M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Evil City of Sodom
19 That evening, while Lot was sitting near the city gate,[a] the two angels[b] arrived in Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low, 2 and said, “Gentlemen, I am your servant. Please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night, and be on your way in the morning.”
They told him, “No, we'll spend the night in the city square.” 3 But Lot kept insisting, until they finally agreed and went home with him. He quickly baked some bread,[c] cooked a meal, and they ate.
4 Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5 (A) and started shouting, “Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!”
6 Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. 7 Then he said, “Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! 8 I have two daughters who have never had sex. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home.”
9 “Don't get in our way,” the crowd answered. “You're a foreigner. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to you than we're going to do to them.”
The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they rushed toward the door to break it down. 10 But the two angels in the house reached out and pulled Lot safely inside. 11 (B) Then they struck blind everyone in the crowd, and none of them could even find the door.
12-13 The two angels said to Lot, “The Lord has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry.”
14 Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, “Hurry up and get out of here! The Lord is going to destroy this city.” But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.
15 Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, “Take your wife and your two daughters and get away from here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the Lord destroys the city.” 16 (C) At first, Lot just stood there. But the Lord wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17 When they were outside, one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you'll be safe.”
18-19 Lot answered, “You have done us a great favor, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens. 20 There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there.”
21 “All right, go there,” he answered. “I won't destroy that town. 22 Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there.”
The town was later called Zoar[d] because Lot had said it was small.
Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed
23 The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar, 24 (D) and the Lord sent burning sulfur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.
26 (E) On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.
27 That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land—it was like a flaming furnace.
29 When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible destruction.
Moab and Ammon
30 Lot was afraid to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill country. 31 One day his older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to marry. 32 Let's get our father drunk! Then we can sleep with him and have children.” 33 That night they got their father drunk, and the older daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there.
34 The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with my father last night. We'll get him drunk again tonight, so you can sleep with him, and we can each have a child.” 35 That night they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him. But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there.
36 That's how Lot's two daughters had children. 37 The older daughter named her son Moab,[e] and he is the ancestor of the Moabites. 38 The younger daughter named her son Benammi,[f] and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.
Who Is the Greatest?
(Mark 9.33-37; Luke 9.46-48)
18 (A) About this time the disciples came to Jesus and asked him who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 2 Jesus called for a child to come over and stand near him. 3 (B) Then he said:
I promise you this. If you don't change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. 4 But if you are as humble as this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And when you welcome one of these children because of me, you welcome me.
Temptations To Sin
(Mark 9.42-48; Luke 17.1,2)
6 It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin. Those people would be better off thrown into the deepest part of the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their necks! 7 The world is in for trouble because of the way it causes people to sin. There will always be something to cause people to sin, but anyone who does this will be in for trouble.
8 (C) If your hand or foot causes you to sin, chop it off and throw it away! You would be better off to go into life paralyzed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the fire that never goes out. 9 (D) If your eye causes you to sin, poke it out and get rid of it. You would be better off to go into life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell.
The Lost Sheep
(Luke 15.3-7)
10-11 (E) Don't be cruel to any of these little ones! I promise you their angels are always with my Father in heaven.[a] 12 Let me ask you this. What would you do if you had 100 sheep and one of them wandered off? Wouldn't you leave the 99 on the hillside and go look for the one that had wandered away? 13 I am sure that finding it would make you happier than having the 99 that never wandered off. 14 That's how it is with your Father in heaven. He doesn't want any of these little ones to be lost.
When Someone Sins
(Luke 17.3)
15 (F) If one of my followers[b] sins against you, go and point out what was wrong. But do it in private, just between the two of you. If that person listens, you have won back a follower. 16 (G) But if that one refuses to listen, take along one or two others. The Scriptures teach that every complaint must be proven true by two or more witnesses. 17 If the follower refuses to listen to them, report the matter to the church. Anyone who refuses to listen to the church must be treated like an unbeliever or a tax collector.[c]
Allowing and Not Allowing
18 (H) I promise you God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth, but God will not allow anything you don't allow. 19 I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 Whenever two or three of you come together in my name,[d] I am there with you.
An Official Who Refused To Forgive
21 (I) Peter came up to the Lord and asked, “How many times should I forgive someone[e] who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?”
22 (J) Jesus answered:
Not just 7 times, but 77 times![f] 23 This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like:
One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him. 24 As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him 50,000,000 silver coins. 25 But he didn't have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt.
26 The official got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!” 27 The king felt sorry for him and let him go free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.
28 But as this official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him 100 silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, “Pay me what you owe!”
29 The man got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you back.” 30 But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.
31 When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had happened. 32 The king called the first official back in and said, “You're an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I said you did not have to pay back a cent. 33 Don't you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?” 34 The king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could pay back everything he owed. 35 That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don't forgive each of my followers with all your heart.
Ezra Reads God's Law to the People
8 1-2 On the first day of the seventh month,[a] the people came together in the open area in front of the Water Gate. Then they asked Ezra, who was a teacher of the Law of Moses, to read to them from this Law that the Lord had given his people. Ezra the priest came with the Law and stood before the crowd of men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. 3 From early morning till noon, he read the Law of Moses to them, and they listened carefully. 4 Ezra stood on a high wooden platform that had been built for this occasion. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah were standing to his right, while Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash Baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam were standing to his left.
5 Ezra was up on the high platform, where he could be seen by everyone, and when he opened the book, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra praised the great Lord God, and they lifted their hands, shouting “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped the Lord.
7-8 After this, the Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah went among the people, explaining the meaning of what Ezra had read.
9 The people started crying when God's Law was read to them. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher, and the Levites who had been teaching the people all said, “This is a special day for the Lord your God. So don't be sad and don't cry!”
10 Nehemiah told the people, “Enjoy your good food and wine and share some with those who didn't have anything to bring. Don't be sad! This is a special day for the Lord, and he will make you happy and strong.”
11 The Levites encouraged the people by saying, “This is a sacred day, so don't worry or mourn!” 12 When the people returned to their homes, they celebrated by eating and drinking and by sharing their food with those in need, because they had understood what had been read to them.
Celebrating the Festival of Shelters
13 On the second day of the seventh month,[b] the leaders of all the family groups came together with the priests and the Levites, so Ezra could teach them the Law 14 (A) that the Lord had given to Moses. They learned from the Law that the people of Israel were to live in shelters when they celebrated the festival in the seventh month of the year. 15 They also learned that they were to go into the woods and gather branches of leafy trees such as olives, myrtles, and palms for making these shelters.
16 So the people gathered branches and made shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courtyard of the temple, and in the open areas around the Water Gate and Ephraim Gate. 17 Everyone who had returned from Babylonia built shelters. They lived in them and joyfully celebrated the Festival of Shelters for the first time since the days of Joshua son of Nun. 18 On each of the first seven days of the festival, Ezra read to the people from God's Law. Then on the eighth day, everyone gathered for worship, just as the Law had said they must.
Paul in Corinth
18 Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he met Aquila, a Jewish man from Pontus. Not long before this, Aquila had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Emperor Claudius had ordered the Jewish people to leave Rome.[a] Paul went to see Aquila and Priscilla 3 and found out they were tent makers. Paul was also a tent maker, so he stayed with them, and they worked together.
4 Every Sabbath, Paul went to the synagogue. He spoke to Jews and Gentiles[b] and tried to win them over. 5 But after Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, he spent all his time preaching to the Jews about Jesus the Messiah. 6 Finally, they turned against him and insulted him. So he shook the dust from his clothes[c] and told them, “Whatever happens to you will be your own fault! I am not to blame. From now on I am going to preach to the Gentiles.”
7 Paul then moved into the house of a man named Titius Justus, who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus was the leader of the synagogue. He and everyone in his family put their faith in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also heard the message, and all the people who had faith in the Lord were baptized.
9 One night, Paul had a vision, and in it the Lord said, “Don't be afraid to keep on preaching. Don't stop! 10 I am with you, and you won't be harmed. Many people in this city belong to me.” 11 Paul stayed on in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching God's message to the people.
12 While Gallio was governor of Achaia, some of the Jewish leaders got together and grabbed Paul. They brought him into court 13 and said, “This man is trying to make our people worship God in a way that is against our Law!”
14 Even before Paul could speak, Gallio said, “If you were charging this man with a crime or some other wrong, I would have to listen to you. 15 But since this concerns only words, names, and your own law, you will have to take care of it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters.” 16 Then he sent them out of the court. 17 The crowd grabbed Sosthenes, the Jewish leader, and beat him up in front of the court. But none of this mattered to Gallio.
Paul Returns to Antioch in Syria
18 (A) After Paul had stayed for a while with the Lord's followers in Corinth, he told them goodbye and sailed on to Syria with Aquila and Priscilla. But before he left, he had his head shaved[d] at Cenchreae because he had made a promise to God.
19 The three of them arrived in Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He then went into the synagogue to talk with the people there. 20 They asked him to stay longer, but he refused. 21 He told them goodbye and said, “If God lets me, I will come back.”
22 Paul sailed to Caesarea, where he greeted the church. Then he went on to Antioch. 23 After staying there for a while, he left and visited several places in Galatia and Phrygia. He helped the followers there to become stronger in their faith.
Apollos in Ephesus
24 A Jewish man named Apollos came to Ephesus. Apollos had been born in the city of Alexandria. He was a very good speaker and knew a lot about the Scriptures. 25 He also knew much about the Lord's Way,[e] and he spoke about it with great excitement. What he taught about Jesus was right, but all he knew was John's message about baptism.
26 Apollos started speaking bravely in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him to their home and helped him understand God's Way even better.
27 Apollos decided to travel through Achaia. So the Lord's followers wrote letters, encouraging the followers there to welcome him. After Apollos arrived in Achaia, he was a great help to everyone who had put their faith in the Lord Jesus because of God's gift of undeserved grace. 28 He got into fierce arguments with the Jewish people, and in public he used the Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah.
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