M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Cain and Abel
4 Adam had sex with his wife, Eve. She became pregnant. She gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the Lord's help, I have given birth to a son.’[a]
2 Some time later, Eve gave birth to Cain's brother. She called him Abel. When they had grown to become men, Abel took care of sheep. Cain worked on the land as a farmer.
3 One day, it was time for the harvest. Cain brought to the Lord some of his crops as an offering. 4 But Abel brought to God some of the first lambs that his sheep had given birth to. He brought pieces of fat from the best of his lambs to offer them to God. Abel and his gift pleased the Lord.[b] 5 But God was not pleased with Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry. His face looked sad.[c]
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why do you look sad? 7 If you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you do not do the right thing, sin will be very near to you. It will be like a wild animal at your door that is ready to eat you. But you must become its master.’[d]
Cain kills Abel
8 One day Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘We should go out to the fields.’ While they were in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel. He killed Abel.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel, your brother?’ Cain replied, ‘I do not know where he is. Must I always keep my brother safe?’
10 Then the Lord God said, ‘Why have you done this bad thing? Now your brother's blood is lying there on the ground. That is like his voice which is shouting to me for help. 11 The ground received your brother's blood when you killed him. As a result, the ground no longer accepts you. It has brought a curse on you. 12 When you work hard to dig the ground, no plants will grow in it for your food. You will travel from place to place. You will not have your own home.’[e]
13 Cain said to the Lord, ‘That punishment is too much! It will give me too much pain. 14 Now you are making me leave my home here on the land. I will be far away from where you are. I will be a traveller without a home. If someone sees me, they will kill me.’
15 But the Lord said to Cain, ‘No! If anyone kills Cain, I will punish that person seven times more than I have punished you.’
Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain. This was to tell other people that they must not kill Cain.
16 Cain went away from the Lord. He went to live in the land called Nod, which is east of Eden.
The descendants of Cain
17 Cain had sex with his wife. She became pregnant and she gave birth to Enoch. Cain started to build a city. He called the city Enoch because that was his son's name. 18 Enoch became the father of Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women. One was called Adah. The other was called Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal. Jabal became the father of people who live in tents and they take care of animals.
21 Jabal had a brother called Jubal. Jubal became the father of people who make music with harps and flutes.
22 Zillah gave birth to a son. His name was Tubal-Cain. He used bronze and iron to make tools. Tubal-Cain had a sister. Her name was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his two wives,
‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me!
My wives, hear my words!
A man attacked me, so I killed him.
Yes, I killed a young man because he hurt me.
24 If someone kills Cain, God will punish that person seven times more.
But if someone attacks me, I will punish that person 77 times more!’[f]
The birth of Seth
25 Adam again had sex with his wife, Eve. She gave birth to another son. She called him Seth. Eve said, ‘God has given me another child to take the place of Abel, because Cain killed Abel.’ 26 Later Seth had a son and he called him Enosh.
At that time, people began to use the name of the Lord to worship him.
The Devil tries to cause Jesus to do wrong things
4 Then the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. While he was there, the Devil came to him. He tried to cause Jesus to do wrong things.[a] 2 Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of this time, he was very hungry.
3 Then the Devil came to Jesus and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, speak to these stones. Tell them to become bread.’ 4 But Jesus replied, ‘No! The Bible says that food alone cannot cause people to live. They need to hear every word that God speaks. That is what gives them true life.’[b]
5 Then the Devil led Jesus to Jerusalem. He made him stand on the highest part of the temple. 6 He said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump down from here to the ground. You know that the Bible says:
“God will tell his angels to keep you safe.
They will hold you safely in their hands.
They will not let you hurt your foot on a stone”.’[c]
7 Jesus replied, ‘No! The Bible also says, “Do not test the Lord God, to see if he will save you”.’[d]
8 Then the Devil led Jesus up a very high mountain. He showed Jesus all the countries in the whole world. They were very great and beautiful. 9 The Devil said, ‘I will give you power over all these countries. Just go down on your knees in front of me. Worship me and I will give it all to you.’
10 Jesus then said to him, ‘Satan, go away from me! The Bible says, “Only worship your Lord God. He is the only one that you should obey”.’
11 Then the Devil left Jesus alone. Immediately angels came to Jesus and they took care of him.
Jesus starts his work in Galilee
12 Then Jesus heard that Herod had put John the Baptist in prison. So Jesus returned to Galilee.
13 But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, which is a town on the shore of Lake Galilee. It was in the part of Israel called Zebulun and Naphtali.[e]
14 This caused God's message to become true. Long ago God had said through his prophet Isaiah:[f]
15 ‘I am speaking to you people who live in Zebulun and Naphtali.[g]
Your part of this country is on the way to Lake Galilee.
It is across the Jordan River in the part of the country called Galilee.
Some people who are not Jews live there.
16 They are like people who are living in the dark.
They live in the shadow which death brings.
God will send a light to shine on them.’
17 Then Jesus began to speak God's message to people. He said, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’
Jesus asks some men to become his disciples
18 One day, Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. He saw two men who were brothers. One man was called Simon, and he was also called Peter. His brother's name was Andrew.[h] Their job was to catch fish. They were throwing their nets into the lake to catch fish. 19 Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me and be my disciples. Then I will teach you how to catch people, instead of fish.’[i]
20 Simon and Andrew immediately put their nets down and they went with Jesus.
21 They continued to walk along the shore. Soon Jesus saw two more men who were brothers. They were called James and John. They were in their boat with their father, Zebedee. They were mending their nets. Jesus said to James and John, ‘Come with me.’ 22 The brothers immediately left the boat and their father behind. They went with Jesus to be his disciples.
Jesus teaches about God and he makes sick people well again
23 Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He told them the good news about God's kingdom. He also caused sick people to become well again from all their different pains and illnesses. 24 More and more people in all parts of Syria heard about Jesus. So they brought all the sick people to see him. These people had many different illnesses, and some of them had strong pains. Bad spirits were living inside some of them. Some people could not control their bodies, and some people could not walk. Jesus caused all these people to become well again. 25 Because of this, large crowds of people followed him. They came from Galilee and from the region called ‘The ten cities’. Some of them came from Jerusalem, and other parts of Judea. And some came from the other side of the Jordan River.[j]
Enemies try to stop the work
4 The Israelites who had returned to Jerusalem from exile were building the temple for the Lord, Israel's God. The enemies of the people of Judah and Benjamin heard that the Israelites had begun to build.[a] 2 They went to speak to Zerubbabel and to the leaders of the Israelite families. They said, ‘Let us help you to build the temple. We also want to worship your God. We have lived in this country since Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, brought us here. All this time we have made sacrifices to your God.’
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the other leaders of Israel's people said, ‘No. You cannot help us to build the temple for our God. We must build it by ourselves for the Lord, Israel's God. That is what Cyrus, king of Persia, has commanded us to do.’
4 Then the people who lived near them tried to make Judah's people afraid. They tried to stop them building. 5 They paid bribes to government officers to work against the Israelite builders. Then they could not do the work. They continued to do this all the time that King Cyrus ruled Persia, until Darius became king.
More trouble for the Jews
6 When Xerxes became king of Persia, Judah's enemies wrote a letter to him.[b] They said that the people who lived in Jerusalem and the rest of Judah were doing a bad thing.
7 Later, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and their friends wrote a letter to him. They wrote it in the Aramaic language. People translated it for the king to understand. 8 Rehum, the city's ruler, and Shimshai, his officer, wrote this letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes. This is what it said:
9 Rehum, your ruler, and Shimshai, his officer, write this letter to you. The other officers who work with us also send this letter to you. They are the judges and other officers and leaders, together with the people who came here from Erech, Babylon and Susa (the Elamites).[c] 10 It also comes from people of other nations who came to live in Samaria's cities. The great King Ashurbanipal sent those people to live in Samaria and in the region that is on the west side of the River Euphrates.[d]
11 This is the letter that they sent to Artaxerxes:
‘To King Artaxerxes,
from your servants in the land west of the Euphrates river.
12 We want to tell the king what the Jews here are doing. They came here to Jerusalem from Babylon. Jerusalem has always been a bad city whose people do not obey their rulers. Now they are building the city again. They are building the city's walls and the foundations for other buildings.
13 So you should know that there will be trouble. If they build this city again, with its walls, they will not pay any more taxes to you. You will not receive any more money from them as their king. 14 We serve you as our king. We do not want you to lose honour. So we have sent this letter to you. 15 You should look for the books where your ancestors recorded news about Jerusalem. Then you will read many bad things about this city. You will see that its people have always turned against their rulers. Since long ago, they have not obeyed the kings or the region's officers. It is because they are so wicked that Babylon's army destroyed the city. 16 So we are telling the king that you should not let these people build up this city again, with its walls. If they do that, you will no longer have any authority in this region that is west of the Euphrates river.’
17 The king of Persia sent this reply:
‘To Rehum, my ruler, Shimshai, his officer, and all their friends in Samaria and in other parts of the region west of the Euphrates river. I thank you for your news.
18 People have translated the letter that you sent to me. They read it for me to listen to. 19 Then I commanded them to look in the old books. I have seen what the books say about Jerusalem. It is true that its people have always turned against the kings that ruled them. Since long ago, they have never obeyed their rulers. 20 In the past, powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem and all the region west of the Euphrates river. They received many kinds of taxes from the people there. 21 Now you must command these people to stop their work. They must not build the city again until I decide to let them do it. 22 You must be very careful to make sure that they stop. We do not want the danger to our kingdom to become any greater. Our authority to rule them as kings must continue.’
23 Rehum, his officer, Shimshai, and their friends heard what the king's letter said. So they immediately took it to the Jews in Jerusalem. They used their power to command the Jews to stop their work.
24 So the people did no more work on God's temple in Jerusalem. The work stopped until the second year that King Darius ruled Persia.
The priests put Peter and John in prison
4 Peter and John were still speaking to the crowd in the yard of the temple. Then some priests, the leader of the police in the temple and some Sadducees came to them. 2 They were angry because of the things that Peter and John were teaching the people there. They were teaching that Jesus had become alive again after his death. The Jewish leaders did not agree that dead people could become alive again. 3 So they took hold of Peter and John. They put them in prison, because by then it was evening time. They put them in the prison until the next day. 4 But many of the people who had heard Peter's message believed what he said. There were now about 5,000 men who believed in Jesus.
The Jewish leaders ask Peter and John questions
5 The next day, the Jewish rulers and other important Jews met together in Jerusalem. The teachers of God's Law met together with them. 6 They met with Annas who was the most important priest. Caiaphas, John and Alexander were also there. Other men from the family of the most important priest were with them too. 7 The Jewish leaders made Peter and John stand in front of them. They began to ask them questions. They said, ‘How did you cause that man's legs to become strong? Who gave you the power and the authority to do it?’
8 Then Peter became full with the Holy Spirit and he said to them, ‘All you men are rulers of the people and important Jews. 9 Today you are asking us questions about the good thing that we did for this man. Before that, he could not walk. You are asking us how we caused his legs to become strong. 10 Now I need to tell you and all the people of Israel what is true. Then you will know how this happened. This man is standing here in front of you and he is well. His legs are strong because of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and his authority. You fixed Jesus to a cross so that he died. But after that, God caused him to become alive again. 11 The Bible says this about him:[a]
“The builders refused to use a certain stone. They thought that it had no value.
But now that stone has become the most important stone at the corner of the building.” ’
12 Then Peter said, ‘Only Jesus can save people. There has never been another person in the world that could do this. God has not given any other man the authority to save us.’
13 The Jewish leaders saw that Peter and John were not afraid of them. They also knew that they were not special people. They had not been to any school.[b] So the leaders were very surprised about how Peter and John spoke. They understood that Peter and John had been friends with Jesus.
14 The man who was now well stood in front of the Jewish leaders. They could see that his legs had become strong again. So they could not say anything against Peter and John. 15 They told Peter and John to go out of the room where the leaders were meeting. Then they talked together to decide what they should do. 16 ‘What should we do with these men?’ they said. ‘Everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows about this miracle. They know that Peter and John did a great thing for that man. So we cannot say that they did not do it. 17 But we do not want any more people to know what has happened. So we must say to these men, “You must stop using the name of Jesus. You must stop teaching people about him.” ’[c]
18 Then the Jewish leaders told Peter and John to come back into the room. They said to them, ‘You must not use the authority of Jesus to teach people any more. You must not speak about him.’ 19 Then Peter and John replied to the leaders, ‘What do you think God wants us to do? Should we obey you? Or should we obey God? You decide! 20 We know what is right. We must continue to speak about these things. We must tell people about the things that we have seen and heard.’
21 The Jewish leaders were angry. They told Peter and John that they must obey them. Then they let Peter and John go free. All the people there were praising God because of the miracle. So the leaders could not decide how to punish Peter and John. 22 The man who became well because of this miracle was more than 40 years old.
The group of believers pray to God
23 After the Jewish leaders let them go free, Peter and John went back to the group of believers. They told them what the leaders of the priests and the important Jews had said. 24 The believers listened to what Peter and John told them. Then they all prayed together. They said to God, ‘You are the Lord who rules over everything. You made the sky, the earth and the sea. You also made everything that is in them. 25 Our ancestor, King David, was your servant. You sent your Holy Spirit to him so that he spoke your message. You said through him,[d]
“People of other nations were very angry.
They made plans to do useless things.
Why did they do that?
26 The kings and rulers of the world met together.
They decided to fight against the Lord God
and against his Messiah.”
27 Lord God, it has now happened like that. Herod and Pontius Pilate have met together here in Jerusalem. They met with Israelite people and with people of other nations. Together they made plans to kill your holy servant, Jesus. He is the one that you chose to be your Messiah. 28 But you are powerful. These men did only what you said would happen. You had already decided on these events. 29 Lord God, you know that the Jewish leaders want to punish Peter and John. We are your servants. Please help us not to be afraid. Help us to speak your message to people without fear. 30 Show people that you are strong. Cause sick people to become well. Do other powerful things to show that you are God. It is the authority of your holy servant Jesus that will make these things happen.’
31 The believers finished praying. The house where they were meeting together shook. God filled them all with his Holy Spirit. That made them very brave and they spoke God's message clearly to people.
The believers help each other
32 All the believers agreed completely with each other about how they should live. They wanted to help each other. Nobody kept anything only for themselves. They let the other believers use it. 33 The apostles continued to teach about the Lord Jesus. They spoke with great power. They told people, ‘After Jesus died, God caused him to live again. We saw that happen.’ God was very kind to all the believers and he helped them in many ways. 34 Everyone had as much as they needed. Some believers had land or houses, which belonged to them. They sold those things and then they took the money to the apostles. 35 Then the apostles gave the money to any of the believers who needed it.
36 One of the believers was called Joseph. He was from the family of Levi. He was from the island called Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas because he liked to help people. 37 Joseph sold a field that belonged to him. He took the money from this and he gave it to the apostles. He wanted them to use the money to help other believers.[e]
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