M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Messenger of the Lord Appears to Samson’s Parents
13 The people of Israel again did what Yahweh considered evil. So Yahweh handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years.
2 There was a man from Zorah named Manoah. Manoah was from the family of Dan. His wife was not able to have children. 3 The Messenger of Yahweh appeared to her and said, “You’ve never been able to have a child, but now you will become pregnant and have a son. 4 Now you must be careful. Don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean[a] food. 5 You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to Elohim from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.”
6 The woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of Elohim came to me. He had a very frightening appearance like the Messenger of Elohim. So I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He told me, ‘You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. So don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to Elohim from the time he is born until he dies.’”
8 Then Manoah pleaded with Yahweh, “Please, Adonay, let the man of Elohim you sent come back to us. Let him teach us what we must do for the boy who will be born.”
9 Elohim did what Manoah asked. The Messenger of Elohim came back to his wife while she was sitting out in the fields. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. She said, “The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me again.”
11 Manoah immediately followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”
“Yes,” he answered.
12 Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, how should the boy live and what should he do?”
13 The Messenger of Yahweh answered Manoah, “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her to do. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevines, drink any wine or liquor, or eat any unclean food. She must be careful to do everything I commanded.”
15 Manoah said to the Messenger of Yahweh, “Please stay while we prepare a young goat for you to eat.”
16 But the Messenger of Yahweh responded, “If I stay here, I will not eat any of your food. But if you make a burnt offering, sacrifice it to Yahweh.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the Messenger of Yahweh.)
17 Then Manoah asked the Messenger of Yahweh, “What is your name? When your words come true, we will honor you.”
18 The Messenger of Yahweh asked him, “Why do you ask for my name? It’s a name that works miracles.”
19 So Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and sacrificed them to Yahweh on a rock he used as an altar. While Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did something miraculous. 20 As the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Messenger of Yahweh went up in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they immediately bowed down with their faces touching the ground.
21 The Messenger of Yahweh didn’t appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that this had been the Messenger of Yahweh. 22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die because we have seen Elohim.”
23 But Manoah’s wife replied, “If Yahweh wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He would not have let us see or hear all these things just now.”
24 So the woman had a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25 The Ruach Elohim began to stir in him while he was at Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Paul and Silas in Thessalonica
17 Paul and Silas traveled through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to the city of Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue. 2 As usual, Paul went into the synagogue. On three consecutive days of worship, he had discussions about Scripture with the synagogue members. 3 He explained and showed them that the Messiah had to suffer, die, and come back to life, and that Yeshua, the person he talked about, was this Messiah.
4 Some of the Jews were persuaded to join Paul and Silas, especially a large group of Greeks who had converted to Judaism and the wives of many prominent men.
5 Then the Jews became jealous. They took some low-class characters who hung around the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason’s home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 When they didn’t find Paul and Silas, they dragged Jason and some other believers in front of the city officials. They shouted, “Those men who have made trouble all over the world are now here in Thessalonica, 7 and Jason has welcomed them as his guests. All of them oppose the emperor’s decrees by saying that there is another king, whose name is Yeshua.”
8 The crowd and the officials were upset when they heard this. 9 But after they had made Jason and the others post bond, they let them go.
10 Immediately when night came, the believers sent Paul and Silas to the city of Berea.
Paul and Silas in Berea
When Paul and Silas arrived in the city of Berea, they entered the synagogue. 11 The people of Berea were more open-minded than the people of Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive God’s message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of them became believers, and quite a number of them were prominent Greek men and women.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica found out that Paul was also spreading God’s word in Berea, they went there to upset and confuse the people. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the seacoast, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea.
Paul in Athens
15 The men who escorted Paul took him all the way to the city of Athens. When the men left Athens, they took instructions back to Silas and Timothy to join Paul as soon as possible.
16 While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, he saw that the city had statues of false gods everywhere. This upset him. 17 He held discussions in the synagogue with Jews and converts to Judaism. He also held discussions every day in the public square with anyone who happened to be there. 18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers had discussions with him. Some asked, “What is this babbling fool trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be speaking about foreign gods.” The philosophers said these things because Paul was telling the Good News about Yeshua and saying that people would come back to life.
19 Then they brought Paul to the city court, the Areopagus, and asked, “Could you tell us these new ideas that you’re teaching? 20 Some of the things you say sound strange to us. So we would like to know what they mean.”
21 Everyone who lived in Athens looked for opportunities to tell or hear something new and unusual.
22 Paul stood in the middle of the court and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious. 23 As I was going through your city and looking closely at the objects you worship, I noticed an altar with this written on it: ‘To an unknown god.’ I’m telling you about the unknown god you worship. 24 The God who made the universe and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in shrines made by humans, 25 and he isn’t served by humans as if he needed anything. He gives everyone life, breath, and everything they have. 26 From one man he has made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth. He has given them the seasons of the year and the boundaries within which to live. 27 He has done this so that they would look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. In fact, he is never far from any one of us. 28 Certainly, we live, move, and exist because of him. As some of your poets have said, ‘We are God’s children.’ 29 So if we are God’s children, we shouldn’t think that the divine being is like an image made from gold, silver, or stone, an image that is the product of human imagination and skill.
30 “God overlooked the times when people didn’t know any better. But now he commands everyone everywhere to turn to him and change the way they think and act. 31 He has set a day when he is going to judge the world with justice, and he will use a man he has appointed to do this. God has given proof to everyone that he will do this by bringing that man back to life.”
32 When the people of the court heard that a person had come back to life, some began joking about it, while others said, “We’ll hear you talk about this some other time.”
33 With this response, Paul left the court. 34 Some men joined him and became believers. With them were Dionysius, who was a member of the court, and a woman named Damaris, and some other people.
Jeremiah Is Arrested
26 Yahweh spoke his word when Judah’s King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, began to rule. He said, 2 “This is what Yahweh says: Stand in the courtyard of Yahweh’s temple, and speak to all the people who come from the cities of Judah to worship in Yahweh’s temple. Tell them everything that I command you to tell them. Don’t leave out a single word. 3 Maybe they’ll listen, and they’ll turn from their evil ways. Then I’ll change my plan about the disaster I intend to bring on them because of the evil they have done.”
4 The Lord added, “Also say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Suppose you don’t listen to me and don’t follow my teachings that I set in front of you. 5 Suppose you don’t listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you again and again, even though you didn’t listen. 6 Then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. I will turn this city into something that will be cursed by all the nations on earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these things in Yahweh’s temple. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that Yahweh had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed him and said, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in Yahweh’s name that this temple will be like Shiloh and this city will become a pile of rubble with no one living here?” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah in Yahweh’s temple.
10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went from the king’s palace to Yahweh’s temple. They sat at the entrance of New Gate to Yahweh’s temple. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is condemned to die because he prophesied against this city as you yourselves have heard.”
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy everything that you have heard me say against this temple and against this city. 13 Now, change your ways and what you are doing, and listen to Yahweh your Elohim. Then Yahweh will change his plan about the disaster that he intends to bring on you.
14 “My life is in your hands. Do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you, this city, and the people living in it will be guilty of killing an innocent person. Yahweh has certainly sent me to speak all these things to you.”
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man should not be condemned to die. He has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our Elohim.”
17 Then some of the leaders in the land got up and said to the entire crowd, 18 “Micah from Moresheth prophesied at the time of Judah’s King Hezekiah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble,
and the temple mountain will become a worship site
covered with trees.’
19 Did Judah’s King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah put Micah to death? No! Hezekiah feared Yahweh and sought Yahweh’s favor. So Yahweh changed his plan about the disaster he intended to bring on them. But we are about to bring a bigger disaster on ourselves.”
20 There was another man prophesying in the name of Yahweh. His name was Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. 21 When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said, the king wanted to put him to death. But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt. 22 King Jehoiakim sent soldiers to Egypt: Elnathan (son of Achbor) and other soldiers along with him. 23 They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim. The king executed Uriah and threw his body into the burial ground for the common people. 24 Ahikam, son of Shaphan, supported Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
A Story about a Vineyard(A)
12 Then, using this illustration, Yeshua spoke to them. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a vat for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.
2 “At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to collect from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. 3 The workers took the servant, beat him, and sent him back with nothing. 4 So the man sent another servant to them. They hit the servant on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 The man sent another, and they killed that servant. Then he sent many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.
6 “He had one more person to send. That person was his son, whom he loved. Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But those workers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the workers and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you never read the Scripture passage:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
11 The Lord has done this,
and it is amazing for us to see’?”
12 They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them. So they left him alone and went away.
A Question about Taxes(B)
13 The leaders sent some of the Pharisees and some of Herod’s followers to Yeshua. They wanted to trap him into saying the wrong thing. 14 When they came to him, they said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth. You don’t favor individuals because of who they are. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it right to pay taxes to the emperor or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”
15 Yeshua recognized their hypocrisy, so he asked them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a coin so that I can look at it.”
16 They brought a coin. He said to them, “Whose face and name is this?”
They told him, “The emperor’s.”
17 Yeshua said to them, “Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”
They were surprised at his reply.
The Dead Come Back to Life(C)
18 Some Sadducees, who say that people will never come back to life, came to Yeshua. They asked him, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother should marry his widow and have children for his brother.’ 20 There were seven brothers. The first got married and died without having children. 21 The second married her and died without having children. So did the third. 22 None of the seven brothers had any children. Last of all, the woman died. 23 When the dead come back to life, whose wife will she be? The seven brothers had married her.”
24 Yeshua said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? 25 When the dead come back to life, they don’t marry. Rather, they are like the angels in heaven. 26 Haven’t you read in the book of Moses that the dead come back to life? It’s in the passage about the bush, where God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ 27 He’s not the God of the dead but of the living. You’re badly mistaken!”
Love God and Your Neighbor(D)
28 One of the experts in Moses’ Teachings went to Yeshua during the argument with the Sadducees. He saw how well Yeshua answered them, so he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of them all?”
29 Yeshua answered, “The most important is, ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. 30 So love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The expert in Moses’ Teachings said to Yeshua, “Teacher, that was well said! You’ve told the truth that there is only one God and no other besides him! 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Yeshua heard how wisely the man answered, he told the man, “You’re not too far from the kingdom of God.”
After that, no one dared to ask him another question.
How Can David’s Son Be David’s Lord?(E)
35 While Yeshua was teaching in the temple courtyard, he asked, “How can the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that the Messiah is David’s son? 36 David, guided by the Holy Spirit, said,
‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Take the highest position in heaven
until I put your enemies under your control.” ’
37 David calls him Lord. So how can he be his son?”
Jesus Disapproves of the Example Set by the Experts in Moses’ Teachings(F)
The large crowd enjoyed listening to him. 38 As he taught, he said, “Watch out for the experts in Moses’ Teachings! They like to walk around in long robes, to be greeted in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the front seats in synagogues and the places of honor at dinners. 40 They rob widows by taking their houses and then say long prayers to make themselves look good. The experts in Moses’ Teachings will receive the most severe punishment.”
A Widow’s Contribution(G)
41 As Yeshua sat facing the temple offering box, he watched how much money people put into it. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 A poor widow dropped in two small coins, worth less than a cent.
43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: This poor widow has given more than all the others. 44 All of them have given what they could spare. But she, in her poverty, has given everything she had to live on.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.