M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Joseph tests his brothers
44 Joseph told the servant who took care of his house, ‘Fill the men's bags. Give them as much food as their animals can carry. Put each man's money back in the top of his bag. 2 Then take my silver cup and put it in the top of the youngest man's bag. Put it with the money that he brought to pay for his food.’ The servant did what Joseph had told him to do. 3 When morning came, the men started their journey with their donkeys. 4 They had travelled only a short way from the city. Then Joseph said to his servant, ‘Go now and follow those men. When you find them, say to them, “My master was kind to you. So why have you done this bad thing against us? 5 You have taken my master's own special cup. It is the cup that he drinks from. He also uses it to find out about future things. You have done a very bad thing!” ’
6 So Joseph's servant followed the men and he reached them. He told them Joseph's message. 7 But the brothers said to him, ‘Sir, why do you say these things? We are your servants. We would not do anything like that! 8 When we found the money in our bags last time, we brought it back to you from Canaan. So we would never take valuable silver or gold things from your master's house. 9 If any one of us has this silver cup, he must die. We others will become your slaves, sir.’ 10 The servant said, ‘What you say is fair. Whoever has the cup, will become my slave. The rest of you will go free.’
11 Each of the brothers quickly put his bag on the ground and opened it. 12 Then the servant began to look in the bags. He began with the oldest brother's bag and he finished with the youngest brother's bag. Then he found the cup in Benjamin's bag! 13 When this happened, all the brothers were very upset. They tore their clothes. Then they put their bags back on their donkeys. They returned to the city.
14 Joseph was still in his house when Judah and his brothers arrived. They threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph. 15 Joseph said, ‘Why have you done this bad thing? You should have known about an important man like me. I can use magic to find out what people do.’ 16 Judah said, ‘We do not know what to say to you, my lord. We cannot say that we did not do this. God has shown that we are guilty of this sin. Now we are your slaves. We are all your slaves, as well as the one who had your cup in his bag.’
17 But Joseph said, ‘I would not do a thing like that! Only the man who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you can return to your father. You may go as my friends.’
18 Then Judah went and he spoke to Joseph. He said, ‘Please, my lord. Let me speak to you. You have all of Pharaoh's authority, but please do not be angry with me, your servant. 19 You asked us, “Do you have a father or another brother?” 20 And we replied, “We have a father who is very old. He has a young son who was born when our father was already old. That son's brother is dead. He is the only son of his mother who still lives. His father loves him.” 21 Then you said, “Bring your youngest brother to me so that I can see him.” 22 And we said, “The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves him, his father will die.” 23 But you said to us, “Your youngest brother must come with you. If he does not come, I will not let you see me again.” 24 We returned to our father and we told him what you said. 25 After some time, our father said, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more food for us.” 26 But we said, “We cannot go back there. We can only go if our youngest brother goes with us. If he is not with us, we will not be able to see the man again.” 27 Then my father said to us, “My wife gave birth to two sons. 28 One of them went away and he never returned. So I said, ‘A wild animal must have eaten him.’ I have not seen him since that happened. 29 If you take my youngest son away from me too, something bad may happen to him. I am already an old man. If I lose Benjamin, I would be so sad that I would die.” ’
30 Judah continued and he said, ‘So, my lord, I could not go back to my father without his youngest son. My father stays alive because of this boy. 31 If my father sees that his son is not with us, he will die. Because we did not bring the boy back to him, he will be sad enough to die. 32 I promised my father that I would take care of the boy. I said, “I will bring the boy back. If I do not, then you can say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life.” 33 Please sir, let me stay here as your slave, instead of the boy. Let the boy return home with his brothers. 34 I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I never want to see how upset my father would be.’[a]
The Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus
14 It was now two days before the Passover festival. It was the time when Jews eat flat bread which has no yeast in it.[a] The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law wanted to kill Jesus. But they wanted to take hold of him secretly. So they tried to decide how they could do that. 2 They said to each other, ‘We do not want to do it during the festival. If we do that, the people will be angry. Then they may fight against us.’
A woman pours special oil on Jesus' head
3 Then Jesus went to Bethany, and he visited Simon at his house. At one time, Simon had had a bad disease of the skin. While Jesus was eating a meal there, a woman came into the house. She brought a small stone jar that contained expensive oil with a very nice smell. They used nard to make it. The woman broke the jar to open it. Then she poured the oil over Jesus' head.[b]
4 But some people became angry. They said to each other, ‘This woman should not have wasted the oil. 5 She could have sold it and she could have given the money to poor people. She could have sold it for more than 300 coins. A man would have to work for a year to get that much money.’ So they spoke angrily to the woman.
6 But Jesus said, ‘Do not speak to her like that! Do not cause trouble for her. She has done a good thing to me. 7 You will always have poor people with you. You can help them at any time that you want. But you will not always have me with you. 8 This woman did what she was able to do. She poured oil over my body. So now, my body will be ready for people to bury me. 9 I tell you this: Everywhere in the world, people will speak about God's good news. At the same time, they will also tell people about the good thing that this woman has done. And so they will remember her.’
Judas agrees to help the leaders of the priests
10 Then Judas Iscariot went to the leaders of the priests. He said that he would help them to catch Jesus. (Judas was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.) 11 The leaders of the priests were very happy about this. They promised to give Judas some money. Then Judas waited for the right moment to help them to take hold of Jesus.
Jesus eats his last meal with his 12 apostles
12 The first day of the festival when the Jews eat flat bread arrived. On this day, each family kills a young sheep for the Passover meal. Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘We will go to prepare the Passover meal for you. Where do you want us to do that?’
13 So Jesus sent two disciples to prepare the meal. ‘Go into the city,’ he said to them. ‘A man, who is carrying a jar of water, will meet you. Follow him. 14 He will go to a house. You must say to the master of that house, “The Teacher sends this message to you: ‘Where is the room for visitors? I will eat the Passover meal there with my disciples.’ ” 15 Then the man will show you a large room upstairs. The room will have in it all the things that you will need. You should prepare the Passover meal for us there.’
16 Then the two disciples left and they went into the city. They found everything as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal there.
17 When it was evening, Jesus arrived with the 12 apostles. 18 While they were eating the meal, Jesus said, ‘I tell you this: One of you will help the Jewish leaders to take hold of me. It is someone who is eating this meal with me.’
19 The disciples became very sad. Each one of them said to Jesus, ‘Surely you do not mean me, do you?’
20 Jesus said to them, ‘It is one of you 12 apostles. That man is eating from the same dish as I am.[c] 21 The Son of Man must die in the way that the Bible says. But it will be very bad for the man who gives me to my enemies. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’
The Passover meal
22 While Jesus and his disciples were eating, he took a loaf of bread. He thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave some of it to each of his disciples. ‘Take this bread and eat it,’ he said to them. ‘This is my body.’
23 Then Jesus took a cup. He thanked God for the wine in the cup. Then he gave the cup to them and they all drank from it.
24 Jesus said to them, ‘This is my blood that shows God's promise. When I die, my blood will pour out of my body. In that way God will save many people. That is the promise that God makes because of my death. 25 I tell you this: I will not drink wine again until God rules in his kingdom. Then it will be new wine.’
26 Then Jesus and his disciples sang a song to praise God. Then they went out to the Mount of Olives.[d]
Jesus tells the disciples what will happen
27 Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘All of you will turn away from me. It will happen as the Bible says:
God says, “I will kill the shepherd who leads the sheep.
Then the sheep will run away in different directions.” ’[e]
28 Jesus then said, ‘But after that happens, I will become alive again. Then I will go to Galilee, and you will meet me there.’
29 Peter said to Jesus, ‘Even if everyone else runs away, I will not leave you.’
30 Jesus replied, ‘I tell you this: Even tonight, you will say that you do not know me. You will say that three times before the cockerel sings for the second time in the morning.’
31 But Peter said very strongly, ‘I will die with you if I need to. But I will never say that I do not know you.’ All the other disciples said the same thing.
Jesus prays in the garden called Gethsemane
32 Then they arrived at a garden called Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ 33 Jesus took Peter, James and John with him. He started to feel very sad and upset. 34 He said to them, ‘I am very sad. I feel as if I could die because I feel so sad. Wait here and stay awake.’
35 Jesus went a short way beyond them. He went down on the ground. He prayed that, if possible, God would save him from this time of trouble. 36 He said, ‘Abba, my Father, you can do all things. Please take this great pain away from me. But I do not ask you to do what I want. Do what you want to do.’
37 Jesus returned to his three disciples. Now they were sleeping. He said to Peter, ‘Simon, you are asleep! You could not stay awake for even one hour! 38 You must keep awake and you must pray. Then you will not want to do something wrong. You really want to do the right thing, but your body is weak.’
39 Jesus went away again and he prayed in the same words. 40 Then Jesus returned again to Peter, James and John. He saw that they were sleeping. They could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him.
41 Then Jesus returned a third time to the disciples. He said to them, ‘You should not still be sleeping and resting. That is enough! The moment has arrived. Look! Someone will now give me, the Son of Man, to my enemies. 42 Stand up, we will go now. Look! The man who will give me to my enemies is here.’
Judas leads the men who will take Jesus away
43 Jesus was still speaking when, immediately, Judas arrived. He was one of Jesus' 12 apostles. A crowd came with him. They were carrying swords and heavy sticks. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews had sent these men.
44 Before this, Judas had told these men, ‘I will kiss one of the men. You must take hold of that man. Lead him away and do not let him go.’ 45 When they arrived, Judas went immediately to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said to Jesus. Then he kissed Jesus in a friendly way. 46 So the men took hold of Jesus to lead him away. 47 But a certain man who was standing there took hold of his sword. He hit the servant of the leader of the priests with it and he cut off the servant's ear.
48 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd. He said, ‘You have come out here with swords and heavy sticks to take hold of me. Do you really think that I am leading people to fight against our country's rulers? 49 No! I was with you every day when I was teaching people in the yard of the temple. You did not try to take hold of me then. But this must happen in the way that the Bible says it would happen.’ 50 Then all Jesus' disciples left him and they ran away.
51 A certain young man was following Jesus.[f] He was wearing only one piece of linen cloth to cover himself. The men tried to take hold of this young man. 52 But the young man left the piece of cloth behind and he ran away. So when he ran away, he was not wearing anything.
The most important priest asks Jesus questions
53 The men took Jesus to the house of the most important priest. All the leaders of the priests met together there with the important Jews and with the teachers of God's Law.[g]
54 Peter followed Jesus into the yard of Caiaphas's house. But he did not go near Jesus. He sat down in the yard with the guards and he made himself warm by the fire.
55 The leaders of the priests and all the Jewish leaders wanted to punish Jesus with death. So they tried to find some people who would say things against Jesus. But they did not find anyone who could help them. 56 Many people said things against Jesus that were not true. But they did not agree with each other in what they said.[h]
57 Then some men stood up and they said something false against Jesus. 58 They said, ‘We heard Jesus say, “I will destroy the temple, which men have built. In three days I will build another House for God. It will not be people who build this new house.” ’ 59 Even then, these people who were speaking against Jesus did not say the same thing.
60 Then Caiaphas stood up in front of everyone. He said to Jesus, ‘You must reply now to what these men have said against you. Are the things that they are saying true?’ 61 But Jesus did not reply. He did not say anything.
So again, Caiaphas asked Jesus, ‘Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’
62 ‘I am,’ Jesus replied. ‘And you will all see the Son of Man. He will be sitting in the most important place at the right side of the Most Powerful God. You will see him coming to earth. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky.’
63 Then Caiaphas tore his clothes to show that he was angry.[i] ‘We do not need anyone else to speak against Jesus,’ he said. 64 ‘You have heard the bad words that he has spoken against God. Do you think that he is guilty?’
Everyone agreed that Jesus deserved to die.
65 Then some of the men began to spit on Jesus. They covered his eyes with a cloth and they hit him many times with their fists. They said, ‘Show us that you are a prophet! Tell us who hit you!’ Then the guards took hold of Jesus and they beat him.
Peter says three times that he does not know Jesus
66 Peter was still sitting outside in the yard. One of the young women who was a servant of the most important priest came there. 67 She saw Peter, who was making himself warm by the fire.
She looked at him and she said, ‘You also were a friend of Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’
68 Peter replied, ‘That is not true! I do not even know what you are talking about!’ Then Peter went out to the gate of the yard. At that moment a cockerel sang.
69 The young woman watched him, and again she said to the other people there, ‘He is one of the men who were friends of Jesus.’ 70 But Peter again said that it was not true.
After a little time, the other people who were standing there said to Peter, ‘We know you are from Galilee.[j] So we are sure that you are one of those men.’
71 Then Peter began to speak very strongly to them. He said, ‘I do not know this man that you are talking about. God will surely punish me if this is not true!’ 72 Immediately a cockerel sang loudly for a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: ‘You will say three times that you do not know me. You will do it before the cockerel sings for the second time.’
When Peter thought about this, he wept very much.
Job continues to speak
10 I do not want to live any longer.
I must continue to complain.
I am very upset and I have to speak about it.
2 This is what I will say to God:
“Do not say that I am guilty.
Tell me what bad things you think I have done.
3 Your own hands created me.
So you should not be cruel to me. It is not right.
Instead, you are kind to wicked people.
You help them to do the bad things that they want to do.
4 Do you see things as people see them?
Are your eyes only like human eyes?[a]
5 Is your life like a human life?
It is surely not as short as that!
6 So why do you want to discover all my sins?
Why do you hurry to do that?
7 You know that I am not guilty.
But you also know that no one can save me from your power.
8 Your own hands have made me who I am.
But now you are completely destroying me.
9 Remember that you made me,
like someone who uses clay to make things.
Will you now make me become dust again?
10 You poured me like milk into my mother.
There you put my body together,
like milk that becomes cheese.
11 You joined my bones together,
and you covered them with skin.
12 You gave me life and you loved me faithfully.
You took care of me and you kept me safe.
13 But now I know what you have been thinking.
I have discovered your secret.
14 You were watching me to see if I did wrong things.
Then you would refuse to forgive me.
15 If I am guilty of sin,
that brings terrible trouble to me.
But if I am righteous,
I still feel ashamed.
Whatever I do, I have nothing but shame
and my life is full of trouble.
16 If I try to be brave,
you chase me like a hungry lion.
You show your power to hurt me.
17 You find more reasons to attack me.
You become more and more angry with me.
You attack me with even greater power.
18 Why did you let me be born?
I should have died before anyone saw me.
19 It would have been better if I had not been born.
Or they should have put me in my grave,
immediately after my birth.
20 I will only live for a few more days.
So leave me alone! Then I may be happy for a moment.
21 I will soon go to the dark place where there is no hope.
I will never come back from that place.
22 I will go to that very dark place where there are only shadows.
In that place, it is still dark when the light shines. ” ’
Accept all Christians
14 It is difficult for some Christians to trust God completely about everything. You should accept people like that as your friends. Do not argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 Some people believe that they may eat all kinds of food. But other people are not so sure, so they eat only vegetables. 3 People who eat anything must not think that they are better than people who eat only vegetables. Also, people who eat only vegetables must not judge other people who eat anything. They are not doing anything wrong, because God himself has accepted them.
4 God is the master of all believers and they are his servants. You do not have authority to judge someone else's servant. The servant's own master will decide if he has done well or he has done something wrong. And he will serve his master well, because the Lord is able to help him to do that.
5 Some people think that certain days are special and more important than other days. Other people think that all days are the same. Each person should decide what seems right to him. 6 A person who makes a certain day special does that so that he can respect the Lord. A person who eats all kinds of food does that so that he can respect the Lord. He thanks God for the food that he eats. A person who refuses to eat certain foods also does that so that he can respect the Lord. And he also thanks God.
7 None of us lives only to please ourselves. And we do not die to please ourselves. 8 While we live, we want to please the Lord. And when we die, we want that to please the Lord too. So, while we live, or if we die, we continue to belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and then he became alive again. That happened so that he could be the Lord of all people, those who have died and those who are still alive.
10 So then, if you eat only vegetables, you must not judge other believers. Also, if you eat anything, you must not think that you are better than other believers. Remember that all of us will have to stand in front of God. He will decide whether we have done what is right or wrong. 11 This is written in the Bible:
‘The Lord God says,
“As surely as I live, this will certainly happen:
Everyone will go down on their knees in front of me.
Everyone will praise me that I am God.” ’[a]
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done.
Do not cause trouble
13 So we must no longer judge other believers. Instead, you must decide never to bring trouble to another believer. Do not cause them to do something wrong. 14 As for me, I am sure that we may eat any kind of food. God does not think that any food is unclean. The Lord Jesus has shown me that that is true. But someone else may believe that it is wrong to eat certain food. For that person, it would be wrong to eat that kind of food.
15 You should not cause another believer to be sad because of what you eat. If you do make him sad, then you are not really loving him. Remember that Christ died on behalf of that person. So do not let your food make him turn away from God. 16 You may think that something is good. But still you should not do it, if other people will say that it is bad.
17 We belong to God's people and he is our King. The things that we eat and drink are not really important to him. This is important: We should do what is right. We should have peace in our minds. And we should be truly happy. God's Holy Spirit helps us to live like that. 18 If anyone serves Christ in that way, they will make God happy. And other people will respect them.
19 So then, we should try to live in a way that brings peace. We should try to help each other so that we become stronger as God's people. 20 Do not bring trouble to someone because of the food that you eat. Do not destroy what God has done in the life of another believer. God lets us eat all kinds of food. But do not eat anything that will cause another believer to do something wrong. 21 It is good not to do anything that might cause another believer to do something wrong. That includes if you eat meat or if you drink wine.
22 What you believe about these things should be a secret between yourself and God. You should do what you have decided is right for you. Do not feel guilty about what you eat. Then God will bless you. 23 But someone else may not be sure whether it is right to eat certain kinds of food. If that person does eat that kind of food, then he shows that he is guilty. He has not trusted God that it is right for him to do that. Whatever things we do, we must trust God about them. If we do not trust God that something is right, then it is a sin.
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