M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Gideon attacks the Midianites

7 Gideon and his army got up the next morning. They marched to the spring of water at Harod. They made their camp near there. The Midianite army made their camp in the valley near the hill of Moreh. They were north of the Israelite army. ² The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men in your army. When I put the Midianites under your power, your soldiers may boast about their own strength. They may say that they have won the battle themselves. ³ So say to the men, “If you are very afraid of the battle and you are shaking with fear, you may go.” ’ So 22,000 men left that place and they went home. But 10,000 soldiers remained with Gideon.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many men. Take them to the spring of water to drink. I will test them for you there. If I say, “This man should go with you,” then take him. But if I say, “This man should not go with you,” then do not take him.’ ⁵ So Gideon took the men to the spring of water. The Lord said to Gideon, ‘Put the men who use their tongues to drink like a dog in one group. Put the men who go down on their knees to drink in another group.’

⁶ 300 men used their tongues to drink the water. The other men all went down on their knees to drink. ⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, ‘I will use those 300 men to rescue you and put the Midianites under your power. Let all the other men return to their homes.’

⁸ Gideon kept the 300 men with him. He took the food and trumpets from the other men and he gave it to the 300 men. Then Gideon sent the other men home.

The camp of the Midianite army was in the valley below the Israelites. ⁹ That night the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Get up now. Go down and attack the camp of the Midianites. I have put them under your power. ¹⁰ But if you are afraid to attack them now, take your servant Purah down to their camp. ¹¹ Listen to what the Midianites are saying to each other. That will make you brave enough to attack them.’ So Gideon took Purah with him to the edge of the Midianite army's camp, where they had guards. ¹² The valley was full of Midianites, Amalekites and all the people from the east. They covered the ground like locusts. There were too many men to count. Their camels also were more than the sand on the shore of the sea.

¹³ When Gideon came nearer, he heard a Midianite soldier tell his friend about a dream. The soldier said, ‘In my dream, I saw a loaf of bread that was rolling into our camp. It hit one of our tents and it knocked the tent down to the ground!’

¹⁴ The other soldier replied, ‘This dream is telling us about Joash's son Gideon, the leader of the Israelites. It shows us that he has the power to kill us. God has put Midian and all our army under his power!’

¹⁵ When Gideon heard this news about the dream and its meaning, he praised God. He returned to the Israelites' camp. He shouted to his men, ‘Get up now! The Lord has put Midian's army under your power!’ ¹⁶ He divided his 300 men into three separate groups. He gave a trumpet and an empty pot to each soldier. Each man put a burning branch into his pot.

¹⁷ Gideon said to his men, ‘Watch me carefully. When we get near to the enemy's camp, you must do the same thing that I do. ¹⁸ You will be all around the camp. I and my group of men will make a noise with our trumpets. Then you must also make a noise with your trumpets. Then shout, “We are fighting for the Lord and for Gideon!” ’

¹⁹ Gideon took 100 men with him to the edge of the Midianites' camp. It was the middle of the night. A new group of Midianite guards had just started their work. Gideon's men made a loud noise with their trumpets. They also broke the pots that they were holding. ²⁰ Then all three groups of Israelite soldiers made a noise with their trumpets that they held in the right hands. They broke their pots and they held their burning branches in their left hands. Then they shouted, ‘Fight for the Lord and for Gideon!’ ²¹ They all stood in their places around the Midianites' camp. Then the whole Midianite army ran away! They were shouting as they ran as fast as they could run.

²² When Gideon's 300 men made a noise with their trumpets, it confused the Midianites everywhere in their camp. The Lord caused them to attack one another with their swords. Their army ran away to Beth Shittah, on the road towards Zererah. They ran as far as the border of Abel Meholah, near Tabbath. ²³ Then Gideon told men from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh to chase the Midianites.

²⁴ Then Gideon sent men to the hill country of Ephraim with this message: ‘Come down to the valleys and stop the Midianites from escaping. Put guards on all the places where people go across the streams and rivers. Do that on the Jordan River as far as Beth Barah.’ So all the men of Ephraim's tribe came together. They put guards on the Jordan River and the streams, as far as Beth Barah. ²⁵ They caught the two leaders of the Midianite army, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb. They killed Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They continued to chase the Midianites. They took the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the east side of the Jordan River.

Peter returns to Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God. ² Peter then returned from Caesarea and he arrived in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews there who were believers spoke against him. These Jews thought that all believers should be circumcised. ³ So they said to Peter, ‘You stayed in the house of men who were not circumcised. You even ate meals with them!’^[a]

⁴ Peter then began to explain everything that had happened. He said to them, ⁵ ‘I was staying in a house in the city of Joppa. One day, when I was praying, I had a special dream. In this vision, I saw something that came down from heaven. It was like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground next to me. ⁶ I looked carefully at it. I saw that there were farm animals with four legs inside the cloth. There were also wild animals, snakes, and birds in it. ⁷ Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.”

⁸ But I answered, “No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.”

⁹ Then the voice spoke to me from heaven again. It said, “God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.” ¹⁰ All this happened three times. After that, the cloth went back up into heaven again.

¹¹ At that moment, three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. Someone had sent these men to find me. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me that I should go with them. He said that I should not be afraid. These six believers from Joppa also went with me to Caesarea. We all went into Cornelius's house. ¹³ Then Cornelius told us what had happened to him. He had seen an angel who appeared in his house and said to him, “Send some men to Joppa to fetch a man who is called Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will come and speak to you. His message will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.”

¹⁵ When I started to speak to Cornelius and his family, the Holy Spirit came down on them. It happened in the same way that he first came down on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord Jesus had said to us: “John baptized people with water, but God will baptize you with his Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷ So we see that God gave these Gentiles his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the same gift that he gave to us Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I could never try to stop God.’

¹⁸ The Jewish believers heard what Peter said. They could not say anything more against him. Instead, they praised God and they said, ‘We now see that God has also let Gentiles have life with him. He will accept them if they stop doing bad things and turn to him.’

The believers go to Antioch

¹⁹ After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.

²⁰ Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.

²² The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. ²³ Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’

²⁴ Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.

²⁷ During this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of these men was called Agabus. The Holy Spirit gave him a message from God. He stood up and he said to the people there, ‘Soon people will be very hungry all over the world because there will be no food.’ (That happened when Claudius ruled the Roman world.)^[b]

²⁹ The believers in Antioch wanted to help the other believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided how much of their own money they could give. ³⁰ Then they gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul took this gift to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah and Pashhur

20 Immer's son Pashhur was the priest who had authority in the Lord's temple. He heard Jeremiah's message about Jerusalem. ² So he told his men to beat Jeremiah. Then they tied Jeremiah up with heavy pieces of wood on his legs. That was at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's temple. ³ The next day, Pashhur let Jeremiah go free. Jeremiah said to him, ‘The Lord's name for you is not “Pashhur”. It is “Terror is all around”. ⁴ The Lord says, “I will send enemies to make you and your friends very afraid. You yourself will see enemies kill all your friends in war. I will put Judah's people under the power of Babylon's king. He will take some of them away as prisoners. His soldiers will kill others of them. ⁵ I will give all the riches in this city to Judah's enemies. I will give them all the things that the people have worked hard to get. They will take all the valuable things that belonged to the people, and to the kings of Judah. They will take everything away to Babylon. ⁶ They will also take you, Pashhur, and everybody who lives in your house. They will take you as prisoners to Babylon. You will die there and people will bury you there. The same thing will happen to all your friends. You spoke false messages to these people, as if they were messages from me.” ’

Jeremiah complains to the Lord

Jesus goes to Nazareth

6 Jesus left that place. He went to his own town. His disciples went with him.^[a]

² When it was the Jewish day of rest, Jesus went to their meeting place. He began to teach the people who were there. Many of them were surprised about the things that he was saying to them. They said to each other, ‘How did this man learn all these things? How did he become so wise? How does he do all these powerful things? ³ We know he is an ordinary man. He is the carpenter.^[b] He is the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Simon and Judas. His sisters live here in the town among us. Isn't that true?’ So the people there turned against Jesus.

⁴ Then Jesus said to them, ‘If a man is a prophet from God, people everywhere will respect him. But the people in his own town will not accept him. Even his own people and his own family will not respect him.’

⁵ Jesus could not do any powerful miracles in his own town. But he did put his hands on a few sick people and he made them well. ⁶ Jesus was very surprised because the people there would not believe in him.

Then he went to visit the other villages that were near there. He was teaching the people who lived in those villages.

Jesus sends the 12 apostles to tell God's message

⁷ Jesus asked his 12 apostles to come to him. He started to send them out to tell God's message to people. He sent them out two by two and he gave them authority over bad spirits.

⁸ Jesus told the disciples, ‘Only take a stick for the journey, nothing else. Do not take any bread or a bag. Do not take any money in your pockets. ⁹ Wear shoes but do not take extra clothes. ¹⁰ In each town, stay at the first house that you go into. Continue to stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ Perhaps you might go to a town where the people do not accept you. They will not listen to you. So you should leave that town. Clean that town's dirt off your feet. Then it will be clear that they have done something wrong.’

¹² So the 12 apostles went out. They told people that they must change the way that they live. They must stop doing wrong things. ¹³ The disciples caused many bad spirits to come out of people. They also put olive oil on many sick people, and the sick people became well.

Herod kills John the Baptist

¹⁴ People were talking about Jesus. King Herod heard about what was happening.^[c] Some people were saying that Jesus was really John the Baptist. They said that John had died, but he had become alive again. ‘That is why this man can do these very powerful things,’ they said.

¹⁵ Other people said, ‘This man is Elijah.’ And other people said, ‘He is a prophet. He is like one of God's prophets who lived a long time ago.’^[d]

¹⁶ But when someone told Herod, he said, ‘This man is surely John. I sent a soldier to cut off his head. But he has become alive again!’

¹⁷ Herod himself had sent his soldiers to take hold of John. He had said to his soldiers, ‘Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done that because of his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Herod's brother, Philip. But Herod had married her. ¹⁸ John had said to him, ‘Herodias is your brother's wife. It is not right for you to have her as your wife.’^[e]

¹⁹ So Herodias was angry with John. She wanted to kill him. But she could not do that, ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John. Herod knew that John was a good man and a servant of God. So Herod kept John safe. Herod liked to listen to the things that John said. But he did not know what to think about those things.

²¹ One day, Herodias had her chance. It was Herod's birthday and he asked many people to come to a special meal. Important men and officers came. The rulers from Galilee were also there. ²² The daughter of Herodias came in and she danced. Herod and his visitors were very happy when they saw her dance.

King Herod said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I will give it to you.’ ²³ He made a strong promise, ‘I will give you anything that you ask me to give to you. I will even give you half of everything that I rule over.’

²⁴ The girl went out and she said to her mother, ‘What should I ask him for?’ Her mother replied, ‘Ask for the head of John the Baptist.’

²⁵ The girl went quickly to Herod and she said to him, ‘I want the head of John the Baptist. Put it on a plate! Do it now!’

²⁶ Then Herod felt very sad. Because he had made a special promise, he did not want to refuse her. All his visitors had heard him. ²⁷ So immediately, the king sent a soldier to go to John. The king told the soldier that he must bring John's head. So the soldier went to the prison and he cut off John's head there. ²⁸ Then he brought it back on a plate. He gave it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ People told John's disciples about what had happened. So they went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it.

Jesus gives food to 5,000 men and their families

³⁰ The apostles all came to Jesus. They told him about all the things that they had done. And they told him what they had taught. ³¹ Many people were coming to Jesus and then going away. Jesus and his disciples were too busy even to eat. So Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me to a place where there are no other people. We should be alone together. Then we can rest for a short time.’

³² So they left all the people behind. They went away in a boat together to a quiet place. ³³ But many people saw that they were leaving the town. Those people recognized them. So they ran out from all the towns around there. They went on land and reached the place before Jesus and the disciples. ³⁴ Jesus got out of the boat and he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them. He thought to himself, ‘These people are like sheep that have nobody to take care of them.’ So he began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it was almost evening time, Jesus' disciples came and said to him, ‘We are in a place where there are no houses. Soon it will be dark. ³⁶ The people do not have anything to eat. So send them away now. Tell them to go to the farms and villages that are near here. Then they can buy some food for themselves to eat.’

³⁷ ‘You should give them some food to eat,’ Jesus replied.

But the disciples said, ‘We cannot go to buy bread for all these people. A man must work for eight months to get the 200 coins that we would need for that.^[f] We cannot get enough food to give to these people.’

³⁸ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see.’ When they had looked, they told Jesus, ‘We have five loaves and two fish.’

³⁹ Then Jesus told all the people to sit down on the green grass. He wanted them to sit in large groups. ⁴⁰ So the people sat down in groups. Each group had 50 or 100 people in it. ⁴¹ Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and he thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave the pieces of bread to the disciples, and they gave the bread to the people. Jesus also broke the two fish into pieces for all the people. ⁴² Everyone ate and they all had enough food. They were not hungry any more. ⁴³ Jesus' disciples then picked up all the bits of food that people had not eaten. They filled 12 baskets with little bits of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men in the crowd that ate the food there.^[g]

Jesus walks on water

⁴⁵ Immediately after this, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Get into the boat and sail across the lake to Bethsaida.’ Jesus said that he would first send the crowd away. Then he would also leave. ⁴⁶ So he said ‘goodbye’ to the crowd. Then he went up on a mountain to pray.

⁴⁷ That evening, the boat with the disciples in it was in the middle of the lake. Jesus was still alone on the land. ⁴⁸ But he could see his disciples. They were trying to make the boat move along. But it was very difficult for them because the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. Then, when it was nearly dawn, Jesus walked on the water towards his disciples. He seemed to be going on past them. ⁴⁹ But they saw that he was walking on the water. They thought, ‘It is a spirit.’ And they screamed out. ⁵⁰ They all saw him and they were very afraid. But immediately, Jesus said to them, ‘Be brave. It is I. Do not be afraid.’ ⁵¹ Then Jesus got into the boat to be with them. The strong wind stopped. The disciples were completely surprised about what had happened. ⁵² They did not understand what Jesus had done with the loaves of bread. They were not ready to learn.

Jesus makes many sick people well

⁵³ They sailed across the lake. They reached the shore at Gennesaret and they tied the boat there. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus immediately. ⁵⁵ They went to tell everyone who lived in places near there. They brought sick people to Jesus. They carried those people to him on mats. Whenever they knew where Jesus was, they brought sick people to him there. ⁵⁶ Jesus went to villages, towns and farms. Everywhere that he went, they brought sick people to the market places. The sick people asked Jesus for help. They wanted to touch even the edge of his coat. Every sick person who touched him became well.