M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Round the coast and out of the window
20 After the hue and cry had died down, Paul sent for the disciples. He encouraged them, said his farewells, and set off to go to Macedonia. 2 He went through those regions, encouraging them with many words and, arriving in Greece, 3 stayed there three months. He was intending to set sail for Syria, but the Jews made a plot against him, and he decided to return instead through Macedonia.
4 He was accompanied on this trip by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus of Beroea; by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; by Gaius from Derbe; and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas, 6 while we got on board ship at Philippi, after the days of Unleavened Bread, and joined them in Troas five days later. We stayed there for a week.
7 On the first day of the week we gathered to break bread. Paul was intending to leave the following morning. He was engaged in discussion with them, and he went on talking up to midnight. 8 There were several lamps burning in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting by the window, and was overcome with a deep sleep as Paul went on and on. Once sleep had got the better of him, he fell down out of the third-story window, and was picked up dead.
10 Paul went down, stooped over him and picked him up.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “There is life still in him.”
11 He went back upstairs, broke bread and ate with them, and continued speaking until dawn. Then he left. 12 They took up the young man alive and were very much comforted.
Paul the pastor looks back—and looks on
13 We went on ahead to the ship and set off for Assos, with the intention of picking Paul up there (he had decided that he would walk to that point). 14 When we arrived at Assos, we picked him up and went on to Mitylene, 15 and from there we sailed on the next day and arrived opposite Chios. The following day we got near to Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus. 16 Paul had decided, you see, to pass by Ephesus, so that he wouldn’t have to spend more time in Asia. He was eager to get to Jerusalem, if he could, in time for the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, 18 and they came to him.
“You know very well,” he began, “how I have behaved with you all the time, since the first day I arrived in Asia. 19 I have served the Lord with all humility, with the tears and torments that came upon me because of the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I kept back nothing that would have been helpful to you, preaching to you and teaching you both in public and from house to house. 21 I bore witness both to Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, look, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the spirit. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me there, 23 but only that the holy spirit testifies to me in city after city that captivity and trouble are in store for me. 24 But I don’t reckon my life at any value, so long as I can finish my course, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.
25 “So now,” he went on, “I have gone to and fro preaching the kingdom among you, but I know that none of you will ever see my face again. 26 Therefore I bear witness to you this very day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, 27 since I did not shrink from declaring to you God’s entire plan.”
Watch out for yourselves, the flock and the wolves
28 “Watch out for yourselves,” Paul continued, “and for the whole flock, in which the holy spirit has appointed you as guardians, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his very own blood. 29 I know that fierce wolves will come in after I am gone, and they won’t spare the flock. 30 Yes, even from among yourselves people will arise, saying things which will distort the truth, and they will draw the disciples away after them. 31 Therefore keep watch, and remember that for three years, night and day, I didn’t stop warning each of you, with tears.
32 “So now I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those whom God has sanctified. 33 I never coveted anyone’s silver, or gold, or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that these very hands worked to serve my own needs and those of the people with me. 35 I showed you in all such matters that this is how we should work to help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, as he put it, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 When he had said this, he knelt down with them all and prayed. 37 There was great lamentation among them all, and they fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. 38 They were particularly sorry to hear the word he had spoken about never seeing his face again.
Then they brought him to the ship.
Jesus before Pilate
15 As soon as morning came, the chief priests held a council meeting with the elders, the legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin. They bound Jesus, took him off to Pilate, and handed him over.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said it,” replied Jesus.
3 The chief priests laid many accusations against him.
4 Pilate again interrogated him: “Aren’t you going to make any reply? Look how many accusations they’re making against you!”
5 But Jesus gave no reply at all, which astonished Pilate.
6 The custom was that at festival time he used to release for them a single prisoner, whoever they would ask for. 7 There was a man in prison named Barabbas, one of the revolutionaries who had committed murder during the uprising. 8 So the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do what he normally did.
9 “Do you want me,” answered Pilate, “to release for you ‘the king of the Jews’?”
10 He said this because he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy. 11 The chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead to be released to them. So Pilate once again asked them, 12 “What then do you want me to do with the one you call ‘the king of the Jews’?”
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted again.
14 “Why?” asked Pilate. “What has he done wrong?”
“Crucify him!” they shouted all the louder.
15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd; so he released Barabbas for them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The crucifixion
16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard, that is, the Praetorium, and called together the whole squad. 17 They dressed Jesus up in purple; then, weaving together a crown of thorns, they stuck it on him. 18 They began to salute him: “Greetings, King of the Jews!” 19 And they hit him over the head with a staff, and spat at him, and knelt down to do him homage. 20 Then, when they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him, and put his own clothes back on.
Then they led him off to crucify him. 21 They compelled a man called Simon to carry Jesus’ cross. He was from Cyrene, and was coming in from out of town. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
22 They took Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which in translation means “Skull’s Place.” 23 They gave him a mixture of wine and myrrh, but he didn’t drink it.
24 So they crucified him; they “parted his clothing between them, casting lots” to see who would get what. 25 It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription, giving the charge, read: “The King of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two bandits alongside him, one on his right and one on his left.
29 People who were passing by abused him. They shook their heads at him.
“Hah!” they said. “You were going to destroy the Temple, were you? And build it again in three days? 30 Why don’t you rescue yourself, and come down from the cross?”
31 The chief priests and the lawyers were mocking him in the same way among themselves.
“He rescued others,” they said, “but he can’t rescue himself. 32 Messiah, is he? King of Israel, did he say? Well, let’s see him come down from the cross! We’ll believe him when we see that!”
The two who were crucified alongside him taunted him as well.
The death of Jesus
33 At midday there was darkness over all the land until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus shouted out in a powerful voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”
35 When the bystanders heard it, some of them said, “He’s calling for Elijah!”
36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a pole, and gave it him to drink.
“Well then,” he declared, “let’s see if Elijah will come and take him down.”
37 But Jesus, with another loud shout, breathed his last.
38 The Temple veil was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion who was standing facing him saw that he died in this way, he said, “This fellow really was God’s son.”
The burial of Jesus
40 Some women were watching from a distance. They included Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. 41 They had followed Jesus in Galilee, and had attended to his needs. There were several other women, too, who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
42 It was already getting towards evening, and it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath. 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a reputable member of the council who was himself eagerly awaiting God’s kingdom, took his courage in both hands, went to Pilate, and requested the body of Jesus.
44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion, and asked whether he had been dead for some time. 45 When he learned the facts from the centurion, he conceded the body to Joseph.
46 So Joseph bought a linen cloth, took the body down, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb cut out of the rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was buried.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.