M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Samson’s Troubles in Gaza
16 Sometime later, Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute there, and went in to have sex with her. 2 When the Gazites were informed,[a] “Samson has come here!” they surrounded him, intending to lay in wait for him at the city gate throughout the entire night. They kept quiet all night, telling each other,[b] “At first light, let’s kill him!”
3 Meanwhile, Samson had sex until midnight, then at midnight he got up, grabbed the doors, the two door posts, and the bars of the city gate, and uprooted them. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the mountain opposite Hebron.
Samson Meets Delilah
4 After this incident, he loved a woman in Sorek Valley whose name was Delilah. 5 The Philistine officials approached her and told her, “Entice him to discover where his great strength is, and how we can overpower him. We intend to tie him up and torture him. We’ll each pay you 1,100 silver coins.”
6 So Delilah asked Samson, “Please tell me the secret to[c] your great strength and how you may be tied up and tortured.”
7 Samson replied, “If I’m tied up with seven green cords[d] that have never been dried out, then I’ll become weak and just like any other[e] human being.”
8 Then the Philistine leaders brought her seven green cords[f] that had never been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 Meanwhile, some kidnappers were hiding inside an inner room, waiting for her signal.[g] So she told him, “The Philistines are attacking you!” But he snapped the cords[h] as one might break a burned candle wick.[i] So his secret[j] remained undiscovered.
10 Some time later, Delilah told Samson, “Look here! You’ve been mocking me and lying to me. Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
11 He told her, “If I’m tied up securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I’ll become weak and just like any other[k] human being.”
12 So Delilah grabbed some new ropes and tied him up. Then she told him, “The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!” because some kidnappers were hiding inside an inner room. But he snapped the ropes[l] from his arms like thread.
13 Later on, Delilah told Samson, “You’re still mocking me and telling me lies! Tell me how to tie you up!”
He answered her, “If you weave the seven locks on my head into a loom and fasten it with a peg, then I will become weak and just like any other human being.”
14 So Delilah took the seven locks on his head and wove them into the loom while he slept.[m] She fastened his hair with a peg and then told him, “The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!” But he woke up from his nap and pulled the pin from the loom and the weaving.
Samson Tells Delilah His Secret
15 Some time later, she asked him, “How can you keep saying ‘I love you!’ when your heart isn’t with me? These three times you’ve lied to me and haven’t told me where your great strength lies.” 16 She nagged him every day with this speech, pestering him until he[n] was annoyed nearly[o] to death.
17 So he finally disclosed everything. He told her,[p] “A razor has never touched my head, because I’ve been a Nazirite for God before I was born.[q] If I am shaved, then my strength will abandon me and I will become weak like every human being.”
18 When Delilah realized that he had disclosed everything[r] to her, she sent for the Philistine officials and told them, “Hurry up and come here at once, because he has told me everything.”[s] So the Philistine officials went to her and brought their money with them. 19 So she enticed him to fall asleep on her lap, called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair[t] from his head, and so began to humiliate him. Then his strength abandoned him.
20 When she cried out, “The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!” he woke from his sleep and told himself,[u] “I’ll go out like I did at other times like this and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that the Lord had abandoned him.
Samson is Imprisoned by the Philistines
21 Then the Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, tied him up in bronze chains,[v] and made him grind grain in their prison.[w] 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved off.
23 Some time later, the Philistine officials got together to present a magnificent sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to throw a party, because they were claiming, “Our god has given Samson into our control!”
24 When the people saw Samson,[x] they praised their god, claiming:
Our god has given our enemy into our control;
the one who was destroying our land,
and who has killed many of us.
25 Because they all got good and drunk,[y] they ordered, “Go get Samson, so he can entertain us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them while they made him stand between the pillars.
Samson Kills Himself and 3,000 Philistines
26 Then Samson told the young man who had been leading him around by the hand, “Let me touch and feel the pillars on which this building rests, and I’ll support myself against them.” 27 Now the building was full of men, women, and all the Philistine officials, with about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching Samson while he was entertaining them.
28 Then Samson cried out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me. And please strengthen me this one time, God, so that I can repay the Philistines right now for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson grabbed the two middle pillars upon which the house rested and braced himself against them with one pillar in his right hand and the other in his left.
30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He strained with all his strength until the building collapsed on the officials and every person in it. As a result, the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime. 31 Afterwards, his brothers and his father’s household servants[z] came down, took him, brought him back, and buried him in his father Manoah’s tomb between Zorah and Eshtaol. He had governed Israel for 20 years.
Paul’s Trip to Macedonia and Greece
20 When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he said goodbye to them and left to go to Macedonia. 2 He went through those regions and encouraged the people[a] with everything he had to say. Then he went to Greece 3 and stayed there for three months. When he was about to sail for Syria, a plot was initiated against him by the Jews, so he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater (the son of Pyrrhus) from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and were waiting for us in Troas. 6 After the Festival[b] of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and days later we joined them in Troas and stayed there for seven days.
Paul’s Farewell Visit to Troas
7 On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul began to address the people.[c] Since he intended to leave the next day, he went on speaking until midnight. 8 Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in a window, began to sink off into a deep sleep as Paul kept speaking longer and longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, bent over[d] him, took him into his arms, and said, “Stop being alarmed, because he’s still alive.” 11 Then he went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. He talked with them for a long time, until dawn, and then left. 12 They took the young man away alive and were greatly relieved.
Paul’s Trip to Miletus
13 We proceeded to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we intended to pick up Paul. He had arranged it this way, since he had planned to travel there on foot. 14 When he met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 We sailed from there and on the following day arrived off Chios. The next day, we crossed over to Samos and stayed at Trogyllium.[e] The day after that, we came to Miletus. 16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia, as he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if that was possible.
Paul Meets with the Ephesian Elders
17 From Miletus he sent messengers[f] to Ephesus to ask the elders of the church to meet with him. 18 When they came to him, he told them, “You know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day I set foot in Asia. 19 I served the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. 20 I never shrank from telling you anything that would help you nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house. 21 I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus.[g] 22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that in town after town the Holy Spirit assures me that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me. 24 But I don’t place any value on my life, if only I can finish my race and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again. 26 I therefore declare to you today that I’m not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27 because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. 28 Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’s[h] church, which he acquired with his own blood. 29 I know that when I’m gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. 30 Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. 31 So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.
32 “I’m now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. 33 I never desired anyone’s silver, gold, or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who were with me. 35 In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we should help the weak and remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”[i]
36 When Paul[j] had said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. 37 All of them cried and cried[k] as they put their arms around Paul and kissed[l] him affectionately. 38 They were especially sorrowful because of what he had said—that they would never see his face again. Then they took him to the ship.
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles
29 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials,[a] the officials[b] of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths left Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by Shaphan’s son Elasah and by Hilkiah’s son Gemariah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon, and it said, 4 “This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were taken from Jerusalem into exile to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them.[c] Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so they may have sons and daughters. Increase in numbers there, don’t decrease. 7 Seek the welfare of the city to which I’ve exiled you and pray to the Lord for it, for your welfare depends on its welfare.’[d] 8 For this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Don’t let the prophets and diviners[e] who are among you deceive you, and don’t listen to them when they tell you their dreams.[f] 9 Indeed, they’re prophesying lies to you in my name. I didn’t send them,’ declares the Lord.
10 “For this is what the Lord says: ‘When Babylon’s seventy years are completed, I’ll take note of you and will fulfill my good promises to you by bringing you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope. 12 When you call out to me and come and pray to me, I’ll hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14 I’ll be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I’ll restore your security[g] and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I’ve driven you,’ declares the Lord. ‘I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’
15 “Indeed, you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.’
16 “But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne, and about the people who live in this city—your brothers who didn’t go with you into exile: 17 This is what the Lord says: ‘I’m about to send the sword, famine, and plague on them, and I’ll make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten because they’re so bad. 18 I’ll pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague, and I’ll make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. I’ll make them[h] a curse, an object of horror, and scorn,[i] and a desolation in all the nations to which I’ve driven them, 19 because they didn’t listen to my words,’ declares the Lord. ‘When I sent my servants, the prophets, to you again and again,[j] you didn’t listen,’ declares the Lord.
20 “Now, all you exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to this message from the Lord! 21 This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says about Kolaiah’s son Ahab and Maaseiah’s son Zedekiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name, ‘I’m about to give them into the domination[k] of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes. 22 What happens to them will be the basis for a curse[l] for all the Judean exiles who are in Babylon. People will say,[m] “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the Lord roasted[n] in the fire, 23 because they did something stupid[o] in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they spoke lies that I didn’t command them. I’m the one who knows, and I’m a witness,” declares the Lord.’”
A Rebuke to Shemaiah
24 “You are to say to Shemaiah of Nehelam: 25 ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to Maaseiah’s son Zephaniah the priest and to all the priests— 26 The Lord made you a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest to serve in the Lord’s Temple as an official against every crazy prophet, and to put him in stocks and restraints. 27 And now, why didn’t you rebuke Jeremiah from Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 So he sent a message[p] to us in Babylon: ‘The exile[q] will be long, so build houses and live in them.[r] Plant gardens and eat their produce.’”’”
29 Then Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet, 30 and this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 “Send a message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah from Nehelam, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I didn’t send him, and has made you trust a lie,” 32 therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I’m about to judge Shemaiah from Nehelam along with his descendants. He won’t have anyone related to him[s] living among these people. Nor will he see the good that I’ll do for my people,” declares the Lord, “because he advocated rebellion against the Lord.”’”
Jesus is Taken to Pilate(A)
15 As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council.[a] They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus[b] answered him, “You say so.”
3 The high priests kept accusing him of many things. 4 So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” 5 But since Jesus no longer answered, Pilate was astonished.
Jesus is Sentenced to Death(B)
6 At every festival,[c] Pilate[d] would release any one prisoner whom the people[e] requested. 7 Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He had been with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion. 8 So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate[f] do for them what he always did.[g] 9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10 because he knew that the high priests had handed him over due to jealousy.
11 But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead. 12 So Pilate asked them again, “Then what should I do with the man you call[h] ‘the King of the Jews’?”
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted back.
14 “Why?” Pilate asked them. “What has he done wrong?”
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.
The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus(C)
16 The soldiers led Jesus[i] into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters)[j] and called out the whole guard. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted some thorns into a victor’s crown, and placed it on his head.[k] 18 They began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!” 19 They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, kneeling in front of him, and worshiping him. 20 When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the purple robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Jesus is Crucified(D)
21 They forced a certain passer-by named[l] Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who happened to be coming in from the country, to carry Jesus’[m] cross. 22 They took Jesus[n] to a place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he wouldn’t accept it. 24 Then they crucified him. They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice to see what each one would get. 25 It was nine in the morning[o] when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” 27 They crucified two bandits[p] with him, one on his right and the other on his left.[q] 29 Those who passed by kept insulting[r] him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who were going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days— 30 save yourself and come down from the cross!”
31 In the same way, the high priests, along with the scribes, were also making fun of him among themselves. They kept saying, “He saved others, but can’t save himself! 32 Let the Messiah,[s] the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, since seeing is believing!” Even the men who were crucified with him kept insulting him.
Jesus Dies on the Cross(E)
33 At noon,[t] darkness came over the whole land[u] until three in the afternoon.[v] 34 At three o’clock,[w] Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, eloi,[x] lema sabachthani?”[y] (which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)[z]
35 When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He’s calling for Elijah!”[aa]
36 So someone ran and soaked a sponge in some sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus[ab] a drink, saying, “Wait! Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down!”
37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 The curtain[ac] in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion[ad] who stood facing Jesus[ae] saw how he had cried out and[af] breathed his last, he said, “This man certainly was the Son of God!”
40 Now there were women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene,[ag] Mary the mother of young James and Joseph, and Salome. 41 They used to accompany him and care for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there, too.
Jesus is Buried(F)
42 It was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath. Since it was already evening, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Council,[ah] who was waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was amazed to hear[ai] that Jesus[aj] had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask him if he was in fact dead. 45 When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he let Joseph have the corpse. 46 Joseph[ak] bought some linen cloth, took the body[al] down, wrapped it in the cloth, laid it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 Now Mary Magdalene[am] and Mary the mother of Joseph observed where the body[an] had been laid.
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