M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Israelites take the land of Canaan
1 After Joshua had died, the Israelites asked the Lord, ‘Which of our tribes should be the first to attack the Canaanites?’ 2 The Lord replied, ‘Judah should attack first. I will give the land to them, to take for themselves.’[a]
3 The men of Judah's tribe said to their cousins, the men of Simeon's tribe, ‘Join with us to fight against the Canaanites. Help us to take the land that God has given to our tribe. Then we will help you to take the land that belongs to your tribe.’ So the men of Simeon's tribe joined with the men of Judah's tribe.
4 They attacked the Canaanites and the Perizzites at Bezek. The Lord helped them to win against 10,000 Canaanite and Perizzite fighters. 5 In the battle, they found King Adoni-Bezek and they attacked him there. 6 The king ran away, but the Israelites caught him. They cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
7 King Adoni-Bezek said, ‘God has punished me because I did the same thing to 70 other kings. I cut off their thumbs and big toes. I made them pick up bits of food to eat under my table.’ The Israelites took King Adoni-Bezek back to Jerusalem. He died there.
8 Judah's army then attacked Jerusalem. They took the city for themselves. They killed the people who lived there and they burnt down the buildings.
9 Then they went to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negev and in the low hills in the west. 10 They attacked the people who lived in Hebron. They won the fight against the clans of Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. Hebron was called Kiriath Arba at that time.
11 Then they went to attack the people who lived in Debir. It was called Kiriath Sepher at that time. 12 Caleb said, ‘If a brave man attacks and takes Kiriath Sepher, he can marry my daughter, Acsah.’ 13 Othniel attacked the city and he took it. He was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel, to be his wife.
14 After this, Acsah told Othniel that they should ask her father to give them some land. She went to see her father, Caleb. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’
15 She replied, ‘Please be kind and give me a special gift. You have given me some land in the Negev desert. Now please give me a place with springs so that I have water for the land.’ So Caleb gave her some land with springs, on high land and on low land.
16 The Kenites were descendants of Moses' wife's father. They left Jericho with Judah's people to live in the region of Arad, in the Negev desert.
17 Then Judah's men joined with their cousins, Simeon's men, to attack the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They completely destroyed the city. They gave it a new name, ‘Hormah’.[b] 18 Judah's men also took for themselves the cities of Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron, as well as the land around those cities.
19 The Lord helped the men of Judah so that they took the towns in the hill country for themselves. But they could not win against the people who lived on the lower land near the sea. Those people had iron chariots to help them fight.
20 Caleb received Hebron for his family, as Moses had promised him.[c] Caleb had chased out the three clans of Anak who lived there.
21 The men of Benjamin's tribe could not chase out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. As a result, the Jebusites continue to live in Jerusalem with the people of Benjamin.
22 The men of Joseph's tribes attacked Bethel.[d] The Lord helped them to do this. 23 Bethel had been called Luz. They sent some men to look secretly at the city. 24 Those men saw a man who was leaving the city. They said to him, ‘If you show us how our soldiers can get into the city, we will keep you safe.’ 25 So the man showed them a secret entrance to the city.
The men of Joseph's tribes killed all the people in the city. But they kept the man and his family safe. 26 He went to the land of the Hittites. He built a city there. He called it Luz, and that is still its name.
27 But the men of Manasseh's tribe could not chase out the people of these five cities: Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo. The Canaanites who lived there were strong. So they continued to live in those cities and the regions around them. 28 When the Israelites had a strong army, they made the Canaanites do hard work for them. But they could never chase the Canaanites away completely.
29 The men of Ephraim's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. Those Canaanites continued to live among the people of Ephraim in Gezer.
30 The men of Zebulun's tribe could not chase away the people who lived in Kitron and Nahalol. But they made the Canaanites who lived among them do hard work for them.
31 The men of Asher's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek and Rehob. 32 Because of this, Asher's people continued to live among the Canaanites.
33 The men of Naphtali's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. They too continued to live among the Canaanites in the land. But the Canaanites who lived in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath had to do hard work for the Israelites.
34 The Amorites were too strong for the men of Dan's tribe. So Dan's people had to live in the hill country. The Amorites would not let them live in the low land. 35 The Amorites were also strong enough to keep Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim for themselves. But when the Israelite army became stronger, they made the Amorites do hard work for them. 36 The border of the Amorites' land went from Scorpion Hill and it continued beyond Sela.
Ananias and Sapphira
5 But there was a man called Ananias among the group of believers. His wife was called Sapphira. Together they sold one of their fields. 2 Ananias gave part of the money that he received to the apostles. But he kept part of the money for himself. Sapphira knew all about what Ananias had done.[a]
3 Peter said to Ananias, ‘Ananias, Satan wanted you to tell a lie and you have obeyed him. You have told a lie to the Holy Spirit. That is a bad thing to do! You sold your field, but you did not give us all the money. You kept part of it for yourselves.[b] 4 Before you sold the field, it belonged to you. And after you sold the field, the money was yours. You could choose what to do with it. But you chose to do a very bad thing. You did not only tell a lie to us men. You have told a lie to God.’
5 As soon as he heard Peter say this, Ananias fell down and he died. When people heard what had happened, they were all very afraid. 6 Some young men came into the room. They put cloths around Ananias's dead body and they carried it outside. Then they buried it.
7 About three hours later, Ananias's wife, Sapphira, came into the room. She did not know what had happened to her husband. 8 Peter asked Sapphira, ‘Was this all the money that you and your husband received for your field?’ ‘Yes,’ Sapphira answered. ‘That was all the money that we received.’
9 Peter said to her, ‘It was wrong for you and your husband to do this bad thing. You agreed together to tell a lie to the Holy Spirit of the Lord God. Listen! The men who have just buried your husband are at the door again now. They will carry your body out too.’
10 Immediately, Sapphira fell down in front of Peter and she died. Then the young men came into the room. They saw that Sapphira was dead. So they carried her outside and they buried her body next to her husband. 11 The whole group of believers, and many other people, heard about what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. They were all very afraid.
The apostles do some powerful things for the people to see
12 At that time, the apostles were doing many miracles that showed God's power among the people. All the believers often met together in the yard of the temple in a place called Solomon's porch. 13 The other people were afraid to meet with the group of believers. But people respected the believers very much. 14 More and more people became believers and they joined the group. So now many men and women believed in the Lord Jesus.
15 As a result, people carried their sick friends into the streets and put them on beds and mats. They hoped that Peter would pass that way and make their sick friends well again. They just wanted Peter's shadow to touch them.[c] 16 Many people also came into Jerusalem from the small towns near the city. They brought their sick friends with them. Some of those sick people had bad spirits that gave them trouble. God caused all these sick people to become well again.
The most important priest puts the apostles in prison
17 People liked the apostles very much. So the most important priest and his friends who belonged to the Sadducees' group were very jealous. 18 These important men took hold of the apostles and they put them in the city's prison. 19 But during the night, one of the Lord God's angels came and he opened the prison gates. He led the apostles out of the prison. 20 The angel said to them, ‘Go and stand in the yard of the temple. Tell the people everything about this new life that God gives.’
21 The apostles did what the angel told them to do. At dawn they went into the yard of the temple. They began to teach the people there.
Then the most important priest and his friends arrived. They told the group of Jewish leaders to meet with them. All the most important people in Israel were in that group. Then they sent their police to the prison to bring the apostles to the meeting place. 22 But when the police arrived at the prison, they did not find the apostles there. So the police returned to the Jewish leaders and they told them the news. 23 They said, ‘We arrived at the prison. We saw that the soldiers had locked the gates. They were standing at the gates and they were watching carefully. But when we opened the gates of the prison, we did not find anyone there!’[d]
24 The leader of the police of the temple and the leaders of the priests heard the news. They could not understand what had happened. They were afraid of what might happen next.
25 Then a man came to the leaders. He said to them, ‘Listen! Those men that you put in the prison are now standing in the yard of the temple. They are teaching the people there.’ 26 So the leader of the police took his men with him to find the apostles. They took hold of the apostles to take them back to the Jewish leaders. But they did not hurt them because they were afraid of the people. They thought that the people might be angry. They might throw stones at them to kill them.
27 The police brought the apostles into the meeting room. They made them stand in front of the group of Jewish leaders. The most important priest said to the apostles, 28 ‘We told you that you must not teach people any more with the authority of Jesus. But now look at what you have done! Now people everywhere in Jerusalem have heard your teaching. You also want people to think that we are guilty for the death of Jesus.’
29 Peter and the other apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than obey people. 30 You fixed Jesus to a cross so that he died. But then the God of our ancestors caused him to become alive again. 31 God raised Jesus and he put him in the most important place at his right side. Jesus is now the one who leads us and the one who saves us. He has made a way for the people of Israel to turn back to God. He wants us to stop doing wrong things. Then God will forgive us for our sins. 32 We tell people about what happened to Jesus. We ourselves saw these things. Now God has given his Holy Spirit to people who obey him. The Holy Spirit also shows that these things are true.’
33 The group of Jewish leaders heard what the apostles said to them. They were so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles. 34 But one man did not agree. He was called Gamaliel and he was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. All the people agreed that he was a good man. Gamaliel stood up in front of the group of Jewish leaders. He told the police to take the apostles out of the room. 35 When they had gone, Gamaliel spoke to the group of leaders: ‘Men of Israel! Think carefully about what you want to do to these men. 36 Remember what happened to Theudas a few years ago. That man told everyone, “I am a very important leader.” As a result, about 400 men joined his group. But then somebody killed him, and all his men went away. Nobody heard any more about them. 37 Later, Judas from Galilee appeared at the time when the Romans were making a list of everyone's names.[e] Many people also came to help him fight against the Romans. But somebody killed him. His men also ran away and nothing more happened.[f]
38 Now think about what is happening with these men. I tell you it would be better to leave them alone. Let them go free. If their message only comes from human ideas, all their work will fail. 39 But perhaps what they are doing really does come from God himself. If that is true, then you cannot stop them. You might even find that you are fighting against God!’
40 The Jewish leaders agreed with Gamaliel. They told the apostles to come back into the room. They told the police to hit them with whips. Then they said to the apostles, ‘You must not use the authority of Jesus to teach the people.’ After that, they let the apostles go free.[g]
41 The apostles went away from the meeting of the Jewish leaders. They were very happy because they thought to themselves, ‘These leaders have done bad things to us because we obey Jesus. That shows that God accepts us as his people.’
42 Every day the apostles continued to teach people about Jesus. They spoke in people's homes and in the yard of the temple. All the time, they told people the good news that Jesus is God's Messiah.
Famine and wars
14 This is the Lord's message that he gave to Jeremiah about the famine:
2 ‘Judah's people are very sad and upset.
The people in Judah's cities are becoming weak.
They are sitting on the ground and they are weeping.
Jerusalem's people call to me for help.
3 Rich people send their servants to get water.
They go to the wells, but they do not find any water.
They return home with empty water jars.
They are ashamed and upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
4 There has been no rain anywhere.
The ground is breaking apart.
The farmers too are very upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
5 There is no grass in the fields for the deer to eat.
So the mother deer runs away from her new baby.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the empty hills.
They breathe very fast, like thirsty jackals.
Their eyes hurt as they look for grass,
but there is no food for them to eat.’
7 ‘Lord, our many sins show that we are guilty.[a]
But please help us, to show that you are our God.
We have turned away from you many times.
We have done bad things against you.
8 You are the one that we Israelites hope to give us help.
You are the one who saves us when we are in trouble.
But now you live among us like a foreigner.
You are like a visitor who stays for only one night.
9 You seem to be like a helpless person.
You are like a brave fighter who has lost his strength to save anyone.
But surely you are among us, Lord.
We belong to you as your own people.
Do not leave us alone!’
10 The Lord says this about his people:
‘These people love to go wherever they want.
They do not try to stay near to me.
So they do not please me.
Now I will remember the wrong things that they have done.
I will punish them for their sins.’
The lies of the false prophets
11 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray that I will do any more good things for these people. 12 Even if they fast, I will not listen when they ask me for help. I will not accept the burnt offerings or grain offerings that they offer to me. Instead, I will use war, famine and disease to destroy them.’
13 I said, ‘Lord God, the prophets are deceiving the people. They say that there will not be any war or famine or disease that will hurt the people. Instead, they say that you have promised peace in our land.’
14 The Lord said to me, ‘Those prophets say that they speak my messages, but they are telling lies. I did not send them. I did not give them my authority. I did not give them any messages. They are deceiving people with the visions that they talk about. When they prophesy about things, it means nothing. They only speak about their own foolish ideas. 15 They claim to speak with my authority, but I did not send them. They say that there will be no war or famine. So I tell you, this is what will happen to those prophets: War and famine will kill them. 16 And the people that they are speaking their messages to will also die because of war and famine. Their bodies will lie in Jerusalem's streets. Nobody will be there to bury them. This will happen to the men, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will punish them as they deserve, because they are so wicked.
17 Say this to the people, Jeremiah:
“Tears pour from my eyes all the time.
I weep through each day and each night.
I am sad about my own dear people.
A great trouble has knocked them to the ground.
They have received a very bad wound.
18 When I go out into the fields,
I see the bodies of people who have died in war.
When I look in the city,
I see people who are dying from famine.
The prophets and the priests are busy with their work.
But they do not understand what is happening.” ’
A prayer that the Lord would save his people[b]
19 ‘Lord, have you completely turned away from the people of Judah?
Do you really hate the people of Zion?
You have knocked us down
so that we will never get better.
We hoped to live in peace,
but nothing good happened to us.
We hoped to have rest from our troubles,
but instead we live in fear.
20 Lord, we agree that we are wicked people.
Our ancestors also did bad things.
We have turned against you.
21 But please do not refuse to help us.
Show that you are a faithful God.
Jerusalem is the place where you have your beautiful throne.
So do not go away and leave us.
Remember the covenant that you made with us.
Please do what you promised to do for us.
22 The idols of other nations are useless.
None of them can cause rain to fall.
And the sky itself does not make rain.
No, it is you, Lord, our God, who sends rain.
You alone do all these things,
so we trust you to help us.’
Jesus becomes alive again
28 After the day of rest had finished, Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James got up early. It was dawn on the first day of the week. They went to the hole in the rock where Joseph had put the dead body of Jesus.
2 At that moment, the ground moved about very strongly. One of the Lord God's angels came from heaven. He went to the rock. He rolled the big stone away from the hole and then he sat on top of it. 3 He shone brightly like lightning. His clothes were very white like snow. 4 The soldiers who were carefully watching that place were very frightened. They suddenly fell down on the ground. Like dead men, they could not move.
5 Then the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus. The soldiers killed him on a cross. 6 But he is not here. He has become alive again. That is what he said would happen. Come here. You can see the place where he was lying. 7 Then you must go quickly to his disciples. Tell them, “Jesus is alive again, and he is going to Galilee. You must also go there and you will see him.” That is the message that I have brought for you.’
8 So the women went away quickly from the hole in the rock. They were very frightened, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell the disciples the angel's message. 9 At that moment, Jesus met the two women and he said, ‘Hello.’ They went near to him. They held on to his feet and they worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my disciples to go to Galilee. They will see me there.’
The soldiers tell the leaders of the priests what happened
11 The women went to tell the disciples Jesus' message. At the same time, some of the soldiers who had watched the rock also went into the city. The soldiers told the leaders of the priests everything that had happened at the rock. 12 The leaders of the priests and the important Jews met together. They decided what they should do now. They gave the soldiers a lot of money as a bribe. 13 They said to the soldiers, ‘When people ask you, you must say this: “Jesus' disciples came to the rock in the night and they took his body away. We were asleep when they did this.” 14 If the Roman ruler Pilate hears about this, we will explain things to him. Do not be afraid. He will not punish you.’
15 The soldiers took the money. They told people what the Jewish leaders told them to say. Many Jews heard the soldiers' story. Even today they still believe that it happened like that.
Jesus appears to his apostles
16 After this, the 11 disciples went to Galilee. They went to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they arrived at the place, they saw Jesus. Then they went down on their knees and they worshipped him. But some of the disciples were not sure that it really was Jesus. 18 Jesus went near to them and he said to them, ‘God has given me authority over everyone and everything. I have all authority in heaven and in this world. 19 So you must go to people in every country of the world. Teach them how to become my disciples. Baptize them by the authority of God the Father, his Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will be with you until the end of time.’
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