M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt
42 Now when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
3 Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers for he said, “Perhaps some harm might happen to him.” 5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 Now Joseph was the governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. So Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, “From where do you come?”
And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
8 Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him. 9 Joseph also remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. He said to them, “You are spies! You came to see the nakedness of the land!”
10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come only to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”
12 But he said to them, “No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”
13 They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer living.”
14 Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, ‘You are spies!’ 15 Here is how you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested, whether there be any truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are surely spies.” 17 He put them all together in custody for three days.
18 Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God. 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison house. The rest of you go and carry grain for the famine of your households. 20 Nevertheless, bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified and you shall not die.” And they did so.
21 Then they said one to another, “We are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us.”
22 Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore, his blood is now required of us.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.
24 He turned himself away from them and wept, but then turned back to them again and spoke with them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
25 Joseph then gave the command to fill their sacks with grain and to restore every man’s money to his sack and to give them provisions for the way. And it was done for them.
Joseph’s Brothers Return Home
26 They loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there.
27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the lodging place, he saw his money. It was in the mouth of his sack. 28 And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned. Here it is in my sack!”
Then their hearts sank, and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and took us for spies of the country. 31 And we said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, all sons of our father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’
33 “The man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘Here is how I may know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will deliver your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”
35 As they emptied their sacks, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”
37 Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I fail to bring him to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
38 But Jacob said, “My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are to make, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”
The Parable of the Vineyard and the Vinedressers(A)
12 He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower, and rented it to vinedressers, and went to a far country. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the vinedressers to receive from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them. They threw stones at him, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. 5 Still he sent another, and they killed him. And there were many others. Some they beat, and some they killed.
6 “Having yet his one well-beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will revere my son.’
7 “But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
11 This was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[a]?”
12 Then they tried to seize Him, but feared the people, for they knew that He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went their way.
The Question of Paying Taxes(B)
13 They sent to Him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap Him in His words. 14 When they came to Him, they said, “Teacher, we know that You are true and swayed by no man. For You do not regard the person of men, but truthfully teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay, or should we not pay?”
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” 16 They brought it, and He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
17 Then Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And they were amazed at Him.
The Question About the Resurrection(C)
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves his wife behind, but leaves no children, that man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother.[b] 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and when he died, he left no children. 21 The second took her and died, leaving no children, and the third likewise. 22 The seven had her and left no children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus answered them, “Do you not err, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 Now concerning the dead rising, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’[c]? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You therefore do greatly err.”
The Great Commandment(D)
28 One of the scribes came and heard them reasoning together. Perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[d] This is the first commandment. 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[e] There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 The scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, that there is one God and there is no other but Him. 33 To love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask Him any question.
The Question About David’s Son(E)
35 While Jesus taught in the temple, He said, “How can the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
until I put Your enemies
under Your feet.” ’[f]
37 David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ How then is He his Son?”
And the large crowd heard him gladly.
The Denouncing of the Scribes(F)
38 He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who love to go about in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and the prominent seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive greater condemnation.”
The Widow’s Offering(G)
41 Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. Many who were rich put in much. 42 But a certain poor widow came and put in two mites, which make a farthing.[g]
43 He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 They all contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had, her entire livelihood.”
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you speak these things,
and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
3 Does God pervert judgment?
Or does the Almighty pervert justice?
4 If your children sinned against Him,
He cast them away for their transgression.
5 If you yourself would seek God earnestly,
and seek favor from the Almighty,
6 if you were pure and upright,
surely now He would rouse Himself on your behalf,
and He would prosper your righteous dwelling.
7 Though your beginning was small,
your end will increase greatly.
8 “Please, ask the former generation,
and prepare yourself for what their fathers searched out;
9 for we were born but yesterday and know nothing,
because our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you, and tell you,
and bring forth words out of their heart?
11 Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reed grow without water?
12 While it is yet green and not cut down,
it withers before any other plant.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God;
and the hypocrite’s hope will perish,
14 whose confidence will be cut off,
and whose trust will be a spider’s web.
15 He will lean upon his house, but it will not stand;
he will hold it fast, but it will not endure.
16 He is green before the sun,
and his branch shoots forth in his garden.
17 His roots are wrapped around the rock heap,
and he sees the place of stones.
18 If he is uprooted from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19 See, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the ground others will grow.
20 “Surely, God will not cast away a perfect man,
nor will He strengthen the evildoers,
21 until He fills your mouth with laughing,
and your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”
The New Life in Christ
12 I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sound judgment, according to the measure of faith God has distributed to every man. 4 For just as we have many parts in one body, and not all parts have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and all are parts of one another. 6 We have diverse gifts according to the grace that is given to us: if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; 7 if service, in serving; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rules of the Christian Life
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil. Cleave to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with brotherly love; prefer one another in honor, 11 do not be lazy in diligence, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, 12 rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer, 13 contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not pretend to be wiser than you are.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Commend what is honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.