M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jacob runs away from Laban

31 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were complaining about him. They were saying, ‘Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He has taken things from our father and he has become rich himself.’

² And Jacob could see that Laban was not as nice to him as he had been before.

³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Go back to the land where your father and grandfather lived. Go back to your relatives. I will be with you there.’ ⁴ Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah. He said that they must come to the field where he was taking care of his animals. ⁵ Jacob said to them, ‘I see that your father is not as nice to me now as he was before. But the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have worked very hard for your father. I have worked as well as I can. ⁷ But your father has cheated me many times. He has changed what I receive for my work at least ten times. But God has protected me from him. ⁸ Sometimes Laban said, “I will pay you with the animals that have different colours on their skin.” If he said that, all the animals gave birth to babies with different colours on their skins. Sometimes he said, “I will pay you with the animals that have marks on them.” Then all the animals gave birth to babies with marks on them. ⁹ In this way God took away your father's animals, and he gave them to me.

¹⁰ One night I had a dream. It was at the time when the animals were becoming pregnant. In the dream, I saw that the male goats had marks and different colours on their skin. ¹¹ The angel of God spoke to me in the dream. He said, “Jacob.” I replied, “Yes, here I am.” ¹² The angel said, “Look carefully. See all the male goats that are having sex with the female goats. They all have marks and different colours on their skin. I am helping you because I have seen the bad things that Laban has done to you. ¹³ I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel. That is where you poured oil on the special stone and you made a promise to me. Now I am telling you to leave this land. Go back to the land where you were born.” ’

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah replied, ‘Our father will not give us anything more when he dies. ¹⁵ He now thinks of us like foreigners. You worked hard for him so that we could become your wives. He has cheated us as well as you! ¹⁶ So everything that God has taken away from our father really belongs to us and to our children. So you must do everything that God has told you to do.’

¹⁷ So Jacob put his children and wives on his camels. ¹⁸ He put together all his animals and everything that he had received in Paddan Aram. He took them with him to go to the land of Canaan. He left to go back to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Before they left, Laban had gone to cut the wool from his sheep. While he was away from the house, Rachel took the idols that Laban worshipped in his house.^[a]

²⁰ Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean. He did not tell Laban that he was going away. ²¹ Jacob went away quickly and he took all his things. He went across the Euphrates river. He went towards the hill country of Gilead.

²² After three days, someone told Laban that Jacob had gone away. ²³ So Laban took his relatives with him and he followed Jacob. After seven days, he found him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ Then God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. God warned him, ‘Be careful what you say to Jacob. Do not say anything good or bad to him.’

²⁵ Jacob had put up his tent in the hill country of Gilead. That is where Laban found him. So Laban and his relatives also put up their tents in that place. ²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, ‘Why did you do that? You have deceived me. You have taken my daughters away as if you had caught them in a war. ²⁷ Why did you go away secretly? Yes, you have deceived me. You should have told me that you were leaving. Then I would have prepared a big meal. We would have been happy together, with songs and music. ²⁸ But you did not even let me say “goodbye” to my daughters or my grandchildren. What you have done is not right. ²⁹ I have the power to hurt you. But last night the God of your father appeared to me. He told me, “Be careful what you say to Jacob. Do not say anything good or bad against him.” ³⁰ I know that you want very much to return to your father's house. That is why you have left my home. But why did you take my idols?’

³¹ Jacob replied, ‘I left secretly because I was afraid. I thought that you might fight me to take your daughters away from me. ³² But if you find your idols with anyone here, that person must die. While our relatives watch, you may look for anything that belongs to you. If you find anything then take it.’

Jacob did not know that Rachel had taken her father's idols.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob's tent. Then he went into Leah's tent. He also went into the female servants' tent. But he did not find the idols. When he left Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's tent. ³⁴ Rachel had taken the idols and she had put them inside her camel's seat. Now she was sitting on them. Laban looked everywhere in Rachel's tent but he did not find the idols. ³⁵ Rachel said to him, ‘Do not be angry with me, sir. I cannot stand up in front of you. It is the time of my monthly blood loss.’^[b] So Laban looked everywhere for the idols, but he did not find them.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and he quarrelled with Laban. He asked Laban, ‘What have I done wrong? What sin have I done against you so that you had to catch me? ³⁷ Now you have looked through everything that I have. Did you find anything that belongs to you? If you have found anything, put it here. Then your relatives and my relatives can see it. Our relatives can decide which of us is right, you or me!’

³⁸ Jacob continued to say to Laban, ‘I have worked for you for 20 years. Your female sheep and goats have all safely given birth to young ones. I have not taken any of your male animals as food for myself. ³⁹ If wild animals attacked your sheep or goats, I did not show them to you. I myself paid you for them. If any animal was lost, in the day or at night, you said that I must pay you for it. ⁴⁰ This is what it was like to work for you: I worked in the strong heat of the sun in the day. I had pain from the cold at night. I could not always sleep. ⁴¹ It was like this for 20 years as I worked like a slave for you. I worked for 14 years to pay you for your two daughters. Then I worked for six years for your sheep and goats. You changed what you paid me at least ten times! ⁴² The God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac was with me.^[c] If he had not helped me, then you would have sent me away with nothing. But God has seen what you have done to hurt me. He has seen how hard I have worked for you. So last night he told you that you had done wrong.’

⁴³ Laban replied to Jacob, ‘These women are my daughters. Their children are my grandchildren. The animals are my animals. Everything that you have with you here belongs to me. But there is nothing that I can do today about my daughters or about their children. ⁴⁴ So we should be friends. Let us make an agreement together. It will show that we have agreed to be friends.’

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a large stone and made it stand up in the ground. ⁴⁶ He said to his relatives, ‘Go and get some stones.’ So they brought some stones and they put them together on the ground. Then they all ate a meal together, near the heap of stones.^[d]

⁴⁷ Laban called that place Jegar Sahadutha. Jacob called it Galeed.^[e]

⁴⁸ Laban said, ‘These stones show that we have made an agreement today.’ That is why the place was called Galeed. ⁴⁹ The place was also called Mizpah. That was because Laban said, ‘May the Lord watch you and me when we are away from each other. ⁵⁰ Remember that God is watching you. If you do wrong to my daughters, God will see it. And if you marry any other women, remember this. God is watching you. Even if no one else sees you, God will know.’

⁵¹ Laban also said, ‘I have put this special stone here, and the heap of stones near it. They stand there between your land and my land. ⁵² I will not go past the stones to your side to hurt you. And you must not go past them to my side to hurt me. ⁵³ Let the God of Abraham, Nahor, and their ancestors decide if one of us is guilty.’

So Jacob made a promise in the name of the God that his father Isaac worshipped. ⁵⁴ He offered a sacrifice to God there in the hill country. He asked his relatives to eat a meal with him. After they had eaten, they stayed the night there.

⁵⁵ Early the next morning, Laban got up to return home. He kissed his grandchildren and his daughters. He said ‘goodbye’ and he blessed them. Then he left and he went back to his home.

Jesus helps a man who cannot walk

2 Several days after that, Jesus returned to Capernaum. People heard the news that he had come back to his home. ² Many people came into the house. The house was so full that there was no room, even outside the door. Jesus was teaching people about the good news. ³ Four men came. They were carrying another man on a mat. That man could not move his legs. ⁴ They could not reach Jesus because of the crowd. So they made a hole in the roof above the place where Jesus was.^[a] They helped the man to go down through the hole. He was still lying on his mat. ⁵ Jesus saw the man and his friends. He knew that they believed in him. So he said to the man who could not walk, ‘My friend, I forgive you for your sins.’

⁶ But some teachers of God's Law were sitting there. They thought about the words that Jesus had spoken to the man. ⁷ They thought, ‘This man Jesus should not have said that. He is speaking as if he is God. Only God can forgive people for their sins.’

⁸ Immediately, Jesus knew in his spirit what the teachers were thinking. He said to them, ‘You should not think these things. ⁹ I said to this man who cannot walk, “I forgive you for your sins.” Instead, I could have said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Which of those is easier for me to say? ¹⁰ But I want you to know this. I, the Son of Man, have authority on earth to forgive people for their sins.’^[b] Then he said to the man who could not walk, ¹¹ ‘I am saying to you, stand up! Pick up your mat and go home.’ ¹² Immediately, the man stood up. He picked up his mat and he walked out of the house. Everyone watched him do this. The people were very surprised. They praised God and they said, ‘God is great. We have never seen anything like this before.’

Jesus asks Levi to be his disciple

¹³ Jesus went to the shore of Lake Galilee again. A large crowd came to him, and he taught them. ¹⁴ While Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Levi. Levi was the son of Alphaeus. His job was to take taxes from people.^[c] He was sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, ‘Come with me and be my disciple.’ Levi stood up and he went with Jesus.

¹⁵ Then Jesus went to eat a meal at Levi's house. Many people followed Jesus and they ate there with him and with his disciples. Many of these were bad people and also men who took taxes. ¹⁶ Some teachers of God's Law who were Pharisees saw what was happening.^[d] They said to Jesus' disciples, ‘He is eating with bad people and men who take taxes. That is not right.’

¹⁷ Jesus heard what these people 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. 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.’

¹⁸ At this time, the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and they asked him this question: ‘The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees often fast for a time. So why do your disciples never do that?’^[e]

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘When a man marries, his friends cannot refuse to eat. They cannot fast while he is with them. ²⁰ But there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will fast.’^[f]

²¹ 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. ²² And nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. 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.’^[g]

Jesus answers questions about the day of rest

²³ On one Jewish day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some fields where wheat was growing. While they were walking along, his disciples picked some grains of wheat. ²⁴ Some Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Look at what your disciples are doing. They should not do that on our day of rest. It is against God's Law.’

²⁵ Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day.^[h] He and the men who were with him were very hungry. They needed food to eat. ²⁶ David went into the temple. He ate the special bread that was there. He gave some of it to his men to eat as well. This happened during the time that Abiathar was the leader of the priests. It is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that special bread.’

²⁷ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘God wanted to help people. So he made a day for them when they should rest. He did not make people so that they could keep laws about the day of rest. ²⁸ So you should know that the Son of Man has authority over the laws about the day of rest.’

Haman dies

7 King Xerxes and Haman went to the meal that Queen Esther had prepared. ² This was the second day that they ate a special meal together. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘Queen Esther, what do you want me to do for you? I will give you whatever you want. Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

³ Queen Esther replied, ‘Sir, I hope that you are pleased with me. If you agree, I ask you to save my life. Also save the lives of my people. That is what I ask you to do. ⁴ Someone has sold me and my people as if we are animals. Now they will kill us and completely destroy us all. If we had been sold to become slaves, I would not have spoken to the king. It would not have been important enough for that.’

⁵ Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man? Who would even think of anything like that? Where is he?’

⁶ Esther replied, ‘The enemy of our people is this wicked man Haman!’

Then Haman became very afraid, as he sat there with the king and the queen.^[a]

⁷ The king was very angry and he stood up. He left his wine and he went into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king wanted to destroy him. So he stayed with Queen Esther and he asked her to save his life. ⁸ Queen Esther was lying down on a bed. Haman threw himself down beside her. At that moment, the king returned from the garden. The king shouted, ‘What is this man doing? He even attacks the queen when she is with me in my palace!’^[b]

While the king was still saying this, his servants covered Haman's head.^[c]

⁹ One of the king's eunuchs, Harbona, said, ‘There is a wooden tower near Haman's home. It is 22 metres high. His men built it so that he could hang Mordecai on it. Mordecai is the man who saved the king's life.’

The king said, ‘Hang Haman on the tower until he is dead.’

¹⁰ So they took Haman and they hanged him on the tower until he was dead. It was the same tower that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai on. After that, the king did not feel so angry.

God judges all people in a right way

2 So I say this to each one of you: Do not judge other people. If you decide that someone else has done a bad thing, remember that you also do the same bad things. You are really saying that God should punish you also! When you judge someone, God will not punish them and then forgive you. ² When God judges people, he does it in a way that is right and fair. He punishes people who do those kind of bad things.

³ I ask each of you again: ‘Do you speak against people who do bad things, but you do those same bad things yourself?’ Then God will certainly punish you and you will not go free. ⁴ Remember that God is very kind and patient with us. He waits a long time before he punishes us. Do you not think that that is important? You should understand that God is giving you a chance to change. He waits patiently, so that you may turn away from wrong things.

⁵ But you refuse to change the way that you live. You are not sorry about the wrong things that you have done. As a result, you cause God to become even angrier with you. So he will punish you even more on the day when he will judge everyone. On that day, he will show how angry he is against people who do bad things. Everyone will know that he judges people in a right way. ⁶ He will give to each person what they ought to have because of the things that they have done. ⁷ Some people continue patiently to do good things. They want to do what is right so that God will praise them. They want to live the kind of life which death will not spoil. God will cause people like that to live with him always. ⁸ But other people think only about themselves. They refuse to obey God's true message. Instead, they continue to do things that are wrong. God will be very angry with people like that and he will punish them. ⁹ God will punish everyone who does bad things. He will do that first to the Jews, and he will do it also to the Gentiles. There will be much trouble and pain for every person who does bad things. ¹⁰ But God will praise every person who does good things. He will make them great and they will have peace in their minds. He will do that first for the Jews, and he will do it also for the Gentiles. ¹¹ God is always fair when he judges people, whoever they are.

¹² The Gentiles do not have God's Law that he gave to Moses.^[a] If Gentiles do wrong things, God will punish them. But he will not use his Law when he judges the Gentiles. But the Jews do have God's Law. So, if Jews do wrong things, God will use his Law to judge them. The Law will show that they have done wrong things. ¹³ Who does God accept as right with himself? It is those people who obey his Law. It is not the people who only know his Law but do not obey them.

¹⁴ The Gentiles do not have God's Law. But they may still do the right things that the Law teaches. They do right things because of what they themselves think is right. In that way they are showing that they have a certain law in their minds, even though they do not know God's Law. ¹⁵ Those people show that they know what is right. It is as if God has written his Law deep inside them. Their thoughts tell them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did something that is wrong.’ And sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is right.’

¹⁶ That is the message that I tell people. God knows everything that people think secretly. One day he will judge everyone. He has given Jesus Christ the authority to do that.

The Jews and God's Law

¹⁷ Do you say that you are a Jew? Maybe you trust in the Law that God gave to Moses. You are proud that you belong to God. ¹⁸ You know what God wants people to do. His Law teaches you what is good and right. ¹⁹ You are sure that you yourself can teach other people about God. You think that you can be like a guide to blind people. You think that you can be like a light to people who are in the dark. ²⁰ You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!

²¹ So you teach other people, do you? But do you teach yourself? You tell other people, ‘Do not rob anyone.’ But maybe you yourself rob other people. ²² You say, ‘People must not have sex with anyone who is not their wife or their husband.’ But maybe you yourself have sex in a wrong way. You say that you hate idols. But do you rob places where people worship idols? ²³ You are proud that you know God's Law. But you do not obey that Law. As a result, you cause other people to speak against God. ²⁴ This is written in the Bible:

²⁵ As a Jewish man, you are proud that someone has circumcised you.^[b] That is a help to you, if you obey God's Law in your life. But if you do not obey God's Law, then it is worth nothing. You have become like a Gentile that nobody has ever circumcised. ²⁶ But a Gentile may obey what God's Law teaches. Then he has shown that he belongs to God even though nobody has circumcised him. ²⁷ In that way, even Gentiles will show that you who are Jews are wrong. God's Law was written to help you Jews. They circumcised you to show that you belong to God. But if you refuse to obey God's Law, then God will punish you. The Gentiles who do obey God's Law will show that God is right to punish you.

²⁸ Not everyone who seems to be a Jew is really a Jew who belongs to God. God does not accept a man just because someone has circumcised that man's body. ²⁹ No! A true Jew is someone who belongs to God in his spirit. He belongs to God because God's Spirit has changed his life. It is like God has circumcised him in his spirit, not in his body. The rules in God's Law cannot do that work in a person. Other people may not praise a person like that, but God will praise him.