M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Deborah's song

5 On that day Deborah sang this song, with Abinoam's son Barak:

After that, there was peace in Israel for 40 years.

Jesus meets with Saul

9 All this time, Saul was still speaking strongly against the disciples of the Lord Jesus. He wanted to kill all the believers. So he went to see the most important priest in Jerusalem. ² Saul asked him, ‘Please will you write some letters for me?^[a] Then I can give one of these letters to the leader of each Jewish group in Damascus.^[b] That will give me authority to take hold of any believers that I find there.’

Saul wanted to find anyone who agreed with the Way of the Lord Jesus.^[c] Then he would tie them and bring them back to Jerusalem, whether they were men or they were women. ³ He travelled towards Damascus. He was very near the city when a bright light suddenly appeared. The light came from the sky, and it shone all around him. ⁴ Saul fell down onto the ground. He heard a voice which said to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you fight against me?’

⁵ Saul asked, ‘Lord, who are you?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus. And you are fighting against me. ⁶ Now you must get up and go into the city. Someone there will tell you what you must do.’

⁷ The men who were travelling with Saul stood still. They could not say anything. They could hear that someone was speaking. But they could not see anyone. ⁸ Saul stood up. He opened his eyes, but he could not see anything. So the men who were with Saul held his hand. They led him into Damascus. ⁹ For three days, Saul could not see anything. During that time, he did not eat any food or drink anything.

¹⁰ There was a believer who lived in Damascus. His name was Ananias. God gave him a message in a vision. The Lord Jesus said to him, ‘Ananias!’ Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I am here.’

¹¹ Jesus said to Ananias, ‘Prepare yourself and go to Straight Street. A man called Judas lives on that street. Go to his house. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus who is called Saul. He is praying to God. ¹² He has had a message from God in a vision. In his vision, he saw a man who is called Ananias come to him. He saw you put your hands on him so that he could see again.’

¹³ Ananias replied, ‘Lord, many people have told me about this man. He has done very bad things to your own people, the believers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now he has come here to Damascus, and he has brought letters with him from the leaders of the priests. They have given him authority, so that he will take hold of everyone who believes in you. He will tie them and put them in prison.’

¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go now to Saul! I have chosen him to work for me. He will go to those who are not Jews and to their rulers. He will tell them about me. He will also tell the people of Israel about me. ¹⁶ I myself will tell him about the many troubles that he will have. He will have much pain on my behalf.’

¹⁷ So Ananias went to Judas's house and he went inside. He put his hands on Saul and he said to him, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus himself has sent me here to you.^[d] It was Jesus that you saw on the road when you were coming here to Damascus. He has sent me to you so that you will be able to see again. God will also fill you with his Holy Spirit.’

¹⁸ When Ananias said that, immediately something like bits of fish skin fell from Saul's eyes. Then Saul could see again. So he stood up and Ananias baptized him. ¹⁹ Then Saul ate some food and he became strong again.

Saul teaches people about Jesus

Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. ²⁰ He immediately went to the Jewish meeting places and he taught people about Jesus. He told them that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All the people who heard what Saul said were very surprised. They said to each other, ‘This is the same man who caused much pain to the believers in Jerusalem. We are sure it is him! Now he has come here to Damascus to take hold of the believers and take them away to Jerusalem. He wants to make them stand in front of the leaders of the priests.’

²² But Saul became even more powerful when he taught the people. He showed very clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah. So the Jews who lived there in Damascus could not answer him.

²³ After many days, the Jews met together. They decided that they would kill Saul. ²⁴ But someone told Saul about this. The Jews carefully watched the gates of the city all day and all night. They wanted to catch Saul and to kill him. ²⁵ But one night, Saul's friends helped him to leave the city secretly. They put him in a basket. Then they put him through a hole in the city wall. Then they let the basket go slowly down to the ground outside the city.^[e]

Saul returns to Jerusalem

²⁶ Saul returned to Jerusalem. He wanted to join the group of believers there. But they were all afraid of him. They did not believe that he had really become a disciple of Jesus. ²⁷ But one of the believers who was called Barnabas helped Saul. He took Saul to meet the apostles. Barnabas then explained to the apostles what had happened to Saul. Barnabas said to them, ‘Saul saw the Lord when he was on his way to Damascus. The Lord spoke to him there. Then, while Saul was in Damascus, he bravely told people the message about Jesus.’

²⁸ After that, Saul stayed with the apostles. He went everywhere in Jerusalem and he bravely taught people the message about the Lord Jesus. ²⁹ Saul also talked with the Jews who spoke the Greek language.^[f] He argued with them about Jesus. As a result, they wanted to kill him.

³⁰ The other believers heard about this. So they took Saul away to Caesarea. From there, they sent him to Tarsus.

³¹ By this time there were believers everywhere in Judea, Galilee and Samaria. For some time they had no troubles. The Holy Spirit helped them to become strong. So more people became believers, and they obeyed God in everything that they did.

Peter travels to Lydda and Joppa

³² Peter often travelled to many different places. One day he travelled to Lydda, and he went to see the believers there. ³³ In Lydda, he met a man called Aeneas. Aeneas could not move his arms or his legs. He lay on his mat all the time. He had been on his mat for eight years.

³⁴ Peter said to Aeneas, ‘Jesus Christ now makes you well again! So stand up and put away your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas stood up. ³⁵ Many people who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas. They saw that he was now well and they believed in the Lord Jesus.

³⁶ There was a woman called Tabitha who lived in Joppa.^[g] She was a believer. In the Greek language, her name was Dorcas, which means ‘deer’.^[h] She was always doing good things to help people. She gave poor people the things that they needed.

³⁷ Dorcas became very ill and then she died. Women washed her body and they put it in a room upstairs. ³⁸ Joppa was not very far from Lydda. The believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda. So they sent two men to go and to tell him, ‘Please hurry and come to Joppa.’

³⁹ Peter then returned to Joppa with the two men. When he arrived at Dorcas's house, some women took him upstairs. Many widows were there and they were crying. They all stood there, near to Peter. They showed him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰ Peter sent all these women out of the room. He went down on his knees and he prayed to God. Then he turned his head towards the dead woman and he said, ‘Tabitha, stand up!’ She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹ Peter held her hand and he helped her to stand up. Then he told the widows and all the believers to come into the room. He showed them that Dorcas was alive again.

⁴² People everywhere in Joppa heard what had happened. As a result, many more people believed in the Lord Jesus. ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for many days. He stayed with a man called Simon, who was a tanner.^[i]

Jeremiah at the potter's house^[a]

18 The Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ² ‘Go down to the potter's house. I will tell you my message there.’ ³ So I went down to the potter's house. He was working at his wheel. ⁴ He was using clay to make pots with his hands. But, as he worked, sometimes a pot had the wrong shape. So he used the clay to make it into another pot. He made it in the shape that he wanted.

⁵ Then the Lord told me his message. ⁶ He said, ‘I tell you this: I can do to you, nation of Israel, the same thing that this potter does with his clay. I hold you in my hands, as the potter holds the clay in his hands. ⁷ Sometimes I may warn a nation or a kingdom that I will knock it down and destroy it. ⁸ But when I warn them, those people might stop doing wicked things. Then I would not punish them as I had promised to do. ⁹ Sometimes I may promise to build up a nation or a kingdom and make it strong. ¹⁰ But those people might start to do evil things. They might stop obeying me. Then I would not help them as I had promised to do.

¹¹ So now you must speak to the people who live in Jerusalem and in all of Judah. Tell them that the Lord says this: “Listen to me! I will cause great trouble for you. I have decided to punish you. So you must all stop doing the evil things that you have been doing. Change the way that you live and do things that are right.” ¹² But they will say, “Do not try to stop us! We will do whatever we want to do. We will continue to do wicked things.” ’

¹³ So the Lord says this:

The people turn against Jeremiah^[b]

¹⁸ Then some people said, ‘We must find a way to stop Jeremiah. We do not need him. The priests will still be here to teach us. Wise men will still be here to give us advice. The prophets will still be here to give us God's messages. We should speak bad things against Jeremiah. Then we will not have to listen to him any more.’

Jesus tells a story about a farmer's seeds

4 Again, Jesus began to teach people near the edge of Lake Galilee. A large crowd came together to listen to him. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The crowd of people stayed on the shore. ² Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them, ³ ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field.^{[a] 4} While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on ground which had many rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. ⁶ But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. So the plants could not make any new seeds. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Good strong plants grew from these seeds. Some plants made 30 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds. And some plants made 100 new seeds.’

⁹ Then Jesus said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains to his disciples why he uses stories

¹⁰ When Jesus was alone, the 12 apostles and other people who were there asked him about the stories. ¹¹ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you understand how he rules in the lives of his people. But these other people only listen to stories. ¹² This is so that:

If they did understand, they would turn to God. Then God would forgive them.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹³ Then Jesus answered the people who had asked him about the story. ‘You should understand this story. If you do not understand it, you will not understand any of my stories. ¹⁴ The seeds are like the message from God. The farmer is like a person who tells people about that message. ¹⁵ Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who listen to the message. But then Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. ¹⁶ Some of the seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is also like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. ¹⁷ But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or because they obey God's message, other people may do bad things to them. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. ¹⁸ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear God's message. ¹⁹ But they have many troubles in their minds. They think that more money and other valuable things will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. ²⁰ But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who listen to the message from God. They understand the message and they believe it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 30 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 100 new seeds.’

People put a light in a high place

²¹ Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Nobody brings a lamp into a house and puts it under a pot or under a bed. You do not do that. You put it up on a high place.^{[b] 22} God hides some things now. But there will be a time when people will see them. God keeps some things secret now. But there will be a time when people will understand those things.’ ²³ Then Jesus said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say.’

²⁴ Jesus then said, ‘Think carefully about the things that you hear. God will give to you in the same way that you give to other people. And you will receive even more. ²⁵ A person who has received some things will receive more things. Some other people have nothing. They will lose even the little bit that they do have.’^[c]

Jesus tells a story about seeds

²⁶ Then Jesus said, ‘I will tell you a story about the kingdom of God. It is like this: A man throws seeds in his field. ²⁷ Then he sleeps each night and he wakes up each day. The seeds start to grow into plants. They continue to grow. The man does not know how this happens. ²⁸ The soil causes the plants to grow. The leaves of the plant grow first. Then the flowers appear. Then the plant makes new seeds. ²⁹ When the new seeds have completely grown, the man will cut down the plants. It is time for him to take the seeds to use for food.’

Jesus tells a story about a very small seed

³⁰ Jesus said, ‘I will tell you another story about the kingdom of God. This story shows what the kingdom of God is like. ³¹ It is like this: A man takes a seed of the plant called mustard. He plants it in the soil. It is smaller than any other seed that people plant in the soil. ³² But when it starts to grow, it becomes bigger than the largest bush. It will have big branches. Then the birds will come and they will live there. They will build their nests in the shade of the branches.’

³³ Jesus taught God's message to the people. He used many stories like these. He told the people as much as they could understand. ³⁴ He always used stories to teach the people. Then he explained everything to his own disciples when he was alone with them.

Jesus stops a storm

³⁵ On that same day, in the evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘We should go across the lake to the other side.’ ³⁶ So they went and left the crowd behind. Jesus was already in the boat. So the disciples took him across the lake. Some other boats also went with them. ³⁷ Then a strong wind began to blow across the lake. Water began to go into the boat and fill it. Soon the boat was almost going under the water. ³⁸ Jesus was in a comfortable place at the back of the boat. He was sleeping. The disciples woke him. They said to him, ‘Teacher, we will die here in the water! Please do something!’

³⁹ Jesus woke up and he spoke strongly to the wind and to the water. ‘Be quiet!’ he said. ‘Stop!’ Then the wind stopped and the water became quiet again.

⁴⁰ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You should not be afraid like that. You should trust me.’

⁴¹ But the disciples became very afraid. They said to each other, ‘Who is this man? Even the wind and the water obey him.’