M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jacob’s Family Grows Strong
1 When Jacob[a] went to Egypt, he took his sons, and each son took his own family with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 There was a total of seventy people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all the people who had lived at that same time. 7 But the people of Israel had many children, and their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and the country of Egypt was filled with them.
Trouble for the People of Israel
8 Then a new king began to rule Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was. 9 This king said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and too strong for us to handle! 10 If we don’t make plans against them, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join our enemies and fight us and escape from the country!”
11 So the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites. They put slave masters over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12 But the harder the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work, the more the Israelites grew in number and spread out. So the Egyptians became very afraid of them 13 and demanded even more of them. 14 They made their lives bitter. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work.
15 Two Hebrew nurses, named Shiphrah and Puah, helped the Israelite women give birth to their babies. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” 17 But the nurses feared God, so they did not do as the king told them; they let all the boy babies live. 18 Then the king of Egypt sent for the nurses and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”
19 The nurses said to him, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” 20 God was good to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger. 21 Because the nurses feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 So the king commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”
Jesus Is Tempted by the Devil
4 Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. The Spirit led Jesus into the desert 2 where the devil tempted Jesus for forty days. Jesus ate nothing during that time, and when those days were ended, he was very hungry.
3 The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell this rock to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘A person does not live on bread alone.’”[a]
5 Then the devil took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. 6 The devil said to Jesus, “I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 7 If you worship me, then it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”[b]
9 Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place of the Temple. He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump down. 10 It is written in the Scriptures:
‘He has put his angels in charge of you
to watch over you.’ Psalm 91:11
11 It is also written:
‘They will catch you in their hands
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Psalm 91:12
12 Jesus answered, “But it also says in the Scriptures: ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”[c]
13 After the devil had tempted Jesus in every way, he left him to wait until a better time.
Jesus Teaches the People
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and stories about him spread all through the area. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where he had grown up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as he always did, and stood up to read. 17 The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:
18 “The Lord has put his Spirit in me,
because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to tell the captives they are free
and to tell the blind that they can see again. Isaiah 61:1
God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly Isaiah 58:6
19 and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.” Isaiah 61:2
20 Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the assistant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was watching Jesus closely. 21 He began to say to them, “While you heard these words just now, they were coming true!”
22 All the people spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the words of grace he spoke. They asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23 Jesus said to them, “I know that you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those things here in your own town!’” 24 Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. 25 But I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah. It did not rain in Israel for three and one-half years, and there was no food anywhere in the whole country. 26 But Elijah was sent to none of those widows, only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon. 27 And there were many with skin diseases living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed, only Naaman, who was from the country of Syria.”
28 When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry. 29 They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge, 30 but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus Forces Out an Evil Spirit
31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on the Sabbath day, he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue a man who had within him an evil spirit shouted in a loud voice, 34 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”
35 Jesus commanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people and then left the man without hurting him.
36 The people were amazed and said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power he commands evil spirits, and they come out.” 37 And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.
Jesus Heals Many People
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon.[d] Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 He came to her side and commanded the fever to leave. It left her, and immediately she got up and began serving them.
40 When the sun went down, the people brought those who were sick to Jesus. Putting his hands on each sick person, he healed every one of them. 41 Demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus commanded the demons and would not allow them to speak, because they knew Jesus was the Christ.
42 At daybreak, Jesus went to a lonely place, but the people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. 43 But Jesus said to them, “I must preach about God’s kingdom to other towns, too. This is why I was sent.”
44 Then he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.[e]
Bildad Answers Job
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “When will you stop these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 You think of us as cattle,
as if we are stupid.
4 You tear yourself to pieces in your anger.
Should the earth be vacant just for you?
Should the rocks move from their places?
5 “The lamp of the wicked will be put out,
and the flame in their lamps will stop burning.
6 The light in their tents will grow dark,
and the lamps by their sides will go out.
7 Their strong steps will grow weak;
they will fall into their own evil traps.
8 Their feet will be caught in a net
when they walk into its web.
9 A trap will catch them by the heel
and hold them tight.
10 A trap for them is hidden on the ground,
right in their path.
11 Terrible things startle them from every side
and chase them at every step.
12 Hunger takes away their strength,
and disaster is at their side.
13 Disease eats away parts of their skin;
death gnaws at their arms and legs.
14 They are torn from the safety of their tents
and dragged off to Death, the King of Terrors.
15 Their tents are set on fire,
and sulfur is scattered over their homes.
16 Their roots dry up below ground,
and their branches die above ground.
17 People on earth will not remember them;
their names will be forgotten in the land.
18 They will be driven from light into darkness
and chased out of the world.
19 They have no children or descendants among their people,
and no one will be left alive where they once lived.
20 People of the west will be shocked at what has happened to them,
and people of the east will be very frightened.
21 Surely this is what will happen to the wicked;
such is the place of one who does not know God.”
Wickedness in the Church
5 It is actually being said that there is sexual sin among you. And it is a kind that does not happen even among people who do not know God. A man there has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! You should have been filled with sadness so that the man who did this should be put out of your group. 3 I am not there with you in person, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did that sin as if I were really there. 4 When you meet together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I meet with you in spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 then hand this man over to Satan. So his sinful self[a] will be destroyed, and his spirit will be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your bragging is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” 7 Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough without yeast, which you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 So let us celebrate this feast, but not with the bread that has the old yeast—the yeast of sin and wickedness. Let us celebrate this feast with the bread that has no yeast—the bread of goodness and truth.
9 I wrote you in my earlier letter not to associate with those who sin sexually. 10 But I did not mean you should not associate with those of this world who sin sexually, or with the greedy, or robbers, or those who worship idols. To get away from them you would have to leave this world. 11 I am writing to tell you that you must not associate with those who call themselves believers in Christ but who sin sexually, or are greedy, or worship idols, or abuse others with words, or get drunk, or cheat people. Do not even eat with people like that.
12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church. The Scripture says, “You must get rid of the evil person among you.”[b]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.