M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
A Levite and His Concubine
19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living as resident foreigner in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. He took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 Yet his concubine became angry with him and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for four months. 3 Her husband got up and went after her in order to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. His servant and two donkeys were with him. When he came to her father’s house, the girl’s father saw him and was happy to meet with him. 4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, prevailed upon him to stay with him for three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there.
5 On the fourth day they woke up early in the morning. He got ready to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen yourself with a little food, and then you can go.” 6 So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please spend the night and let your heart be merry.” 7 The man got up to go, but his father-in-law urged him until he turned back and spent the night there. 8 He got up early in the morning on the fifth day to go. The girl’s father said, “Please, strengthen yourself and wait until later in the day.” So the two of them ate.
9 Then the man got up to go: he, his concubine, and his servant. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! It is getting dark. Spend the night! Settle in and spend the night here, let your heart be merry. You can get up early tomorrow and go home.” 10 Yet the man did not want to spend the night, so he got up and left and approached Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). Two saddled donkeys and his concubine were with him.
11 When they were near Jebus, it was getting very late. The servant said to his master, “Come, let us turn aside to this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”
12 His master said to him, “We must not turn aside to a city of foreigners, who are not children of Israel. We will continue on to Gibeah.” 13 He said to his servant, “Come, let us go to one of these places. We will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” 14 They continued and went on. The sun went down when they were near Gibeah in Benjamin. 15 So they turned aside there to go and spend the night in Gibeah. They went in and sat in the city square, but no one took them in to spend the night.
16 Just then, an old man came in at evening time from his work in the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim and lived as a resident foreigner in Gibeah, but the townspeople were Benjamites. 17 He looked up and saw the traveler in the city square. The old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
18 He said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his home. 19 Yet there is enough straw and fodder for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me, your maidservant, and the young man who is with your servant. We do not lack anything.”
20 The old man said, “Do not worry. I will take care of whatever you need. Just do not spend the night in the city square.” 21 So he brought him into his house and gave food to his donkeys. They washed their feet, ate, and drank.
22 While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, who were wicked men, surrounded the house and pounded on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him.”
23 The master of the house went out to them and said, “No, my brothers, do not commit this evil act, not after this man has come into my house. Do not commit this disgrace. 24 Here are my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine. Let me bring them out to you. Ravish them and do to them what you please. But do not commit this vile act against this man.”
25 The men were unwilling to listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them in the street. They knew her and abused her all night until morning. As the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 The woman came back at daybreak and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, lying there until it was light.
27 Her master got up in the morning and opened the doors of the house. He went out to go on his way, but there was the woman, his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going,” but there was no answer. So the man put her on a donkey and went home.
29 When he got home, he took a knife and seized his concubine, then cut her body into twelve pieces. Then he sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw this said, “Nothing like this has been done or seen since the day the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt until today. Consider it, take counsel, and speak up!”
23 Paul looked at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” 2 The high priest Ananias ordered those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the law, yet order me to be struck contrary to the law?”
4 Those who stood by said, “Do you criticize God’s high priest?”
5 Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know that he was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’[a]”
6 Then Paul, knowing that one sect were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried out among the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee. I am being judged for my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he had said this, dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
9 There was a great outcry. The scribes that were from the sect of Pharisees stood up and argued, “We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” 10 When much dissension arose, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, the commander ordered the soldiers to go down and take him from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, Paul. For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify at Rome.”
The Plot Against Paul’s Life
12 At daybreak some of the Jews conspired under oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who had conspired. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under oath not to eat until we have killed Paul. 15 So now, with the Sanhedrin, tell the commander to bring him down to you tomorrow, pretending to inquire further concerning him. We are ready to kill him before he arrives.”
16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of the treachery, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
17 Then Paul called one of the centurions over and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring you this young man who has something to tell you.”
19 Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside privately, and asked him, “What is it you have to tell me?”
20 The boy said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Sanhedrin, pretending to inquire further concerning him. 21 Do not trust them. More than forty men, who have bound themselves with an oath to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him, are waiting for him. And now they are ready, waiting for your promise.”
22 The commander dismissed the young man and ordered him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.”
Paul Sent to Felix the Governor
23 Then he summoned two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred infantrymen, seventy mounted soldiers, and two hundred light infantrymen with spears to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night. 24 And provide mounts so Paul may ride and take him safely to Felix the governor.”
25 He wrote a letter that went like this:
26 Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency Governor Felix:
Greetings.
27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with soldiers and rescued him. 28 Being minded to learn what crime they alleged, I took him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found him being accused of controversial matters about their law, but charged with nothing worthy of death or imprisonment. 30 When it was revealed to me that there was a plot against the man, at once I sent him to you and ordered the accusers to state before you their charges against him.
Farewell.
31 So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul by night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry depart with him and they returned to the barracks. 33 When they arrived in Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also to him. 34 Upon reading the letter, the governor asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also arrive.” And he ordered that he be guarded in Herod’s Praetorium.
The Promise of Restoration
33 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: 2 Thus says the Lord, the Maker of the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it; the Lord is His name: 3 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. 4 For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down to make a defense against the siege mounds and against the sword: 5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.
6 I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and will build them as at the first. 8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me. And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against Me. 9 It will be to Me a name of joy, praise, and honor before all the nations of the earth which shall hear of all the good that I do to them; and they will fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure for it.
10 Thus says the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this place of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast,” even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant, and without beast, 11 the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who shall say,
“Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts,
for the Lord is good;
for His mercy endures forever,”
and of those who bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at the first, says the Lord.
12 Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Again in this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all the cities, will be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him who numbers them, says the Lord.
The Davidic Covenant
14 Surely, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will perform that good word which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
15 In those days and at that time,
I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David;
and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the earth.
16 In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell safely.
And this is the name by which she will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 nor shall the Levitical priests lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night so that there should not be day and night in their season, 21 then also My covenant may be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites that minister to Me.
23 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 24 Have you not considered what this people have spoken, saying, “The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has cast them off”? Thus they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25 Thus says the Lord: If My covenant for day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 then I would cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I would not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet I will restore their fortunes and have mercy on them.
Psalm 3
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
1 Lord, how my foes have multiplied!
Many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying about my life,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah[a]
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
my glory and the One who raises up my head.
4 I cried to the Lord with my voice,
and He answered me from His holy hill. Selah
5 I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of multitudes of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O Lord;
save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek;
You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is on Your people. Selah
Psalm 4
For the Music Director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress;
have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2 O people, how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love vanity and seek after lies? Selah
3 Know that the Lord set apart the faithful for Himself;
the Lord hears when I call to Him.
4 Tremble in awe, and do not sin.
Commune with your own heart on your bed,
and be still. Selah
5 Offer sacrifices of righteousness,
and trust in the Lord.
6 Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?”
Lift up the light of Your face over us.
7 You have placed gladness in my heart
that is better than when their corn and their new wine abound.
8 I will both lie down in peace and sleep;
for You, Lord,
make me dwell safely and securely.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.