M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh
48 After these things, someone told Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. 2 When someone told Jacob, saying, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in the bed.
3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “El Shaddai appeared to me in Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.” 4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and multiply you and turn you into an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you as an everlasting possession.’ 5 So now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just like Reuben and Simeon. 6 Any descendent of yours whom you father after them will be yours; they will be identified by the names of their brothers for their inheritance. 7 “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, in the land of Canaan, while we were still a distance from entering Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”
8 Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph said to his father, “They’re my sons, whom God has given me here.”
Then he said, “Please bring them to me, so I may bless them.”
10 Now Israel’s eyes had grown heavy with old age—he could not see. So he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and hugged them. 11 Then Israel said to Joseph, “To see your face, I didn’t expect—and look, God has let me see your offspring as well!”
12 Then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face down to the ground. 13 Then Joseph took the two of them—Ephraim with his right hand across from Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand across from Israel’s right—and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it upon Ephraim’s head (though he was the younger), and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands (though Manasseh was the firstborn). 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“The God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has shepherded me
throughout my life to this day,
16 The Angel who redeemed me
from all evil,
May He bless the boys,
and may they be called by my name,
and by the name of my fathers,
Abraham and Isaac.
May they multiply to a multitude
in the midst of the land.”
17 When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand upon Ephraim’s head, it was wrong in his eyes. So his took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father, “Not like that, my father, because this one’s the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will become great. But his younger brother will become greater than he and his seed will be the fullness of the nations.” 20 Then he blessed them that day saying,
“In you shall Israel bless by saying:
‘May God make you
like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’”
Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die. But God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 Now I myself give you one portion more than your brothers, that which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
Elizabeth Greets Miriam with Joy
39 Now in those days, Miriam got up and quickly traveled into the hill country, to a town in Judah. 40 She entered Zechariah’s home and happily greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Miriam’s greeting, the unborn child leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was completely filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 42 She then cried out with a great shout, saying, “You are blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 Who am I, that the mother of my Master should come to me? 44 For even when I just heard the sound of your greeting in my ear, the unborn child leaped with joy in my womb. 45 Blessed is she who trusted that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by Adonai.”
46 Then Miriam said,
“My soul magnifies Adonai,[a]
47 and my spirit greatly rejoices in God, my Savior.
48 For He has looked with care upon the humble state of His maidservant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One has done a great thing for me,
and holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is from generation to generation
to the ones who fear Him.
51 He has displayed power with His arm
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down rulers from thrones
and exalted humble ones.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent away the rich empty-handed.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,[b]
remembering His mercy,
55 just as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever.”
Zechariah Breaks His Silence
56 Miriam stayed with her for three months and then returned to her home. 57 Upon Elizabeth’s full term to deliver, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard how Adonai had shown her His great mercy, and they began to rejoice with her.
59 Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child,[c] and they kept trying to call him by his father’s name, Zechariah. 60 But his mother declared, “No, he will be called John.”
61 But they said to her, “No one among your relatives is called by this name.” 62 So they began making signs to his father, as to what he wanted him named.
63 Asking for a small tablet, he wrote, “John is his name.” They were all astonished! 64 And his mouth was immediately unlocked as well as his tongue, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came on all those who lived around them, and all these matters were talked about throughout the hill country of Judah. 66 Everyone who heard pondered these things in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child become?” For the hand of Adonai was on him.
The Kohen’s Song of Prophecy
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be Adonai,
God of Israel,
for He has looked after His people
and brought them redemption.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,[d]
70 just as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ages past,
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us!
72 So He shows mercy to our fathers
and remembers His holy covenant,[e]
73 the vow which He swore to Abraham
our father, to grant us—
74 rescued fearlessly from the hand of
our enemies[f]—to serve Him,
75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of Elyon.
For you will go before Adonai to prepare His ways,[g]
77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people
through removal of their sins.[h]
78 Through our God’s heart of mercy,
the Sunrise from on high will come upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,[i]
to guide our feet in the way of shalom.”
80 And the child kept growing and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Death and Resurrection
14 “A mortal born of woman,
is of few days and full of turmoil.
2 Like a flower he comes up and withers;
like a shadow he flees and does not stay.
3 Do You fix Your eyes on such a one,
and bring me for judgment with You?
4 Who can make something pure out of the impure?
No one!
5 Since his days are determined,
the number of his months is with You,
You have set his limits,
which he cannot exceed.
6 Look away from him and let him alone,
until he fulfills his time like a hired laborer.
7 “At least there is hope for a tree—
if it is cut down it will sprout again,
and its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its roots grow old in the earth
and its stump dies in the dry ground,
9 at the scent of water it will bud
and sprout sprigs like a new plant.
10 But man dies and is powerless.
Man expires—and where is he?
11 As water evaporates from the sea
and a river drains away and dries up,
12 so a person lies down and does not rise;
until the heavens are no more,
people will not awake,
or be roused from their sleep.
13 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
and conceal me until Your wrath has passed!
Oh that You would set a time for me
and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard labor
I will wait until my relief comes.
15 You will call and I—I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
16 For then You will number my steps;
You will not keep track of my sin;
17 my transgression will be sealed in a bundle
and cover over my iniquity.
18 “Yet as a mountain falls away and crumbles
and a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so You destroy a person’s hope.
20 You overpower him—once for all, and he perishes;
You change his appearance and send him away.
21 If his sons achieve honor,
he does not know it;
if they are brought low,
he does not perceive it.
22 He only feels pain for his own flesh,
and mourns for his own soul.”
Wisdom that Rests on God’s Power
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery[a] of God. 2 For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah—and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power— 5 so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 We do speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature—but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 Rather, we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery—a wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before the ages. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it—for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written,
“Things no eye has seen
and no ear has heard,
that have not entered the heart of mankind—
these things God has prepared
for those who love Him.”[b]
10 But God revealed these things to us through the Ruach.[c] For the Ruach searches all things—even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God—so we might come to know the things freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak—not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Ruach, explaining the spiritual to the spiritual.
14 Now a natural man does not accept the things of the Ruach Elohim, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is discerned by no one. For
16 “who has known the mind of Adonai,
that he will instruct Him?”[d]
But we have the mind of Messiah.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.