M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Herod kills James
12 Around that time, King Herod began to use violence towards some members of the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Judaeans, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. (This was around the time of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.) 4 So, when he had seized him, he put him in prison, and gave four squads of soldiers the job of guarding him, with the intention of bringing him out to the people after Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison. But the church prayed earnestly to God on his behalf.
Peter’s rescue and Rhoda’s mistake
6 On the night when Herod was intending to bring Peter out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. There were guards on the doors, watching the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shone in the cell.
The angel hit Peter on the side and woke him up.
“Get up quickly!” he said.
The chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel spoke again.
“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” he said. So Peter did.
“Put on your cloak and follow me,” said the angel.
9 So he went out, following the angel. He didn’t think all this business with the angel was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They went through the first set of guards; then the second; and then they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It opened all by itself. They went out and walked along a street. Suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to his senses.
“Now I know it’s true!” he said. “The Lord sent his angel and snatched me out of Herod’s hands. He rescued me from all the things the Judaeans were intending to do.”
12 Once he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary, John Mark’s mother. Lots of people were gathered there, praying. 13 Peter knocked at the door in the outer gate, and a maid called Rhoda came to answer it. 14 When she heard Peter’s voice, she was so excited that she didn’t open the gate. Instead, she ran back in and told them that Peter was standing outside the gate.
15 “You’re mad!” they said to her. But she insisted that it really was true.
“It must be his angel!” they said.
16 Meanwhile Peter carried on knocking. They opened the door and saw him, and were astonished. 17 He made a sign with his hand for them to be quiet. Then he told them how the Lord had led him out of the prison.
“Tell this to James, and to the other brothers and sisters,” he said.
Then he left, and went somewhere else.
18 When morning came, there was quite a commotion among the guards as to what had become of Peter. 19 Herod looked for him but couldn’t find him. He interrogated the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he left Judaea and went down to Caesarea, and stayed there.
Herod’s vanity and death
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They all came together to meet him, and they persuaded Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedchamber, to seek a reconciliation. (They were, you see, dependent on the king’s country for their food.) 21 So a day was set, and Herod dressed himself in his royal robes and took his seat on the official platform to make a public address to them.
22 The people began to shout, “The voice of a god, not of a mortal!”
23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. He was eaten by worms and expired.
24 But God’s word grew and multiplied. 25 Barnabas and Saul had by now accomplished their ministry in Jerusalem, and they came back to Antioch, bringing John Mark with them.
God’s law and human tradition
7 The Pharisees gathered round Jesus, together with some legal experts from Jerusalem. 2 They saw that some of his disciples were eating their food with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands.
3 (The Pharisees, you see—and indeed all the Jews—don’t eat unless they first carefully wash their hands. This is to maintain the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come in from the market, they never eat without washing. There are many other traditions which they observe: washings of cups, pots and bronze dishes.)
5 Anyway, the Pharisees and legal experts asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat their food with unwashed hands?”
6 “Isaiah summed you up just right,” Jesus replied. “What hypocrites you are! What he said was this:
With their lips this people honors me,
but with their hearts they turn away from me;
7 all in vain they think to worship me,
all they teach is human commands.
8 “You abandon God’s commands, and keep human tradition!
9 “So,” he went on, “you have a fine way of setting aside God’s command so as to maintain your tradition. 10 Here’s an example: Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who slanders father or mother should die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If someone says to their father or mother, “What you might get from me—it’s Korban!” ’ (which means, ‘given-to-God’), 12 you don’t let them do anything else for their father or mother! 13 The net result is that you invalidate God’s word through this tradition which you hand on. And there are lots more things like that which you do.”
Clean and unclean
14 Jesus summoned the crowd again.
“Listen to me, all of you,” he said, “and get this straight. 15 What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes out from inside.”
17 When they got back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18 “You didn’t get it either?” he asked. “Don’t you see that whatever goes into someone from outside can’t make them unclean? 19 It doesn’t go into the heart; it only goes into the stomach, and then carries on, out down the drain.” (Result: all foods are clean.)
20 “What makes someone unclean,” he went on, “is what comes out of them. 21 Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. 23 These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.”
The Syrophoenician woman
24 Jesus got up, left that place, and went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he didn’t want anyone to know, but it wasn’t possible for him to remain hidden. 25 On the contrary: news of him at once reached a woman who had a young daughter with an unclean spirit. She came and threw herself down at his feet. 26 She was Greek, a Syrophoenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 “First let the children eat what they want,” Jesus replied. “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
28 “Well, Master,” she said, “even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop.”
29 “Well said!” replied Jesus. “Off you go; the demon has left your daughter.”
30 So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
A deaf and mute man is healed
31 Jesus went away from the region of Tyre, through Sidon, round towards the sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Ten Towns. 32 They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and asked that he would lay his hand on him.
33 Jesus took the man off in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. 34 Then he looked up to heaven, groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was untied, and he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. 37 They were totally astonished.
“Everything he does is marvelous!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.