M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Cain and Abel’s Blood

4 Now the man had relations with Eve his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I produced a man with Adonai.” ² Then she gave birth again, to his brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd of flocks while Cain became a worker of the ground. ³ So it happened after some time that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to Adonai, ⁴ while Abel—he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. Now Adonai looked favorably upon Abel and his offering, ⁵ but upon Cain and his offering He did not look favorably. Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶ Then Adonai said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, it will lift. But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the doorway. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. ^{[a] 9} Then Adonai said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ So now, cursed are you from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² As often as you work the ground, it will not yield its crops to you again. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to Adonai, “My iniquity^[b] is too great to bear! ¹⁴ Since You expelled me today from the face of the ground and I must be hidden from Your presence, then I will be a restless wanderer on the earth—anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵ But Adonai said to him, “In that case, anyone who kills Cain is to be avenged seven times over.”

So Adonai put a mark on Cain, so that anyone who found him would not strike him down. ¹⁶ Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain was intimate with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ And to Enoch was born Irad. Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

¹⁹ Now Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of the first one was Adah, and the name of the second one was Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal—he was the pioneer of tent dwellers with livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal—he was the pioneer of all who skillfully handle stringed instruments and wind instruments. ²² Now Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, the forger of every kind of bronze and iron tools; Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²⁵ Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and she named him Seth, “For God has appointed me another seed in place of Abel—since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To Seth, also was born a son. He named him Enosh. Then people began to call on Adonai’s Name.

Overcoming Temptation with God’s Word

4 Then Yeshua was led by the Ruach into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. ³ And when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are Ben-Elohim, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ But He replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”^[a]

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on the highest point of the Temple. ⁶ “If You are Ben-Elohim,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written,

⁷ Yeshua said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put Adonai your God to the test.’”^[d]

⁸ Again, the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Then Yeshua says to him, “Go away, satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship Adonai your God, and Him only shall you serve.’” ^{[e] 11} Then the devil leaves Him. And behold, angels came and began to take care of Him.

Yeshua Withdraws to Seek God

¹² Now when Yeshua heard that John had been handed over, He withdrew to the Galilee. ¹³ Leaving Natzeret, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁷ From then on, Yeshua began to proclaim, “Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Raising Up Fishers of Men

¹⁸ Now as Yeshua was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, Jacob the son of Zebedee and John his brother. They were in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

²³ Yeshua was going throughout all the Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴ News about Him spread throughout all Syria. And they brought to Him all the sick—those tormented by various diseases and afflictions, those plagued by demons, the epileptics, the paralyzed—and He healed them. ²⁵ And large crowds followed Him from the Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Resistance Weakens the People

4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for Adonai the God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the leading patriarchs and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the prominent patriarchs of Israel said to them, “It is not for you and us to build a House for our God—but we alone will build it for Adonai the God of Israel, just as Cyrus—king of Persia—has commanded us.”

⁴ Then the people of the land began discouraging^[a] the people of Judah and making them afraid to build. ⁵ They bribed advisors in order to thwart their plans all the days of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ During the reign of Ahasuerus at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. ⁷ Also during the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. ⁸ Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter concerning Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

⁹ From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the judges and the officials, the magistrates, and governors over the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, the Elamites) ¹⁰ and the rest of the peoples whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and the rest of Trans-Euphrates.^[b]

(Now ¹¹ this is a copy of the letter they sent to him.)

To Artaxerxes the king, from your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:

Now ¹² let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding the rebellious and wicked city. They are completing the walls and repairing the foundations.

¹³ “Furthermore, let it be known to the king, that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, no more tribute, taxes or duty will be paid and the royal revenue will suffer. ¹⁴ Now since we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king ¹⁵ so that a search may be made in the book of records of your fathers and you will discover in the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, inciting internal revolts from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. ¹⁶ We are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls completed, you will no longer have any possession in Trans-Euphrates.”

¹⁷ The king sent this reply:

“To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates who dwell in Samaria and the others in Trans-Euphrates.

“Shalom!

¹⁸ “The letter that you sent to us has been translated and read in my presence. ¹⁹ At my order a search was made and it was found that this city has from earliest times revolted against kings and that rebellion and sedition continually occur in it. ²⁰ Mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem governing all the Trans-Euphrates, and tribute, taxes, and duty were paid to them.

²¹ “So now, issue a decree to stop these men—this city is not to be rebuilt until I issue a decree. ²² Be careful not to be negligent in this matter. Why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?”

²³ Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they hurried off to the Jews in Jerusalem and by force and power compelled them to stop. ²⁴ Thus the work on the House of God in Jerusalem ceased. It remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Standing Before the Sanhedrin

4 As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the kohanim and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees came up to them. ² They were indignant because Peter and John were teaching the people and announcing in Yeshua the resurrection of the dead. ³ So they grabbed them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴ But many who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵ On the next day, the rulers and elders and Torah scholars were gathered together in Jerusalem. ⁶ Annas the kohen gadol was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all those who were of high-priestly descent. ⁷ When they had placed Peter and John in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or in what name did you do this?”

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are on trial today for a mitzvah done for a sick man, as to how this fellow was healed, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua ha-Mashiach ha-Natzrati—whom you had crucified, whom God raised from the dead—this one stands before you whole. ¹¹ This Yeshua is ‘the stone—rejected by you, the builders—that has become the chief cornerstone.’ ^{[a] 12} There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved!”

¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and figured out they were laymen without training, they were amazed. They began to realize that these men had been with Yeshua. ¹⁴ But seeing the healed man standing with them, they had nothing to say in response. ¹⁵ When they had ordered Peter and John to go out of the council chamber, they began to confer with one another, ¹⁶ saying, “What shall we do with these men? For indeed, it’s obvious to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable miracle has happened through them, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But so it won’t spread any further among the people, let’s warn them not to speak anymore to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸ So they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Yeshua. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. ²⁰ For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ After threatening them again, they let them go—finding no way they could punish them on account of the people, because they all were glorifying God for what had happened. ²² For the man in whom this miracle of healing had happened was more than forty years old.

Prayer for Courage

²³ As soon as they were released, Peter and John went to their own people and reported all that the ruling kohanim and elders had said to them. ²⁴ When they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “O Sovereign Master, ‘You made heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in them.’ ^{[b] 25} You said by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, through the mouth of our father David Your servant,

²⁷ “For truly both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together in this city against Your holy Servant Yeshua, whom You anointed. ²⁸ They did whatever Your hand and Your purpose predetermined to happen. ²⁹ And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant Your servants to speak Your word with utmost courage— ³⁰ while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy Servant Yeshua.”

³¹ When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. And they were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Ruach-Filled Community Life

³² Now the whole group of those who believed was one in heart and mind. No one would say anything he owned was his own, but they had everything in common. ³³ With great power the emissaries were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua, and abundant favor was upon them all. ³⁴ No one among them was needy, for all who were owners of lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds ³⁵ and set them at the feet of the emissaries. And the proceeds were distributed according to the need each one had.

³⁶ Now Joseph, also called Barnabas by the emissaries (which is translated Son of Encouragement), was a Levite and native of Cyprus. ³⁷ He sold a field that he owned and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the emissaries.