M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Samson Goes to the City of Gaza
16 One day Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 When the people of Gaza heard, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and waited for him near the city gate all night. They whispered to each other, “When dawn comes, we will kill Samson!”
3 But Samson only stayed with the prostitute until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the doors and the two posts of the city gate and tore them loose, along with the bar. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces the city of Hebron.
Samson and Delilah
4 After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Valley of Sorek. 5 The Philistine rulers went to Delilah and said, “Find out what makes Samson so strong. Trick him into telling you how we can overpower him and capture him and tie him up. If you do this, each one of us will give you twenty-eight pounds of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me why you are so strong. How can someone tie you up and capture you?”
7 Samson answered, “Someone would have to tie me up with seven new bowstrings that have not been dried. Then I would be as weak as any other man.”
8 The Philistine rulers brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied Samson with them. 9 Some men were hiding in another room. Delilah said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But Samson broke the bowstrings like pieces of burned string. So the Philistines did not find out the secret of Samson’s strength.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You made a fool of me. You lied to me. Now tell me how someone can tie you up.”
11 Samson said, “They would have to tie me with new ropes that have not been used before. Then I would become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied Samson. Some men were hiding in another room. She called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he broke the ropes as easily as if they were threads.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Again you have made a fool of me. You lied to me. Tell me how someone can tie you up.”
He said, “Using the loom,[a] weave the seven braids of my hair into the cloth, and tighten it with a pin. Then I will be as weak as any other man.”
While Samson slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the cloth. 14 Then she fastened it with a pin.
Again she said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” Samson woke up and pulled out the pin and the loom with the cloth.
15 Then Delilah said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t even trust me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me. You haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 She kept bothering Samson about his secret day after day until he felt he was going to die!
17 So he told her everything. He said, “I have never had my hair cut, because I have been set apart to God as a Nazirite since I was born. If someone shaved my head, I would lose my strength and be as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything sincerely, she sent a message to the Philistine rulers. She said, “Come back one more time, because he has told me everything.” So the Philistine rulers came back to Delilah and brought the silver with them. 19 Delilah got Samson to sleep, lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she began to make him weak, and his strength left him.
20 Then she said, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
He woke up and thought, “I’ll leave as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines captured Samson and tore out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, where they put bronze chains on him and made him grind grain in the prison. 22 But his hair began to grow again.
Samson Dies
23 The Philistine rulers gathered to celebrate and to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“This man destroyed our country.
He killed many of us!
But our god handed over
our enemy to us.”
25 While the people were enjoying the celebration, they said, “Bring Samson out to perform for us.” So they brought Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 Samson said to the servant holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars that hold up the temple so I can lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the Philistine rulers were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof[b]watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Lord God, remember me. God, please give me strength one more time so I can pay these Philistines back for putting out my two eyes!” 29 Then Samson turned to the two center pillars that supported the whole temple. He braced himself between the two pillars, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with these Philistines!” Then he pushed as hard as he could, causing the temple to fall on the rulers and all the people in it. So Samson killed more of the Philistines when he died than when he was alive.
31 Samson’s brothers and his whole family went down to get his body. They brought him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah, his father, between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was a judge for the people of Israel for twenty years.
Paul in Macedonia and Greece
20 When the trouble stopped, Paul sent for the followers to come to him. After he encouraged them and then told them good-bye, he left and went to the country of Macedonia. 2 He said many things to strengthen the followers in the different places on his way through Macedonia. Then he went to Greece, 3 where he stayed for three months. He was ready to sail for Syria, but some evil people were planning something against him. So Paul decided to go back through Macedonia to Syria. 4 The men who went with him were Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from the city of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus, two men from Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Five days later we met them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
Paul’s Last Visit to Troas
7 On the first day of the week,[a] we all met together to break bread,[b] and Paul spoke to the group. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. 8 We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many lamps in the room. 9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul continued talking, Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep. Finally, he went sound asleep and fell to the ground from the third floor. When they picked him up, he was dead. 10 Paul went down to Eutychus, knelt down, and put his arms around him. He said, “Don’t worry. He is alive now.” 11 Then Paul went upstairs again, broke bread, and ate. He spoke to them a long time, until it was early morning, and then he left. 12 They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
The Trip from Troas to Miletus
13 We went on ahead of Paul and sailed for the city of Assos, where he wanted to join us on the ship. Paul planned it this way because he wanted to go to Assos by land. 14 When he met us there, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene. 15 We sailed from Mitylene and the next day came to a place near Kios. The following day we sailed to Samos, and the next day we reached Miletus. 16 Paul had already decided not to stop at Ephesus, because he did not want to stay too long in Asia. He was hurrying to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, if that were possible.
The Elders from Ephesus
17 Now from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 When they came to him, he said, “You know about my life from the first day I came to Asia. You know the way I lived all the time I was with you. 19 The evil people made plans against me, which troubled me very much. But you know I always served the Lord unselfishly, and I often cried. 20 You know I preached to you and did not hold back anything that would help you. You know that I taught you in public and in your homes. 21 I warned both Jews and Greeks to change their lives and turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus. 22 But now I must obey the Holy Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. 23 I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me. 24 I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.
25 “And now, I know that none of you among whom I was preaching the kingdom of God will ever see me again. 26 So today I tell you that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible, 27 because I have told you everything God wants you to know. 28 Be careful for yourselves and for all the people the Holy Spirit has given to you to oversee. You must be like shepherds to the church of God,[c] which he bought with the death of his own son. 29 I know that after I leave, some people will come like wild wolves and try to destroy the flock. 30 Also, some from your own group will rise up and twist the truth and will lead away followers after them. 31 So be careful! Always remember that for three years, day and night, I never stopped warning each of you, and I often cried over you.
32 “Now I am putting you in the care of God and the message about his grace. It is able to give you strength, and it will give you the blessings God has for all his holy people. 33 When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. 34 You know I always worked to take care of my own needs and the needs of those who were with me. 35 I showed you in all things that you should work as I did and help the weak. I taught you to remember the words Jesus said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37-38 And they all cried because Paul had said they would never see him again. They put their arms around him and kissed him. Then they went with him to the ship.
A Letter to the Captives in Babylon
29 This is the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the elders who were among the captives, the priests, and the prophets. He sent it to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This letter was sent after all these people were taken away: Jehoiachin the king and the queen mother; the officers and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem; and the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem.) 3 Zedekiah king of Judah sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. So Jeremiah gave them this letter to carry to Babylon:
4 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says to all those people I sent away from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food they grow. 6 Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and let your daughters be married so they also may have sons and daughters. Have many children in Babylon; don’t become fewer in number. 7 Also do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living, because if good things happen in the city, good things will happen to you also.” 8 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let the prophets among you and the people who do magic fool you. Don’t listen to their dreams. 9 They are prophesying lies to you, saying that their message is from me. But I did not send them,” says the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for seventy years. After that time I will come to you, and I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! 14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.”
15 You might say, “The Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.”
16 But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now and all the other people still in Jerusalem, your relatives who did not go as captives to Babylon with you. 17 The Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat. 18 I will chase them with war, hunger, and terrible diseases. I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them and be shocked and will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go. 19 This is because they have not listened to my message,” says the Lord. “I sent my message to them again and again through my servants, the prophets, but they did not listen,” says the Lord.
20 You captives, whom I forced to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon, listen to the message from the Lord. 21 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been prophesying lies to you, saying that their message is from me. But soon I will hand over those two prophets to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them in front of you. 22 Because of them, all the captives from Judah in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ 23 They have done evil things among the people of Israel. They are guilty of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have also spoken lies and said those lies were a message from me. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done; I am a witness to it,” says the Lord.
24 Also give a message to Shemaiah from the Nehelamite family. 25 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters in your name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. 26 You said to Zephaniah, ‘The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Temple of the Lord. You should arrest any madman who acts like a prophet. Lock his hands and feet between wooden blocks, and put iron rings around his neck. 27 Now Jeremiah from Anathoth is acting like a prophet. So why haven’t you arrested him? 28 Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You will be there for a long time, so build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they grow.’”
29 Zephaniah the priest read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: 31 “Send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has prophesied to you, but I did not send him. He has made you believe a lie. 32 So the Lord says, I will soon punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family. He will not see the good things I will do for my people, says the Lord. None of his family will be left alive among the people, because he has taught the people to turn against me.’”
Pilate Questions Jesus
15 Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the elders, the teachers of the law, and all the Jewish council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Those are your words.”
3 The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. 4 So Pilate asked Jesus another question, “You can see that they are accusing you of many things. Aren’t you going to answer?”
5 But Jesus still said nothing, so Pilate was very surprised.
Pilate Tries to Free Jesus
6 Every year at the time of the Passover the governor would free one prisoner whom the people chose. 7 At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison who was a rebel and had committed murder during a riot. 8 The crowd came to Pilate and began to ask him to free a prisoner as he always did.
9 So Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” 10 Pilate knew that the leading priests had turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous. 11 But the leading priests had persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.
12 Then Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13 They shouted, “Crucify him!”
14 Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he freed Barabbas for them. After having Jesus beaten with whips, he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium) and called all the other soldiers together. 17 They put a purple robe on Jesus and used thorny branches to make a crown for his head. 18 They began to call out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They spit on him and made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. 20 After they finished, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be crucified.
Jesus Is Crucified
21 A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. 22 They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. 23 The soldiers tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused. 24 The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each soldier would get.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus. 26 There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: the king of the jews. 27 They also put two robbers on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. [28 And the Scripture came true that says, “They put him with criminals.”][a] 29 People walked by and insulted Jesus and shook their heads, saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. 30 So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”
31 The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also making fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. 32 If he is really the Christ, the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. When we see this, we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also insulted him.
Jesus Dies
33 At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
35 When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”
36 Someone there ran and got a sponge, filled it with vinegar, tied it to a stick, and gave it to Jesus to drink. He said, “We want to see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”
37 Then Jesus cried in a loud voice and died.
38 The curtain in the Temple[b] was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. 39 When the army officer who was standing in front of the cross saw what happened when Jesus died,[c] he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were standing at a distance from the cross, watching; among them were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. (James was her youngest son.) 41 These women had followed Jesus in Galilee and helped him. Many other women were also there who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem.
Jesus Is Buried
42 This was Preparation Day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) That evening, 43 Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph, an important member of the Jewish council, was one of the people who was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. 44 Pilate was amazed that Jesus would have already died, so he called the army officer who had guarded Jesus and asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 The officer told Pilate that he was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46 Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down from the cross, and wrapped it in the linen. He put the body in a tomb that was cut out of a wall of rock. Then he rolled a very large stone to block the entrance of the tomb. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the place where Jesus was laid.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.