M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Abram leaves Haran

12 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.^[a]

² I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. ³ I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’^[b]

⁴ Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord.^[c] He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.

⁸ Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.

⁹ Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.^[d]

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.^[e]

¹¹ When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.^{[f] 13} So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’

¹⁴ When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵ The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.^[g]

¹⁶ Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.

¹⁷ But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? ¹⁹ You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’

²⁰ Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.

Jesus talks about John the Baptist

11 Jesus taught all these things to his 12 disciples. After he had finished, he went away from that place. He went to the towns near there to teach his message to people.

² At that time, John the Baptist was in prison. But people told him about all the things that Jesus the Messiah was doing. So John sent some of his own disciples to ask Jesus some questions.^{[a] 3} They said to him, ‘John the Baptist wants to know this: Are you the special person that God has promised to send to us? If not, should we still look for someone else?’

⁴ Jesus replied, ‘Go back to John. Tell him what you have been hearing. Also, tell him what you have been seeing. ⁵ Blind people can now see again. People who could not walk can now walk again. People who had a bad disease of the skin are now well again. Deaf people can now hear again. People who had died now live again. Poor people are hearing God's good news. ⁶ If anyone believes in me and does not turn away, he will be really happy.’

⁷ John's disciples went away again. Jesus spoke to the crowd about John. He said to them, ‘You went out to the wilderness. What did you go there to see? Was it a tall piece of grass which the wind was blowing this way and that? No, you did not go to see that. ⁸ Did you go to see a man who was wearing expensive clothes? No! People like that do not live in the wilderness. They live in kings' great houses. ⁹ So what did you go to see? Did you go to see a prophet sent by God? Yes! But I tell you, John was even more important than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is what someone wrote about him a long time ago in the Bible. God said:

¹¹ Jesus then said, ‘I tell you this: John the Baptist is greater than any person who has ever lived until now. But now, anyone who belongs in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Even the least important of them is greater than he is.^{[c] 12} From the time that John the Baptist began to teach until now, the kingdom of heaven is becoming very strong. Strong people are trying very much to attack it. ¹³ All the prophets and the books of the Law spoke God's message until the time that John the Baptist came. ¹⁴ The prophets wrote about Elijah. They said he would come again, to prepare for the Messiah. They were writing about John, and you should believe their message. ¹⁵ You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

¹⁶ Jesus said, ‘I will talk to you about the people who are alive today. They are like children who are sitting in the market place. They are playing games and they shout to other children,

¹⁸ People today are like those children. John the Baptist did not eat ordinary food. He never drank wine. So people say that he has a bad spirit in him. ¹⁹ Then I, the Son of Man, came. I eat meals with other people and I drink wine. So people say about me, “Look at him! He eats too much and he drinks too much. He is a friend of bad people and men who take taxes from people.” God is wise. The good things that he does show that he is right.’^[d]

²⁰ In some of the cities Jesus had done many powerful things. But some people in those cities did not want to stop doing wrong things. They did not want to change how they lived. So Jesus spoke against those people. ²¹ He said to them, ‘You people in Chorazin, it will be very bad for you! And it will be very bad for you, people in Bethsaida. I have done great and powerful things in your cities. If I had done such great things in Tyre and in Sidon, the people there would have changed how they lived. They would have shown they were sorry for their sins. They would have put on clothes made from goat's hair. They would also have put ashes on their heads. ²² Yes, when God judges everyone, he will punish the people from Tyre and Sidon. But he will punish much more you people from Chorazin and Bethsaida. ²³ And what will happen to you people in Capernaum? You think that God will lift you up to heaven, do you? No! He will throw you down to Hades, the place for dead people. I did powerful things in your town. If I had done these powerful things in Sodom, it would still be there today. ²⁴ I tell you this. When God judges everyone, he will punish the people from Sodom. But he will punish you people much more!’^[e]

²⁵ At this moment, Jesus said, ‘Father, you rule over everything in heaven and on the earth! People who do not know many things can now understand your message. And so I thank you. But you have hidden these things from some other people. Those people think that they understand everything. They think that they are wise. ²⁶ Yes, Father, this is how you wanted it to happen.

²⁷ My Father has given me authority over all things. Only the Father really knows me, his Son. Only I really know my Father, because I am his Son. I also choose to tell some people about him. Then they also know him.

²⁸ Come to me all of you who are tired. You are like people who have worked for a long time. You are like people who have carried heavy things. Come to me. If you do that, you will find a place to rest. ²⁹ Do what I teach you to do. Listen to my message and learn from me what is true. I am very kind and I do not make myself important. I will help you. Then you will have peace in your mind. ³⁰ I will not tell you to do things that are too difficult. I will not tell you to carry anything that is too heavy for you.’

Nehemiah prays

1 These are the words of Nehemiah, Hacaliah's son.

It was the month Kislev. This was when King Artaxerxes had ruled for 20 years. I was in the big city of Susa. ² Hanani, my brother, and some other men arrived from Judah. I asked them for news of the Jews who had returned there from exile in Babylon. I asked them for news about Jerusalem. ³ They told me, ‘The Jews who returned to Judah are in much trouble. The walls of the city still have lots of holes in them. Fire has burned the city's gates down to the ground. So the people are very ashamed.’

⁴ After they told me this, I sat down and I wept. I was very sad for many days. I did not eat or drink anything and I prayed to God.

⁵ I prayed, ‘Lord, God of heaven, you are great and powerful.^[a] You always continue to love your people, as you have promised to do. You are kind to those people who love you and obey your commands. ⁶ Please listen to my prayer. I am your servant. I am praying in the day and in the night on behalf of your servants, the Israelites. I agree that we have all done wrong things. That includes me and my family. We have not obeyed you. ⁷ We have done wicked things against you. We have not obeyed the commands, the laws and the rules that you gave to your servant Moses.^[b]

⁸ Remember what you told your servant, Moses. You told him, “If the Israelites turn away from me, I will make them live among foreign people in many different places. ⁹ But if they return to me and they obey my commands, I will be kind to them. I will bring them back together again from all the different places where they are living. Even if they live far away, I will find them. I will bring them to the place that I have chosen to give honour to my name.”

¹⁰ Lord, these are your people and your servants. You used your great power and strength to rescue them. ¹¹ Please listen to my prayer, my Lord. Hear the prayers of your people who love to respect your name. Please cause the king to be kind to me. May he give me what I ask for.’

I was the king's cupbearer.^[c]

Peter returns to Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God. ² Peter then returned from Caesarea and he arrived in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews there who were believers spoke against him. These Jews thought that all believers should be circumcised. ³ So they said to Peter, ‘You stayed in the house of men who were not circumcised. You even ate meals with them!’^[a]

⁴ Peter then began to explain everything that had happened. He said to them, ⁵ ‘I was staying in a house in the city of Joppa. One day, when I was praying, I had a special dream. In this vision, I saw something that came down from heaven. It was like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground next to me. ⁶ I looked carefully at it. I saw that there were farm animals with four legs inside the cloth. There were also wild animals, snakes, and birds in it. ⁷ Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.”

⁸ But I answered, “No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.”

⁹ Then the voice spoke to me from heaven again. It said, “God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.” ¹⁰ All this happened three times. After that, the cloth went back up into heaven again.

¹¹ At that moment, three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. Someone had sent these men to find me. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me that I should go with them. He said that I should not be afraid. These six believers from Joppa also went with me to Caesarea. We all went into Cornelius's house. ¹³ Then Cornelius told us what had happened to him. He had seen an angel who appeared in his house and said to him, “Send some men to Joppa to fetch a man who is called Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will come and speak to you. His message will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.”

¹⁵ When I started to speak to Cornelius and his family, the Holy Spirit came down on them. It happened in the same way that he first came down on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord Jesus had said to us: “John baptized people with water, but God will baptize you with his Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷ So we see that God gave these Gentiles his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the same gift that he gave to us Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I could never try to stop God.’

¹⁸ The Jewish believers heard what Peter said. They could not say anything more against him. Instead, they praised God and they said, ‘We now see that God has also let Gentiles have life with him. He will accept them if they stop doing bad things and turn to him.’

The believers go to Antioch

¹⁹ After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.

²⁰ Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.

²² The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. ²³ Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’

²⁴ Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.

²⁷ During this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of these men was called Agabus. The Holy Spirit gave him a message from God. He stood up and he said to the people there, ‘Soon people will be very hungry all over the world because there will be no food.’ (That happened when Claudius ruled the Roman world.)^[b]

²⁹ The believers in Antioch wanted to help the other believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided how much of their own money they could give. ³⁰ Then they gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul took this gift to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem.