M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 17
The Oracle of Nathan. 1 (A)After David had taken up residence in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, “See, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under tentcloth.”(B) 2 Nathan replied to David, “Whatever is in your heart, go and do, for God is with you.”
3 But that same night the word of God came to Nathan: 4 Go and tell David my servant, Thus says the Lord: It is not you who are to build the house for me to dwell in.(C) 5 For I have never dwelt in a house, from the day I brought Israel up, even to this day, but I have been lodging in tent or tabernacle. 6 As long as I have wandered about with all Israel, did I ever say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? 7 Now then, speak thus to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become ruler over my people Israel.(D) 8 I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your enemies before you. I will make your name like that of the greatest on the earth. 9 I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there; they will never again be disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did at the beginning, 10 and during all the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house: 11 when your days have been completed and you must join your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will be one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.(E) 12 He it is who shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.(F) 13 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me, and I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from the one who was before you;(G) 14 but I will maintain him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be firmly established forever.
15 In accordance with all these words and this whole vision Nathan spoke to David.
David’s Thanksgiving. 16 Then King David came in and sat in the Lord’s presence, and said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house, that you should have brought me so far? 17 And yet, even this is too little in your sight, O God! For you have made a promise regarding your servant’s house reaching into the future, and you have looked on me as henceforth the most notable of men, Lord God.(H) 18 What more can David say to you? You have known[a] your servant. 19 Lord, for your servant’s sake and in keeping with your purpose, you have done this great thing. 20 Lord, there is no one like you, no God but you, just as we have always heard.(I)
21 “Is there, like your people Israel, whom you redeemed from Egypt, another nation on earth whom a god went to redeem as his people? You won for yourself a name for great and awesome deeds by driving out the nations before your people.(J) 22 You made your people Israel your own forever, and you, Lord, became their God. 23 Now, Lord, may the promise that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house remain firm forever. Bring about what you have promised, 24 that your name, Lord of hosts, God of Israel, may be great and abide forever, while the house of your servant is established in your presence.
25 “Because you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house, your servant dares to pray before you.(K) 26 Since you, Lord, are truly God and have made this generous promise to your servant, 27 do, then, bless the house of your servant, that it may be in your presence forever—since it is you, Lord, who blessed it, it is blessed forever.”(L)
Chapter 4
Causes of Division.[a] 1 Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions[b] that make war within your members?(A) 2 You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. 3 You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 Adulterers![c] Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.(B) 5 Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks without meaning when it says, “The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy”?[d] 6 But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:(C)
“God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”[e]
7 So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.(D) 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.(E) 9 Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.(F)
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law.[f] If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?(G)
Warning Against Presumption.[g] 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”— 14 you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.[h] You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.(H) 15 Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it,[i] we shall live to do this or that.” 16 But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 (I)So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.[j]
Chapter 1
Jonah’s Disobedience and Flight. 1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah,(A) son of Amittai:[a] 2 Set out for the great city[b] of Nineveh, and preach against it; for their wickedness has come before me.(B) 3 But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish,[c] away from the Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down in it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the Lord.
4 (C)The Lord, however, hurled a great wind upon the sea, and the storm was so great that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors were afraid and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep. 6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps this god will be mindful of us so that we will not perish.”
7 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to discover on whose account this evil has come to us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.(D) 8 They said to him, “Tell us why this evil has come to us! What is your business? Where do you come from? What is your country, and to what people do you belong?” 9 “I am a Hebrew,” he replied; “I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, “How could you do such a thing!”—They knew that he was fleeing from the Lord, because he had told them. 11 They asked, “What shall we do with you, that the sea may calm down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy. 12 Jonah responded, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea and then the sea will calm down for you. For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.”
13 Still the men rowed hard to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy. 14 Then they cried to the Lord: “Please, O Lord, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life; do not charge us with shedding innocent blood, for you, Lord, have accomplished what you desired.”[d] 15 Then they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. 16 Seized with great fear of the Lord, the men offered sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
Chapter 6
Debates About the Sabbath.[a] 1 (A)While he was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.(B) 2 Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” 3 (C)Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those [who were] with him were hungry? 4 [How] he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,[b] which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.”(D) 5 Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
6 (E)On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.(F) 8 But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there.(G) 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” 10 Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. 11 But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
The Mission of the Twelve.[c] 12 (H)In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer[d] to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve,[e] whom he also named apostles: 14 (I)Simon, whom he named Peter,[f] and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot,[g] 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot,[h] who became a traitor.
Ministering to a Great Multitude.(J) 17 [i]And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon 18 came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. 19 Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.
Sermon on the Plain.(K) 20 [j]And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,[k]
for the kingdom of God is yours.
21 Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.(L)
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.(M)
23 Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.(N)
24 But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.(O)
25 But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.(P)
26 Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.(Q)
Love of Enemies.[l] 27 (R)“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,(S) 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.(T) 29 To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.(U) 32 For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.(V) 35 But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.(W) 36 Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.
Judging Others.[m] 37 (X)“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.(Y) 38 Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”(Z) 39 And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?(AA) 40 No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.(AB) 41 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.
A Tree Known by Its Fruit.(AC) 43 [n]“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. 45 A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
The Two Foundations. 46 (AD)“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? 47 [o]I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them.(AE) 48 That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. 49 But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”
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.