M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Isaac and Rebekah
24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who was in charge over all that he had, “Please, place your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. 4 But you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 Then the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”
6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s family and from the land of my relatives, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He shall send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from my oath. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all the goods of his master were in his hand. And he arose and went to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. 11 He made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water in the evening when the women came out to draw water.
12 Then he said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please let me have success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let it be that the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please lower your pitcher, that I may drink,’ and she shall say, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels water also’—let her be the one that You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. Then I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
15 Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with a pitcher on her shoulder. 16 The young woman was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, and no man had ever been with her. She went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up.
17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”
18 So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let down her pitcher to her hand and gave him a drink.
19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran to the well to draw water and drew for all his camels. 21 The man, gazing at her, remained silent, trying to discern whether the Lord had made his journey a success or not.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring of half a shekel weight[a] and two bracelets for her wrists of ten shekels weight[b] in gold, 23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”
24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 Again she said to him, “We have both straw and provision enough, and room in which to lodge.”
26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s relatives.”
28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household of these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the well. 30 When he saw the nose ring and bracelets on his sister’s hands and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man who stood by the camels at the well. 31 And he said, “Come in, blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
32 So the man came to the house. Then he unloaded his camels and gave straw and provision to the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 He then set food before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told about my errand.”
And he said, “Speak on.”
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy. He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and he has given to him all that he has. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live. 38 But you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
39 “So I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
40 “Then he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house. 41 You will be free from my oath, when you come to my family, if they will not give her to you; then you will be released from my oath.’
42 “So today I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if You will now give me success in my task; 43 I am standing by the well of water, and let it be that when the virgin comes forth to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” 44 and she says to me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,” let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. Then I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46 “She then quickly let down her pitcher from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also.
47 “Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’
“And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milkah bore for him.’
“So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48 And I bowed down my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “This thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good. 51 Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. 53 Then the servant brought out jewels of silver and gold, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then they ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night.
The next morning they arose, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”
56 So he said to them, “Do not delay me, seeing the Lord has given me success. Let me go that I may go to my master.”
57 They said, “We will call the girl and ask her.” 58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”
And she said, “I will go.”
59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 They blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become the mother
of thousands of ten thousands;
and may your descendants possess
the gate of those who hate them.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
62 Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the Negev. 63 Isaac went out in the evening to meditate in the field; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and surely the camels were coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?”
The servant said, “It is my master.” Therefore she took a veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all the things he had done. 67 So Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
The Denouncing of the Scribes and Pharisees(A)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do their works. For they speak, but do nothing. 4 They fasten heavy loads that are hard to carry and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
5 “They do all their works to be seen by men. They make their Scripture boxes broad and lengthen the tassels on their prayer shawls. 6 They love the places of honor at feasts, and the prominent seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called ‘Rabbi’ by men.
8 “But do not be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Nor be called teachers, for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 For he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ houses and for pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is obligated.’ 19 You blind fools! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 But he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. 24 You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and greed. 26 You blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may also be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the memorials of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have partaken with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.
33 “You serpents! You generation of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come on this generation.
The Lament Over Jerusalem(B)
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not! 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you shall not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’[a]”
The Reforms of Nehemiah
13 On that day they read aloud from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. In it there was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the congregation of God, 2 because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When they heard the Law, they separated from Israel all the racially mixed.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been appointed to govern the chambers of the house of our God, was related to Tobiah. 5 So, he had prepared a great chamber hall for him, where previously they had stored the contributions, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and fresh oil, as required, for the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the contribution for the priests.
6 But during this time I was not in Jerusalem, since in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon I had gone to the king. At the conclusion of those days I requested a leave of the king. 7 When I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah by preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God, 8 I was very grieved. So, from the chamber I threw all of the household belongings of Tobiah outside. 9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers so that I could return there the vessels of the house of God, the contributions for the offerings, and the frankincense.
10 When I perceived that the supplies for the Levites had not been given and that the Levites and the singers doing the work had fled, everyone to his own field, 11 I confronted the officials and asked, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” So I gathered them and stationed them at their posts.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil to the storehouses. 13 Overseeing the replenishing of the storehouse, I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites, and to assist them Hanan the son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their task was to distribute to their relatives.
14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this. Do not blot out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and its workings.
15 In those days I saw in Judah some treading winepresses on the Sabbath or hauling loads of grain or loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all manner of burdens in order to bring them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So, during the day while they were selling the food goods, I warned them. 16 Men of Tyre also stayed there, having hauled in fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and asked them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers do likewise? Did not our God bring all this evil against us and against this city? Will you yet bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath?”
19 As the gates of Jerusalem began to cast the evening shadow before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. Some of my servants I stationed at the gates so that there would be no loads brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kind of merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem. 21 So I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night next to the wall? If you do so again, I will send you away by force.” From that time on they stopped coming on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves so that they could come and, as guardians of the gates, sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to Your abundant mercy.
23 Moreover, in those days I also saw Jews who had married the women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke in the language of Ashdod, yet none of them could recognize the language of the Jews. This was true language by language. 25 So I confronted them and cursed them. Some of the men I beat. Others, I plucked out their hair. Also, I made them swear an oath by God and said to them, “You shall neither give your daughters to their sons, nor marry their daughters to your sons or to yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 Should we then listen to you, the ones doing all this great evil, who are behaving unfaithfully against our God by bedding foreign women?”
28 Also, one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed work crews for the priests and the Levites, each to his task, 31 and I provided the wood offering, at the appointed times, and the first fruits.
Remember me, O my God, for good.
23 Paul looked at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” 2 The high priest Ananias ordered those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the law, yet order me to be struck contrary to the law?”
4 Those who stood by said, “Do you criticize God’s high priest?”
5 Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know that he was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’[a]”
6 Then Paul, knowing that one sect were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried out among the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee. I am being judged for my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he had said this, dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
9 There was a great outcry. The scribes that were from the sect of Pharisees stood up and argued, “We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” 10 When much dissension arose, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, the commander ordered the soldiers to go down and take him from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, Paul. For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify at Rome.”
The Plot Against Paul’s Life
12 At daybreak some of the Jews conspired under oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who had conspired. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under oath not to eat until we have killed Paul. 15 So now, with the Sanhedrin, tell the commander to bring him down to you tomorrow, pretending to inquire further concerning him. We are ready to kill him before he arrives.”
16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of the treachery, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
17 Then Paul called one of the centurions over and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring you this young man who has something to tell you.”
19 Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside privately, and asked him, “What is it you have to tell me?”
20 The boy said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Sanhedrin, pretending to inquire further concerning him. 21 Do not trust them. More than forty men, who have bound themselves with an oath to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him, are waiting for him. And now they are ready, waiting for your promise.”
22 The commander dismissed the young man and ordered him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.”
Paul Sent to Felix the Governor
23 Then he summoned two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred infantrymen, seventy mounted soldiers, and two hundred light infantrymen with spears to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night. 24 And provide mounts so Paul may ride and take him safely to Felix the governor.”
25 He wrote a letter that went like this:
26 Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency Governor Felix:
Greetings.
27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with soldiers and rescued him. 28 Being minded to learn what crime they alleged, I took him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found him being accused of controversial matters about their law, but charged with nothing worthy of death or imprisonment. 30 When it was revealed to me that there was a plot against the man, at once I sent him to you and ordered the accusers to state before you their charges against him.
Farewell.
31 So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul by night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry depart with him and they returned to the barracks. 33 When they arrived in Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also to him. 34 Upon reading the letter, the governor asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also arrive.” And he ordered that he be guarded in Herod’s Praetorium.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.