M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
3 These are the nations Yahweh left behind to test all the Israelites who had not experienced any war in Canaan. 2 The Lord left them to teach Israel’s descendants about war, at least those who had known nothing about it in the past. 3 He left the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to the border of Hamath. 4 These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out if they would obey the commands Yahweh had given their ancestors through Moses.
The People Fail the Test
5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 The Israelites allowed their sons and daughters to marry these people. Israel also served their gods.
Othniel Defeats Cushan Rishathaim
7 The people of Israel did what Yahweh considered evil. They forgot Yahweh their Elohim and served other gods and goddesses—the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 Yahweh became angry with the people of Israel. He used King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim to defeat them. So Israel served Cushan Rishathaim for eight years.
9 Then the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh for help. Yahweh sent a savior to rescue them. It was Othniel, son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz. 10 When the Ruach Yahweh came over him, he became the judge of Israel. He went out to war. Yahweh handed King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim over to him, and Othniel overpowered him. 11 So there was finally peace in the land for 40 years. Then Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.
Ehud Defeats Moab
12 Once again, the people of Israel did what Yahweh considered evil. So Yahweh made King Eglon of Moab stronger than Israel, because Israel did what Yahweh considered evil. 13 Eglon got the Ammonites and the Amalekites to help him, and they defeated the Israelites and occupied the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab for 18 years.
15 Then the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh for help. Yahweh sent a savior to rescue them. It was Ehud, a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. (Ehud was the son of Gera.)
The people sent him with their tax payment to King Eglon of Moab. 16 Ehud made a two-edged dagger for himself. He fastened it to his right side under his clothes. 17 Then he brought the tax payment to King Eglon. (Eglon was a very fat man.) 18 When Ehud had finished delivering the payment, he sent back the men who had carried it. 19 However, Ehud turned around at the stone idols near Gilgal and returned to Eglon. He said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”
The king replied, “Keep quiet!” Then all his advisers left the room.
20 Ehud came up to him as he sat alone in his room on the roof. He said to the king, “I have a message from Elohim for you.” As the king rose from his throne, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right side, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 22 Even the handle went in after the blade. Eglon’s fat covered the blade because Ehud didn’t pull the dagger out. The blade stuck out in back.[a] 23 Ehud left the room.[b] (He had closed and locked the doors of the room before he left.)
24 After Ehud went out, Eglon’s advisers came in. They were surprised that the doors were locked. “He must be using the toilet,” they said. 25 They waited and waited, but Eglon didn’t open the doors. So they took the key and opened the door. They were shocked to see their ruler lying on the floor, dead.
26 While they had been waiting, Ehud escaped. He went past the stone idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a ram’s horn in the mountains of Ephraim to summon the troops. So the troops of Israel came down from the mountains with him, and he led them. 28 He told them, “Follow me! Yahweh will hand your enemy Moab over to you.”
They followed him and captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River that led to Moab and refused to let anyone cross. 29 At that time they killed about ten thousand of Moab’s best fighting men. Not one of them escaped. 30 The power of Moab was crushed by Israel that day. So there was finally peace in the land for 80 years.
Shamgar Defeats the Philistines
31 After Ehud came Shamgar, son of Anath. He killed 600 Philistines with a sharp stick used for herding oxen. So he, too, rescued Israel.
Stephen Speaks in His Own Defense
7 Then the chief priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2 Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God who reveals his glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia. This happened before Abraham lived in Haran. 3 God told him, ‘Leave your land and your relatives. Go to the land that I will show you.’
4 “Then Abraham left the country of Chaldea and lived in the city of Haran. After his father died, God made him move from there to this land where we now live.
5 “Yet, God didn’t give Abraham anything in this land to call his own, not even a place to rest his feet. But God promised to give this land to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham didn’t have a child. 6 God told Abraham that his descendants would be foreigners living in another country and that the people there would make them slaves and mistreat them for 400 years. 7 God also told him, ‘I will punish the people whom they will serve. After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’
8 “God gave Abraham circumcision to confirm his promise.[a] So when Abraham’s son Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same to his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same to his twelve sons (the ancestors of our tribes).
9 “Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. They sold him into slavery, and he was taken to Egypt. But God was with Joseph 10 and rescued him from all his suffering. When Joseph stood in the presence of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt), God gave Joseph divine favor[b] and wisdom so that he became ruler of Egypt and of Pharaoh’s whole palace. 11 Then a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan brought a lot of suffering. Our ancestors couldn’t find any food. 12 When Jacob heard that Egypt had food, he sent our ancestors there. That was their first trip. 13 On the second trip, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his relatives, 75 people in all. 15 So Jacob went to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there. 16 They were taken to Shechem for burial in the tomb that Abraham purchased in Shechem from Hamor’s sons.
17 “When the time that God had promised to Abraham had almost come, the number of our people in Egypt had grown very large. 18 Then a different king, who knew nothing about Joseph, began to rule in Egypt. 19 This king was shrewd in the way he took advantage of our people. He mistreated our ancestors. He made them abandon their newborn babies outdoors, where they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful child. His parents took care of him for three months. 21 When Moses was abandoned outdoors, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her son. 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in what he said and did. 23 When he was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw an Israelite man being treated unfairly by an Egyptian, he defended the Israelite. He took revenge by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought his own people would understand that God was going to use him to give them freedom. But they didn’t understand. 26 The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. He said to them, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you treating each other unfairly?’
27 “But one of the men pushed Moses aside. He asked Moses, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 After he said that, Moses quickly left Egypt and lived in Midian as a foreigner. In Midian he fathered two sons.
30 “Forty years later, a Messenger appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert of Mount Sinai. 31 Moses was surprised when he saw this. As he went closer to look at the bush, the voice of the Lord said to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and didn’t dare to look at the bush. 33 The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals. The place where you’re standing is holy ground. 34 I’ve seen how my people are mistreated in Egypt. I’ve heard their groaning and have come to rescue them. So now I’m sending you to Egypt.’
35 “This is the Moses whom the Israelites rejected by saying, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’ This is the one God sent to free them and to rule them with the help of the Messenger who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This is the man who led our ancestors out of Egypt. He is the person who did amazing things and worked miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years. 37 This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me.’ 38 This is the Moses who was in the assembly in the desert. Our ancestors and the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai were there with him. Moses received life-giving messages to give to us, 39 but our ancestors were not willing to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘We don’t know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. So make gods who will lead us.’ 41 That was the time they made a calf. They offered a sacrifice to that false god and delighted in what they had made.
42 “So God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. This is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel? 43 You carried along the shrine of Moloch, the star of the god Rephan, and the statues you made for yourselves to worship. I will send you into exile beyond the city of Babylon.’
44 “In the desert our ancestors had the tent of God’s promise. Moses built this tent exactly as God had told him. He used the model he had seen. 45 After our ancestors received the tent, they brought it into this land. They did this with Joshua’s help when they took possession of the land from the nations that God forced out of our ancestors’ way. This tent remained here until the time of David, 46 who won God’s favor. David asked that he might provide a permanent place for the family of Jacob.[c] 47 But Solomon was the one who built a house for God.
48 “However, the Most High doesn’t live in a house built by humans, as the prophet says:
49 ‘The Lord says,
“Heaven is my throne.
The earth is my footstool.
What kind of house are you going to build for me?
Where will I rest?
50 Didn’t I make all these things?” ’
51 “How stubborn can you be? How can you be so heartless and disobedient? You’re just like your ancestors. They always opposed the Holy Spirit, and so do you! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute? They killed those who predicted that a man with God’s approval would come. You have now become the people who betrayed and murdered that man. 53 You are the people who received Moses’ Teachings, which were put into effect by angels. But you haven’t obeyed those teachings.”
Stephen Is Executed
54 As council members listened to Stephen, they became noticeably furious. 55 But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked into heaven, saw God’s glory, and Yeshua in the position of authority that God gives. 56 So Stephen said, “Look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man in the position of authority that God has given him!”
57 But the council members shouted and refused to listen. Then they rushed at Stephen with one purpose in mind, 58 and after they had thrown him out of the city, they began to stone him to death. The witnesses left their coats with a young man named Saul.
59 While council members were executing Stephen, he called out, “Lord Yeshua, welcome my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” After he had said this, he died.
The Lord Tells Jeremiah Not to Marry
16 Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 2 “Don’t marry! Don’t have any sons or daughters in this place! 3 This is what Yahweh says about the sons and daughters born in this place and about the mothers and fathers who have children in this land: 4 They will die horrible deaths. No one will mourn for them or bury them. They will be like manure on the ground. Wars and famines will bring them to an end. Their bodies will be food for birds and animals.
5 “This is what Yahweh says: Don’t go into a house where people are grieving. Don’t go to mourn or to grieve for them. I’m taking my peace, love, and compassion away from these people,” declares Yahweh. 6 “Old and young alike will die in this land. No one will mourn for them or bury them. No one will cut his own body or shave his own head for them. 7 No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn the dead. No one will give a consoling drink to those who have lost their fathers or mothers.
8 “Don’t even go into a home where there is a banquet. Don’t sit with them to eat and drink. 9 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says: I’m going to put a stop to the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms in this place. This will happen in your lifetime, while you watch.
10 “When you tell the people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why does Yahweh threaten us with all these disasters? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against Yahweh our Elohim?’ 11 Then say to them, ‘It’s because your ancestors abandoned me, declares Yahweh. They followed other gods, served them, worshiped them, and abandoned me. They didn’t obey my teachings. 12 You have done worse than your ancestors. All of you are following your own stubborn, evil ways that keep you from obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that you and your ancestors haven’t heard of. There you will serve other gods day and night because I will no longer have pity on you.’
14 “That is why the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when people will no longer begin an oath with, ‘Yahweh brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. As Yahweh lives. . . .’ 15 But they will say, ‘Yahweh brought the people of Israel out of the land of the north and all the lands where he had scattered them. As Yahweh lives. . . .’ They will say this because I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors.
16 “I’m going to send for many fishermen,” declares Yahweh, “and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks. 17 I see everything that they do. They can’t hide anything from me. Their wickedness can’t be hidden; I can see it. 18 First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.”
19 Yahweh is my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
Nations come to you from the most distant parts of the world
and say, “Our ancestors have inherited lies,
worthless and unprofitable gods.”
20 “People can’t make gods for themselves.
They aren’t really gods.
21 That is what I will teach them.
This time I will make my power and my strength known to them.
Then they will know that my name is Yahweh.”
Jesus Forgives Sins(A)
2 Several days later Yeshua came back to Capernaum. The report went out that he was home. 2 Many people had gathered. There was no room left, even in front of the door. Yeshua was speaking God’s word to them.
3 Four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man. 4 Since they could not bring him to Yeshua because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where Yeshua was. Then they lowered the cot on which the paralyzed man was lying.
5 When Yeshua saw their faith, he said to the man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Some experts in Moses’ Teachings were sitting there. They thought, 7 “Why does he talk this way? He’s dishonoring God. Who besides God can forgive sins?”
8 At once, Yeshua knew inwardly what they were thinking. He asked them, “Why do you have these thoughts? 9 Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your cot, and walk’? 10 I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralyzed man, 11 “I’m telling you to get up, pick up your cot, and go home!”
12 The man got up, immediately picked up his cot, and walked away while everyone watched. Everyone was amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
Jesus Chooses Levi [Matthew] to Be a Disciple(B)
13 Yeshua went to the seashore again. Large crowds came to him, and he taught them.
14 When Yeshua was leaving, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting in a tax office. Yeshua said to him, “Follow me!” So Levi got up and followed him.
15 Later Yeshua was having dinner at Levi’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners who were followers of Yeshua were eating with him and his disciples. 16 When the experts in Moses’ Teachings who were Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Yeshua heard that, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; those who are sick do. I’ve come to call sinners, not people who think they have God’s approval.”
Jesus Is Questioned about Fasting(C)
18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Yeshua and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t?”
19 Yeshua replied, “Can wedding guests fast while the groom is still with them? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.
21 “No one patches an old coat with a new piece of cloth that will shrink. Otherwise, the new patch will shrink and rip away some of the old cloth, and the tear will become worse. 22 People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins.”
Jesus Has Authority over the Day of Worship(D)
23 Once on a day of worship Yeshua was going through the grainfields. As the disciples walked along, they began to pick the heads of grain.
24 The Pharisees asked him, “Look! Why are your disciples doing something that is not permitted on the day of worship?”
25 Yeshua asked them, “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and his men were in need and were hungry? 26 Haven’t you ever read how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was chief priest and ate the bread of the presence? He had no right to eat those loaves. Only the priests have that right. Haven’t you ever read how he also gave some of it to his men?”
27 Then he added, “The day of worship was made for people, not people for the day of worship. 28 For this reason the Son of Man has authority over the day of worship.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.