M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God and Israel Make Their Agreement

24 The Lord told Moses, “You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel must come up to me. You must worship me from a distance. ² Then Moses alone must come near me. The other men must not come near. And the rest of the people must not come up the mountain with Moses.”

³ So Moses told the people all the Lord’s words and laws for living. Then all of the people answered out loud together. They said, “We will do all the things that the Lord has said.” ⁴ So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning. He built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up 12 stones, 1 stone for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then Moses sent young Israelite men to offer whole burnt offerings. They also sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took the blood of these animals. He put half of it in bowls. And he sprinkled the other half of the blood on the altar. ⁷ Then Moses took the book with the agreement written in it. He read it so the people could hear him. And they said, “We will do everything that the Lord has said. We will obey.”

⁸ Then Moses took the blood from the bowls. He sprinkled it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that begins the agreement. This is the agreement which the Lord has made with you about all these things.”

⁹ Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel went up the mountain. ¹⁰ They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was a surface. It looked as if it were paved with blue sapphire stones. And it was as clear as the sky! ¹¹ These leaders of the Israelites saw God. But God did not destroy them. Then they ate and drank together.

Moses Gets the Stone Tablets

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up the mountain to me. Wait there, and I will give you two stone tablets. On these are the teachings and the commandments. I have written these to teach the people.”

¹³ So Moses and his helper Joshua set out. Moses went up Sinai, the mountain of God. ¹⁴ Moses said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone who has a disagreement with others can take it to them.”

Moses Meets with God

¹⁵ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it. ¹⁶ The greatness of the Lord came down on Mount Sinai. The cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. ¹⁷ The Israelites could see the greatness of the Lord. It looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses went into the cloud and went higher up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees. He was an important Jewish leader. ² One night Nicodemus came to Jesus. He said, “Teacher, we know that you are a teacher sent from God. No one can do the miracles you do, unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.”

⁴ Nicodemus said, “But if a man is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother’s body again. So how can he be born a second time?”

⁵ But Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Unless you are born from water and the Spirit, you cannot enter God’s kingdom. ⁶ A person’s body is born from his human parents. But a person’s spiritual life is born from the Spirit. ⁷ Don’t be surprised when I tell you, ‘You must all be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to go. You hear the wind blow. But you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus asked, “How can all this be possible?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “You are an important teacher in Israel. But you still don’t understand these things? ¹¹ I tell you the truth. We talk about what we know. We tell about what we have seen. But you don’t accept what we tell you. ¹² I have told you about things here on earth, but you do not believe me. So surely you will not believe me if I tell you about the things of heaven! ¹³ The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.^[a]

¹⁴ “Moses lifted up the snake in the desert.^[b] It is the same with the Son of Man. The Son of Man must be lifted up too. ¹⁵ Then everyone who believes in him can have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ He who believes in God’s Son is not judged guilty. He who does not believe has already been judged guilty, because he has not believed in God’s only Son. ¹⁹ People are judged by this fact: I am the Light from God that has come into the world. But men did not want light. They wanted darkness because they were doing evil things. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light. He will not come to the light because it will show all the evil things he has done. ²¹ But he who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that the things he has done were done through God.”

Jesus and John the Baptist

²² After this, Jesus and his followers went into the area of Judea. There Jesus stayed with his followers and baptized people. ²³ John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were going there to be baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put into prison.)

²⁵ Some of John’s followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing.^{[c] 26} So they came to John and said, “Teacher, remember the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about? He is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷ John answered, “A man can get only what God gives him. ²⁸ You yourselves heard me say, ‘I am not the Christ. I am only the one God sent to prepare the way for him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. The friend who helps the bridegroom waits and listens for him. He is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That is the same pleasure I have. And my time of joy is now here. ³⁰ He must become greater. And I must become less important.

The One Who Comes from Heaven

³¹ “The One who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One who comes from heaven is greater than all. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says. ³³ The person who accepts what he says has proven that God is true. ³⁴ God sent him, and he tells the things that God says. God gives him the Spirit fully. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything. ³⁶ He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will never have that life. God’s anger stays with him.”

Job Answers the Lord

42 Then Job answered the Lord:

End of the Story

⁷ After the Lord had said these things to Job, he spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite. The Lord said to him, “I am angry with you and your two friends. This is because you have not said what is right about me. But my servant Job did. ⁸ So now take seven bulls and seven male sheep. Go to my servant Job. And offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you. And I will listen to his prayer. Then I will not punish you for being foolish. You have not said what is right about me. But my servant Job did.” ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite did as the Lord told him to do. Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite also did as the Lord said. And the Lord listened to Job’s prayer.

¹⁰ After Job had prayed for his friends, God gave him success again. God gave Job twice as much as he had owned before. ¹¹ Job’s brothers and sisters came to his house. Everyone who had known him before came to his house. And they all ate with him there. They comforted Job and spoke kindly to him. They made him feel better about the trouble the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave Job a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹² The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. Job had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels. He had 1,000 pairs of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ Job also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ He named the first daughter Jemimah. The second daughter he named Keziah. And his third daughter he named Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ There were no other women in all the land as beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father Job gave them land to own along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived 140 years. He lived to see his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. ¹⁷ Then Job died. He was old and had lived many years.

A Special Blessing in Paul’s Life

12 I must continue to brag. It will do no good, but I will talk now about visions and revelations^[a] from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who was taken up to the third heaven. This happened 14 years ago. I do not know whether the man was in his body or out of his body. But God knows. ^3-4 And I know that this man was taken up to paradise.^[b] I don’t know if he was in his body or away from his body. But he heard things he is not able to explain. He heard things that no man is allowed to tell. ⁵ I will brag about a man like that. But I will not brag about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ But if I wanted to brag about myself, I would not be a fool. I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will not brag about myself. I do not want people to think more of me than what they see me do or hear me say.

⁷ But I must not become too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me. So a painful problem^[c] was given to me. This problem is a messenger from Satan. It is sent to beat me and keep me from being too proud. ⁸ I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. ⁹ But the Lord said to me, “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, then my power is made perfect in you.” So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me. ¹⁰ So I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles. All these things are for Christ. And I am happy, because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.

Paul’s Love for the Christians

¹¹ I have been talking like a fool. But you made me do it. You are the ones who should say good things about me. I am worth nothing, but those “great apostles” are not worth any more than I am! ¹² When I was with you, I did what proves that I am an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles. And I did these things with much patience. ¹³ So you received everything that the other churches have received. Only one thing was different: I was not a burden to you. Forgive me for this!

¹⁴ I am now ready to visit you the third time. And I will not be a burden to you. I want nothing from you, I only want you. Children should not have to save up to give to their parents. Parents should save to give to their children. ¹⁵ So I am happy to give everything I have for you. I will even give myself for you. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶ It is clear that I was not a burden to you. But you think that I was tricky and used lies to catch you. ¹⁷ Did I cheat you by using any of the men I sent to you? No, you know I did not. ¹⁸ I asked Titus to go to you. And I sent our brother with him. Titus did not cheat you, did he? No, you know that Titus and I did the same thing and with the same spirit.

¹⁹ Do you think that we have been defending ourselves to you all this time? We have been speaking in Christ and before God. You are our dear friends. And everything that we do is to make you stronger. ²⁰ I do this because I am afraid that when I come, you will not be what I want you to be. And I am afraid that I will not be what you want me to be. I am afraid that among you there may be arguing, jealousy, anger, selfish fighting, evil talk, gossip, pride, and confusion. ²¹ I am afraid that when I come to you again, my God will make me ashamed before you. I may be saddened by many of those who have sinned. I may be saddened because they have not changed their hearts and have not turned away from their impurity and their sexual immorality.