M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
8 The men of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why did you treat us this way? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight against Midian?” They argued angrily with Gideon.
2 But he answered them, “I have not done as well as you! The small part you did was better than all that my people of Abiezer did. 3 God let you capture Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian. How can I compare what I did with what you did?” When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, they were not as angry anymore.
Gideon Captures Two Kings
4 When Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan River, they were tired, but they chased the enemy across to the other side. 5 Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my soldiers some bread because they are very tired. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
6 But the leaders of Succoth said, “Why should we give your soldiers bread? You haven’t caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.”
7 Then Gideon said, “The Lord will surrender Zebah and Zalmunna to me. After that, I will whip your skin with thorns and briers from the desert.”
8 Gideon left Succoth and went to the city of Peniel and asked them for food. But the people of Peniel gave him the same answer as the people of Succoth. 9 So Gideon said to the men of Peniel, “After I win the victory, I will return and pull down this tower.”
10 Zebah and Zalmunna and their army were in the city of Karkor. About fifteen thousand men were left of the armies of the peoples of the east. Already one hundred twenty thousand soldiers had been killed. 11 Gideon went up the road of those who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the enemy army when they did not expect it. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian, ran away, but Gideon chased and captured them and frightened away their army.
13 Then Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres. 14 Gideon captured a young man from Succoth and asked him some questions. So the young man wrote down for Gideon the names of seventy-seven officers and elders of Succoth.
Gideon Punishes Succoth
15 When Gideon came to Succoth, he said to the people of that city, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You made fun of me by saying, ‘Why should we give bread to your tired men? You have not caught Zebah and Zalmunna yet.’” 16 So Gideon took the elders of the city and punished them with thorns and briers from the desert. 17 He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the people in that city.
18 Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like that you killed on Mount Tabor?”
They answered, “They were like you. Each one of them looked like a prince.”
19 Gideon said, “Those were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as the Lord lives, I would not kill you if you had spared them.” 20 Then Gideon said to Jether, his oldest son, “Kill them.” But Jether was only a boy and was afraid, so he did not take out his sword.
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on. Kill us yourself. As the saying goes, ‘It takes a man to do a man’s job.’” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the decorations off their camels’ necks.
Gideon Makes an Idol
22 The people of Israel said to Gideon, “You saved us from the Midianites. Now, we want you and your son and your grandson to rule over us.”
23 But Gideon told them, “The Lord will be your ruler. I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you.” 24 He said, “I want you to do this one thing for me. I want each of you to give me a gold earring from the things you took in the fighting.” (The Ishmaelites[a] wore gold earrings.)
25 They said, “We will gladly give you what you want.” So they spread out a coat, and everyone threw down an earring from what he had taken. 26 The gold earrings weighed about forty-three pounds. This did not count the decorations, necklaces, and purple robes worn by the kings of Midian, nor the chains from the camels’ necks. 27 Gideon used the gold to make a holy vest, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. But all the Israelites were unfaithful to God and worshiped it, so it became a trap for Gideon and his family.
The Death of Gideon
28 So Midian was under the rule of Israel; they did not cause trouble anymore. And the land had peace for forty years, as long as Gideon was alive.
29 Gideon[b] son of Joash went to his home to live. 30 He had seventy sons of his own, because he had many wives. 31 He had a slave woman who lived in Shechem, and he had a son by her, whom he named Abimelech. 32 So Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age. He was buried in the tomb of Joash, his father, in Ophrah, where the Abiezrites live.
33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel were again unfaithful to God and followed the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. 34 The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from all their enemies living all around them. 35 And they were not kind to the family of Jerub-Baal, also called Gideon, for all the good he had done for Israel.
Herod Agrippa Hurts the Church
12 During that same time King Herod began to mistreat some who belonged to the church. 2 He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword. 3 Herod saw that some of the people liked this, so he decided to arrest Peter, too. (This happened during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)
4 After Herod arrested Peter, he put him in jail and handed him over to be guarded by sixteen soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter before the people for trial after the Passover Feast. 5 So Peter was kept in jail, but the church prayed earnestly to God for him.
Peter Leaves the Jail
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Other soldiers were guarding the door of the jail. 7 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shined in the cell. The angel struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Hurry! Get up!” the angel said. And the chains fell off Peter’s hands. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And Peter did. Then the angel said, “Put on your coat and follow me.” 9 So Peter followed him out, but he did not know if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he might be seeing a vision. 10 They went past the first and second guards and came to the iron gate that separated them from the city. The gate opened by itself for them, and they went through it. When they had walked down one street, the angel suddenly left him.
11 Then Peter realized what had happened. He thought, “Now I know that the Lord really sent his angel to me. He rescued me from Herod and from all the things the people thought would happen.”
12 When he considered this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Many people were gathered there, praying. 13 Peter knocked on the outside door, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so happy she forgot to open the door. Instead, she ran inside and told the group, “Peter is at the door!”
15 They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she kept on saying it was true, so they said, “It must be Peter’s angel.”
16 Peter continued to knock, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 Peter made a sign with his hand to tell them to be quiet. He explained how the Lord led him out of the jail, and he said, “Tell James and the other believers what happened.” Then he left to go to another place.
18 The next day the soldiers were very upset and wondered what had happened to Peter. 19 Herod looked everywhere for him but could not find him. So he questioned the guards and ordered that they be killed.
The Death of Herod Agrippa
Later Herod moved from Judea and went to the city of Caesarea, where he stayed. 20 Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but the people of those cities all came in a group to him. After convincing Blastus, the king’s personal servant, to be on their side, they asked Herod for peace, because their country got its food from his country.
21 On a chosen day Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not a human!” 23 Because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of the Lord immediately caused him to become sick, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 God’s message continued to spread and reach people.
25 After Barnabas and Saul finished their task in Jerusalem, they returned to Antioch, taking John Mark with them.
God Rejects King Zedekiah’s Request
21 This is the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. It came when Zedekiah king of Judah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah. 2 They said, “Ask the Lord for us what will happen, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will do miracles for us as he did in the past so Nebuchadnezzar will stop attacking us and leave.”
3 But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell King Zedekiah this: 4 ‘Here is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: You have weapons of war in your hands to defend yourselves against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians, who are all around the city wall. But I will make those weapons useless. Soon I will bring them into the center of this city. 5 In my anger, my very great anger, I myself will fight against you with my great power and strength. 6 I will kill everything living in Jerusalem—both people and animals. They will die from terrible diseases. 7 Then, says the Lord, I’ll hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in Jerusalem who do not die from the terrible diseases or battle or hunger, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I will let those win who want to kill the people of Judah, so the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be killed in war. Nebuchadnezzar will not show any mercy or pity or feel sorry for them!’
8 “Also tell this to the people of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I will let you choose to live or die. 9 Anyone who stays in Jerusalem will die in war or from hunger or from a terrible disease. But anyone who goes out of Jerusalem and surrenders to the Babylonians who are attacking you will live. Anyone who leaves the city will save his life as if it were a prize won in war. 10 I have decided to make trouble for this city and not to help it, says the Lord. I will give it to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.’
11 “Say to Judah’s royal family: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. 12 Family of David, this is what the Lord says:
You must judge people fairly every morning.
Save the person who has been robbed
from the power of his attacker.
If you don’t, I will become very angry.
My anger will be like a fire that no one can put out,
because you have done evil things.
13 “‘Jerusalem, I am against you,
you who live on top of the mountain
over this valley, says the Lord.
You say, “No one can attack us
or come into our strong city.”
14 But I will give you the punishment you deserve, says the Lord.
I will start a fire in your forests
that will burn up everything around you!’”
Obey God’s Law
7 When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t washed them. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. 4 And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.[a])
5 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?”
6 Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote,
‘These people show honor to me with words,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’ Isaiah 29:13
8 You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings.”[b]
9 Then Jesus said to them, “You cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own teachings. 10 Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[c] and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[d] 11 But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ 12 You no longer let that person use that money for his father or his mother. 13 By your own rules, which you teach people, you are rejecting what God said. And you do many things like that.”
14 After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. [ 16 Let those with ears use them and listen.]”[e]
17 When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. 18 Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. 19 It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.)
20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.”
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
24 Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.[f] When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. 25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard that he was there. So she quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. 26 She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”
28 But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30 The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.[g] 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk plainly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) 35 Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk he makes able to speak.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.