M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The altar for sacrifices

27 Use acacia wood to make an altar. It must be square, 2.2 metres long and 2.2 metres wide. It must be 1.3 metres high. ² Make four horns, one at each corner of the altar. The horns and the altar itself must be one piece of work. Then cover the whole altar with bronze. ³ Make all the tools for the altar with bronze. Make pots to remove the ashes, spades and bowls. Make forks for the meat. Make dishes to carry the fire. ⁴ Use bronze to make a square net and rings at each corner. ⁵ Fix this net inside the altar, in the middle, between the top of the altar and the ground.^{[a] 6} Use acacia wood to make poles for the altar. Cover them with bronze. ⁷ You must put the poles through the rings when you carry the altar. There will be a pole on each of two sides of the altar. ⁸ Use boards to make the altar, so that it is empty inside. You must make it in the way that the Lord showed you on the mountain.

The yard

⁹ Make a yard around the tent of the tabernacle. The south side must be 45 metres long. It will have curtains that are made of good linen. ¹⁰ Make 20 poles and 20 bronze bases to hold the poles. Use silver to make hooks and sticks to hold the curtains. ¹¹ The north side of the yard must also be 45 metres long. It will also have 20 poles with their bronze bases, as well as their silver hooks and sticks.

¹² The west end of the yard must be 23 metres long. Make curtains for it, with ten poles and their bronze bases. ¹³ The entrance to the yard is at its east end. That end must also be 23 metres long. ^14-15 There will be 7 metres of curtain on each side of the entrance. There will be three poles with their bases to hold the curtains on each side.

¹⁶ Make a curtain 9 metres wide for the entrance to the yard. Make it out of blue, purple and red material, as well as good linen. Choose a worker who can use special skills to make the curtain look beautiful. Make four poles and their bases to hold the curtain at the entrance.

¹⁷ All the poles around the yard must have bronze bases. They will also have silver hooks and sticks to hold the curtains. ¹⁸ The yard will be 45 metres long and 23 metres wide. Use good linen to make the curtains. They must be 2¼ metres high on the bronze bases.

¹⁹ Use bronze to make all the tools that you will use in the tabernacle. Also use bronze to make the pegs that fix the tent of the tabernacle to the ground. And make bronze pegs to fix the curtain around the yard to the ground.

Olive oil for the lamps

²⁰ Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from fresh olives. You will use this oil to make the lamps give light all the time. ²¹ Aaron and his sons must make sure that the lamps always give light from evening until morning. The lampstand will be in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that hangs in front of the Covenant Box.^[b] The lamps must always give light there, where the Lord is. This will always be a rule for the Israelites, now and in the future.

Jesus feeds 5,000 men and their families

6 Some time after that, Jesus went across Lake Galilee, which is also called Lake Tiberias. ² A large crowd of people followed him, because of the miracles that he had done. They had seen him make sick people well. ³ Jesus went up a hill and he sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ It was nearly the time for the Jewish Passover Festival.

⁵ Jesus looked up. He saw a large crowd of people who were coming towards him. He said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy enough bread to feed all these people?’ ⁶ Jesus himself already knew what he would do. But he asked Philip this question because he wanted to know what Philip would say. ⁷ Philip answered, ‘A man could work for eight months to get 200 silver coins. But he still would not have enough money to buy bread for all these people. There would not be enough bread for each person here to have even a little piece.’ ⁸ Then Andrew, another one of Jesus' disciples, spoke. He was Simon Peter's brother. ⁹ He said to Jesus, ‘Here is a boy who has five small loaves and two fish. But that will certainly not be enough food for so many people.’

¹⁰ Jesus said, ‘Tell the people to sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, so the people sat down. There were about 5,000 men in the crowd. ¹¹ Jesus took the loaves of bread and he thanked God for them. Then he broke the loaves into pieces. He passed them to all the people who were sitting there. Everyone had as much bread as they wanted to eat. Jesus did the same with the fish. ¹² When everyone had eaten enough food, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not waste anything. Pick up all the little bits of food that people have not eaten.’ ¹³ So the disciples picked up all the pieces. They filled 12 baskets with the bits of bread that the people had not eaten.

¹⁴ The people saw this miracle that Jesus did. So they began to talk about it. They said, ‘Certainly, this man is the Prophet who must come into the world.’ ¹⁵ The people wanted to take hold of Jesus so that they could make him their king. But Jesus knew that they wanted to do this. So he went away to the hills again by himself.

Jesus walks on the water

¹⁶ When it was evening, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake. ¹⁷ They got into a boat and they started to sail towards Capernaum. It had become dark and Jesus still had not come to them. ¹⁸ A very strong wind was blowing and the waves became dangerous. ¹⁹ The disciples were trying to move the boat through the water. When they had gone about six kilometres they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water and coming near to the boat. They were very afraid. ²⁰ But Jesus said to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ ²¹ So the disciples were happy to let Jesus get into the boat. Immediately, the boat came to the shore where they wanted to be.

The crowd looks for Jesus

²² The crowd of people had stayed on the other side of the lake. The next day, they saw that the only boat had gone. They knew that Jesus' disciples had taken it. They also knew that Jesus had not gone with his disciples. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias then arrived near to the place where all the people were. They had eaten the bread there after the Lord Jesus had thanked God for it. ²⁴ The crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were still there. So they got into the boats and they went to Capernaum. They went there to look for Jesus.

Jesus is the bread that gives us life with God

²⁵ The people found Jesus on the other side of the lake. They asked him, ‘Teacher, when did you arrive here?’ ²⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you this: You saw me do miracles that show God's power. But you are not looking for me because of that. No, you are looking for me because you ate the loaves. I gave you all the food that you needed. ²⁷ Do not work only for that kind of food. It soon becomes spoiled. Instead, work to get the food that continues for ever. That kind of food gives you life with God. The Son of Man will give this food to you. God, the Father, has given the Son authority to do this.’

²⁸ Then the people asked him, ‘How can we do the work that God wants us to do?’ ²⁹ Jesus answered, ‘You should believe in the one that God has sent to you. That is the work that God wants you to do.’ ³⁰ So then the people asked him, ‘What miracle will you do? Do one that shows that God has sent you. If we see that, we will believe in you. What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness. We know that it says in the Bible, “God gave bread to them from heaven for them to eat.” ’^[a]

³² Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: It was not Moses who gave bread to you from heaven. No. It is my Father who gives to you the true bread from heaven. ³³ God's bread is the one who comes down from heaven. He is the one who gives life to people in the world.’ ³⁴ So they said to him, ‘Sir, please give this bread to us now and always.’

³⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread that gives life to people. Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry. Anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ You have seen me, but still you do not believe in me. I have told you that before. ³⁷ Everyone that the Father gives to me will come to me. When anyone comes to me, I will never send that person away. ³⁸ I have not come down from heaven to do what I myself choose to do. No, my Father has sent me. I have come to do what he wants me to do. ³⁹ He has sent me. He does not want me to lose any of the people that he has given to me. Not even one of them. He wants me to raise all of them up to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ These are the people who will have life for ever with God: everyone who sees the Son and believes in him. I will raise them all up on the last day. That is what my Father wants.’

⁴¹ Jesus had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ When he said this, the Jewish leaders there did not like it. So they started to say bad things about Jesus. ⁴² They said, ‘This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and his mother. He should not say that he came down from heaven.’

⁴³ Jesus answered, ‘Stop saying these bad things about me to each other. ⁴⁴ The Father has sent me. Nobody can come to me unless the Father brings them to me. I will raise those people up on the last day, so that they have life for ever. ⁴⁵ The prophets wrote in the Bible, “God will teach all the people.” Everyone who hears the Father's message and learns from him will come to me.^{[b] 46} I came from God and I am the only one who has seen the Father. Nobody else has seen him. ⁴⁷ I tell you this: The person who believes my message has life for ever. ⁴⁸ I am the bread that causes you to live. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, but they died. ⁵⁰ This bread that comes down from heaven is different. Anyone who eats this bread will not die. ⁵¹ I am the bread that gives life to people. This bread came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give is my own body. I will give it so that all people in the world may have life with God.’

⁵² Then the Jewish leaders became angry and they argued with each other even more. They said, ‘This man cannot give his body to us so that we can eat it!’ ⁵³ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: You must eat the body of the Son of Man and you must drink his blood. Unless you do those things, you do not have true life. ⁵⁴ Every person needs to eat my body and they need to drink my blood. If they do those things, they have life for ever with God. I will raise them up on the last day. ⁵⁵ My body is the true food and my blood is the true drink. ⁵⁶ Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me. And I live in them. ⁵⁷ The Father, who has life, sent me. I live because of him. In the same way, anyone who takes me as their food will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the manna that your ancestors ate. They ate it but they died. But the person who eats this bread will live for ever.’

⁵⁹ Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Jewish meeting place at Capernaum.

Many disciples go away from Jesus

⁶⁰ Many of Jesus' disciples did not like these words. They said, ‘This thing that he teaches is too difficult. Nobody can agree with it!’ ⁶¹ Jesus himself knew that the disciples did not like his message. He did not need anyone to tell him. He said to them, ‘This seems to make you angry. ⁶² Think about this: The Son of Man will go up again to the place where he was before. And you will see him go up. Will you agree to that? ⁶³ It is the Spirit that gives you life. People cannot do that. The words that I have spoken to you come from the Spirit. They give you life. ⁶⁴ But some of you do not believe my message.’

Jesus had known from the beginning which of them would not believe in him. Also, he had always known who would sell him to his enemies. ⁶⁵ Then Jesus said to them, ‘That is why I told you that only the Father can bring people to me. Nobody can come to me unless the Father makes them able to come.’

⁶⁶ From that time, many of Jesus' disciples left him. They did not go with him any longer. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus asked the 12 apostles, ‘Do you want to go away from me, too?’ ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, there is nobody else that we could go to. You speak the words that give us life for ever. ⁶⁹ We believe that you are the Holy One that God has sent. We are sure about that.’ ⁷⁰ Jesus replied, ‘I have chosen the 12 of you. But one of you is a servant of Satan!’ ⁷¹ He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was one of the 12 apostles, but later he would sell Jesus to Jesus' enemies.

Trust God

3 My child, do not forget what I teach you. Always think carefully about my commands. ² If you obey them, you will live a long life. You will have peace in your mind. and you will enjoy your life.

³ Keep hold of faithful love. That will be like a beautiful necklace that you always wear. Think about what it means to love other people. ⁴ If you do that, you will make God happy. People will also be pleased and they will respect you.

⁵ Trust in the Lord completely. Do not think that you understand things well enough for yourself. ⁶ Whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord is with you. Then he will show you the right way to go.

⁷ Do not think that you are already wise enough. Obey the Lord and refuse to do evil things. ⁸ If you do that, it will make you healthy and strong.

⁹ Show that you respect the Lord in the way that you use your money. Offer the first part of the harvest from your farm to him. ¹⁰ If you do that, you will store more food than you need for yourself. You will have more wine than you can drink.

¹¹ My child, if the Lord warns you that you have done something wrong, accept it. Do not be upset if he warns you. ¹² He is doing it because he loves you. When a father loves his son very much, he warns him when he does something wrong.

Wisdom is a blessing

¹³ Anyone who finds wisdom is in a happy place! So is the person who has learned to understand things.

¹⁴ Wisdom helps people better than silver or gold will ever help them.

¹⁵ Wisdom is more valuable than the most expensive jewels.

Nothing that you might want for yourself is as good as wisdom.

¹⁶ Wisdom is ready to give you a long life. She will also give you riches and honour.^[a]

¹⁷ Wisdom will be your guide through a happy life. She will lead you in ways that keep you safe. ¹⁸ Wisdom is like a tree with fruits that give life to the people who pick them. The Lord blesses everyone who keeps hold of wisdom.

¹⁹ The Lord used wisdom to create the earth. He understood the right way to create the heavens. ²⁰ He used his knowledge to pour water from under the earth into the rivers and seas. He caused the clouds to send down rain.

²¹ My child, always keep hold of wisdom and a good mind. Make sure that you keep them safe. ²² They will give you strength in life. You will enjoy life, like a beautiful necklace that you wear.

²³ You will be safe as you travel through life. There will be no danger to make you fall down. ²⁴ When you lie down to sleep, you will not be afraid. You will sleep well with peace in your mind. ²⁵ You will not be frightened of any trouble that might surprise you. Trouble may destroy wicked people, but you will know that you are safe. ²⁶ The Lord is the one who will take care of you. He will protect you, so that no danger can hurt you.

Wisdom causes you to help other people

²⁷ Do not refuse to help those people who need help. If you are able to help them, do it! ²⁸ If you can give your neighbour the help that he needs, do not say to him, ‘Go away! Come back tomorrow, and then I will help you.’

²⁹ Do not think of ways to hurt your neighbour. You should help him to trust you.

³⁰ Do not quarrel with other people if they have done nothing to hurt you. You have no reason to accuse them of anything wrong.

³¹ Do not be jealous of cruel people. Do not try to copy the things that they do. ³² The Lord hates wicked people. But he makes righteous people his friends.

³³ The Lord curses the homes of wicked people, but he blesses the homes of righteous people. ³⁴ The Lord laughs at proud people who laugh at other people. But he is kind to humble people.

³⁵ Wise people will receive honour. But fools will only have shame.

The apostles in Jerusalem accept Paul

2 14 years later, I went to Jerusalem again. This time I went with Barnabas, and I also took Titus with me. ² I went there because God had shown me that I should go. I talked to the Christian leaders there. I explained to them the good news that I teach to the Gentiles. But I talked only to those men who seemed to be the leaders. I wanted to be sure that they agreed with the message that I taught. I did not want my work, both in past times and now, to be worth nothing. ³ Titus was with me then. He is a Greek person and nobody had circumcised him. But the leaders in Jerusalem did not say that we must circumcise him.^[a]

⁴ But some men did want us to obey all the Jewish rules. Those men came secretly among our group. They said that they were believers, but they were not really true believers. They wanted to see how we lived as believers. They wanted to know how Christ Jesus has made us free from the Jewish rules. They wanted to make us slaves to those rules. ⁵ But we did not allow them to do this to us. They wanted to spoil the true good news that you have believed. We kept the good news safe for you.

⁶ The church leaders in Jerusalem did not argue with me. (They were the people who seemed to be the leaders. It does not matter to me whether they were really important people or not. God does not respect some people more than others.) Those leaders did not tell me to change the message that I teach. ⁷ Instead they saw that God had given a special job to me. God wanted me to tell the good news about Christ to the Gentiles. In the same way, he had told Peter to tell the good news to the Jews. ⁸ God gave Peter the authority to be his apostle to the Jews. God also gave me the authority to be his apostle to the Gentiles.

⁹ James, Peter and John understood that God had given this special job to me. They are the leaders that the church in Jerusalem respects. And they were happy to accept Barnabas and me as their friends. They agreed that we should teach God's message to the Gentiles. They themselves would continue to teach the Jews. ¹⁰ They only asked us to do this: We should remember to help the poor people among their group. That is something that I myself wanted very much to do.

Paul argues with Peter

¹¹ But later, when Peter came to Antioch, I spoke against him. I told him clearly that he had done something wrong. ¹² When he first arrived in Antioch, Peter had been eating meals with the Gentile believers there. Then James sent some Jewish believers from Jerusalem to Antioch. After those men had arrived, Peter started to keep himself separate from the Gentiles. He stopped eating meals with them. He was afraid of those Jews who wanted to circumcise the Gentile believers. ¹³ The other Jewish believers in Antioch also did what Peter did. They became hypocrites like him. Even Barnabas agreed and he copied their example.

¹⁴ But I could see that they were wrong to do this. They were not living in a way that agrees with God's true message. So I spoke to Peter in front of all of them. I said to him, ‘You were born as a Jew, but you have been living like a Gentile. As a believer, you no longer obey all the Jewish rules. So you should not try to make Gentile believers obey those Jewish rules.’

¹⁵ We were born as Jewish people. We are not Gentiles who have never obeyed God's rules. ¹⁶ But we know that we do not become right with God because we obey his Law. A person only becomes right with God when they believe in Jesus Christ. And we, as Jewish believers, have believed in Christ Jesus. We have become right with God because we trust in what Christ has done. It is not because we obey God's Law that he accepts us. Nobody becomes right with God only because they obey the rules in God's Law.

¹⁷ So then, we Jews become right with God when we believe in Christ. That means that we no longer obey all the Jewish rules. But that does not mean that Christ causes us to do wrong things. Certainly, it does not mean that! ¹⁸ Instead, I would really be doing something wrong if I tried to obey all those rules again. I would be building again something that I had destroyed. That would really be against God's Law. ¹⁹ But God's Law showed me that I could never obey all its rules. So I became like a dead person, free from the authority of those rules. That means that I can now live to please God.^[b]

²⁰ Christ died on the cross on my behalf. It is like I died there with him. So I do not live my own life any more. Instead, Christ lives in me. The life that I live now in my body, I live because I trust what he has done for me. He has loved me so much that he died on my behalf. ²¹ So I do not refuse to accept the kind gift of God. If the rules of God's Law could make me right with him, then Christ would have died for no reason!