M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Flood Begins

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “I have seen that you are the best man among the people of this time. So you and your family go into the boat. ² Take with you seven pairs, each male with its female, of every kind of clean animal. And take one pair, each male with its female, of every kind of unclean animal. ³ Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the earth every living thing that I made.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. ⁷ He and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the boat. They went in to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ The clean animals, the unclean animals, the birds and everything that crawls on the ground ⁹ came to Noah. They went into the boat in groups of two, male and female. This was just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ Seven days later the flood started.

¹¹ Noah was now 600 years old. The flood started on the seventeenth day of the second month of that year. That day the underground springs split open. And the clouds in the sky poured out rain. ¹² The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah and his wife, his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives went into the boat. ¹⁴ They had every kind of wild animal and tame animal. There was every kind of animal that crawls on the earth. Every kind of bird was there. ¹⁵ They all came to Noah in the boat in groups of two. There was every creature that had the breath of life. ¹⁶ One male and one female of every living thing came. It was just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

¹⁷ Water flooded the earth for 40 days. As the water rose, it lifted the boat off the ground. ¹⁸ The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on the water above the earth. ¹⁹ The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it. ²⁰ The water continued to rise until it was more than 20 feet above the mountains.

²¹ All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals and creatures that swarm on the earth. And all human beings died. ²² So everything on dry land died. This means everything that had the breath of life in its nose. ²³ So God destroyed from the earth every living thing that was on the land. This was every man, animal, crawling thing and bird of the sky. All that was left was Noah and what was with him in the boat. ²⁴ And the waters continued to cover the earth for 150 days.

Be Careful About Judging Others

7 “Don’t judge other people, and you will not be judged. ² You will be judged in the same way that you judge others. And the forgiveness you give to others will be given to you.

³ “Why do you notice the little piece of dust that is in your brother’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood that is in your own eye? ⁴ Why do you say to your brother, ‘Let me take that little piece of dust out of your eye’? Look at yourself first! You still have that big piece of wood in your own eye. ⁵ You are a hypocrite! First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take the dust out of your brother’s eye.

⁶ “Don’t give holy things to dogs. Don’t throw your pearls before pigs. Pigs will only trample on them. And the dogs will only turn to attack you.

Ask God for What You Need

⁷ “Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. ⁸ Yes, everyone who continues asking will receive. He who continues searching will find. And he who continues knocking will have the door opened for him.

⁹ “What would you do if your son asks for bread? Which of you would give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if your son asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? ¹¹ Even though you are bad, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So surely your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him.

The Most Important Rule

¹² “Do for other people the same things you want them to do for you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.

The Way to Heaven Is Hard

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. The road that leads to hell is a very easy road. And the gate to hell is very wide. Many people enter through that gate. ¹⁴ But the gate that opens the way to true life is very small. And the road to true life is very hard. Only a few people find that road.

People Know You by Your Actions

¹⁵ “Be careful of false prophets. They come to you and look gentle like sheep. But they are really dangerous like wolves. ¹⁶ You will know these people because of the things they do. Good things don’t come from bad people, just as grapes don’t come from thornbushes. And figs don’t come from thorny weeds. ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit. And bad trees produce bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. And a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ You will know these false prophets by what they produce.

²¹ “Not everyone who says ‘You are my Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. The only people who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do the things that my Father in heaven wants. ²² On the last day many people will say to me, ‘You are our Lord! We spoke for you. And through you we forced out demons and did many miracles.’ ²³ Then I will tell them clearly, ‘Get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you.’

Two Kinds of People

²⁴ “Everyone who hears these things I say and obeys them is like a wise man. The wise man built his house on rock. ²⁵ It rained hard and the water rose. The winds blew and hit that house. But the house did not fall, because the house was built on rock. ²⁶ But the person who hears the things I teach and does not obey them is like a foolish man. The foolish man built his house on sand. ²⁷ It rained hard, the water rose, and the winds blew and hit that house. And the house fell with a big crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus finished saying these things, the people were amazed at his teaching. ²⁹ Jesus did not teach like their teachers of the law. He taught like a person who had authority.

Ezra Comes to Jerusalem

7 After these things^[a] during the rule of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. Ezra was the son of Seraiah. Seraiah was the son of Azariah. Azariah was the son of Hilkiah. ² Hilkiah was the son of Shallum. Shallum was the son of Zadok. Zadok was the son of Ahitub. ³ Ahitub was the son of Amariah. Amariah was the son of Azariah. Azariah was the son of Meraioth. ⁴ Meraioth was the son of Zerahiah. Zerahiah was the son of Uzzi. Uzzi was the son of Bukki. ⁵ Bukki was the son of Abishua. Abishua was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. Eleazar was the son of Aaron the high priest. ⁶ This Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylon. He was a teacher. He knew the Teachings of Moses well. The Teachings had been given by the Lord, the God of Israel. Ezra received everything he asked for from the king. This was because the Lord his God was helping him. ⁷ In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes more Israelites came to Jerusalem. Among them were priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and Temple servants.

⁸ Ezra also arrived in Jerusalem. It was the fifth month of Artaxerxes’ seventh year as king. ⁹ Ezra had left Babylon on the first day of the first month. And he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month. God was helping Ezra. ¹⁰ Ezra had worked hard to know and obey the Teachings of the Lord. He also taught the rules and commands of the Lord to the Israelites.

Artaxerxes’ Letter to Ezra

¹¹ King Artaxerxes had given a letter to Ezra. Ezra was a priest and teacher. He taught about the commands and laws the Lord gave Israel. This is a copy of the letter:

²⁷ Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He caused the king to want to honor the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ²⁸ The Lord has shown me, Ezra, his love. He did this before the king, those who advise the king and the royal officers. The Lord my God was helping me. So I had courage. I gathered the leaders of Israel to return with me.

Stephen’s Speech

7 The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these things true?”

² Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor. Abraham was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. ³ God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives. Go to the land I will show you.’^{[a] 4} So Abraham left the country of Chaldea and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God sent him to this place where you now live. ⁵ God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that he would give him and his descendants this land. (This was before Abraham had any descendants.) ⁶ This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a land they don’t own. The people there will make them slaves. And they will do cruel things to them for 400 years. ⁷ But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land. Then they will worship me in this place.’^{[b] 8} God made an agreement with Abraham; the sign for this agreement was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob. And Jacob did the same for his sons, the 12 ancestors^[c] of our people.

⁹ “These sons became jealous of Joseph. They sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him. ¹⁰ Joseph had many troubles there, but God saved him from all those troubles. The king of Egypt liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom that God gave him. The king made him governor of Egypt. He put Joseph in charge of all the people in his palace.

¹¹ “Then all the land of Egypt and of Canaan became so dry that nothing would grow there. This made the people suffer very much. The sons could not find anything to eat. ¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, there. This was their first trip to Egypt. ¹³ Then they went there a second time. This time, Joseph told his brothers who he was. And the king learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴ Then Joseph sent some men to invite Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt. He also invited all his relatives (75 persons altogether). ¹⁵ So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and his sons died. ¹⁶ Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor for a sum of money.)

¹⁷ “The number of people in Egypt grew large. There were more and more of our people there. (The promise that God made to Abraham was soon to come true.) ¹⁸ Then a new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know who Joseph was. ¹⁹ This king tricked our people and was cruel to our ancestors. He forced them to put their babies outside to die. ²⁰ This was the time when Moses was born. He was a fine child. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. ²¹ When they put Moses outside, the king’s daughter took him. She raised him as if he were her own son. ²² The Egyptians taught Moses all the things they knew. He was a powerful man in the things he said and did.

²³ “When Moses was about 40 years old, he thought it would be good to visit his brothers, the people of Israel. ²⁴ Moses saw an Egyptian doing wrong to a Jew. So he defended the Jew and punished the Egyptian for hurting him. Moses killed the Egyptian. ²⁵ Moses thought that his fellow Jews would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day, Moses saw two Jewish men fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why are you hurting each other?’ ²⁷ The man who was hurting the other man pushed Moses away. He said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? ²⁸ Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’^{[d] 29} When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.

³⁰ “After 40 years Moses was in the desert near Mount Sinai. An angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. Moses heard the Lord’s voice. ³² The Lord said, ‘I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’^[e] Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. ³³ The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You are standing on holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries. I have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’^[f]

³⁵ “This Moses was the same man the Jews said they did not want. They had said to him, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’^[g] Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of an angel. This was the angel Moses saw in the burning bush. ³⁶ So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for 40 years. ³⁷ This is the same Moses that said to the Jewish people: ‘God will give you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people.’^{[h] 38} This is the same Moses who was with the gathering of the Jews in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.

³⁹ “But our fathers did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again. ⁴⁰ They said to Aaron, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’^{[i] 41} So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. The people were proud of what they had made with their own hands! ⁴² But God turned against them. He did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,

⁴⁴ “The Holy Tent where God spoke to our fathers was with the Jews in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent. He made it like the plan God showed him. ⁴⁵ Later, Joshua led our fathers to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in, and God drove the other people out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same Tent. They received this Tent from their fathers and kept it until the time of David. ⁴⁶ God was very pleased with David. He asked God to let him build a house for him, the God of Jacob.^{[j] 47} But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.

⁴⁸ “But the Most High does not live in houses that men build with their hands. This is what the prophet says:

⁵¹ Stephen continued speaking: “You stubborn Jewish leaders! You have not given your hearts to God! You won’t listen to him! You are always against what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you. Your ancestors were like this, and you are just like them! ⁵² Your fathers tried to hurt every prophet who ever lived. Those prophets said long ago that the Righteous One would come. But your fathers killed them. And now you have turned against the Righteous One and killed him. ⁵³ You received the law of Moses, which God gave you through his angels. But you don’t obey it!”

Stephen Is Killed

⁵⁴ When the leaders heard Stephen saying all these things, they became very angry. They were so mad that they were grinding their teeth at Stephen. ⁵⁵ But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God. He saw Jesus standing at God’s right side. ⁵⁶ He said, “Look! I see heaven open. And I see the Son of Man standing at God’s right side!”

⁵⁷ Then they all shouted loudly. They covered their ears with their hands and all ran at Stephen. ⁵⁸ They took him out of the city and threw stones at him until he was dead. The men who told lies against Stephen left their coats with a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ While they were throwing stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ He fell on his knees and cried in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” After Stephen said this, he died.