M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Proof for Moses
4 Then Moses answered, “What if the people of Israel do not believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
Moses answered, “It is my walking stick.”
3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from the snake, 4 but the Lord said to him, “Reach out and grab the snake by its tail.” When Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, it again became a stick in his hand. 5 The Lord said, “This is so that the Israelites will believe that the Lord appeared to you. I am the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was white with a skin disease.
7 Then he said, “Now put your hand inside your coat again.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat again. When he took it out, his hand was healthy again, like the rest of his skin.
8 Then the Lord said, “If the people do not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle, they may believe you when you show them this second miracle. 9 After these two miracles, if they still do not believe or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will become blood when it touches the ground.”
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been a skilled speaker. Even now, after talking to you, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can’t find the best words.”
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who made a person’s mouth? And who makes someone deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is I, the Lord. 12 Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14 The Lord became angry with Moses and said, “Your brother Aaron, from the family of Levi, is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you, and he will be happy when he sees you. 15 You will speak to Aaron and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do. 16 Aaron will speak to the people for you. You will tell him what God says, and he will speak for you. 17 Take your walking stick with you, and use it to do the miracles.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go! I wish you well.”
19 While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, “Go back to Egypt, because the men who wanted to kill you are dead now.”
20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and started back to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles I have given you the power to do. Show them to the king of Egypt. But I will make the king very stubborn, and he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I told you to let my son go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go, so I will kill your firstborn son.’”
24 As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The Lord met him there and tried to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Taking the skin, she touched Moses’ feet with it and said to him, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 She said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because she had to circumcise her son. So the Lord let Moses alone.
27 Meanwhile the Lord said to Aaron, “Go out into the desert to meet Moses.” When Aaron went, he met Moses at Sinai, the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had said to him when he sent him to Egypt. He also told him about the miracles which the Lord had commanded him to do.
29 Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything that the Lord had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all the people to see, 31 and the Israelites believed. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their troubles, they bowed down and worshiped him.
Jesus Heals a Soldier’s Servant
7 When Jesus finished saying all these things to the people, he went to Capernaum. 2 There was an army officer who had a servant who was very important to him. The servant was so sick he was nearly dead. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. 4 The men went to Jesus and begged him, saying, “This officer is worthy of your help. 5 He loves our people, and he built us a synagogue.”
6 So Jesus went with the men. He was getting near the officer’s house when the officer sent friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, because I am not worthy to have you come into my house. 7 That is why I did not come to you myself. But you only need to command it, and my servant will be healed. 8 I, too, am a man under the authority of others, and I have soldiers under my command. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, this is the greatest faith I have found anywhere, even in Israel.”
10 Those who had been sent to Jesus went back to the house where they found the servant in good health.
Jesus Brings a Man Back to Life
11 Soon afterwards Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his followers and a large crowd traveled with him. 12 When he came near the town gate, he saw a funeral. A mother, who was a widow, had lost her only son. A large crowd from the town was with the mother while her son was being carried out. 13 When the Lord saw her, he felt very sorry for her and said, “Don’t cry.” 14 He went up and touched the coffin, and the people who were carrying it stopped. Jesus said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!” 15 And the son sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 All the people were amazed and began praising God, saying, “A great prophet has come to us! God has come to help his people.”
17 This news about Jesus spread through all Judea and into all the places around there.
John Asks a Question
18 John’s followers told him about all these things. He called for two of his followers 19 and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?”
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you with this question: ‘Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?’”
21 At that time, Jesus healed many people of their sicknesses, diseases, and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many blind people. 22 Then Jesus answered John’s followers, “Go tell John what you saw and heard here. 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. 23 Those who do not stumble in their faith because of me are blessed!”
24 When John’s followers left, Jesus began talking to the people about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed[a] blown by the wind? 25 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, people who have fine clothes and much wealth live in kings’ palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, and I tell you, John is more than a prophet. 27 This was written about him:
‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare the way for you.’ Malachi 3:1
28 I tell you, John is greater than any other person ever born, but even the least important person in the kingdom of God is greater than John.”
29 (When the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they all agreed that God’s teaching was good, because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and experts on the law refused to accept God’s plan for themselves; they did not let John baptize them.)
31 Then Jesus said, “What shall I say about the people of this time? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another and saying,
‘We played music for you, but you did not dance;
we sang a sad song, but you did not cry.’
33 John the Baptist came and did not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon in him.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine, and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is proved to be right by what it does.”
A Woman Washes Jesus’ Feet
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, so Jesus went into the Pharisee’s house and sat at the table. 37 A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume 38 and stood behind Jesus at his feet, crying. She began to wash his feet with her tears, and she dried them with her hair, kissing them many times and rubbing them with the perfume. 39 When the Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this, he thought to himself, “If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman touching him is a sinner!”
40 Jesus said to the Pharisee, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
Simon said, “Teacher, tell me.”
41 Jesus said, “Two people owed money to the same banker. One owed five hundred coins[b] and the other owed fifty. 42 They had no money to pay what they owed, but the banker told both of them they did not have to pay him. Which person will love the banker more?”
43 Simon, the Pharisee, answered, “I think it would be the one who owed him the most money.”
Jesus said to Simon, “You are right.” 44 Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she poured perfume on my feet. 47 I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The people sitting at the table began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Because you believed, you are saved from your sins. Go in peace.”
Job Answers Zophar
21 Then Job answered:
2 “Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be the way you comfort me.
3 Be patient while I speak.
After I have finished, you may continue to make fun of me.
4 “My complaint is not just against people;
I have reason to be impatient.
5 Look at me and be shocked;
put your hand over your mouth in shock.
6 When I think about this, I am terribly afraid
and my body shakes.
7 Why do evil people live a long time?
They grow old and become more powerful.
8 They see their children around them;
they watch them grow up.
9 Their homes are safe and without fear;
God does not punish them.
10 Their bulls never fail to mate;
their cows have healthy calves.
11 They send out their children like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of tambourines and harps,
and the sound of the flute makes them happy.
13 Evil people enjoy successful lives
and then go peacefully to the grave.
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We don’t want to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 The success of the wicked is not their own doing.
Their way of thinking is different from mine.
17 Yet how often are the lamps of evil people turned off?
How often does trouble come to them?
How often do they suffer God’s angry punishment?
18 How often are they like straw in the wind
or like chaff that is blown away by a storm?
19 It is said, ‘God saves up a person’s punishment for his children.’
But God should punish the wicked themselves so they will know it.
20 Their eyes should see their own destruction,
and they should suffer the anger of the Almighty.
21 They do not care about the families they leave behind
when their lives have come to an end.
22 “No one can teach knowledge to God;
he is the one who judges even the most important people.
23 One person dies while he still has all his strength,
feeling completely safe and comfortable.
24 His body was well fed,
and his bones were strong and healthy.
25 But another person dies with an unhappy heart,
never enjoying any happiness.
26 They are buried next to each other,
and worms cover them both.
27 “I know very well your thoughts
and your plans to wrong me.
28 You ask about me, ‘Where is this great man’s house?
Where are the tents where the wicked live?’
29 Have you never asked those who travel?
Have you never listened to their stories?
30 On the day of God’s anger and punishment,
it is the wicked who are spared.
31 Who will accuse them to their faces?
Who will pay them back for the evil they have done?
32 They are carried to their graves,
and someone keeps watch over their tombs.
33 The dirt in the valley seems sweet to them.
Everybody follows after them,
and many people go before them.
34 “So how can you comfort me with this nonsense?
Your answers are only lies!”
About Food Offered to Idols
8 Now I will write about meat that is sacrificed to idols. We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs you up with pride, but love builds up. 2 If you think you know something, you do not yet know anything as you should. 3 But if any person loves God, that person is known by God.
4 So this is what I say about eating meat sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is really nothing in the world, and we know there is only one God. 5 Even though there are things called gods, in heaven or on earth (and there are many “gods” and “lords”), 6 for us there is only one God—our Father. All things came from him, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord—Jesus Christ. All things were made through him, and we also were made through him.
7 But not all people know this. Some people are still so used to idols that when they eat meat, they still think of it as being sacrificed to an idol. Because their conscience is weak, when they eat it, they feel guilty. 8 But food will not bring us closer to God. Refusing to eat does not make us less pleasing to God, and eating does not make us better in God’s sight.
9 But be careful that your freedom does not cause those who are weak in faith to fall into sin. 10 Suppose one of you who has knowledge eats in an idol’s temple.[a] Someone who is weak in faith might see you eating there and be encouraged to eat meat sacrificed to idols while thinking it is wrong to do so. 11 This weak believer for whom Christ died is ruined because of your “knowledge.” 12 When you sin against your brothers and sisters in Christ like this and cause them to do what they feel is wrong, you are also sinning against Christ. 13 So if the food I eat causes them to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again so that I will not cause any of them to sin.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.