M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Dinah Is Attacked
34 At this time Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land, saw her, he took her and forced her to have sexual relations with him. 3 Shechem fell in love with Dinah, and he spoke kindly to her. 4 He told his father, Hamor, “Please get this girl for me so I can marry her.”
5 Jacob learned how Shechem had disgraced his daughter, but since his sons were out in the field with the cattle, Jacob said nothing until they came home. 6 While he waited, Hamor father of Shechem went to talk with Jacob.
7 When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they came in from the field. They were very angry that Shechem had done such a wicked thing to Israel. It was wrong for him to have sexual relations with Jacob’s daughter; a thing like this should not be done.
8 But Hamor talked to Dinah’s brothers and said, “My son Shechem is deeply in love with Dinah. Please let him marry her. 9 Marry our people. Give your women to our men as wives and take our women for your men as wives. 10 You can live in the same land with us. You will be free to own land and to trade here.”
11 Shechem also talked to Jacob and to Dinah’s brothers and said, “Please accept my offer. I will give anything you ask. 12 Ask as much as you want for the payment for the bride, and I will give it to you. Just let me marry Dinah.”
13 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with lies, because Shechem had disgraced their sister Dinah. 14 The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow you to marry our sister, because you are not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15 But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us. 16 Then your men can marry our women, and our men can marry your women, and we will live in your land and become one people. 17 If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah and leave.”
18 What they asked seemed fair to Hamor and Shechem. 19 So Shechem quickly went to be circumcised because he loved Jacob’s daughter.
Now Shechem was the most respected man in his family. 20 So Hamor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These people want to be friends with us. So let them live in our land and trade here. There is enough land for all of us. Let us marry their women, and we can let them marry our women. 22 But we must agree to one thing: All our men must be circumcised as they are. Then they will agree to live in our land, and we will be one people. 23 If we do this, their cattle and their animals will belong to us. Let us do what they say, and they will stay in our land.” 24 All the people who had come to the city gate heard this. They agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every man was circumcised.
25 Three days later the men who were circumcised were still in pain. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi (Dinah’s brothers), took their swords and made a surprise attack on the city, killing all the men there. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem and then took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left. 27 Jacob’s sons came upon the dead bodies and stole everything that was in the city, to pay them back for what Shechem had done to their sister. 28 So the brothers took the flocks, herds, and donkeys, and everything in the city and in the fields. 29 They took every valuable thing the people owned, even their wives and children and everything in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have caused me a lot of trouble. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in the land will hate me. Since there are only a few of us, if they join together to attack us, my people and I will be destroyed.”
31 But the brothers said, “We will not allow our sister to be treated like a prostitute.”
A Man with Demons Inside Him
5 Jesus and his followers went to the other side of the lake to the area of the Gerasene[a] people. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, instantly a man with an evil spirit came to him from the burial caves. 3 This man lived in the caves, and no one could tie him up, not even with a chain. 4 Many times people had used chains to tie the man’s hands and feet, but he always broke them off. No one was strong enough to control him. 5 Day and night he would wander around the burial caves and on the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones. 6 While Jesus was still far away, the man saw him, ran to him, and fell down before him.
7 The man shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I command you in God’s name not to torture me!” 8 He said this because Jesus was saying to him, “You evil spirit, come out of the man.”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He answered, “My name is Legion,[b] because we are many spirits.” 10 He begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of that area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs; let us go into them.” 13 So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs—about two thousand of them—rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned.
14 The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened. 16 The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him, and they told about the pigs. 17 Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.
18 As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who was freed from the demons begged to go with him.
19 But Jesus would not let him. He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man left and began to tell the people in the Ten Towns[c] about what Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.
Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 When Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him there. 22 A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. 23 He begged Jesus, saying again and again, “My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. 25 Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. 27 When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. 28 She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease.
30 At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. 33 The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. 34 Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of the synagogue leader. They said, “Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore.”
36 But Jesus paid no attention to what they said. He told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him. 38 When they came to the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus found many people there making lots of noise and crying loudly. 39 Jesus entered the house and said to them, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? The child is not dead, only asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. So, after throwing them out of the house, Jesus took the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room where the child was. 41 Taking hold of the girl’s hand, he said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means, “Young girl, I tell you to stand up!”) 42 At once the girl stood right up and began walking. (She was twelve years old.) Everyone was completely amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl something to eat.
Job, the Good Man
1 A man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was an honest and innocent man; he honored God and stayed away from evil. 2 Job had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. He also had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 Job’s sons took turns holding feasts in their homes and invited their sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 After a feast was over, Job would send and have them made clean. Early in the morning Job would offer a burnt offering for each of them, because he thought, “My children may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did this every time.
Satan Appears Before the Lord
6 One day the angels came to show themselves before the Lord, and Satan[a] was with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “I have been wandering around the earth, going back and forth in it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest and innocent man, honoring God and staying away from evil.”
9 But Satan answered the Lord, “Job honors God for a good reason. 10 You have put a wall around him, his family, and everything he owns. You have blessed the things he has done. His flocks and herds are so large they almost cover the land. 11 But reach out your hand and destroy everything he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “All right, then. Everything Job has is in your power, but you must not touch Job himself.” Then Satan left the Lord’s presence.
13 One day Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine together at the oldest brother’s house. 14 A messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were eating grass nearby, 15 when the Sabeans attacked and carried them away. They killed the servants with swords, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
16 The messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “Lightning from God fell from the sky. It burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
17 The second messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “The Babylonians sent three groups of attackers that swept down and stole your camels and killed the servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
18 The third messenger was still speaking when another messenger arrived and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine together at the oldest brother’s house. 19 Suddenly a great wind came from the desert, hitting all four corners of the house at once. The house fell in on the young people, and they are all dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”
20 When Job heard this, he got up and tore his robe and shaved his head to show how sad he was. Then he bowed down to the ground to worship God. 21 He said:
“I was naked when I was born,
and I will be naked when I die.
The Lord gave these things to me,
and he has taken them away.
Praise the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or blame God.
Right with God
5 Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have[a] peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 who through our faith[b] has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory. 3 We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. 4 And patience produces character, and character produces hope. 5 And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.
6 When we were unable to help ourselves, at the right time, Christ died for us, although we were living against God. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die. 8 But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
9 So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ’s death. 10 While we were God’s enemies, he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are his friends, he will save us through his Son’s life. 11 And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we are now God’s friends again.
Adam and Christ Compared
12 Sin came into the world because of what one man did, and with sin came death. This is why everyone must die—because everyone sinned. 13 Sin was in the world before the law of Moses, but sin is not counted against us as breaking a command when there is no law. 14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, everyone had to die, even those who had not sinned by breaking a command, as Adam had.
Adam was like the One who was coming in the future. 15 But God’s free gift is not like Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But the grace from God was much greater; many people received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. 16 After Adam sinned once, he was judged guilty. But the gift of God is different. God’s free gift came after many sins, and it makes people right with God. 17 One man sinned, and so death ruled all people because of that one man. But now those people who accept God’s full grace and the great gift of being made right with him will surely have true life and rule through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 So as one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people, one good act that Christ did makes all people right with God. And that brings true life for all. 19 One man disobeyed God, and many became sinners. In the same way, one man obeyed God, and many will be made right. 20 The law came to make sin worse. But when sin grew worse, God’s grace increased. 21 Sin once used death to rule us, but God gave people more of his grace so that grace could rule by making people right with him. And this brings life forever through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.