M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
14 Jehovah now instructed Moses, 2 “Tell the people to turn toward Piha-hiroth between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon, and to camp there along the shore. 3 For Pharaoh will think, ‘Those Israelites are trapped now, between the desert and the sea!’ 4 And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will chase after you. I have planned this to gain great honor and glory over Pharaoh and all his armies, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
So they camped where they were told.
5 When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelis were not planning to return to Egypt after three days, but to keep on going, Pharaoh and his staff became bold again. “What is this we have done, letting all these slaves get away?” they asked. 6 So Pharaoh led the chase in his chariot, 7 followed by the pick of Egypt’s chariot corps—600 chariots in all—and other chariots driven by Egyptian officers. 8 He pursued the people of Israel, for they had taken much of the wealth of Egypt with them. 9 Pharaoh’s entire cavalry—horses, chariots, and charioteers—was used in the chase; and the Egyptian army overtook the people of Israel as they were camped beside the shore near Piha-hiroth, across from Baal-zephon.
10 As the Egyptian army approached, the people of Israel saw them far in the distance, speeding after them, and they were terribly frightened and cried out to the Lord to help them.
11 And they turned against Moses, whining, “Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you, while we were slaves, to leave us alone? We said it would be better to be slaves to the Egyptians than dead in the wilderness.”
13 But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch, and you will see the wonderful way the Lord will rescue you today. The Egyptians you are looking at—you will never see them again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger!”[a]
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Quit praying and get the people moving! Forward, march! 16 Use your rod—hold it out over the water, and the sea will open up a path before you, and all the people of Israel shall walk through on dry ground! 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after you and you will see the honor I will get in defeating Pharaoh and all his armies, chariots, and horsemen. 18 And all Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah.”
19 Then the Angel of God, who was leading the people of Israel, moved the cloud around behind them, 20 and it stood between the people of Israel and the Egyptians. And that night, as it changed to a pillar of fire, it gave darkness to the Egyptians but light to the people of Israel! So the Egyptians couldn’t find the Israelis!
21 Meanwhile, Moses stretched his rod over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the sea, with walls of water on each side; and a strong east wind blew all that night, drying the sea bottom. 22 So the people of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground! 23 Then the Egyptians followed them between the walls of water along the bottom of the sea—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen. 24 But in the early morning Jehovah looked down from the cloud of fire upon the array of the Egyptians, and began to harass them. 25 Their chariot wheels began coming off, so that their chariots scraped along the dry ground. “Let’s get out of here,” the Egyptians yelled. “Jehovah is fighting for them and against us.”
26 When all the Israelites were on the other side,[b] the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand again over the sea, so that the waters will come back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses did, and the sea returned to normal beneath the morning light. The Egyptians tried to flee, but the Lord drowned them in the sea. 28 The water covered the path and the chariots and horsemen. And of all the army of Pharaoh that chased after Israel through the sea, not one remained alive.
29 The people of Israel had walked through on dry land, and the waters had been walled up on either side of them. 30 Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and the people of Israel saw the Egyptians dead, washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty miracle the Lord had done for them against the Egyptians, they were afraid and revered the Lord, and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
17 “There will always be temptations to sin,” Jesus said one day to his disciples, “but woe to the man who does the tempting. 2-3 If he were thrown into the sea with a huge rock tied to his neck, he would be far better off than facing the punishment in store for those who harm these little children’s souls. I am warning you!
“Rebuke your brother if he sins, and forgive him if he is sorry. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him.”
5 One day the apostles said to the Lord, “We need more faith; tell us how to get it.”
6 “If your faith were only the size of a mustard seed,” Jesus answered, “it would be large enough to uproot that mulberry tree over there and send it hurtling into the sea! Your command would bring immediate results! 7-9 When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, he doesn’t just sit down and eat, but first prepares his master’s meal and serves him his supper before he eats his own. And he is not even thanked, for he is merely doing what he is supposed to do. 10 Just so, if you merely obey me, you should not consider yourselves worthy of praise. For you have simply done your duty!”
11 As they continued onward toward Jerusalem, they reached the border between Galilee and Samaria, 12 and as they entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, sir, have mercy on us!”
14 He looked at them and said, “Go to the Jewish priest and show him that you are healed!” And as they were going, their leprosy disappeared.
15 One of them came back to Jesus, shouting, “Glory to God, I’m healed!” 16 He fell flat on the ground in front of Jesus, face downward in the dust, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a despised[a] Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the nine? 18 Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?”
19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God begin?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God isn’t ushered in with visible signs. 21 You won’t be able to say, ‘It has begun here in this place or there in that part of the country.’ For the Kingdom of God is within you.”[b]
22 Later he talked again about this with his disciples. “The time is coming when you will long for me[c] to be with you even for a single day, but I won’t be here,” he said. 23 “Reports will reach you that I have returned and that I am in this place or that; don’t believe it or go out to look for me. 24 For when I return, you will know it beyond all doubt. It will be as evident as the lightning that flashes across the skies. 25 But first I must suffer terribly and be rejected by this whole nation.
26 “When I return[d] the world will be as indifferent to the things of God as the people were in Noah’s day. 27 They ate and drank and married—everything just as usual right up to the day when Noah went into the ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot: people went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— 29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the hour of my return.[e]
31 “Those away from home that day must not return to pack; those in the fields must not return to town— 32 remember what happened to Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever clings to his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall save it. 34 That night two men will be asleep in the same room, and one will be taken away, the other left. 35-36 Two women will be working together at household tasks; one will be taken, the other left; and so it will be with men working side by side in the fields.”
37 “Lord, where will they be taken?” the disciples asked.
Jesus replied, “Where the body is, the vultures gather!”[f]
32 The three men refused to reply further to Job because he kept insisting on his innocence.
2 Then Elihu (son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the clan of Ram) became angry because Job refused to admit he had sinned and to acknowledge that God had just cause for punishing him. 3 But he was also angry with Job’s three friends because they had been unable to answer Job’s arguments and yet had condemned him. 4 Elihu had waited until now to speak because the others were older than he.
5 But when he saw that they had no further reply, he spoke out angrily, 6 and said, “I am young and you are old, so I held back and did not dare to tell you what I think, 7 for those who are older are said to be wiser; 8-9 but it is not mere age that makes men wise. Rather, it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty that makes him intelligent. 10 So listen to me awhile and let me express my opinion.
11-12 “I have waited all this time, listening very carefully to your arguments, but not one of them has convinced Job that he is a sinner or has proved that he is. 13 And don’t give me that line about ‘only God can convince the sinner of his sin.’ 14 If Job had been arguing with me, I would not answer with that kind of logic!
15 “You sit there baffled, with no further replies. 16 Shall I then continue to wait when you are silent? 17 No, I will give my answer too. 18 For I am pent up and full of words, and the spirit within me urges me on. 19 I am like a wine cask without a vent! My words are ready to burst out! 20 I must speak to find relief, so let me give my answers. 21-22 Don’t insist that I be cautious lest I insult someone, and don’t make me flatter anyone. Let me be frank lest God should strike me dead.
2 “No,” I said to myself, “I won’t do it. I’ll not make them unhappy with another painful visit.” 2 For if I make you sad, who is going to make me happy? You are the ones to do it, and how can you if I cause you pain? 3 That is why I wrote as I did in my last letter, so that you will get things straightened out before I come.[a] Then, when I do come, I will not be made sad by the very ones who ought to give me greatest joy. I felt sure that your happiness was so bound up in mine that you would not be happy either unless I came with joy.
4 Oh, how I hated to write that letter! It almost broke my heart, and I tell you honestly that I cried over it. I didn’t want to hurt you, but I had to show you how very much I loved you and cared about what was happening to you.
5-6 Remember that the man I wrote about, who caused all the trouble, has not caused sorrow to me as much as to all the rest of you—though I certainly have my share in it too. I don’t want to be harder on him than I should. He has been punished enough by your united disapproval. 7 Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may become so bitter and discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. 8 Please show him now that you still do love him very much.
9 I wrote to you as I did so that I could find out how far you would go in obeying me. 10 When you forgive anyone, I do too. And whatever I have forgiven (to the extent that this affected me too) has been by Christ’s authority, and for your good. 11 A further reason for forgiveness is to keep from being outsmarted by Satan, for we know what he is trying to do.
12 Well, when I got as far as the city of Troas, the Lord gave me tremendous opportunities to preach the Gospel. 13 But Titus, my dear brother, wasn’t there to meet me and I couldn’t rest, wondering where he was and what had happened to him. So I said good-bye and went right on to Macedonia to try to find him.
14 But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume. 15 As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us. 16 To those who are not being saved, we seem a fearful smell of death and doom, while to those who know Christ we are a life-giving perfume. But who is adequate for such a task as this? 17 Only those who, like ourselves, are men of integrity, sent by God, speaking with Christ’s power, with God’s eye upon us. We are not like those hucksters—and there are many of them—whose idea in getting out the Gospel is to make a good living out of it.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.