M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Abimelech Tries To Be King

9 Abimelech the son of Gideon^[a] went to Shechem. While there, he met with his mother's relatives ² and told them to say to the leaders of Shechem, “Do you think it would be good to have all 70 of Gideon's sons ruling us? Wouldn't you rather have just one man be king? Abimelech would make a good king, and he's related to us.”

³ Abimelech's uncles talked it over with the leaders of Shechem who agreed, “Yes, it would be better for one of our relatives to be king.” ⁴ Then they gave Abimelech 70 pieces^[b] of silver from the temple of their god Baal Berith.^[c]

Abimelech used the silver to hire a gang of rough soldiers who would do anything for money. ⁵ Abimelech and his soldiers went to his father's home in Ophrah and brought out Gideon's other sons to a large rock, where they murdered all 70 of them. Gideon's youngest son Jotham hid from the soldiers, but he was the only one who escaped.

⁶ The leaders of Shechem, including the priests and the military officers,^[d] met at the tree next to the sacred rock^[e] in Shechem to crown Abimelech king. ⁷ Jotham heard what they were doing. So he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted down to the people who were there at the meeting:

After Jotham had finished telling this story, he said:

^16-18 My father Gideon risked his life for you when he fought to rescue you from the Midianites. Did you reward Gideon by being kind to his family? No, you did not! You attacked his family and killed all 70 of his sons on that rock.

And was it right to make Abimelech your king? He's merely the son of my father's slave girl.^[g] But just because he's your relative, you made him king of Shechem.

¹⁹ So, you leaders of Shechem, if you treated Gideon and his family the way you should have, then I hope you and Abimelech will make each other very happy. ²⁰ But if it was wrong to treat Gideon and his family the way you did, then I pray that Abimelech will destroy you with fire, and I pray that you will do the same to him.

²¹ Jotham ran off and went to live in the town of Beer, where he could be safe from his brother Abimelech.

Abimelech Destroys Shechem

²² Abimelech had been a military commander of Israel for three years, ^23-24 when God decided to punish him and the leaders of Shechem for killing Gideon's 70 sons.

So God turned the leaders of Shechem against Abimelech. ²⁵ Then they sent some men to hide on the hilltops and watch for Abimelech and his troops, while they sent others to rob everyone that went by on the road. But Abimelech found out what they were doing.

²⁶ One day, Gaal son of Ebed went to live in Shechem. His brothers moved there too, and soon the leaders of Shechem started trusting him.

²⁷ The time came for the grape harvest, and the people of Shechem went into their vineyards and picked the grapes. They gathered the grapes and made wine. Then they went into the temple of their god and threw a big party. There was a lot of eating and drinking, and before long they were cursing Abimelech.

²⁸ Gaal said:

Hamor was the founder of Shechem, and one of his descendants should be our ruler. But Abimelech's father was Gideon, so Abimelech isn't really one of us. He shouldn't be our king, and we shouldn't have to obey him or Zebul, who rules Shechem for him. ²⁹ If I were the ruler of Shechem, I'd get rid of that Abimelech. I'd tell him, “Get yourself an even bigger army, and we will still defeat you.”

³⁰ Zebul was angry when he found out what Gaal had said. ³¹ And so he sent some messengers to Abimelech. But they had to pretend to be doing something else, or they would not have been allowed to leave Shechem.^[h] Zebul told the messengers to say:

Gaal the son of Ebed has come to Shechem along with his brothers, and they have persuaded the people to let Gaal rule Shechem instead of you. ³² This is what I think you should do. Lead your army here during the night and hide in the fields. ³³ Get up the next morning at sunrise and rush out of your hiding places to attack the town. Gaal and his followers will come out to fight you, but you will easily defeat them.

³⁴ So one night, Abimelech led his soldiers to Shechem. He divided them into four groups, and they all hid near the town.

³⁵ The next morning, Gaal went out and stood in the opening of the town gate. Abimelech and his soldiers left their hiding places, ³⁶ and Gaal saw them. Zebul was standing there with Gaal, and Gaal remarked, “Zebul, that looks like a crowd of people coming down from the mountaintops.”

“No,” Zebul answered, “it's just the shadows of the mountains. It only looks like people moving.”

³⁷ “But Zebul, look over there,” Gaal said. “There's a crowd coming down from the sacred mountain,^[i] and another group is coming along the road from the tree where people talk with the spirits of the dead.”

³⁸ Then Zebul replied, “What good is all of your bragging now? You were the one who said Abimelech shouldn't be the ruler of Shechem. Out there is the army that you made fun of. So go out and fight them!”

³⁹ Gaal and the leaders of Shechem went out and fought Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Soon the people of Shechem turned and ran back into the town. However, Abimelech and his troops were close behind and killed many of them along the way.

⁴¹ Abimelech stayed at Arumah,^[j] and Zebul forced Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.

⁴² The next morning, the people of Shechem were getting ready to work in their fields as usual, but someone told Abimelech about it. ⁴³ Abimelech divided his army into three groups and set up an ambush in the fields near Shechem. When the people came out of the town, he and his army rushed out from their hiding places and attacked. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the troops with him ran to the town gate and took control of it, while two other groups attacked and killed the people who were in the fields. ⁴⁵ He and his troops fought in Shechem all day, until they had killed everyone in town. Then he and his men tore down the houses and buildings and scattered salt^[k] everywhere.

⁴⁶ Earlier that day, the leaders of the temple of El Berith^[l] at Shechem had heard about the attack. So they went into the temple fortress, ⁴⁷ but Abimelech found out where they were. ⁴⁸ He led his troops to Mount Zalmon, where he took an ax and chopped off a tree branch. He lifted the branch onto his shoulder and shouted, “Hurry! Cut off a branch just as I did.”

⁴⁹ When they all had branches, they followed Abimelech back to Shechem. They piled the branches against the fortress and set them on fire, burning down the fortress and killing about 1,000 men and women.

⁵⁰ After destroying Shechem, Abimelech went to Thebez. He surrounded the town and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a tall fortress in the middle of the town, and the town leaders and everyone else went inside. Then they barred the gates and went up to the flat roof.

⁵² Abimelech and his army rushed to the fortress and tried to force their way inside. Abimelech himself was about to set the heavy wooden doors on fire, ^53 (A) when a woman on the roof dropped a large rock^[m] on his head and cracked his skull. ⁵⁴ The soldier who carried his weapons was nearby, and Abimelech told him, “Take out your sword and kill me. I don't want people to say that I was killed by a woman!”

So the soldier ran his sword through Abimelech. ⁵⁵ And when the Israelite soldiers saw that their leader was dead, they went back home.

⁵⁶ That's how God punished Abimelech for killing his brothers and bringing shame on his father's family. ⁵⁷ God also punished the people of Shechem for helping Abimelech.^[n] Everything happened just as Jotham's curse said it would.

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen and Sent

13 The church at Antioch had several prophets and teachers. They were Barnabas, Simeon, also called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who was Herod's^[a] close friend, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and going without eating,^[b] the Holy Spirit told them, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have chosen them.” ³ Everyone prayed and went without eating for a while longer. Next, they placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul to show that they had been appointed to do this work. Then everyone sent them on their way.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴ After Barnabas and Saul had been sent by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ They arrived at Salamis and began to preach God's message in the synagogues. They also had John^[c] as a helper.

⁶ Barnabas and Saul went all the way to the city of Paphos on the other end of the island, where they met a Jewish man named Bar-Jesus. He practiced witchcraft and was a false prophet. ⁷ He also worked for Sergius Paulus, who was very smart and was the governor of the island. Sergius Paulus wanted to hear God's message, and he sent for Barnabas and Saul. ⁸ But Bar-Jesus, whose other name was Elymas, was against them. He even tried to keep the governor from having faith in the Lord.

⁹ Then Saul, better known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked straight at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil! You are a liar, a crook, and an enemy of everything that is right. When will you stop speaking against the true ways of the Lord? ¹¹ The Lord is going to punish you by making you completely blind for a while.”

Suddenly the man's eyes were covered by a dark mist, and he went around trying to get someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the governor saw what had happened, he was amazed at this teaching about the Lord. So he put his faith in the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia

¹³ Paul and the others left Paphos and sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. But John^[d] left them and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ The rest of them went on from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia. Then on the Sabbath they went to the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵ After the reading of the Law and the Prophets,^[e] the leaders sent someone over to tell Paul and Barnabas, “Friends, if you have anything to say that will help the people, please say it.”

¹⁶ Paul got up. He motioned with his hand and said:

People of Israel, and everyone else who worships God, listen! ^17 (A) The God of Israel chose our ancestors, and he let our people prosper while they were living in Egypt. Then with his mighty power he led them out, ^18 (B) and for about 40 years he took care of^[f] them in the desert. ^19 (C) He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave their land to our people. ^20 (D) All this happened in about 450 years.

Then God gave our people judges until the time of the prophet Samuel, ^21 (E) but the people demanded a king. So for 40 years God gave them King Saul, the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. ^22 (F) Later, God removed Saul and let David rule in his place. God said about him, “David the son of Jesse is the kind of person who pleases me most! He does everything I want him to do.”

²³ God promised that someone from David's family would come to save the people of Israel, and this one is Jesus. ^24 (G) But before Jesus came, John was telling everyone in Israel to turn back to God and be baptized. ^25 (H) Then, when John's work was almost done, he said, “Who do you people think I am? Do you think I am the Promised One? He will come later, and I am not good enough to untie his sandals.”

²⁶ Now listen, you descendants of Abraham! Pay attention, all of you Gentiles who are here to worship God! Listen to this message about how to be saved, because it is for everyone. ²⁷ The people of Jerusalem and their leaders didn't realize who Jesus was. And they didn't understand the words of the prophets they read each Sabbath. So they condemned Jesus just as the prophets had said.

^28-29 (I) They did exactly what the Scriptures said they would. Even though they couldn't find any reason to put Jesus to death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.

After Jesus had been put to death, he was taken down from the cross^[g] and placed in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from death! ^31 (J) Then for many days Jesus appeared to his followers who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. Now they are telling our people about him.

³² God made a promise to our ancestors. And we are here to tell you the good news ^33 (K) that he has kept this promise to us. It is just as the second Psalm says about Jesus,

^34 (L) God raised Jesus from death and will never let his body decay. It is just as God said,

^35 (M) And in another psalm it says, “God will never let the body of his Holy One decay.”

³⁶ When David was alive, he obeyed God. Then after he died, he was buried in the family grave, and his body decayed. ³⁷ But God raised Jesus from death, and his body did not decay.

³⁸ My friends, the message is that Jesus can forgive your sins! The Law of Moses could not set you free from all your sins. ³⁹ But everyone who has faith in Jesus is set free. ⁴⁰ Make sure what the prophets have said doesn't happen to you. They said,

⁴² As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people begged them to say more about these same things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ After the service, many Jews and a lot of Gentiles who worshiped God went with them. Paul and Barnabas begged them all to remain faithful to God, who had treated them with undeserved grace.

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost everyone in town came to hear the message about the Lord.^{[h] 45} When the Jewish people saw the crowds, they were very jealous. They insulted Paul and spoke against everything he said.

⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas bravely said:

We had to tell God's message to you before we told it to anyone else. But you rejected the message! This proves that you don't deserve eternal life. Now we are going to the Gentiles. ^47 (O) The Lord has given us this command,

⁴⁸ This message made the Gentiles glad, and they praised what they had heard about the Lord.^[i] Everyone who had been chosen for eternal life then put their faith in the Lord.

⁴⁹ The message about the Lord spread all over this region. ⁵⁰ But the Jewish leaders went to some of the important men in the town and to some respected women who were religious. They turned them against Paul and Barnabas and started making trouble for them. They even chased them out of this part of the country.

^51 (P) Paul and Barnabas shook the dust from that place off their feet^[j] and went on to the city of Iconium.

⁵² But the Lord's followers in Antioch were very happy and were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Lord Will Punish the King of Judah

22 ^1-3 The Lord sent me to the palace of the king of Judah to speak to the king, his officials, and everyone else who was there. The Lord told me to say:

I am the Lord, so pay attention! You have been allowing people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of injustice, and some of them have even been killed. But now I command you to do what is right and see that justice is done. Rescue everyone who has suffered from injustice.

⁴ If you obey me, the kings from David's family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. ^5 (A) But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. ⁶ Listen to what I think about it:

⁸ People from different nations will pass by and ask, “Why did the Lord do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?” ⁹ Others will answer, “It's because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the Lord their God had made with them.”

King Jehoahaz

The Lord said:

^11-12 (B) Jehoahaz^[c] became king of Judah after his father King Josiah died. But Jehoahaz was taken as a prisoner to a foreign country. Now I, the Lord, promise that he will die there without ever seeing his own land again.

King Jehoiakim

The Lord told me to say:

King Jehoiachin and the People of Jerusalem

The Lord told me to say:

^24 (D) King Jehoiachin,^[g] son of Jehoiakim,^[h] even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. ²⁵ I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar^[i] and his army, who want to kill you. ²⁶ You and your mother^[j] were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, ²⁷ longing to return home.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

(Matthew 15.32-39)

8 One day another large crowd gathered around Jesus. They had not brought along anything to eat. So Jesus called his disciples together and said, ² “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. ³ Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home.”

⁴ The disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”

⁵ Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread.”^[a]

⁶ After Jesus told the crowd to sit down, he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He then broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples, who passed them out to the crowd. ⁷ They also had a few little fish, and after Jesus had blessed these, he told the disciples to pass them around.

^8-9 The crowd of about 4,000 people ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

As soon as Jesus had sent the people away, ¹⁰ he got into the boat with the disciples and crossed to the territory near Dalmanutha.^[b]

A Sign from Heaven

(Matthew 16.1-4)

^11 (A) The Pharisees came out and started an argument with Jesus. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. ^12 (B) Jesus groaned and said, “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!” ¹³ Then he left them. He again got into a boat and crossed over to the other side of the lake.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod

(Matthew 16.5-12)

¹⁴ The disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. ^15 (C) Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”^[c]

¹⁶ The disciples talked this over and said to each other, “He must be saying this because we don't have any bread.”

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don't you understand? Are your minds still closed? ^18 (D) Are your eyes blind and your ears deaf? Don't you remember ¹⁹ how many baskets of leftovers you picked up when I fed those 5,000 people with only five small loaves of bread?”

“Yes,” the disciples answered. “There were twelve baskets.”

²⁰ Jesus then asked, “And how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up when I broke seven small loaves of bread for those 4,000 people?”

“Seven,” they answered.

²¹ “Don't you know what I am talking about by now?” Jesus asked.

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

²² As Jesus and his disciples were going into Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch the man. ²³ Jesus took him by the hand and led him out of the village, where he spit into the man's eyes. He placed his hands on the blind man and asked him if he could see anything. ²⁴ The man looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵ Once again Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes, and this time the man stared. His eyes were healed, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus said to him, “You may return home now, but don't go into the village.”

Who Is Jesus?

(Matthew 16.13-20; Luke 9.18-21)

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples went to the villages near the town of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “What do people say about me?”

^28 (E) The disciples answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah.^[d] Others say you are one of the prophets.”

^29 (F) Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say I am?”

“You are the Messiah!” Peter replied.

³⁰ Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

(Matthew 16.21-28; Luke 9.22-27)

³¹ Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “The nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. He will be rejected and killed, but three days later he will rise to life.” ³² Then Jesus explained clearly what he meant.

Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. ³³ But when Jesus turned and saw the disciples, he corrected Peter. He said to him, “Satan, get away from me! You are thinking like everyone else and not like God.”

^34 (G) Jesus then told the crowd and the disciples to come closer, and he said:

If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. ^35 (H) If you want to save your life,^[e] you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me and for the good news, you will save it. ³⁶ What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? ³⁷ What could you give to get back your soul?

³⁸ Don't be ashamed of me and my message among these unfaithful and sinful people! If you are, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.