M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God Calls Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you.

⁴ So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him. ⁹ After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.

Abram Goes to Egypt

¹⁰ At this time there was not much food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food. ¹¹ Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. ¹³ Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The Egyptian officers saw her and told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was. They took her to the king’s palace, and ¹⁶ the king was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was her brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord sent terrible diseases on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and leave!” ²⁰ Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.

Jesus and John the Baptist

11 After Jesus finished telling these things to his twelve followers, he left there and went to the towns in Galilee to teach and preach.

² John the Baptist was in prison, but he heard about what the Christ was doing. So John sent some of his followers to Jesus. ³ They asked him, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?”

⁴ Jesus answered them, “Go tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ The blind can see, the crippled can walk, and people with skin diseases are healed. The deaf can hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor. ⁶ Those who do not stumble in their faith because of me are blessed.”

⁷ As John’s followers were leaving, Jesus began talking to the people about John. Jesus said, “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed^[a] blown by the wind? ⁸ What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes live in kings’ palaces. ⁹ So why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, and I tell you, John is more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This was written about him:

¹¹ I tell you the truth, John the Baptist is greater than any other person ever born, but even the least important person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. ¹² Since the time John the Baptist came until now, the kingdom of heaven has been going forward in strength, and people have been trying to take it by force. ¹³ All the prophets and the law of Moses told about what would happen until the time John came. ¹⁴ And if you will believe what they said, you will believe that John is Elijah, whom they said would come. ¹⁵ Let those with ears use them and listen!

¹⁶ “What can I say about the people of this time? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, who call out to each other,

¹⁸ John came and did not eat or drink like other people. So people say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and people say, ‘Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine, and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved to be right by what she does.”

Jesus Warns Unbelievers

²⁰ Then Jesus criticized the cities where he did most of his miracles, because the people did not change their lives and stop sinning. ²¹ He said, “How terrible for you, Korazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! If the same miracles I did in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon,^[b] those people would have changed their lives a long time ago. They would have worn rough cloth and put ashes on themselves to show they had changed. ²² But I tell you, on the Judgment Day it will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum,^[c] will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to the depths. If the miracles I did in you had happened in Sodom,^[d] its people would have stopped sinning, and it would still be a city today. ²⁴ But I tell you, on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for you.”

Jesus Offers Rest to People

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the people who are wise and smart. But you have shown them to those who are like little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, this is what you really wanted.

²⁷ “My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son, except the Father. And no one knows the Father, except the Son and those whom the Son chooses to tell.

²⁸ “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. ³⁰ The burden that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.”

Nehemiah’s Prayer

1 These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year,^[a] I, Nehemiah, was in the capital city of Susa. ² One of my brothers named Hanani came with some other men from Judah. I asked them about Jerusalem and the Jewish people who lived through the captivity.

³ They answered me, “Those who are left from the captivity are back in Judah, but they are in much trouble and are full of shame. The wall around Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and cried for several days. I was sad and fasted. I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ “Lord, God of heaven, you are the great God who is to be respected. You are loyal, and you keep your agreement with those who love you and obey your commands. ⁶ Look and listen carefully. Hear the prayer that I, your servant, am praying to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we Israelites have done against you. My father’s family and I have sinned against you. ⁷ We have been wicked toward you and have not obeyed the commands, rules, and laws you gave your servant Moses.

⁸ “Remember what you taught your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and obey my commands, I will gather your people from the far ends of the earth. And I will bring them from captivity to where I have chosen to be worshiped.’

¹⁰ “They are your servants and your people, whom you have saved with your great strength and power. ¹¹ Lord, listen carefully to the prayer of your servant and the prayers of your servants who love to honor you. Give me, your servant, success today; allow this king to show kindness to me.”

I was the one who served wine to the king.

Peter Returns to Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the believers in Judea heard that some who were not Jewish had accepted God’s teaching too. ² But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some people argued with him. ³ They said, “You went into the homes of people who are not circumcised and ate with them!”

⁴ So Peter explained the whole story to them. ⁵ He said, “I was in the city of Joppa, and while I was praying, I had a vision. I saw something that looked like a big sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came very close to me. ⁶ I looked inside it and saw animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. ⁷ I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is unholy or unclean.’ ⁹ But the voice from heaven spoke again, ‘God has made these things clean, so don’t call them unholy.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back to heaven. ¹¹ Right then three men who were sent to me from Caesarea came to the house where I was staying. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them without doubting. These six believers here also went with me, and we entered the house of Cornelius. ¹³ He told us about the angel he saw standing in his house. The angel said to him, ‘Send some men to Joppa and invite Simon Peter to come. ¹⁴ By the words he will say to you, you and all your family will be saved.’ ¹⁵ When I began my speech, the Holy Spirit came on them just as he came on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the words of the Lord. He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ Since God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I stop the work of God?”

¹⁸ When the believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is allowing even other nations to turn to him and live.”

The Good News Comes to Antioch

¹⁹ Many of the believers were scattered when they were persecuted after Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch telling the message to others, but only to Jews. ²⁰ Some of these believers were people from Cyprus and Cyrene. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks,^[a] telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord was helping the believers, and a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²² The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ^23-24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad. He encouraged all the believers in Antioch always to obey the Lord with all their hearts, and many people became followers of the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he found Saul, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church and taught many people there. In Antioch the followers were called Christians for the first time.

²⁷ About that time some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and spoke with the help of the Holy Spirit. He said, “A very hard time is coming to the whole world. There will be no food to eat.” (This happened when Claudius ruled.) ²⁹ The followers all decided to help the believers who lived in Judea, as much as each one could. ³⁰ They gathered the money and gave it to Barnabas and Saul, who brought it to the elders in Judea.