M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jephthah and Ephraim
12 The men of Ephraim called all their soldiers together and crossed the river to the town of Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why didn’t you call us to help you fight the Ammonites? We will burn your house down with you in it.”
2 Jephthah answered them, “My people and I fought a great battle against the Ammonites. I called you, but you didn’t come to help me. 3 When I saw that you would not help me, I risked my own life and went against the Ammonites. The Lord handed them over to me. So why have you come to fight against me today?”
4 Then Jephthah called the men of Gilead together and fought the men of Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You men of Gilead are nothing but deserters from Ephraim—living between Ephraim and Manasseh.” 5 The men of Gilead captured the crossings of the Jordan River that led to the country of Ephraim. A person from Ephraim trying to escape would say, “Let me cross the river.” Then the men of Gilead would ask him, “Are you from Ephraim?” If he replied no, 6 they would say to him, “Say the word ‘Shibboleth.’” The men of Ephraim could not say that word correctly. So if the person from Ephraim said, “Sibboleth,” the men of Gilead would kill him at the crossing. So forty-two thousand people from Ephraim were killed at that time.
7 Jephthah was a judge for Israel for six years. Then Jephthah, the man from Gilead, died and was buried in a town in Gilead.
Ibzan, the Judge
8 After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem was a judge for Israel. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He let his daughters marry men who were not in his family group, and he brought thirty women who were not in his tribe to be wives for his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. 10 Then he died and was buried in Bethlehem.
Elon, the Judge
11 After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun was a judge for Israel. He judged Israel for ten years. 12 Then Elon, the man of Zebulun, died and was buried in the city of Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
Abdon, the Judge
13 After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel from the city of Pirathon was a judge for Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mountains where the Amalekites lived.
Timothy Goes with Paul
16 Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, where a follower named Timothy lived. Timothy’s mother was Jewish and a believer, but his father was a Greek.
2 The believers in Lystra and Iconium respected Timothy and said good things about him. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, but all the people living in that area knew that Timothy’s father was Greek. So Paul circumcised Timothy to please his mother’s people. 4 Paul and those with him traveled from town to town and gave the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches became stronger in the faith and grew larger every day.
Paul Is Called Out of Asia
6 Paul and those with him went through the areas of Phrygia and Galatia since the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the Good News in Asia. 7 When they came near the country of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went to Troas. 9 That night Paul saw in a vision a man from Macedonia. The man stood and begged, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to leave for Macedonia, understanding that God had called us to tell the Good News to those people.
Lydia Becomes a Christian
11 We left Troas and sailed straight to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to Neapolis.[a] 12 Then we went by land to Philippi, a Roman colony[b] and the leading city in that part of Macedonia. We stayed there for several days.
13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the river where we thought we would find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them. 14 One of the listeners was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira whose job was selling purple cloth. She worshiped God, and he opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. 15 She and all the people in her house were baptized. Then she invited us to her home, saying, “If you think I am truly a believer in the Lord, then come stay in my house.” And she persuaded us to stay with her.
Paul and Silas in Jail
16 Once, while we were going to the place for prayer, a servant girl met us. She had a special spirit[c] in her, and she earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God. They are telling you how you can be saved.”
18 She kept this up for many days. This bothered Paul, so he turned and said to the spirit, “By the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately, the spirit came out.
19 When the owners of the servant girl saw this, they knew that now they could not use her to make money. So they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the city rulers in the marketplace. 20 They brought Paul and Silas to the Roman rulers and said, “These men are Jews and are making trouble in our city. 21 They are teaching things that are not right for us as Romans to do.”
22 The crowd joined the attack against them. The Roman officers tore the clothes of Paul and Silas and had them beaten with rods. 23 Then Paul and Silas were thrown into jail, and the jailer was ordered to guard them carefully. 24 When he heard this order, he put them far inside the jail and pinned their feet down between large blocks of wood.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God as the other prisoners listened. 26 Suddenly, there was a strong earthquake that shook the foundation of the jail. Then all the doors of the jail broke open, and all the prisoners were freed from their chains. 27 The jailer woke up and saw that the jail doors were open. Thinking that the prisoners had already escaped, he got his sword and was about to kill himself.[d] 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t hurt yourself! We are all here.”
29 The jailer told someone to bring a light. Then he ran inside and, shaking with fear, fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.” 32 So Paul and Silas told the message of the Lord to the jailer and all the people in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took Paul and Silas and washed their wounds. Then he and all his people were baptized immediately. 34 After this the jailer took Paul and Silas home and gave them food. He and his family were very happy because they now believed in God.
35 The next morning, the Roman officers sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let these men go free.”
36 The jailer said to Paul, “The officers have sent an order to let you go free. You can leave now. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to the police, “They beat us in public without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens.[e] And they threw us in jail. Now they want to make us go away quietly. No! Let them come themselves and bring us out.”
38 The police told the Roman officers what Paul said. When the officers heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. 39 So they came and told Paul and Silas they were sorry and took them out of jail and asked them to leave the city. 40 So when they came out of the jail, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw some of the believers and encouraged them. Then they left.
A Summary of Jeremiah’s Preaching
25 This is the message that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah and the first year Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. 2 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
3 The Lord has spoken his word to me again and again for these past twenty-three years. I have been a prophet since the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. I have spoken messages from the Lord to you from that time until today, but you have not listened.
4 The Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you over and over again, but you have not listened or paid any attention to them. 5 Those prophets have said, “Stop your evil ways. Stop doing what is wrong so you can stay in the land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors to live in forever. 6 Don’t follow other gods to serve them or to worship them. Don’t make me, the Lord, angry by worshiping idols that are the work of your own hands, or I will punish you.”
7 “But you people of Judah did not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me angry by worshiping idols that were the work of your own hands, so I punished you.”
8 So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “Since you have not listened to my messages, 9 I will send for all the peoples of the north,” says the Lord, “along with my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I will bring them all against Judah, those who live there, and all the nations around you, too. I will completely destroy all those countries and leave them in ruins forever. People will be shocked when they see how badly I have destroyed those countries. 10 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and bridegrooms, and the sound of people grinding meal. And I will take away the light of the lamp. 11 That whole area will be an empty desert, and these nations will be slaves of the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 “But when the seventy years have passed, I will punish the king of Babylon and his entire nation for their evil,” says the Lord. “I will make that land a desert forever. 13 I will make happen all the terrible things I said about Babylonia—everything Jeremiah prophesied about all those foreign nations, the warnings written in this book. 14 Even the Babylonians will have to serve many nations and many great kings. I will give them the punishment they deserve for all their own hands have done.”
Judgment on the Nations
15 The Lord, the God of Israel, said this to me: “My anger is like the wine in a cup. Take it from my hand and make all the nations, to whom I am sending you, drink all of my anger from this cup. 16 They will drink my anger and stumble about and act like madmen because of the war I am going to send among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and went to those nations and made them drink from it. 18 I served this wine to the people of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and the kings and officers of Judah, so they would become a ruin. Then people would be shocked and would insult them and speak evil of them. And so it has been to this day. 19 I also made these people drink of the Lord’s anger: the king of Egypt, his servants, his officers, all his people, 20 and all the foreigners there; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (the kings of the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 21 the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; all the kings of the coastal countries to the west; 23 the people of Dedan and Tema and Buz; all who cut their hair short; 24 all the kings of Arabia; and the kings of the people who live in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other. I made all the kingdoms on earth drink from the cup of the Lord’s anger, but the king of Babylon will drink from this cup after all the others.
27 “Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Drink this cup of my anger. Get drunk from it and vomit. Fall down and don’t get up because of the war I am sending among you!’
28 “If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them, ‘The Lord All-Powerful says this: You must drink from this cup. 29 Look! I am already bringing disaster on Jerusalem, the city that is called by my name. Do you think you will not be punished? You will be punished! I am sending war on all the people of the earth, says the Lord All-Powerful.’
30 “You, Jeremiah, will prophesy against them with all these words. Say to them:
‘The Lord will roar from heaven
and will shout from his Holy Temple.
He will roar loudly against his land.
He will shout like people who walk on grapes to make wine;
he will shout against all who live on the earth.
31 The noise will spread all over the earth,
because the Lord will accuse all the nations.
He will judge and tell what is wrong with all people,
and he will kill the evil people with a sword,’” says the Lord.
32 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Disasters will soon spread
from nation to nation.
They will come like a powerful storm
from the faraway places on earth.”
33 At that time those killed by the Lord will reach from one end of the earth to the other. No one will cry for them or gather up their bodies and bury them. They will be left lying on the ground like dung.
34 Cry, you leaders! Cry out loud!
Roll around in the dust, leaders of the people!
It is now time for you to be killed.
You will fall and be scattered,
like pieces of a broken jar.
35 There will be no place for the leaders to hide;
they will not escape.
36 I hear the sound of the leaders shouting.
I hear the leaders of the people crying loudly,
because the Lord is destroying their land.
37 Those peaceful pastures will be like an empty desert,
because the Lord is very angry.
38 Like a lion, he has left his den.
Their land has been destroyed
because of the terrible war he brought,
because of his fierce anger.
Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King
11 As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers 2 and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a colt tied, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. 3 If anyone asks you why you are doing this, tell him its Master needs the colt, and he will send it at once.”
4 The followers went into the town, found a colt tied in the street near the door of a house, and untied it. 5 Some people were standing there and asked, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt?” 6 The followers answered the way Jesus told them to answer, and the people let them take the colt.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and Jesus sat on it. 8 Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches in the fields and spread them on the road. 9 The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting,
“Praise God!
God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Psalm 118:26
10 God bless the kingdom of our father David!
That kingdom is coming!
Praise[a] to God in heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After he had looked at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve apostles.
12 The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. 13 Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. 14 So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.
Jesus Goes to the Temple
15 When Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. 16 Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods through the Temple courts. 17 Then he taught the people, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.’[b] But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’”[c]
18 The leading priests and the teachers of the law heard all this and began trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his teaching. 19 That evening, Jesus and his followers[d] left the city.
The Power of Faith
20 The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. 21 Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”
22 Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. 24 So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. 25 When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [ 26 But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”[e]
Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority
27 Jesus and his followers went again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him. 28 They said to him, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
29 Jesus answered, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 30 Tell me: When John baptized people, was that authority from God or just from other people?”
31 They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘It was from other people,’ the crowd will be against us.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because all the people believed that John was a prophet.)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.