M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Samson Goes to the City of Gaza
16 One day Samson went to the city of Gaza. He saw a prostitute there and went in to stay the night with her. 2 Someone told the people of Gaza, “Samson has come here.” They wanted to kill him, so they surrounded the city. They hid near the city gate and waited all night for him. They were very quiet all night long. They had said to each other, “When morning comes, we will kill Samson.”
3 But Samson only stayed with the prostitute until midnight. Then he got up and grabbed the doors of the city gate and pulled them loose from the wall. He pulled down the doors, the two posts, and the bars that lock the doors shut. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill near the city of Hebron.
Samson and Delilah
4 Later, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who was from Sorek Valley.
5 The rulers of the Philistines went to Delilah and said, “We want to know what makes Samson so strong. Try to trick him into telling you his secret. Then we will know how to capture him and tie him up. Then we will be able to control him. If you do this, each one of us will give you 28 pounds[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me why you are so strong. How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”
7 Samson answered, “Someone would have to tie me up with seven fresh, new bowstrings.[b] If someone did that, I would be as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought seven fresh, new bowstrings to Delilah, and she tied Samson with the bowstrings. 9 Some men were hiding in the next room. Delilah said to Samson, “Samson, the Philistine men are going to capture you!” But Samson easily broke the bowstrings. They snapped like a string when it comes too close to a flame. So the Philistines did not find out the secret of Samson’s strength.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You lied to me. You made me look foolish. Please tell me the truth. How could someone tie you up?”
11 Samson said, “Someone would have to tie me up with new ropes. They would have to tie me with ropes that have not been used before. If someone did that, I would become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took some new ropes and tied up Samson. Some men were hiding in the next room. Then Delilah called out to him, “Samson, the Philistine men are going to capture you!” But he broke the ropes easily as if they were threads.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You lied to me again. You made me look foolish. Now, tell me how someone could tie you up.”
Samson said, “If you use the loom to weave the seven braids of hair on my head and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
14 Later, Samson went to sleep, so Delilah used the loom to weave the seven braids of hair on his head.[c] Then Delilah fastened the loom to the ground with a tent peg. Again she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistine men are going to capture you!” Samson pulled up the tent peg, the loom, and the shuttle.[d]
15 Then Delilah said to Samson, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t even trust me? You refuse to tell me your secret. This is the third time you made me look foolish. You haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 She kept bothering Samson day after day. He got so tired of her asking him about his secret that he felt like he was going to die. 17 Finally, Samson told Delilah everything. He said, “I have never had my hair cut. I was dedicated to God before I was born. If someone shaved my head, I would lose my strength. I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 Delilah saw that Samson had told her his secret. She sent a message to the rulers of the Philistines. She said, “Come back again. Samson has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines came back and brought the money that they had promised to give her.
19 Delilah got Samson to go to sleep with his head lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she made Samson weak, and his strength left him. 20 Then Delilah called out to him, “Samson, the Philistine men are going to capture you!” He woke up and thought, “I will escape as I did before and free myself.” But Samson did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 The Philistine men captured Samson. They tore out his eyes and took him down to the city of Gaza. Then they put chains on him to keep him from running away. They put him in prison and made him work grinding grain. 22 But his hair began to grow again.
23 The Philistine rulers came together to celebrate. They were going to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god helped us defeat Samson our enemy.” 24 When the Philistines saw Samson, they praised their god. They said,
“This man destroyed our people!
He killed many of our people!
But our god helped us
take our enemy!”
25 The people were having a good time at the celebration. So they said, “Bring Samson out. We want to make fun of him.” So they brought Samson from the prison and made fun of him. They made him stand between the columns in the temple of the god Dagon. 26 A servant was holding his hand. Samson said to him, “Put me where I can feel the columns that hold this temple up. I want to lean against them.”
27 The temple was crowded with men and women. All the Philistine rulers were there. There were about 3000 men and women on the roof of the temple. They were laughing and making fun of Samson. 28 Then Samson said a prayer to the Lord, “Lord God, remember me. God, please give me strength one more time. Let me do this one thing to punish these Philistines for tearing out both of my eyes!” 29 Then Samson took hold of the two columns in the center of the temple that supported the whole temple. He braced himself between the two columns. One column was at his right side and the other at his left side. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with these Philistines!” Then he pushed as hard as he could, and the temple fell on the rulers and everyone in it. In this way Samson killed many more Philistines when he died than when he was alive.
31 Samson’s brothers and all the people in his father’s family went down to get his body. They brought him back and buried him in his father’s tomb, which is between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was a judge for the Israelites for 20 years.
Paul Goes to Macedonia and Greece
20 When the trouble stopped, Paul invited the Lord’s followers to come visit him. After encouraging them, he told them goodbye and left for Macedonia. 2 On his way through Macedonia he had many words of encouragement for the followers in various places. Then he went to Greece 3 and stayed there three months.
Paul was ready to sail for Syria, but some Jews were planning something against him. So he decided to go back through Macedonia to Syria. 4 These men were traveling with him: Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from the city of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, from the city of Derbe; Timothy; and two men from Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These men went first, ahead of Paul. They waited for us in the city of Troas. 6 We sailed from the city of Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. We met these men in Troas five days later and stayed there seven days.
Paul’s Last Visit to Troas
7 On Sunday[a] we all met together to eat the Lord’s Supper.[b] Paul talked to the group. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he continued talking until midnight. 8 We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many lights in the room. 9 There was a young man named Eutychus sitting in the window. Paul continued talking, and Eutychus became very, very sleepy. Finally, he went to sleep and fell out of the window. He fell to the ground from the third floor. When the people went down and lifted him up, he was dead.
10 Paul went down to where Eutychus was, knelt down beside him, and put his arms around him. He said to the other believers, “Don’t worry. He is alive now.” 11 Then Paul went upstairs again, broke off some pieces of bread and ate. He spoke to them a long time. It was early morning when he finished, and then he left. 12 The Lord’s followers took Eutychus home alive, and they were all greatly comforted.
The Trip From Troas to Miletus
13 We went on ahead of Paul and sailed for the city of Assos, planning to meet him there. This is what he told us to do because he wanted to go by land. 14 When he caught up with us at Assos, we took him on board, and we all sailed to Mitylene. 15 The next day, we sailed away from there and came to a place near the island of Chios. Then the next day, we sailed to the island of Samos. A day later, we came to the city of Miletus. 16 Paul had already decided not to stop at Ephesus. He did not want to stay too long in Asia. He was hurrying because he wanted to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost if possible.
Paul Speaks to the Elders From Ephesus
17 In Miletus Paul sent a message back to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church in Ephesus to come to him.
18 When they came, Paul said to them, “You know about my life from the first day I came to Asia. You know the way I lived all the time I was with you. 19 The Jews planned things against me, and this gave me much trouble. But you know that I always served the Lord, sometimes with tears. I never thought about myself first. 20 I always did what was best for you. I told you the Good News about Jesus in public before the people and also taught in your homes. 21 I told everyone—Jewish and non-Jewish people—to change and turn to God. I told them all to believe in our Lord Jesus.
22 “But now I must obey the Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. 23 I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me. 24 I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I finish my work. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.
25 “And now listen to me. I know that none of you will ever see me again. All the time I was with you, I told you the Good News about God’s kingdom. 26 So today I can tell you one thing that I am sure of: God will not blame me if some of you are not saved. 27 I can say this because I know that I told you everything that God wants you to know. 28 Be careful for yourselves and for all the people God has given you. The Holy Spirit gave you the work of caring for[c] this flock.[d] You must be shepherds to the church of God,[e] the people he bought with his own blood.[f] 29 I know that after I leave, some men will come into your group. They will be like wild wolves and will try to destroy the flock. 30 Also, men from your own group will begin to teach things that are wrong. They will lead some of the Lord’s followers away from the truth to follow them. 31 So be careful! And always remember what I did during the three years I was with you. I never stopped reminding each one of you how you should live, counseling you day and night and crying over you.
32 “Now I am putting you in God’s care. I am depending on the message about his grace to make you strong. That message is able to give you the blessings that God gives to all his holy people. 33 When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. 34 You know that I always worked to take care of my own needs and the needs of the people who were with me. 35 I always showed you that you should work just as I did and help people who are weak. I taught you to remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘You will have a greater blessing when you give than when you receive.’”
36 When Paul finished speaking, he knelt down, and they all prayed together. 37-38 They cried and cried. They were especially sad because Paul had said they would never see him again. They hugged him and kissed him. Then they went with him to the ship to say goodbye.
A Letter to the Captives in Babylon
29 Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives in Babylon. He sent it to the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This letter was sent after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the metalworkers had been taken from Jerusalem.) 3 King Zedekiah of Judah sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah gave them the letter to take to Babylon. This is what the letter said:
4 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says to all the people he sent into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food you grow. 6 Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and let your daughters be married. Do this so that they also may have sons and daughters. Have many children and grow in number in Babylon. Don’t become fewer in number. 7 Also, do good things for the city I sent you to. Pray to the Lord for the city you are living in, because if there is peace in that city, you will have peace also.” 8 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says, “Don’t let your prophets and those who practice magic fool you. Don’t listen to the dreams they have. 9 They are telling lies, and they are saying that their message is from me. But I didn’t send it.” This message is from the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for 70 years. After that time, I will come to you people who are living in Babylon. I will keep my good promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11 I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14 I will let you find me.” This message is from the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place. But I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have sent you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring you back to this place.”
15 You people might say, “But the Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.” 16 But this is what the Lord says about your relatives who were not carried away to Babylon. I am talking about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now and all the other people who are still in the city of Jerusalem. 17 The Lord All-Powerful says, “I will soon bring war, hunger, and disease against those who are still in Jerusalem. And I will make them the same as bad figs that are too rotten to eat. 18 I will attack those who are still in Jerusalem with war, hunger, and disease. And I will cause such pain that all the kingdoms of the earth will be frightened at what has happened to those people. They will be destroyed. People will whistle with amazement when they hear what happened. And people will use them as an example when they ask for bad things to happen to people. People will insult them wherever I force them to go. 19 I will make all these things happen because the people of Jerusalem have not listened to my message.” This message is from the Lord. “I sent my message to them again and again. I used my servants, the prophets, to give my messages to them, but they didn’t listen.” This message is from the Lord. 20 “You people are captives. I forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon. So listen to the message from the Lord.”
21 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been telling you lies. They have said that their message is from me. I will give these two prophets to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And he will kill them in front of all you who are captives in Babylon. 22 They will be an example of a terrible way to die. Yes, in the future, when the Jewish captives want something bad to happen to someone, they will say this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, those men the king of Babylon burned in the fire!’ 23 They did very bad things among the people of Israel. They committed the sin of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They also spoke lies and said those lies were a message from me. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done. I am a witness.” This message is from the Lord.
God’s Message to Shemaiah
24 Also give a message to Shemaiah from the Nehelam family. 25 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters to all the people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. You also sent letters to all the priests. You sent those letters in your own name and not by my authority. 26 Shemaiah, this is what you said in your letter to Zephaniah: ‘Zephaniah, the Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Lord’s Temple. You should arrest anyone who acts like a crazy person[a] and acts like a prophet. You should put that person’s feet between large blocks of wood and put neck irons[b] on him. 27 Now Jeremiah is acting like a prophet. So why didn’t you arrest him? 28 Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You people in Babylon will be there for a long time, so build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow.’”
29 Zephaniah the priest read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 “Jeremiah, send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family: Shemaiah has spoken to you, but I didn’t send him. He has made you believe a lie. 32 Because Shemaiah has done that, this is what the Lord says: I will soon punish Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family. I will completely destroy his family, and he will not share in the good things I will do for my people.’” This message is from the Lord. “‘I will punish Shemaiah because he has taught the people to turn against the Lord.’”
Governor Pilate Questions Jesus(A)
15 Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the older Jewish leaders, the teachers of the law, and the whole high council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and handed him over to Governor Pilate.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, that is right.”
3 The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. 4 So Pilate asked Jesus another question. He said, “You can see that these people are accusing you of many things. Why don’t you answer?”
5 But Jesus still did not answer, and this really surprised Pilate.
Pilate Tries but Fails to Free Jesus(B)
6 Every year at the Passover time the governor would free one prisoner—whichever one the people wanted. 7 There was a man in prison at that time named Barabbas. He and the rebels with him had been put in prison for committing murder during a riot.
8 The people came to Pilate and asked him to free a prisoner as he always did. 9 Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” 10 Pilate knew that the leading priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous of him. 11 But the leading priests persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.
12 Pilate asked the people again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13 The people shouted, “Kill him on a cross!”
14 Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But the people shouted louder and louder, “Kill him on a cross!”
15 Pilate wanted to please the people, so he set Barabbas free for them. And he told the soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he handed him over to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.
16 Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium). They called all the other soldiers together. 17 They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown from thorny branches, and put it on his head. 18 Then they began shouting, “Welcome, king of the Jews!” 19 They kept on beating his head with a stick and spitting on him. Then they bowed down on their knees and pretended to honor him as a king. 20 After they finished making fun of him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be killed on a cross.
Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross(C)
21 There was a man from Cyrene named Simon walking into the city from the fields. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 22 They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means “The Place of the Skull.”) 23 There they gave him some wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused to drink it. 24 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. Then they divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get what.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed Jesus to the cross. 26 There was a sign with the charge against him written on it. It said, “ the king of the jews.” 27 They also nailed two criminals to crosses beside Jesus—one on the right and the other on the left. 28 [a]
29 People walked by and said bad things to Jesus. They shook their heads and said, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. 30 So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”
31 The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also there. They made fun of Jesus the same as the other people did. They said to each other, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! 32 If he is really the Messiah, the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross now. When we see this, then we will believe in him.” The criminals on the crosses beside Jesus also said bad things to him.
Jesus Dies(D)
33 At noon the whole country became dark. This darkness continued until three o’clock. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means “My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”[b]
35 Some of the people standing there heard this. They said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”[c]
36 One man there ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with sour wine and tied it to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to get a drink from it. The man said, “We should wait now and see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”
37 Then Jesus cried out loudly and died.
38 When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces. The tear started at the top and tore all the way to the bottom. 39 The army officer who was standing there in front of the cross saw what happened when Jesus died. The officer said, “This man really was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were standing away from the cross, watching. Among these women were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joses. (James was her youngest son.) 41 These were the women who had followed Jesus in Galilee and cared for him. Many other women who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem were also there.
Jesus Is Buried(E)
42 This day was called Preparation day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) It was becoming dark. 43 A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph was an important member of the high council. He was one of the people who wanted God’s kingdom to come.
44 Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead. So he called for the army officer in charge and asked him if Jesus was already dead. 45 When Pilate heard it from the officer, he told Joseph he could have the body.
46 Joseph bought some linen cloth. He took the body from the cross, wrapped it in the linen, and put the body in a tomb that was dug in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a large stone to cover the entrance. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw the place where Jesus was put.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International