M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God's covenant with Noah

9 God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, ‘Give birth to many children so that you become very many people. Your descendants will live all over the earth. ² All the animals and all the birds will be afraid of you. You have authority over them. You also have authority over all the living things that move across the ground and all the fish in the sea. ³ You may now eat anything that lives and moves. Before, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now I give you everything to eat as your food.

⁴ But you must not eat meat that still has the blood of life in it.

⁵ If any person or animal kills a human, I will certainly punish them. Their punishment will be death.

⁷ But as for you, you should give birth to many children so that you become very many people. There will be many people and they will live all over the earth.’

⁸ God said to Noah and to his sons, ⁹ ‘I promise you that I will obey the covenant that I am making with you.^[b] I promise this to you and to all your descendants. ¹⁰ I also promise this to all the animals and birds that came out of the ship with you. That is everything that lives on the earth. ¹¹ This is the covenant that I promise to keep: I will never cause water to destroy all living things on the earth again. Deep water will never again come again to destroy the earth.’

¹² Then God said, ‘I will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with you, and with every living animal. I will keep this promise for ever, for as long as people live on the earth. ¹³ I have put my rainbow among the clouds in the sky. It will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with everything on the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will sometimes appear. ¹⁵ Then I will remember the covenant that I have made with you and with all the different kinds of living things. Never again will the water become so deep that it destroys everything that lives. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember my covenant. It is a promise that I have made with every kind of living thing on the earth.’

¹⁷ Then God said to Noah, ‘The rainbow will show you that I will certainly keep my promise. I will keep my covenant that is between me and everything that lives on the earth.’

Noah's sons

¹⁸ The names of Noah's sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They all came out of the ship with Noah. Ham later became the father of a son called Canaan. ¹⁹ All the people who live on the earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

²⁰ Noah was a farmer. He was the first person to plant vines.

²¹ He used the grapes to make wine. One day, he drank some of the wine and he became drunk. He lay inside his tent and he slept. He was not wearing any clothes. ²² Canaan's father, Ham, saw that Noah was not wearing any clothes. He went out of the tent. He told his two brothers what he had seen. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took Noah's coat and they put it between their shoulders. They walked into Noah's tent with their backs to Noah. In this way they covered their father with the coat. They looked away from their father so that they did not see him. They did this because Noah was not wearing any clothes.^[c]

²⁴ Later, when he was no longer drunk with the wine, Noah woke up. He found out what his youngest son, Ham, had done. ²⁵ He said, ‘I curse Canaan! He will become a slave that must serve his brothers.’

²⁶ Noah also said, ‘I praise the Lord, the God of Shem! Let Canaan become Shem's slave! ²⁷ I pray that God will make the land of Japheth and his descendants grow bigger. I pray that the descendants of Japheth will share good things with Shem. I pray that Canaan will become Japheth's slave.’^[d]

²⁸ Noah lived for 350 years after God covered the earth with deep water. ²⁹ In his whole life, Noah lived for 950 years. Then he died.

10 This is the report about Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their families.

After the deep water went away, they all had children themselves.

Japheth's family

² These are the sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. ³ These are the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. ⁴ These are the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim people and the Rodanim people.^[e]

⁵ These people lived by the sea. They lived in groups. Each group went to live in a different place. Each group spoke its own language.

Ham's family

⁶ These are the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. ⁷ These are the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. These are the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush was also the father of Nimrod. Nimrod became the first brave soldier in the world. ⁹ The Lord helped Nimrod to be a great hunter. That is why people say, ‘Like Nimrod, a great hunter that the Lord helped.’

¹⁰ The first of Nimrod's lands were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria. This is where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah. ¹² He also built Resen. Resen is between Nineveh and Calah, which is a large city. ¹³ Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴ Pathrusites, Kasluhites and Caphtorites. The Philistines were descendants of the Kasluhites.^[f]

¹⁵ Canaan was the father of Sidon, who was born first. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, ¹⁶ Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷ Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸ Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. After some time had passed, the Canaanite families separated to different places. ¹⁹ The land of Canaan went from Sidon to Gerar, as far as Gaza. It went to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are all descendants of Ham. They lived in groups in their own parts of the land. Each group spoke their own language.

Shem's family

²¹ Shem also had sons. Shem was Japheth's older brother. All the sons of Eber are descendants of Shem. ²² These are the sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. ²³ These are the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. ²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah. Shelah was the father of Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons. The name of one son was Peleg. When he was alive, people began to live in different places on the earth. That is why his name was Peleg.^[g] Peleg's brother's name was Joktan.

²⁶ Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All those were Joktan's sons. ³⁰ The land where they lived went from Mesha to Sephar. This is in the land with hills in the east. ³¹ These are the descendants of Shem. They lived in groups in their own parts of the land. Each group spoke their own language.

³² All these people are descendants of Noah's sons, and their children. They went to live in different parts of the earth and their children became different nations. This happened after God covered the earth with water and then the water went away.

Jesus helps a man who cannot walk

9 Then Jesus got back into the boat. He sailed across to the other side of the lake again. He went to Capernaum, the town where he was living.

² Some men came to see Jesus there. They carried with them a man who could not walk or move his legs. He was lying on a mat. Jesus knew that they believed in him. He said to the man who could not walk, ‘Do not be afraid, my friend. I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.’

³ Then some teachers of God's Law said to themselves: ‘This man is speaking as if he is God. That is not right.’

⁴ Jesus knew what the teachers were thinking. So he said to them, ‘You should not think these bad things in your minds. ⁵ I said to this man, “I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.” Instead, I could have said to him, “Stand up and walk.” Which one is easier for me to say? ⁶ But I want you to know this. I, the Son of Man, have authority on earth.^[a] I can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’ Then he said to the man who could not walk, ‘Stand up. Pick up your mat and go home.’ ⁷ So then the man stood up and he went home. ⁸ The crowds of people saw what had happened. They were very surprised and afraid. They saw that God had given so much authority to men. So they praised God and they said, ‘God is great!’

Jesus asks Matthew to come with him

⁹ Jesus went away from that place. While he walked, he saw a man called Matthew. Matthew's job was to take taxes from people. He was sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, ‘Come with me and be my disciple.’ So Matthew stood up and he went with Jesus.

¹⁰ Later, Jesus went to eat a meal in Matthew's house. Many bad people and men who took taxes also came to the house.^[b] They came to eat there with Jesus and his disciples.

¹¹ Some Pharisees saw what was happening. They said to Jesus' disciples, ‘Your teacher is eating a meal with these bad people. That is not right. They are people who do not obey God, and some of them take taxes from people.’

¹² Jesus heard what the Pharisees were saying. He said to them, ‘People who are well do not need a doctor. It is people who are ill that need a doctor. ¹³ Go and study what it says in the Bible. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not want them only to offer sacrifices to me.” Some people think that they always obey God. I did not come to help people like that. Some people know that they have done wrong things. I am asking those people to come to me for help.’

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus. They said to him, ‘We often decide to fast for a time. The disciples of the Pharisees also do that. Why do your disciples never do that?’^[c]

¹⁵ Jesus answered them: ‘When a man marries, his friends cannot be sad. They cannot refuse to eat food while he is with them. But there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will choose to fast.’^[d]

¹⁶ Then Jesus said, ‘Nobody uses a piece of new cloth to mend an old coat. If he does, the new cloth will cause the old cloth to tear again. It will make a bigger hole than before.

¹⁷ Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins.^[e] If he does that, the new wine will tear the old wineskins. He will lose the wine and the wineskins will spoil. Instead, you must put new wine into new wineskins. Then there will be nothing to spoil the wine or the wineskins.’^[f]

Jesus causes a dead girl to become alive again

¹⁸ While Jesus was saying these things to the people, a leader at the Jewish meeting place came to him. The man went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said to him, ‘My daughter has just died. Come to my house. Put your hand on her and then she will live again.’ ¹⁹ So Jesus went with the man. His disciples also went with them.

²⁰ There was a sick woman in the crowd. She had been losing blood for 12 years. She came near to Jesus, behind him. She touched the edge of his coat. ²¹ The woman thought, ‘Even if I only touch his coat, I will become well again.’

²² Jesus turned round and he saw the woman. He said to her, ‘Young woman, do not be afraid. You are now well again because you believed in me.’ And immediately the woman became well again.

²³ Then Jesus arrived at the Jewish leader's house. Some people there were making sad music and the crowd was making a loud noise.^[g]

²⁴ When Jesus saw this, he said to everybody in the house, ‘Go outside. This girl is not dead. She is only sleeping.’ The people laughed at Jesus when he said that. ²⁵ The family sent all the people out of the house. Jesus went inside and he held the girl's hand. Immediately she stood up. ²⁶ People in all that part of the country heard about what had happened.

Jesus causes two blind men to see again

²⁷ Jesus left the house. While he walked along, two blind men began to follow him. They were shouting out to him, ‘Son of David! Please be kind to us and help us!’^[h]

²⁸ Jesus went into a house and the blind men came to him there. Jesus asked them, ‘Do you believe that I can make your eyes become well?’ The men replied, ‘Yes, Master, we believe that you can do this.’

²⁹ So Jesus touched the men's eyes. He said to them, ‘Because you believed in me, you will now see again.’ ³⁰ Then immediately the men could see again. Jesus said strongly to them, ‘You must not tell anyone about this.’ ³¹ So the men went away. But they told everybody in that part of the country all about what Jesus had done for them.

Jesus causes a man to speak again

³² While those two men were leaving, some people brought another man to Jesus. This man could not speak because of a bad spirit in him. ³³ Jesus made the bad spirit go out of the man and leave him. Then the man began to speak again. Everybody there was very surprised. They said, ‘Nobody has seen anything like this happen in Israel before.’

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, ‘This man can send bad spirits out of people because Satan gives him authority. Satan is the one who rules the bad spirits.’

Jesus wants God to send out more disciples

³⁵ Jesus went to visit all the towns and villages near there. 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.

³⁶ When Jesus saw the crowds of people, he felt sorry for them. They had trouble in their minds. They had nobody to help them. Jesus thought, ‘These people are like sheep that have nobody to take care of them.’ ³⁷ Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Many people are ready to believe God's message. They are like crops in the fields at harvest time. But there are very few workers to bring in the crops. ³⁸ So pray to God to send out workers. The field and the crops belong to him.’^[i]

Ezra's prayer

9 When we had done all these things, the Jewish leaders came to speak to me. They said, ‘Some of the Israelites have done disgusting things, like the people of other nations do. Some priests and Levites have done the same bad things. They live in the same way as the other people who live in this land, the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have not kept themselves separate. ² They have married some of the foreign people's daughters. They have let their sons do the same thing. In this way, God's holy people have become mixed with the foreign people who live near to them. Our own leaders and officers have led the way in these bad things.’

³ When I heard this, I was very upset. I tore my shirt and my coat. I pulled out hair from my head and my beard. I was angry and ashamed. I sat down. ⁴ Then everyone who respected the words of Israel's God came around me. They were afraid of what God might do, because the Israelites who came from Babylon had not obeyed him. I continued to sit there, until the time of the evening sacrifice. I was still very upset.

⁵ When the time came for the evening sacrifice, I stood up. I still wore my shirt and coat that I had torn because I was so sad. Then I went down on my knees. I held out my hands and I prayed to the Lord, my God. ⁶ I said,

‘My God, I am too ashamed to look up at you. Our sins are very great. They are so many that they reach far above us. We are completely guilty. ⁷ Since our ancestors were alive, we have continued to do wrong things. Because of our sins, you have given our enemies power over us, our kings and our priests. Foreign kings and their armies have killed some of our people. They have made some of us prisoners. They have robbed us and they have caused us to be ashamed. And we are still ashamed today.

⁸ But now, for a short time, the Lord our God has been kind to us. He has let some of us remain alive. He has given us a safe place to live in this holy place. He has made our lives happier. He has given us rest from work as slaves. ⁹ We are still slaves, but our God has not left us alone to serve other people. Because he loves us, he has caused the kings of Persia to be kind to us. He has let us live so that we can build again the temple of our God. It had become a heap of stones, but now we have built it again. He has given us a safe place to live in Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah.

¹⁰ Our God, we can say nothing good about ourselves. We have turned away from your commands. ¹¹ Your servants the prophets told us your laws. You said, “You will go and live in a land that is unclean. The people who live there have done wicked things. The whole land has been made unclean by all the evil things that they have done. ¹² So you must not let your daughters marry their sons. And do not let your sons marry their daughters. Do not ever help them to live in peace and become strong. If you make yourselves separate from them, you will be strong yourselves. The land will give you good food to eat. After you die, the land will belong to your children, and to your descendants for ever.”

¹³ All these bad things have happened to us because we are guilty of many wicked things. But, our God, you still have not punished us as much as we deserve. You have let some of us remain alive. ¹⁴ But now we still refuse to obey your commands! Some of us have married foreign people who do disgusting things. If we continue to do that, you may destroy us all. None of us will remain alive! ¹⁵ Lord God of Israel, you are righteous. Only a few of us escaped from exile and remain as your people today. Now we stand before you as guilty people. Because of our sins, we do not deserve to come near to you.’

Jesus meets with Saul

9 All this time, Saul was still speaking strongly against the disciples of the Lord Jesus. He wanted to kill all the believers. So he went to see the most important priest in Jerusalem. ² Saul asked him, ‘Please will you write some letters for me?^[a] Then I can give one of these letters to the leader of each Jewish group in Damascus.^[b] That will give me authority to take hold of any believers that I find there.’

Saul wanted to find anyone who agreed with the Way of the Lord Jesus.^[c] Then he would tie them and bring them back to Jerusalem, whether they were men or they were women. ³ He travelled towards Damascus. He was very near the city when a bright light suddenly appeared. The light came from the sky, and it shone all around him. ⁴ Saul fell down onto the ground. He heard a voice which said to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you fight against me?’

⁵ Saul asked, ‘Lord, who are you?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus. And you are fighting against me. ⁶ Now you must get up and go into the city. Someone there will tell you what you must do.’

⁷ The men who were travelling with Saul stood still. They could not say anything. They could hear that someone was speaking. But they could not see anyone. ⁸ Saul stood up. He opened his eyes, but he could not see anything. So the men who were with Saul held his hand. They led him into Damascus. ⁹ For three days, Saul could not see anything. During that time, he did not eat any food or drink anything.

¹⁰ There was a believer who lived in Damascus. His name was Ananias. God gave him a message in a vision. The Lord Jesus said to him, ‘Ananias!’ Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I am here.’

¹¹ Jesus said to Ananias, ‘Prepare yourself and go to Straight Street. A man called Judas lives on that street. Go to his house. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus who is called Saul. He is praying to God. ¹² He has had a message from God in a vision. In his vision, he saw a man who is called Ananias come to him. He saw you put your hands on him so that he could see again.’

¹³ Ananias replied, ‘Lord, many people have told me about this man. He has done very bad things to your own people, the believers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now he has come here to Damascus, and he has brought letters with him from the leaders of the priests. They have given him authority, so that he will take hold of everyone who believes in you. He will tie them and put them in prison.’

¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go now to Saul! I have chosen him to work for me. He will go to those who are not Jews and to their rulers. He will tell them about me. He will also tell the people of Israel about me. ¹⁶ I myself will tell him about the many troubles that he will have. He will have much pain on my behalf.’

¹⁷ So Ananias went to Judas's house and he went inside. He put his hands on Saul and he said to him, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus himself has sent me here to you.^[d] It was Jesus that you saw on the road when you were coming here to Damascus. He has sent me to you so that you will be able to see again. God will also fill you with his Holy Spirit.’

¹⁸ When Ananias said that, immediately something like bits of fish skin fell from Saul's eyes. Then Saul could see again. So he stood up and Ananias baptized him. ¹⁹ Then Saul ate some food and he became strong again.

Saul teaches people about Jesus

Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. ²⁰ He immediately went to the Jewish meeting places and he taught people about Jesus. He told them that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All the people who heard what Saul said were very surprised. They said to each other, ‘This is the same man who caused much pain to the believers in Jerusalem. We are sure it is him! Now he has come here to Damascus to take hold of the believers and take them away to Jerusalem. He wants to make them stand in front of the leaders of the priests.’

²² But Saul became even more powerful when he taught the people. He showed very clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah. So the Jews who lived there in Damascus could not answer him.

²³ After many days, the Jews met together. They decided that they would kill Saul. ²⁴ But someone told Saul about this. The Jews carefully watched the gates of the city all day and all night. They wanted to catch Saul and to kill him. ²⁵ But one night, Saul's friends helped him to leave the city secretly. They put him in a basket. Then they put him through a hole in the city wall. Then they let the basket go slowly down to the ground outside the city.^[e]

Saul returns to Jerusalem

²⁶ Saul returned to Jerusalem. He wanted to join the group of believers there. But they were all afraid of him. They did not believe that he had really become a disciple of Jesus. ²⁷ But one of the believers who was called Barnabas helped Saul. He took Saul to meet the apostles. Barnabas then explained to the apostles what had happened to Saul. Barnabas said to them, ‘Saul saw the Lord when he was on his way to Damascus. The Lord spoke to him there. Then, while Saul was in Damascus, he bravely told people the message about Jesus.’

²⁸ After that, Saul stayed with the apostles. He went everywhere in Jerusalem and he bravely taught people the message about the Lord Jesus. ²⁹ Saul also talked with the Jews who spoke the Greek language.^[f] He argued with them about Jesus. As a result, they wanted to kill him.

³⁰ The other believers heard about this. So they took Saul away to Caesarea. From there, they sent him to Tarsus.

³¹ By this time there were believers everywhere in Judea, Galilee and Samaria. For some time they had no troubles. The Holy Spirit helped them to become strong. So more people became believers, and they obeyed God in everything that they did.

Peter travels to Lydda and Joppa

³² Peter often travelled to many different places. One day he travelled to Lydda, and he went to see the believers there. ³³ In Lydda, he met a man called Aeneas. Aeneas could not move his arms or his legs. He lay on his mat all the time. He had been on his mat for eight years.

³⁴ Peter said to Aeneas, ‘Jesus Christ now makes you well again! So stand up and put away your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas stood up. ³⁵ Many people who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas. They saw that he was now well and they believed in the Lord Jesus.

³⁶ There was a woman called Tabitha who lived in Joppa.^[g] She was a believer. In the Greek language, her name was Dorcas, which means ‘deer’.^[h] She was always doing good things to help people. She gave poor people the things that they needed.

³⁷ Dorcas became very ill and then she died. Women washed her body and they put it in a room upstairs. ³⁸ Joppa was not very far from Lydda. The believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda. So they sent two men to go and to tell him, ‘Please hurry and come to Joppa.’

³⁹ Peter then returned to Joppa with the two men. When he arrived at Dorcas's house, some women took him upstairs. Many widows were there and they were crying. They all stood there, near to Peter. They showed him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰ Peter sent all these women out of the room. He went down on his knees and he prayed to God. Then he turned his head towards the dead woman and he said, ‘Tabitha, stand up!’ She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹ Peter held her hand and he helped her to stand up. Then he told the widows and all the believers to come into the room. He showed them that Dorcas was alive again.

⁴² People everywhere in Joppa heard what had happened. As a result, many more people believed in the Lord Jesus. ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for many days. He stayed with a man called Simon, who was a tanner.^[i]