M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jacob and Laban

29 Jacob continued on his journey. He came to the land where the people from the east live. ² He saw a well in a field. Three groups of sheep lay near it. Shepherds took water from the well to give to their sheep. There was a large stone that covered the top of the well. ³ The shepherds waited until all the sheep were there together. Then they removed the stone from the top of the well. They gave their sheep water to drink, and then they put the stone back on the top of the well.

⁴ Jacob asked the shepherds, ‘My brothers, where are you from?’ The shepherds replied, ‘We are from Haran.’ ⁵ Jacob said, ‘Do you know Laban? He is Nahor's grandson.’ The shepherds replied, ‘Yes, we know him.’ ⁶ Jacob asked them, ‘Is he in good health?’ They replied, ‘Yes, he is. Look. Here comes his daughter now, with their sheep. Her name is Rachel.’ ⁷ Jacob said to them, ‘The sun is still high in the sky. It is not yet the right time to bring all the sheep together. So give them some water now. Then they can go back to the fields and eat more grass.’ ⁸ The shepherds said, ‘We cannot do that. We have to wait until all the sheep are here together. Then we can remove the big stone from the well and we can give water to the sheep.’

⁹ When Jacob was speaking to the shepherds, Rachel arrived there. She brought her father's sheep with her. She was taking care of them.

¹⁰ Jacob saw Rachel. She was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Jacob saw that she had Laban's sheep with her. So Jacob went to the well and he removed the big stone. Then he gave water to Laban's sheep. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel. He began to weep loudly.^[a]

¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father, Laban. He told her that he was Rebekah's son. So Rachel ran home to tell her father.

¹³ When Laban heard what Rachel said, he went quickly to meet Jacob, his sister's son. He put his arms round Jacob and he kissed him. Laban brought Jacob to his home. Jacob told Laban all his news. ¹⁴ Then Laban said, ‘Yes, you really are my own relative.’ So Jacob stayed with Laban for a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘You should not work for me for nothing because you are my relative. Tell me what I should pay you.’ ¹⁶ Laban had two daughters. The name of the older daughter was Leah. The name of the younger daughter was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had weak eyes. But Rachel's face and her body were beautiful. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. He said to Laban, ‘I will work for you for seven years. In return, I want to marry your younger daughter, Rachel.’ ¹⁹ Laban said, ‘It is better for you to marry her than another man. Stay here with me.’

²⁰ Jacob worked for seven years to have Rachel as his wife. But the years passed very quickly because Jacob loved Rachel very much. Seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob.

Jacob marries Leah and Rachel

²¹ After seven years, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife. My time to work for you is finished and I want to marry her.’ ²² Laban called all the people in that place to come together. He prepared a big meal for them to eat. ²³ When evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and he gave her to Jacob. Jacob slept that night with her as his wife. ²⁴ Laban gave his female servant to Leah to be her servant. Her name was Zilpah.

²⁵ When morning came, Jacob saw that he had slept with Leah! He said to Laban, ‘You have done a very bad thing to me! I worked for you to get Rachel as my wife. Why have you deceived me?’ ²⁶ Laban replied, ‘In our land, we do not give the younger daughter to a man first. We let the older daughter marry first. ²⁷ So finish this week of Leah's marriage. Then we will give you Rachel to marry too. But you must work for another seven years.’^[b]

²⁸ So Jacob did what Laban said. He finished the marriage week with Leah. Then Laban gave Rachel to Jacob to be his wife. ²⁹ Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to Rachel to become her servant. ³⁰ Jacob also slept with Rachel. He loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. He worked for Laban for seven more years.

³¹ The Lord saw that Jacob did not love Leah. So he let her become pregnant. But Rachel did not give birth to any children. ³² Leah became pregnant and she gave birth to a son. She called him Reuben. She said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen how sad I am. My husband will love me now because I have given birth to a son.’

³³ Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘The Lord has given me another son because he knows that I am not loved.’ She called this son Simeon.

³⁴ Leah became pregnant again. Later, she gave birth to another son. She said, ‘Now I have given my husband three sons, so he will want to stay with me.’ She called this son Levi.

³⁵ Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ She called this son Judah. Then she stopped giving birth to children.

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.’

Esther goes to the king

5 After they had fasted for three days, Esther put on her royal clothes. She went to King Xerxes' part of the palace. She stood in the yard outside his rooms. The king was sitting on his royal throne. He could see through the door of the room where he sat. ² The king saw Esther as she stood outside in the yard. He was pleased to see her. He held out his gold sceptre towards her. Esther came near to him and she touched the top of the sceptre.

³ The king asked her, ‘What is your trouble, Queen Esther? I will do for you whatever you want. I will even give you half of my kingdom!’

⁴ Esther replied, ‘If the king agrees, I would like you to do this. I would like the king and Haman to come to a special meal that I have prepared for you.’

⁵ The king said to his servants, ‘Bring Haman here quickly. Then we can do what Esther wants.’

The king and Haman went to the meal that Esther had prepared. ⁶ When they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther, ‘What do you want? I will give you whatever you want. What do you want me to do for you? Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

⁷ Esther replied, ‘This is what I want. ⁸ If the king is pleased with me, and if you agree, please do what I ask. I would like the king and Haman to come again tomorrow. Come to another meal that I will prepare for you. Then I will tell you what I want, as you have asked me to do.’

Mordecai makes Haman angry again

⁹ When Haman went from Queen Esther's meal that day, he was very happy. But then he saw Mordecai at the king's gate. When Haman passed him, Mordecai did not get up. He did not show that he respected Haman in any way. So Haman became very angry with Mordecai. ¹⁰ Haman did not show that he was angry at that time. He went home.

Then Haman told his friends and Zeresh, his wife, to meet with him. ¹¹ Haman told them how rich he was, and how many sons he had. He told them of all the things that the king had done to give him great honour. He told them that he was now more important than all the king's other rulers and officers. ¹² Haman said to them, ‘Queen Esther asked me to go with the king to a special meal that she had prepared. We were the only people who ate with her. Now the queen has asked me to go with the king to another meal tomorrow. ¹³ But even all these things do not make me happy. I am angry when I see that Jewish man Mordecai. He is sitting at the king's gate.’

¹⁴ Haman's wife and all his friends said to him, ‘This will make you happy. Tell your men to build a wooden tower that is 22 metres high. In the morning, tell the king to hang Mordecai on the tower to kill him. Then you will enjoy Queen Esther's special meal.’

Haman liked their idea very much. So he told his men to build the tall tower.^[a]

Paul on the island of Malta

28 So then we were on the shore and we were all safe. We discovered that the island was called Malta. ² The people who lived on the island were very kind to us. Rain was falling and the weather was cold. So the people lit a fire and they helped all of us. ³ Paul picked up some small branches to put on the fire. When he did this, a dangerous snake came out from among the sticks. It had felt the heat from the fire. The snake bit Paul's hand and it held on to it. ⁴ The people who lived on the island saw the snake. They saw that it was hanging from Paul's hand. So they said to each other, ‘We know now that this man murdered someone. He did not die in the sea but now the snake will kill him. The god who punishes people for the bad things that they do will not let him live.’ ⁵ Then Paul waved his hand about so that the snake fell off into the fire. The snake had not hurt Paul in any way. ⁶ So the people watched Paul carefully. They thought that his body would become very sick. They thought that he might die suddenly. They waited for a long time. But they did not see anything bad happen to Paul. So then they thought something different about Paul. They said, ‘This man is certainly a god!’

⁷ There was an important officer who ruled the island. He was called Publius. He had some fields near to the shore where we had made the fire. He was very kind to us. He asked us to stay in his house. We stayed there for three days. ⁸ Publius's father was lying in bed because he was ill. His body was hot and he was very sick. Paul went into his room to see him. Paul prayed for him and he put his hands on the man's head. As a result, the man became well again. ⁹ After Paul did this, the other sick people on the island came to him. He caused them also to become well again. ¹⁰ The people gave us many gifts. Later, we got ready to leave the island on another ship. They gave us the things that we needed for the journey.

¹¹ When we left Malta, we had been there for three months. We got on a ship that was called ‘The Twin Gods’.^[a] It had come from Alexandria and it had stayed in Malta during the winter.

¹² We sailed across the sea and we arrived at the city of Syracuse. We stayed there for three days.^[b]

¹³ We left Syracuse and we sailed to the city of Rhegium. The next day, the wind began to blow from the south, so we sailed more quickly. The day after that, we arrived at the town of Puteoli.^[c]

¹⁴ We found some believers there. They asked us to stay with them for one week. After this we travelled to Rome. ¹⁵ The believers in Rome had heard about us. So they came out of the city to meet us at ‘The Market of Appius’ and ‘The Three Hotels’.^[d] When Paul saw the believers, he thanked God for them. He was very happy that they had come to meet him.

¹⁶ When we arrived in Rome, the Roman officer said to Paul, ‘You may live in a house by yourself, but a soldier will guard you there.’

¹⁷ After three days, Paul asked the leaders of the Jews in Rome to meet with him. When they met together, Paul said to them, ‘Friends, I am a Jew as you are. I tell you that I have never done anything bad against our people. I have always obeyed the rules that our ancestors gave to us. But the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem took hold of me. They gave me to the Roman rulers so that they would judge me. ¹⁸ The Roman rulers asked me questions about what I had done. They discovered that I had not done anything wrong. There was no reason that they should kill me. So they wanted to let me go free. ¹⁹ But the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem did not agree with that. So then I asked the Roman rulers to send me here to Rome. I wanted Caesar himself to judge me. That was the only thing that I could do. I did not want to say anything bad against my own people. ²⁰ That is why I want to talk with you now. I want to tell you why I am a prisoner here. It is because I believe in the one that God promised to send to us who are Jews.’

²¹ The Jewish leaders said to Paul, ‘We have not received any letters about you from Judea. Our Jewish friends who have come here from Judea have not told us this news. They have not said anything bad about you. ²² But we know that people everywhere are saying bad things about your new group. So we would like you to tell us your ideas.’

²³ So the Jewish leaders in Rome chose a day to meet again with Paul. When that day arrived, a large number of Jews came to the house where Paul was staying. Paul talked to them from the morning until the evening. He explained his message about the kingdom of God. He showed them what Moses and the other prophets had written in the Bible. He tried to show them that Jesus was God's special Messiah. ²⁴ Some of them believed that Paul's message was true. But other Jews who were there would not believe him. ²⁵ They argued about it with each other. When they began to leave the house, Paul said, ‘The Holy Spirit spoke a true message to your ancestors. He gave this message to Isaiah, the prophet:

²⁸ Paul then said to the Jews there, ‘You do not want to listen to God's message. But the Gentiles will listen! They will understand how God will save them.’

²⁹ [After Paul had said this, the Jews left. They were still arguing with each other.]^[e]

³⁰ Paul lived in a house in Rome for two years. He paid money to live in the house. Many people came to visit him there. He was very happy to see them all. ³¹ He told people clearly about the kingdom of God. He taught them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not afraid to speak strongly. Nobody tried to stop him.