M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jacob Sent to Laban
28 So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, commanded him and said to him, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Get up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 Now may El Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you will become an assembly of peoples. 4 And may he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you that you may take possession of the land of your sojourn, which God gave to Abraham.”
5 Then Isaac sent Jacob away and he went toward Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 6 Now Esau saw that Isaac blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, when he blessed him and commanded him saying, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” 7 Jacob listened to his father Isaac and to his mother and went toward Paddan-aram. 8 Then Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were contemptible in his father Isaac’s eyes. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, Nebaioth’s sister for his wife, besides his other wives.
Parashat Vayetze
Jacob’s Ladder From Heaven
10 Then Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He happened upon a certain place and spent the night there, for the sun had set. So he took one of the stones from the place and put it by his head and lay down in that place. 12 He dreamed: All of a sudden, there was a stairway set up on the earth and its top reaching to the heavens—and behold, angels of God going up and down on it! 13 Surprisingly, Adonai was standing on top of it[a] and He said, “I am Adonai, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your seed. 14 Your seed will be as the dust of the land, and you will burst forth to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed—and in your seed. 15 Behold, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not forsake you until I have done what I promised you.”
16 Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, “Undoubtedly, Adonai is in this place—and I was unaware.” 17 So he was afraid and said, “How fearsome this place is! This is none other than the House of God—this must be the gate of heaven!”
18 Early in the morning Jacob got up and took the stone, which he had placed by his head, and set it up as a memorial stone and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Beth-El (though originally the city’s name was Luz). 20 Then Jacob made a vow saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this way that I am going, and provide me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and I return in shalom to my father’s house, then Adonai will be my God. 22 So this stone which I set up as a memorial stone will become God’s House, and of everything You provide me I will definitely give a tenth of it to You.”
Judah’s Remorse
27 When daybreak came, the ruling kohanim and elders of the people conspired against Yeshua to put Him to death. 2 And they tied Him up, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate, the governor. 3 Then Judah, His betrayer, saw that Yeshua had been condemned. Feeling remorse, he brought the thirty silver pieces back to the ruling kohanim and elders, 4 saying, “I’ve sinned, betraying innocent blood!”
But they said, “What’s that to us? You see to it yourself!” 5 After tossing the silver into the Temple sanctuary, he left. Then he went off and hanged himself. 6 But the ruling kohanim took the silver pieces and said, “It is not permitted to put these in the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So after they conferred, they bought with them the potter’s field, as a cemetery for strangers. 8 For this reason that field has been called the “Field of Blood” to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty silver pieces, the price of Him on whom a price had been set by Bnei-Yisrael; 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, just as Adonai arranged for me.”[a]
“Kill the King!”
11 Now Yeshua stood before the governor. The governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
“You say so,” Yeshua said. 12 And while He was accused by the ruling kohanim and elders, He did not answer.
13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Don’t You hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 Yeshua did not answer, not even one word, so the governor was greatly amazed.
15 Now during the feast, the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner, anyone they wanted. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Yeshua Bar-Abba. 17 So when they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release for you? Yeshua who is Bar-Abba, or Yeshua who is called Messiah?” [b] 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over out of envy.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Don’t have anything to do with that righteous Man, for today I’ve suffered many things in a dream because of Him.”
20 Now the ruling kohanim and elders persuaded the crowds that they should ask for Bar-Abba and destroy Yeshua. 21 But the governor responded, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”
And they said, “Bar-Abba!”
22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Yeshua, who is called Messiah?”
“Execute Him!” all of them say.
23 But Pilate said, “Why? What evil has He done?”
But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be executed!”
24 When Pilate saw he was accomplishing nothing, but instead a riot was starting, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this blood,”[c] he said. “You see to it yourselves!”
25 All the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children!”[d]
26 Then he released to them Bar-Abba. And after he had Yeshua scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Nailed to a Stake
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Yeshua into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe around Him. 29 And after braiding a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and put a staff in His right hand. And falling on their knees before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and they took the staff and beat Him over and over on the head. 31 When they finished mocking Him, they stripped the robe off Him and put His own clothes back on Him. And they led Him away to crucify Him.
32 As they came out, they found a man from Cyrene, Simon by name. They forced him into service, to carry Yeshua’s cross-beam. [e] 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (that is to say, Place of a Skull), 34 they offered Him wine mixed with gall to drink;[f] but after tasting, He was unwilling to drink it. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided His clothing among themselves by casting lots. [g] 36 And they sat down and kept guard over Him there. 37 Over His head they put the charge against Him, which read: “THIS IS YESHUA, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
38 Then two outlaws were executed with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 Those passing by were jeering at Him,[h] shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If you are Ben-Elohim, come down from the stake!”
41 Likewise the ruling kohanim, along with the Torah scholars and elders, were also mocking Him. 42 “He saved others,” they were saying, “but He can’t save Himself? He’s the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the stake, and we’ll believe in Him! 43 He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He wants Him.[i] For He said, ‘I am Ben-Elohim.’” 44 Even the outlaws who were executed with Him were ridiculing Him in the same way.[j]
Yeshua Lays Down His Life
45 Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. [k] 46 About the ninth hour Yeshua cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”[l] that is, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?”
47 When some of those standing there heard it, they began saying, “This Man is calling for Elijah.” 48 Right away one of them ran and took a sponge. He filled it with sour wine and put it on a stick, and was offering it to Yeshua to drink. [m] 49 But the rest were saying, “Leave Him alone! Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.” 50 And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain[n] of the Temple was split in two, from top to bottom. And the earth quaked and rocks were split apart. 52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the kedoshim who were sleeping were raised to life. 53 And coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 Now the centurion, and those with him keeping guard over Yeshua, when they saw the earthquake and what was happening, they became terribly frightened and said, “This really was the Son of God!”
The Tomb Is Sealed
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Yeshua from the Galilee, serving Him. 56 Among them were Miriam from Magdala, Miriam the mother of Jacob and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
57 Now when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had also become a disciple of Yeshua. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. Then Pilate ordered it to be given up. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. 60 And he laid it in his own new tomb,[o] which he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone up to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Now Miriam from Magdala was there, and the other Miriam, sitting opposite the tomb.
Guarding the Tomb
62 Now on the next day, which is after the preparation, the ruling kohanim and Pharisees were gathered before Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember how that deceiver said while He was still alive, ‘After three days I’m to be raised.’ 64 Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, so His disciples do not come and steal Him away. They will tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first!”
65 “You have a guard,” Pilate said to them. “Go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone along with the soldiers of the guard.
If I Perish!
4 When Mordecai learned all that was done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city crying out in a loud and bitter voice. 2 He went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one could enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 In each and every province where the king’s edict and law came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many put on sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, the queen was greatly distressed. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on so he would remove his sackcloth, but he refused. 5 So Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to find the cause and reason for this.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, even the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a written copy of the decree, which had been distributed in Shushan, for their annihilation, to show to Esther and to explain it to her. He instructed her to go in to the king, to beg his favor and plead before him on behalf of her people. 9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him instructions for Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces fully understand that for anyone, man or woman, who approaches the king in the inner courtyard without being summoned, he has one law—that he be put to death, unless the king extends his golden scepter permitting him to live. But I have not been summoned to come to the king for 30 days.” 12 So they conveyed Esther’s words to Mordecai.
13 Mordecai told them to reply to Esther with this answer, “Do not think in your soul that you will escape in the king’s household more than all the Jews. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place—but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows whether you have attained royal status for such a time as this?”
15 Esther sent this to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go! Gather together all the Jews who are in Shushan and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast in the same way. Afterwards, I will go in to the king, even though it is not according to the law. So if I perish, I perish!”
17 So Mordecai left and did all that Esther commanded him.
Sailing for Rome
27 When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan Cohort. 2 So we boarded a ship from Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, and we set out to sea—accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
3 The next day we set down at Sidon. Julius, treating Paul kindly, let him go to his friends to receive care. 4 Setting out to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. 5 When we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came down to Myra in Lysia. 6 There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board.
7 Sailing slowly for a number of days, with difficulty we made it to Cnidus. As the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone. 8 Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
9 Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was already dangerous because the Fast[a] had already gone by, Paul kept warning them, 10 telling them, “Men, I can see that the voyage is about to end in disaster and great loss—not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives!”
11 But the centurion was persuaded more by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was said by Paul. 12 And because the harbor was unsuitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to set out to sea from there—if somehow they might reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing northeast and southeast, and spend the winter there.
Storm and Shipwreck
13 When the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they raised the anchor and started coasting along the shore by Crete. 14 But before long, a hurricane-force wind called “the Northeaster” swept down from the island. 15 When the ship was caught and could not face into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 As we ran under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the dinghy. 17 When the crew had hoisted it up, they made use of ropes to undergird the ship. Then fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis,[b] they let down the anchor and so were driven along. 18 But as we were violently battered by the storm, the next day they began throwing cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw out the ship’s gear with their own hands. 20 With neither sun nor stars appearing for many days, and no small storm pressing on us, all hope of our survival was vanishing.
21 As they had long been without food, Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, to avoid this disaster and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you—but only of the ship. 23 For this very night, there came to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. 24 He said, ‘Do not fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all who are sailing with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I trust God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”
27 Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to sense that they were nearing some land. 28 So they took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep.[c] A bit farther along, they took another sounding and found it was fifteen fathoms deep. 29 Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern. They were longing for day to come.
30 Now the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had lowered the dinghy into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved!”
32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the dinghy and let it drift away. 33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have kept waiting and going without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore, I urge you to take some food—for this is for your survival, since not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”
35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36 Then all were encouraged and took some food themselves. 37 (In all we were 276 persons on the ship.)
38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship, throwing the wheat into the sea. 39 Then when daylight came, they did not recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they planned to run the ship aground if they could. 40 So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea, while loosening the ropes of the rudders at the same time. Then, hoisting the forward sail to the wind, they made for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar between the seas and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, and the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.
42 The plan of the soldiers was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would escape by swimming away. 43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those able to swim to throw themselves overboard first and get to land— 44 and the rest to get there on boards and pieces of the ship. And in this way all were brought safely to land.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.