M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Abimelech becomes king

9 Gideon's son Abimelech went to Shechem to speak to his mother's brothers. He said to them and to her family's clan, ² ‘Say this to the leaders of Shechem: “You should not agree to let all of Gideon's 70 sons rule over you. It would be better for you to have only one man rule over you. Remember that I belong to your own family.” ’

³ Abimelech's mother's family told the men of Shechem what Abimelech had said. They agreed that Abimelech would be a good ruler for them. They said, ‘He is our brother.’

⁴ So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god, Baal-Berith. Abimelech used this money to pay some wicked men to help him. ⁵ He went to his father's home in Ophrah. He killed his 70 brothers, the sons of Gideon. He killed them all on one rock. But Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, hid himself and he escaped.^[a]

⁶ Then the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo met together. They took Abimelech to the oak tree near the pillar of rock in Shechem. There they made Abimelech king.

⁷ When Jotham heard the news of what had happened, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim. He stood there and he shouted to the people, ‘Leaders of Shechem, listen to me! Then perhaps God will listen to you.

⁸ One day, the trees decided to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, “Be our king.” ⁹ But the olive tree replied, “My oil pleases men and even the gods. I will not stop making my oil so that I can rule over all you other trees!”

¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, “Come and be our king.” ¹¹ The fig tree replied, “I will not stop making my good, sweet figs so that I can rule over you.”

¹² Then the trees said to the vine, “Come and be our king.” ¹³ But the vine answered, “Wine from my grapes makes gods and people happy. I will not stop making wine so that I can rule over you.”

¹⁴ Finally, the trees said to the thorn bush, “Come and be our king.” ¹⁵ The thorn bush said to the trees, “If you really want to choose me as your king, come here. Hide under my branches to keep safe. If not, I will cause fire to come out from the thorn bush. It will burn up all the big cedar trees in Lebanon!”^[b]

¹⁶ When you chose Abimelech to be your king, you have not been faithful to Gideon and his family. You have not given Gideon the honour that he deserves. ¹⁷ My father Gideon fought to save you. He did not try to keep his own life safe. He rescued you from the power of the Midianites. ¹⁸ But you have turned against my father's family today. You killed his 70 sons on one rock. You have made Abimelech king because he belongs to your family. He is the son of my father's slave wife. ¹⁹ If you have really been faithful to Gideon and his family today, I pray that Abimelech will make you happy! I pray that you will make Abimelech happy, too! ²⁰ But if you have not been faithful, I pray that Abimelech will destroy you! I pray that his fire will completely burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo. And I pray that fire from you leaders will completely destroy Abimelech!’

²¹ After he said that, Jotham ran away to Beer. He lived there because he was afraid of his brother, Abimelech.

Abimelech rules Israel

²² Abimelech ruled Israel for three years. ²³ Then God caused the leaders of Shechem to turn against Abimelech. They were no longer friends. ²⁴ God did this to punish Abimelech because he had killed his brothers, Gideon's 70 sons. The leaders of Shechem were also guilty for their murder, because they had helped Abimelech.

²⁵ The leaders of Shechem no longer obeyed Abimelech. They sent men to hide in the hills near Shechem. Those men robbed everyone who travelled on that road. But someone told Abimelech about this.

²⁶ Ebed's son Gaal went to live in Shechem with his brothers. The leaders of Shechem started to trust Gaal as their leader. ²⁷ They went out of the city to pick grapes in their fields. They squeezed the grapes to make wine. They went to the temple of their god and they had a party. They ate a lot of food and they drank a lot of wine. At their party, they cursed Abimelech.

²⁸ Gaal said, ‘Why does Abimelech think he is so great? There is no reason why the people of Shechem should serve him! He is a son of Gideon and he does not really belong here. Zebul only serves Abimelech as his officer. Instead we should be faithful to Hamor's descendants. He is the ancestor of Shechem's clan. ²⁹ If I were the leader of these people, I would remove Abimelech as king. I would say to him, “Make your army strong and try to fight against us!” ’

³⁰ Some people told Zebul, the town's officer, what Gaal had said. Zebul was very angry when he heard this. ³¹ He sent men secretly to Abimelech with a message. They told him, ‘Ebed's son Gaal and his brothers have come to live in Shechem. They are causing the people of the city to turn against you. ³² So you must come here in the night with your men. Hide in the fields outside the city. ³³ When the sun rises in the morning, quickly attack the city. When Gaal and his men come out to fight, you can do to them whatever you want.’

³⁴ So Abimelech and all his soldiers came out at night. They hid in four groups outside Shechem.

³⁵ The next morning, Gaal stood beside the city gate. Abimelech and his men came out from the places where they were hiding. ³⁶ Gaal saw them. He said to Zebul, ‘Look! There are men coming down from the tops of the hills.’ Zebul replied, ‘No, you are wrong. You can see shadows in the hills. They only look like men.’ ³⁷ Gaal said again, ‘Look! I can really see men who are coming down from the middle of the land. There is another group of men who are coming along the road from the Diviner's Oak Tree.’

³⁸ Then Zebul said to Gaal, ‘What has happened to your proud words now? You boasted when you said, “Abimelech is nobody! We should not serve him.” Here are the men that you insulted as useless! So now go out and fight them!’

³⁹ Gaal led the men of Shechem out of the city to fight against Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech chased after him. Gaal and his men ran back to the city. But Abimelech and his men caught and killed many of them before they reached the city gate. ⁴¹ Abimelech went back to live in Arumah. Zebul made Gaal and his brothers leave Shechem.

⁴² The next day, the people of Shechem went out into the fields around the city. Abimelech heard about this. ⁴³ He took his men with him. He made them hide in three groups in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he and his men attacked them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and his group of soldiers ran to stand at the city gate. They stopped people going back into the city. The other two groups attacked the people in the fields and killed them.

⁴⁵ Abimelech attacked the city all that day. He took the city and he killed all the people who lived there. Then he destroyed the city. He put salt all over it as a curse.

⁴⁶ The city's leaders who lived in the tower of Shechem heard the news. They went to hide in the strong building of El-berith's temple. ⁴⁷ Somebody told Abimelech that all the leaders were there together in the temple. ⁴⁸ He took all his men up to Mount Zalmon. He used an axe to cut some branches off a tree. He put the branches on his shoulders. Then he said to his men, ‘Be quick! Do the same thing as you have seen me do!’ ⁴⁹ So all the men cut branches and they followed Abimelech. They put the branches around the strong building. Then they brought fire to burn down the building. There were about 1,000 men and women in the tower of Shechem. They all died in the fire.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech and his men went to Thebez. They made their camp around the city to attack it. ⁵¹ There was a strong tower in the middle of the city. All the leaders of the city, as well as all the men and women, ran there to hide. They locked the door. They went up onto the roof of the tower. ⁵² Abimelech and his men came to attack the tower. Abimelech went near to the door of the tower, to put a fire there. ⁵³ A woman on the roof dropped a heavy rock down on his head. It broke Abimelech's skull. ⁵⁴ Abimelech quickly said to the young man who carried his weapons, ‘Take hold of your sword and kill me! I do not want people to say that a woman killed me!’ So the young man killed him with his sword. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.

⁵⁶ That was how God punished Abimelech. He had done an evil thing against his father when he killed his 70 brothers. ⁵⁷ God was also punishing the people of Shechem for the evil things that they had done. When Gideon's son Jotham had cursed them, he said that these things would happen.

The believers in Antioch send Saul and Barnabas to Cyprus

13 There were some prophets among the group of believers in Antioch. They taught the other believers more about Jesus. Barnabas and Simeon were two of these men. (People also called Simeon ‘Niger’.)^[a] There was Lucius who had lived in Cyrene. There was also Manaen who had lived together with the ruler Herod when they were children. And there was Saul.

² One day, the believers were meeting together. They were praising the Lord God and they were praying. They also fasted for a time. During that time, the Holy Spirit said to them, ‘I have chosen Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. Let them go now and do it.’

³ The believers continued to pray and to fast. Then the leaders put their hands on Barnabas and Saul and they prayed for them. They sent them away to start this new work.

What happened in Cyprus

⁴ The Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul away from Antioch. They travelled to the town of Seleucia, which is near the coast. From there they travelled on a ship to an island called Cyprus. ⁵ They arrived at a town called Salamis. There they went into the Jewish meeting places and they told the people God's message about Jesus. John Mark went with Barnabas and Saul to help them with their work.

⁶ They travelled across the whole island and they arrived at a town called Paphos. There they met a man called Bar-Jesus.^[b] He was a Jew. He used magic to do surprising things. He said that he was a prophet from God. But his messages were not true.

⁷ The ruler of Cyprus was called Sergius Paulus. Bar-Jesus was his friend. Sergius Paulus understood things well. So he asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him. He wanted them to tell him God's message. ⁸ Bar-Jesus was also called Elymas. That was his name in the Greek language. He did not like what Barnabas and Saul were saying. He did not want Sergius Paulus to believe in Jesus. So he tried to stop him. ⁹ Then God filled Saul with the power of his Holy Spirit. (Saul was also now called Paul.^[c] ) Paul looked straight at Elymas and he said, ¹⁰ ‘You are a servant of the Devil! You are against everything that is right. Your mind is full of lies and other bad things. You try to change the true message of the Lord and make it into lies. You must stop doing that! ¹¹ The Lord will now punish you. You will become blind for a time. You will not even see the light of the sun.’

When Paul said that, immediately something like a dark cloud covered Elymas's eyes. He could not find his own way. He needed someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² Sergius Paulus saw what had happened to Elymas. He was very surprised about the things that Barnabas and Paul taught him about the Lord Jesus. And so he believed in Jesus.

Paul and Barnabas go to Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Paul and the two other men got in a ship and they sailed away from Paphos. They arrived at a town called Perga, which is in the region called Pamphylia. John Mark left them there and he returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Paul and Barnabas left Perga, and they went to a town called Antioch in Pisidia. On the Jewish day of rest, they went into the meeting place and they sat down. ¹⁵ Someone read aloud some words from the Bible. They read from God's Law and from the messages of God's prophets. After this, the leaders of the Jewish meeting place passed a note to Paul and Barnabas. The note said, ‘Friends, do you have a message that will help the people? If you do, please speak now.’

¹⁶ So Paul stood up. He raised his hand towards the people so that they would listen to him. Then he said to them, ‘Some of you are Jews, like us. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. All of you, listen carefully to me.

¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors to be his people. While they lived in Egypt, God caused his people to become a very large group. They lived as foreign people in Egypt. But God used his great power to bring them out from that country.^{[d] 18} The people of Israel did not obey God. But God took care of them in the wilderness for 40 years. ¹⁹ He destroyed seven nations of people who lived in the land of Canaan. God gave their land to his own people so that they could live there. ²⁰ All of these things happened during about 450 years.

After this, God gave to his people leaders who were called judges. They ruled Israel until the time when God's prophet Samuel was alive. ²¹ Then the people of Israel asked Samuel to choose a king for them. So God gave Saul to them as their king. Saul was the son of Kish and he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He ruled Israel for 40 years. ²² Then God removed Saul as king. He caused David to be their king instead.^[e] God said this about David: “I have watched David, the son of Jesse. He does things that make me happy. I know that he will do everything that I want.”

²³ God promised to send to the people of Israel someone who would save us. Jesus is the man that God sent to save us. He is a descendant of King David. ²⁴ Before Jesus began his work in this world, John spoke a message to all the people of Israel. He told people to stop doing wrong things and to turn to God. Then he would baptize them.^{[f] 25} When John had almost finished his work, he said to the people, “Perhaps you think that I am the special man that God will send. I am not that man. But listen! That man will come soon. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him.” ’^[g]

²⁶ Paul then said, ‘I speak to all you people here. Some of you, like us, have Abraham as your ancestor. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. God has sent this message to all of us. It tells us how he will save us. ²⁷ The people who were living in Jerusalem, and their leaders, did not understand about Jesus. They did not know that he was God's special man. Every Jewish day of rest, someone reads aloud the messages of God's prophets. But the people in Jerusalem did not understand. Instead, they said that Jesus had done bad things. They said that he should die. In that way, they caused the message of the prophets to become true. ²⁸ The Jewish leaders could not find any reason to kill Jesus for what he had done. But they continued to say to Pilate, “Your soldiers must kill him.” ²⁹ When the soldiers did that, it happened just like the prophets had written about him long ago. After that, some of Jesus' disciples took him down from the cross where he had died. They took his body and they buried it. ³⁰ But after Jesus died, God caused him to become alive again. ³¹ For many days after this, Jesus appeared to his disciples. The people who had earlier travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now telling the people of Israel all about it.^[h]

³² So we have come here to tell you this good news. God promised our ancestors that he would do these great things for his people. ³³ Now he has done these things for us who are alive today. He has raised up Jesus to live again. We can read about this in the second Psalm. God says,

³⁴ God caused Jesus to live again so that nothing would destroy his body. He will not die again. This is what God said to our ancestors:

³⁵ God also says this in another Psalm:

³⁶ While David was alive, he served God as God wanted him to do. Then he died and men buried him next to his ancestors. So worms destroyed David's body. ³⁷ But as for Jesus, God caused him to become alive again. He did not die again and nothing destroyed his body.

³⁸ My friends, I want all of you to know this. God forgives us for the bad things that we have done. He does this because of what Jesus did. That is my message to you. ³⁹ God can cause anyone to become right with him. If you believe in Jesus, God will make you free from your sins. God's Law that he gave to Moses cannot do this for you. That Law cannot make you free, even if you obey all of it. ⁴⁰ Be careful then! Remember what God's prophets spoke about long ago. Do not let that happen to you. This is what one of them wrote:^[l]

⁴¹ “Listen to me, you people who laugh at God!

⁴² After Paul spoke this message, he and Barnabas were leaving the meeting place. The people there said to them, ‘Please return on our next day of rest. Then you can tell us more about what you have already told us.’ ⁴³ When the meeting finished, many people followed Paul and Barnabas. Some of them were Jews. Others were Gentiles who now worshipped God. Paul and Barnabas said to them, ‘God has been very kind to you. You should continue to trust him.’

⁴⁴ On the next Jewish day of rest, almost everyone in the town came together to hear the Lord God's message. ⁴⁵ But when some Jews saw the crowds of people, they became angry. They were very jealous because the people listened to Paul and Barnabas. They said that Paul was teaching wrong things. They also said bad things against him.

⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas were not afraid of them. They said to them, ‘It was right that we first tell you who are Jews the message from God. But now you say that God's message is not true. You have shown that you do not deserve true life with God. So we will leave you now. We will go and tell this message to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷ The Lord God has also told us to do this. He said:

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles there heard this, they were very happy. They thanked God for the message about the Lord Jesus. Many people believed in Jesus. They were the people that God had chosen to have true life with him.

⁴⁹ Many people in that part of the country heard the message about the Lord Jesus. ⁵⁰ But the Jewish leaders spoke to the important men in the city. They also spoke to some rich women who worshipped God. The Jewish leaders told them bad things about Paul and Barnabas. So these important people started to speak against Paul and Barnabas. They caused Paul and Barnabas to leave that region. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas cleaned the dirt of that place off their feet. This showed that the people in that town had done a bad thing. Paul and Barnabas then travelled to a town called Iconium.

⁵² The believers in Antioch continued to be very happy. The Holy Spirit completely filled them.

A message to Judah's kings^[a]

22 The Lord said to me, ‘Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. You must say to him, ² “King of Judah, descendant of King David, listen to this message from the Lord. Your officers and the people of your palace must listen too. ³ The Lord says: You must do things that are right and fair. Punish those who rob other people. Help the people that they have hurt. Do not be cruel to foreigners who are living among you. Do not cheat them. Do not hurt or cheat widows, or children who have no family. Stop killing people who have not done anything wrong. ⁴ If you are careful to obey these commands, David's descendants will continue to rule as kings in this city. They will ride on horses and on chariots to come in through the city's gates. Their officers and their people will come with them. ⁵ But if you do not obey these commands, I will destroy this palace. I promise you that it will become a heap of stones! That is what I, the Lord, tell you.” ’

⁶ The Lord says this about the palace of the king of Judah:

⁸ People from many nations will see what has happened here. They will ask each other, “Why has the Lord destroyed this great city?” ⁹ Other people will answer, “He did it because they refused to obey their covenant with the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods instead of him.” ’

A message about King Jehoahaz

¹¹ Josiah's son, Shallum, became king of Judah after his father died. But enemies took him away as a prisoner to a foreign land. The Lord says this about him: ‘He will never return to this land. ¹² He will die in the foreign land where they took him as prisoner. He will not see this land again.’

A message about King Jehoiakim^[c]

¹³ The Lord says,

That is what the Lord says.

¹⁸ So the Lord says this about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah:

A message about King Jeconiah

²⁴ This is what the Lord says: ‘Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, I promise you this, as surely as I live. I will remove your power as king. If you were the special ring of authority on my right hand, I would pull you off! ²⁵ You are afraid of your enemies who want to kill you, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. Now I will let them catch you. ²⁶ I will throw you and your mother out of Judah. I will send you both to a foreign land. You were not born in that land, but you will both die there. ²⁷ You will want to return to this land of Judah, but you will never come back here.’

³⁰ The Lord says,

Jesus gives food to 4,000 people

8 At that time, another large crowd had come to hear Jesus. The people had nothing to eat. Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ² ‘I feel sorry for this crowd. They have been here with me now for three days and they do not have any food. ³ I do not want to send them back to their homes while they are hungry. They might fall down during their journey because they are weak. Some of them have travelled a long way to come here.’

⁴ The disciples replied, ‘This place is far from any houses. We cannot get enough bread to feed all these people.’

⁵ ‘How many loaves of bread do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘We have seven loaves,’ they replied.

⁶ Jesus told the crowd that they should sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves in his hands and he thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and he gave the pieces to his disciples. The disciples gave the bread to the people. ⁷ The disciples also had a few small fish, so Jesus thanked God for these. Then he told his disciples to give the fish to the people too. ⁸ The people ate, and they all had enough food. After the people had eaten, there were still lots of small pieces of food. Jesus' disciples filled seven baskets with these pieces. ⁹ About 4,000 people were there and ate the food. Then Jesus sent the people away. ¹⁰ Immediately, he got into the boat with his disciples. They all returned to the part of the country called Dalmanutha.^[a]

¹¹ Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began to argue with him. They wanted to see him do something powerful. That would show them that God had really sent him. ¹² Jesus cried with a low, sad sound. He said, ‘People who are alive today want God to show them something powerful. But I tell you this: God will not do the powerful thing for them that they want.’ ¹³ Then Jesus left those Pharisees. He got back into the boat to go to the other side of the lake.

Jesus talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod

¹⁴ Jesus' disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They only had one loaf in the boat. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful. Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees or the yeast of Herod.’^[b]

¹⁶ The disciples began to say to each other, ‘Jesus is saying that because we do not have any bread.’

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing about the bread. You still do not understand my teaching. You seem unable to learn. ¹⁸ You are like people who have eyes but they cannot see with them. You are like people who have ears but they cannot hear with them. ¹⁹ Remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. How many baskets did you fill with pieces of food that were left?’

‘There were 12 baskets,’ they replied.

²⁰ Jesus asked them, ‘I also used seven loaves to feed 4,000 people. That time, how many baskets did you fill with pieces of food?’

‘There were seven baskets,’ they replied.

²¹ ‘You really should understand about me now,’ he said to them.

Jesus makes a blind man able to see

²² Jesus and his disciples came to a village called Bethsaida. Some people led a blind man to Jesus. They asked Jesus to touch the man. ²³ Jesus took the blind man's hand and he led the man out of the village. Jesus put water from his own mouth on the man's eyes. And he put his hands on the man. ‘Can you see anything?’ Jesus asked.

²⁴ The man looked up. He said, ‘I can see people. But they look like trees that are walking about.’

²⁵ So Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again. The man looked carefully and then his eyes were completely well. Now he could see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus told the man that he must go back to his home. Jesus said, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

Peter says who Jesus is

²⁷ Then Jesus and his disciples went to visit some villages. They were near to the town of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, Jesus asked his disciples, ‘When people talk about me, who do they say that I am?’

²⁸ They replied, ‘Some people say that you are John the Baptist. Other people say that you are Elijah. And some other people say that you are one of God's prophets.’^[c]

²⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘But what do you think? Who do you say that I am?’

Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’^[d]

³⁰ Then Jesus warned his disciples that they must not tell anyone about him.

Jesus tells his disciples how he will die

³¹ Then Jesus began to teach his disciples about the things that must happen to the Son of Man.^[e] He would have to suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law would turn against him. People would kill him. But after three days, he would become alive again.

³² What Jesus said was very clear. Then Peter took Jesus away from the other disciples. Peter began to tell Jesus that he must not say things like that.

³³ Jesus turned round and he looked at his disciples. He said that Peter was not saying good things. He said to Peter, ‘Satan, go away from me!^[f] Your thoughts do not come from God. Instead, you are thinking like men think.’

³⁴ Then Jesus asked the crowd and his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple. ³⁵ Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me and God's good news will have true life. ³⁶ A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. ³⁷ There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life.

³⁸ People who are living today do not obey God. They are very bad. But you must not be ashamed of me or of my words. If you are, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you. One day he will return and God's holy angels will be with him. He will have the bright glory of his Father. He will be ashamed of you on that day if you are ashamed of him now.’