest thou nothing to the things that are laid to thy charge by these men?

⁶¹ But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said to him: Art thou the Christ the Son of the blessed God?

⁶² And Jesus said to him: I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven.

⁶³ Then the high priest rending his garments, saith: What need we any further witnesses?

⁶⁴ You have heard the blasphemy. What think you? Who all condemned him to be guilty of death.

⁶⁵ And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him: Prophesy: and the servants struck him with the palms of their hands.

⁶⁶ Now when Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the maidservants of the high priest.

⁶⁷ And when she had seen Peter warming himself, looking on him she saith: Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.

⁶⁸ But he denied, saying: I neither know nor understand what thou sayest. And he went forth before the court; and the cock crew.

⁶⁹ And again a maidservant seeing him, began to say to the standers by: This is one of them.

⁷⁰ But he denied again. And after a while they that stood by said again to Peter: Surely thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilean.

⁷¹ But he began to curse and to swear, saying; I know not this man of whom you speak.

⁷² And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. And he began to weep.