M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Parashat Lech Lecha

Abram Obeys the Calling

12 Then Adonai said to Abram,

“Get going out from your land,

and from your relatives,

and from your father’s house,

to the land that I will show you.

² My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you,

to make your name great so that you may be a blessing.

³ My desire is to bless those who bless you,

but whoever curses you I will curse,^[a]

and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.^[b]

⁴ So Abram went, just as Adonai had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the people that they acquired in Haran, and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as Moreh’s big tree. (The Canaanites were in the land then.)^[c]

⁷ Then Adonai appeared to Abram, and said, “I will give this land to your seed.” So there he built an altar to Adonai, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the mountain to the east of Beth-El and erected his tent (with Beth-El to the west and Ai to the east). There he built an altar to Adonai and called on the Name of Adonai. ⁹ So Abram kept on journeying southward.^[d]

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live as an outsider there, because the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ Just as he was about to enter Egypt he said to Sarai his wife, “Look, please, I know that you are an attractive woman. ¹² So when the Egyptians see you they’ll say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they’ll kill me; but you, they’ll let live. ¹³ Please say that you are my sister, so that I’ll be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians did see that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Indeed, Pharaoh’s officials saw her and they raved about her to Pharaoh. Then the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ But Abram was treated well for her sake, and he got sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys and camels.

¹⁷ But Adonai struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What’s this that you did to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she is your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take—and go!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh instructed men concerning him, and they expelled him, with his wife, and everything that belonged to him.

Signs and Wonders Bear Witness

11 When Yeshua had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their towns. ² Now when John heard in prison about the works of the Messiah, he sent word through his disciples ³ and said to Yeshua, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

⁴ Yeshua replied, “Go report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind see and the lame walk, those with tzara’at are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised and the poor have good news proclaimed to them. ⁶ Blessed is the one who is not led to stumble because of Me.”^[a]

A Prophet Without Honor

⁷ Now as they were leaving, Yeshua began to talk to the crowd concerning John. “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ No? So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in finery? Look, those who wear finery are in the palaces of kings! ⁹ Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, even more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written,

¹¹ “Amen, I tell you, among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it. ¹³ For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until the time of John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears, let him hear!

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call to one other, saying,

¹⁸ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”^[c]

²⁰ Then Yeshua began to denounce the towns where most of His miracles had happened, because they did not turn from their sins. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,^[d] they would have turned long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² Nevertheless I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will go down to Sheol! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ Nevertheless I tell you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.”

Yeshua Teaches the Ways of His Father

²⁵ At that time Yeshua said in response, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and discerning and revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this way was pleasing to You.

²⁷ “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son^[e] and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. ²⁸ Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’ ^{[f] 30} For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Nehemiah Intercedes for Jerusalem

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:

Now it happened that in the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in Shushan the capitol, ² that Hanani, one of my brothers, together with some men from Judah, arrived and I asked them about the Judeans, the remnant who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

³ They said to me, “The remnant who have survived the captivity there in the province are in great distress and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ Upon hearing these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days. I prayed and fasted before the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said:

“Adonai, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot, ⁶ please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant that I am praying before You today both day and night on behalf of Your servants, the Bnei-Yisrael. I am confessing the sins of Bnei-Yisrael that we have sinned against You—yes, I and my ancestral house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You. We have not kept the mitzvot, the statutes, nor the rulings that You commanded Your servant Moses.

⁸ “Please recall the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹ but if you return to Me and obey My mitzvot, and do them, then even if your dispersed people are at the ends of the heavens, I will gather them from there, and bring them back to the place where I have chosen for My Name to dwell.’

¹⁰ “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great strength and by Your mighty hand. ¹¹ Please, my Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who delight in revering Your Name. Give Your servant success today and grant compassion in the presence of this man.”

Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Peter’s Report to Jerusalem

11 Now the emissaries and brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision took issue with him, ³ saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

⁴ So Peter began explaining to them point by point, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision—something like a great sheet coming down, being lowered from heaven by its four corners, and it came right to me. ⁶ I looked inside, considering it carefully, and saw four-footed creatures of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

⁸ “But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! For never has anything unholy or unclean entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider unholy.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven.

¹¹ “At that very moment, three men arrived at the house where we were, sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Ruach told me to go with them without hesitating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He reported to us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon called Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you will be saved—you and all your household.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Ruach ha-Kodesh fell on them, just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John immersed with water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach ha-Kodesh.’ ¹⁷ Therefore if God gave them the same gift as also to us after we put our trust in the Lord Messiah Yeshua, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸ When they heard this they became quiet, and they glorified God, saying, “Then even to the Gentiles God has granted repentance leading to life!”

Discipling in Diaspora

¹⁹ Now those scattered because of the persecution that happened in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Judeans. ²⁰ However, there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Yeshua. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

²² News about these things reached the ears of the community in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was thrilled. He encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with heartfelt devotion. ²⁴ For Barnabas was a good man, full of the Ruach ha-Kodesh and faith. And a large number was added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas left for Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met together with Messiah’s community and taught a large number. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christianoi.”^[a]

²⁷ Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted through the Ruach that there was going to be a great famine over all the world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹ So the disciples decided to send relief to those brothers and sisters living in Judea, each according to his ability. ³⁰ This they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.