M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jephthah and Ephraim's tribe argue^[a]

12 The men of Ephraim's tribe joined together to make an army. They crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, ‘Why did you go to fight against the Ammonites without us? You should have asked us to go with you. Now we will burn down your house with you inside it!’

² Jephthah replied, ‘I did ask for your help! That was when my people and I first had a quarrel with the Ammonites. But you refused to rescue us. ³ When I realized that you would not come to help us, we attacked the Ammonites ourselves. I put my life in danger. But the Lord put the Ammonites under my power. So why have you come to attack me now?’

⁴ Jephthah brought together all the men of Gilead. They fought against the men of Ephraim's tribe. The men of Gilead won the fight. They were angry because the men of Ephraim had insulted them. They had said, ‘You people of Gilead have run away to live on the land of Ephraim and Manasseh.’

⁵ After that, Gilead's army put guards at the places where people could go across the Jordan River. They wanted to stop people from Ephraim going across the river. If one of Ephraim's soldiers was trying to escape, they would ask him, ‘Do you belong to Ephraim's tribe?’ The man would say, ‘No, I do not!’

⁶ Then they would tell him, ‘Say, “Shibboleth!” ’ People from Ephraim could not say that word properly. So if the man said, ‘Sibboleth,’ they would take hold of him and kill him. That day, they killed 42,000 soldiers of Ephraim at those places on the Jordan River.

⁷ Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and they buried him in his own town in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon and Abdon

⁸ After Jephthah died, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. ⁹ He had 30 sons and 30 daughters. He let his daughters marry men from other clans. He also brought 30 young women from other clans to marry his sons. Ibzan led Israel for seven years. ¹⁰ Then he died and they buried him in Bethlehem.

¹¹ After he died, Elon from Zebulun led Israel for ten years. ¹² Then Elon died and they buried him in Aijalon, a town in the land of Zebulun's tribe.

¹³ After Elon, Hillel's son Abdon led Israel. He came from Pirathon. ¹⁴ He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons. They rode on 70 donkeys. Abdon led Israel for eight years. ¹⁵ Then he died. They buried him at Pirathon, a town in the land of Ephraim's tribe. That was in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Timothy travels with Paul and Silas

16 Paul travelled to Derbe and then he arrived in Lystra. A man called Timothy lived in Lystra. He was a believer. His mother was a Jew who had become a believer in Jesus. But Timothy's father was a Gentile who came from Greece. ² All the believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him to different places. All the Jews in that region knew that Timothy's father was a Gentile. So Paul circumcised Timothy, so that the Jews would accept him.^[a]

⁴ Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled through many towns. In each place, they told the believers the things that the apostles and the other leaders in Jerusalem had decided. They told the believers to obey those rules. ⁵ In this way, the groups of believers in those towns became stronger. They trusted Jesus more. More and more people joined the groups of believers every day.

Paul has a vision

⁶ Paul and his friends wanted to go to the region of Asia to speak God's message. But the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing this. So they travelled through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia. ⁷ Then they arrived at the edge of the region of Mysia. They wanted to go from there into the region of Bithynia. But the Holy Spirit of Jesus stopped them from going there too. ⁸ So they went quickly through Mysia and they arrived at the city of Troas, on the coast.

⁹ During that night, Paul had a vision. In the vision, he saw a man from the region called Macedonia. The man stood there and he said to Paul, ‘Please, please come across the sea to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰ After Paul's vision, we immediately prepared ourselves for the journey to Macedonia.^[b] We decided that God was telling us to go there. He wanted us to tell the people there the good news about Jesus.

Lydia becomes a believer

¹¹ We got in a ship at Troas and we sailed across the sea. We went across to an island called Samothrace. The next day, we continued our journey to a port called Neapolis. ¹² We then travelled across the land to Philippi, the most important city in the region of Macedonia. The Romans ruled Philippi and many Roman people lived there. We stayed there for a few days.

¹³ On the Jewish day of rest, we went out of the city gate. We went down to the edge of the river. We thought that the Jews might have a special meeting place there. We thought that they would meet there to pray. We found a group of women who were meeting there. So we sat down and we talked to them.^[c]

¹⁴ One of the women who listened to us was called Lydia. She was from the city of Thyatira. She bought and sold expensive dark red cloth. She was a Gentile woman who now worshipped God. The Lord helped her to understand Paul's message. So she believed the things that he said.

¹⁵ Then Paul and Silas baptized Lydia and the other people who lived in her house. After this, Lydia asked us to go to her house. She said to us, ‘If you think that I really believe in the Lord Jesus, then please stay in my house.’ We agreed to go and to stay there.

The Roman rulers put Paul and Silas in prison

¹⁶ One day, we were going to the place where people prayed to God. On the way there, we met a slave girl. A bad spirit was living inside her. This spirit told her what would happen soon. People gave her masters a lot of money when she told them about these future things. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and all of us. She was shouting, ‘These men are servants of the powerful God who is over all! They are telling you how God can save you!’

¹⁸ The slave girl continued to do this for many days. After some time, Paul became angry. So he turned round and he said to the bad spirit, ‘I am using the authority of Jesus Christ! I command you to leave this woman!’ When Paul said that, the spirit left her immediately.

¹⁹ Her masters now knew that the girl could not get money for them any more. So they took hold of Paul and Silas and they pulled them to the market place of the city. They took them to stand in front of the leaders of the city. ²⁰ They asked the important officers to judge them. They said, ‘These men are Jews. They are causing much trouble in our city. ²¹ They are teaching people to obey strange ideas. We are Roman people. We cannot agree with these laws. They are not right for us to do.’

²² A lot of people quickly came together there. They started to attack Paul and Silas. So the important officers said to their soldiers, ‘Tear the clothes off Paul and Silas. Then hit them with sticks!’ ²³ The soldiers hit Paul and Silas many times. Then they took hold of them and they pushed them into the prison. The officers said to the prison guard, ‘Lock the prison door carefully so that these men cannot get free.’

²⁴ The prison guard did what he had been told to do. He put Paul and Silas in a room in the middle of the prison. He put their feet between big heavy pieces of wood so that they could not move their legs.

²⁵ At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying. They were also singing songs to praise God. The other people in the prison were listening to them. ²⁶ The ground under the prison suddenly shook strongly. Immediately, all the prison doors opened. The chains that held the people in the prison all fell off. ²⁷ The prison guard woke up. He saw that the prison doors were open. He thought that all the people in the prison had become free. He decided that he should kill himself. So he pulled out his sword.^[d]

²⁸ Paul shouted very loudly to him, ‘Do not hurt yourself! We are all still in here!’

²⁹ The guard said, ‘Bring me some lights.’ Then he ran to the prison room where Paul and Silas were. He was very frightened. He went down on his knees in front of them. ³⁰ Then he led Paul and Silas out of the prison. He said to them, ‘Masters, what must I do so that God will save me? Tell me!’

³¹ Paul and Silas said to him, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and then God will save you. He will save you and the people who live in your house, if they believe too.’ ³² Then Paul and Silas went to the guard's house. They spoke God's message about the Lord Jesus to him and to all the people in his house. ³³ In the middle of the night, the man took care of them. He washed their bodies where the soldiers had hurt them. Immediately after this, Paul and Silas baptized the man and his whole family. ³⁴ The man gave them some food to eat in his house. The guard and all his family were very happy because now they believed in God.

³⁵ The next morning, the important officers sent their police to the prison with a message for the guard. They told him, ‘Let those men go free.’ ³⁶ The guard went to Paul and he told him, ‘The city officers have sent a message to me. They said, “Let Paul and Silas go free.” So now you can leave the prison. Nobody will hurt you any more.’

³⁷ But Paul spoke to the police who had brought the message. He said, ‘The city officers did not find that we had done anything wrong. But they commanded their soldiers to hit us with sticks in front of everybody. We are citizens of Rome but they still did this to us. They even put us into prison. Now they want us to leave the prison and go away. They want to send us away secretly. We will not agree! The Roman officers must come here to the prison themselves. Then they must lead us out for everyone to see.’

³⁸ The police returned to the city officers. They told them what Paul had said. The officers now understood that Paul and Silas were citizens of Rome. This made them very afraid. ³⁹ So they went to see Paul and Silas in the prison. They told Paul and Silas that they were very sorry. Then they led Paul and Silas out of the prison. They asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas left the prison, they went to Lydia's house. There they met the other believers. They spoke to the believers to make them strong. Then Paul and Silas left Philippi.^[e]

Judah's people will be in a foreign land for 70 years

25 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim ruled Judah as king. Jehoiakim was the son of King Josiah. It was also the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. The Lord's message was about the people of Judah. ² So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.

³ He said, ‘For 23 years the Lord has been giving me his messages. I started to tell you his messages when Amon's son Josiah had been ruling Judah for 13 years. I have continued to tell you many times what the Lord has said, even until today. But you have refused to listen.

⁴ The Lord has also sent his servants, the prophets, to speak to you many times. You have refused to listen to them too. ⁵ The Lord's message to you was, “Turn away from your wicked way of life. Stop doing the evil things that you are doing. If you do that, you may continue to live in this land. It is the land that the Lord gave to you and to your ancestors to be their home for ever. ⁶ Do not look for other gods that you can serve and worship. Do not continue to do things that make me angry. Then I will not hurt you.” 

⁷ So now the Lord says, “You have refused to listen to my messages. You have continued to do things that make me angry. So you have brought trouble on yourselves.”

⁸ The Lord Almighty says, “You have not listened to my messages. ⁹ So I, the Lord, tell you that I will call the nations in the north to come. I will call my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to come. I will bring them to attack this land and the people who live here. They will also attack all the nations that are around you. I will completely destroy this land, its people and all the nations around it. Their houses will become heaps of stones for ever. The land will become a terrible place. People will always see how foolish my people are. ¹⁰ Everywhere, I will stop people's happy songs and their marriage parties. Nobody will make flour any more. Nobody will light lamps in their homes. ¹¹ This whole place will be as empty as a desert. Nobody will live here. The people of Judah and these other nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”

¹² The Lord also says, “But after the 70 years have finished, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation. I will punish them for their sins. I will destroy the land of the Babylonians. It will be a heap of stones for ever. ¹³ I will certainly do to them all the terrible things that I have spoken about. I will do to them everything that is written in this book. I will cause them to have all the trouble that Jeremiah prophesies against all the nations.^{[a] 14} Many nations and great kings will have power over the king of Babylon and his people. The Babylonians will become their slaves. In that way, I will punish the Babylonians for all the bad things that they did to my people.” ’

Jeremiah's vision of a cup of wine

¹⁵ The Lord, Israel's God, said to me, ‘Take this cup from me. It is full of wine that shows my great anger. Take it to the nations where I send you. Make them drink this wine of punishment. ¹⁶ When they drink it, they will walk like people who are drunk. They will seem to be crazy, because they know that I will send armies to attack them.’

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord's hand. In my vision, I took it to the nations where the Lord sent me. I made them drink the wine of his punishment. ¹⁸ I went to Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. I made the people of Judah, its kings and its officers drink from the cup. It was to destroy them all. Judah would become a terrible place. People would see that its people are very foolish. They would use their name as a curse. That is already happening today.

¹⁹ I also took the cup of punishment to these people:

Finally, the king of Babylon will have to drink the wine of the Lord's great anger.

²⁷ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them that the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “Drink the wine from this cup until you become drunk. Drink so much that you are sick. Drink it until you fall down and cannot get up again, because you know that I will send armies to attack you.”

²⁸ But people may refuse to take the cup from you. They may refuse to drink from it. Then you must tell them that the Lord Almighty says this: “You must drink this wine of my punishment! ²⁹ I have already begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that is my special home. So do not think that I will leave you other nations alone! I will certainly punish you too. I will send war against everyone who lives on the earth. That is what the Lord Almighty says will happen!”

³⁰ Now Jeremiah, prophesy this message against them:

That is what the Lord says.

³² The Lord Almighty also says this:

³⁸ The Lord will come out,

Jesus rides into Jerusalem

11 Jesus and his disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They were almost at the villages called Bethphage and Bethany. They were on the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further.^[a]

² He said to them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will immediately see a young donkey. Someone has tied it there. Nobody has ever yet ridden on it. Undo the rope and bring the donkey here to me. ³ Someone may ask you, “Why are you doing this?” Then say, “The Master needs the donkey. He will send it back here soon.” ’

⁴ So the two disciples went into the village. They found the young donkey in the street. Someone had tied it outside, by a door. So the disciples undid the rope. ⁵ Some people were standing there. They asked the two disciples, ‘What are you doing? Why are you undoing the donkey's rope?’ ⁶ The disciples answered them. They repeated what Jesus had told them to say. The people then let them take the donkey away. ⁷ The two disciples brought the young donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on its back and Jesus sat on it. ⁸ Many people then put their coats down on the road. Other people cut branches down from trees in the fields. They put the branches down on the road as well.^[b]

⁹ Many people went in front of Jesus, and other people followed him. All of them were shouting,

¹¹ Jesus went into Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked at everything there. It was late in the day, so he then went out of the city to Bethany. The 12 apostles went with him.

A tree without fruit

¹² On the next day, they left Bethany. Jesus was hungry. ¹³ He saw a fig tree which was a long way away. There were leaves on it. So he went to see if it had fruit on it. When he reached it, he found nothing except leaves. That was because it was not the right season for it to have fruit. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, ‘Nobody will ever eat your fruit again.’ And his disciples heard what he said.

Jesus goes to the temple

¹⁵ When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus went into the yard of the temple.^[c] People were buying and selling things there. Jesus began to make them all leave that place. Some men were changing coins there for people.^[d] He pushed over their tables. And he pushed over the seats of the men who sold birds.^[e]

¹⁶ Jesus would not let anyone carry things through that place. ¹⁷ While he was teaching the people, Jesus said, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people from all countries pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’

¹⁸ The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law heard this. And they thought about how they could kill Jesus. They were afraid of him. That was because all the crowd were listening to him. And the things that he taught caused the crowd to be very surprised.

¹⁹ When it was evening, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city again.

The fig tree is dead

²⁰ The next morning, Jesus and his disciples passed the fig tree. They saw that it was completely dead. ²¹ Peter remembered what Jesus had said. So he said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, look at that fig tree. You said that it should die, and it has died.’

²² So Jesus said to them, ‘You must believe in God. ²³ I tell you this: A person could say to this mountain, “Move and throw yourself into the sea.” Then it will happen like he says. But he must not let other ideas come into his mind. He must really believe that those things will happen. If he does believe it, God will do those things for him. ²⁴ So I tell you this. When you pray to ask God for anything, believe in him. Believe that you have received that thing. Then you will have whatever you have asked for. ²⁵ But when you stand up to pray, first you must forgive other people. If anyone has done something bad against you, forgive that person. If you do forgive them, your Father in heaven will forgive you. God will forgive you for the bad things that you have done.’ ^26 [f]

Jesus talks about his authority

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples arrived again in Jerusalem. Jesus was walking about in the yard at the temple. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews came to him. ²⁸ They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you the authority to do them?’

²⁹ Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question and you should answer me. If you do that, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ³⁰ John baptized people. Did God give him authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it? Now, tell me your answer.’

³¹ Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But, if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” ³² But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority.’ The Jewish leaders were afraid of the crowd. All the people thought that John really was a prophet from God.

³³ So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’

So Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’