M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God’s Agreement with Abram
15 After these things happened, the Lord spoke his word to Abram in a vision. God said, “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you. And I will give you a great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me? I have no son. So my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die.” 3 Abram said, “Look, you have given me no son. So a slave born in my house will inherit everything I have.”
4 Then the Lord spoke his word to Abram. He said, “That slave will not be the one to inherit what you have. You will have a son of your own. And your son will inherit what you have.”
5 Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. And your descendants will be too many to count.”
6 Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.
7 God said to Abram, “I am the Lord who led you out of Ur of Babylonia. I did that so I could give you this land to own.”
8 But Abram said, “Lord God, how can I be sure that I will own this land?”
9 The Lord said to Abram, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat and a three-year-old male sheep. Also bring me a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought them all to God. Then Abram killed the animals and cut each of them into two pieces. He laid each half opposite the other half. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals. But Abram chased them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. While he was asleep, a very terrible darkness came. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers and travel 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. 14 But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land, taking great wealth with them. 15 Abram, you will live to be very old. You will die in peace and will be buried. 16 After your great-great-grandchildren are born, your people will come to this land again. It will take that long, because the Amorites are not yet evil enough to punish.”
17 The sun went down, and it was very dark. Suddenly a smoking firepot and a blazing torch passed between the halves of the dead animals.[a] 18 So on that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram. The Lord said, “I will give this land to your descendants. I will give them the land between the river of Egypt and the great river Euphrates. 19 This is the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
How John the Baptist Was Killed
14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. 2 So Herod said to his servants, “Jesus is really John the Baptist. He has risen from death. That is why he is able to do these miracles.”
3 Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. 4 Herod arrested John because he told Herod: “It is not right for you to have Herodias.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people. They believed that John was a prophet.
6 On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. Herod was very pleased with her, 7 so he promised he would give her anything she wanted. 8 Herodias told her daughter what to ask for. So she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 King Herod was very sad. But he had promised to give her anything she wanted, and the people eating with him had heard his promise. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. 10 He sent men to the prison to cut off John’s head. 11 And the men brought John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl. She took it to her mother, Herodias. 12 John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what happened.
More Than 5,000 People Fed
13 When Jesus heard what happened to John, Jesus left in a boat. He went to a lonely place by himself. But when the crowds heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus arrived, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick.
15 Late that afternoon, his followers came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.”
16 Jesus answered, “They don’t need to go away. You give them some food to eat.”
17 The followers answered, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” 19 Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he looked to heaven and thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the loaves of bread. He gave them to his followers, and they gave the bread to the people. 20 All the people ate and were satisfied. After they finished eating, the followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. 21 There were about 5,000 men there who ate, as well as women and children.
Jesus Walks on the Water
22 Then Jesus made his followers get into the boat. He told them to go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. Jesus stayed there to tell the people they could go home. 23 After he said good-bye to them, he went alone up into the hills to pray. It was late, and Jesus was there alone. 24 By this time, the boat was already far away on the lake. The boat was having trouble because of the waves, and the wind was blowing against it.
25 Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus’ followers were still in the boat. Jesus came to them. He was walking on the water. 26 When the followers saw him walking on the water, they were afraid. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus quickly spoke to them. He said, “Have courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
28 Peter said, “Lord, if that is really you, then tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 Jesus said, “Come.”
And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. 30 But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”
31 Then Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”
32 After Peter and Jesus were in the boat, the wind became calm. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God!”
34 After they crossed the lake, they came to the shore at Gennesaret. 35 The people there saw Jesus and knew who he was. So they told people all around there that Jesus had come. They brought all their sick to him. 36 They begged Jesus to let them just touch the edge of his coat to be healed. And all the sick people who touched it were healed.
Those Against the Rebuilding
4 Sanballat heard we were rebuilding the wall. He was very angry, even furious. He made fun of the Jews. 2 He said to his friends and the army of Samaria, “What are these weak Jews doing? They think they can rebuild the wall. They think they will offer sacrifices. Maybe they think they can finish rebuilding it in only one day. They can’t bring stones back to life. These are piles of trash and ashes.”
3 Tobiah the Ammonite was next to Sanballat. Tobiah said, “A fox could climb up on what they are building. Even it could break down their stone wall.”
4 I prayed, “Hear us, our God. We are hated. Turn the insults of Sanballat and Tobiah back on their own heads. Let them be captured and taken away like valuables that are stolen. 5 Do not hide their guilt. Do not take away their sins so you can’t see them. The builders have seen them make you angry.”
6 So we rebuilt the wall until all of it went halfway up. The people were willing to work hard.
7 But Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men from Ashdod were very angry. They heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls were continuing. And they heard that the holes in the wall were being closed. 8 So they all made plans against Jerusalem. They planned to come and fight and stir up trouble. 9 But we prayed to our God. And we appointed guards to watch for them day and night.
10 The people of Judah said, “The workers are getting tired. There is too much dirt and trash. We cannot rebuild the wall.”
11 And our enemies said, “The Jews won’t know it or see us. But we will come among them and kill them. We will stop the work.”
12 Then the Jews who lived near our enemies came. They told us ten times, “Everywhere you turn, the enemy will attack us.” 13 So I put some of the people behind the lowest places along the wall. And I put some at the open places. I put families together with their swords, spears and bows. 14 Then I looked around. I stood up and spoke to the important men, the leaders and the rest of the people. I said, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord. He is great and others are afraid of him. And fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives and your homes.”
15 Then our enemies heard that we knew about their plans. God had ruined their plans. So we all went back to the wall. Each person went back to his own work.
16 From that day on, half my men worked on the wall. The other half was ready with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers stood in back of the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand. They carried a weapon in the other hand. 18 Each builder wore his sword at his side as he worked. The man who blew the trumpet to warn the people stayed next to me.
19 Then I spoke to the important men, the leaders and the rest of the people. I said, “This is a very big job. We are spreading out along the wall. We are far apart. 20 So wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, assemble there. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we continued to work. Half the men held spears. We worked from sunrise till the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Let every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night. They can be our guards at night. And they can be workmen during the day.” 23 Neither I, my brothers, my men nor the guards with me ever took off our clothes. Each person carried his weapon even when he went for water.
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
14 In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual to the Jewish synagogue. They spoke so well that a great many Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But some of the Jews who did not believe excited the non-Jewish people and turned them against the believers. 3 But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium a long time and spoke bravely for the Lord. The Lord showed that their message about his grace was true by giving them the power to work miracles and signs. 4 But some of the people in the city agreed with the Jews. Others believed the apostles. So the city was divided.
5 Some non-Jewish people, some Jews, and some of their rulers wanted to harm Paul and Barnabas by killing them with stones. 6 When Paul and Barnabas learned about this, they went to Lystra and Derbe, cities in Lycaonia, and to the areas around those cities. 7 They announced the Good News there, too.
Paul in Lystra and Derbe
8 In Lystra there sat a man who had been born crippled; he had never walked. 9 This man was listening to Paul speak. Paul looked straight at him and saw that the man believed God could heal him. 10 So he cried out, “Stand up on your feet!” The man jumped up and began walking around. 11 When the crowds saw what Paul did, they shouted in their own Lycaonian language. They said, “The gods have become like men! They have come down to us!” 12 And the people began to call Barnabas “Zeus.”[a] They called Paul “Hermes,”[b] because he was the main speaker. 13 The temple of Zeus was near the city. The priest of this temple brought some bulls and flowers to the city gates. The priest and the people wanted to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. 14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, understood what they were about to do, they tore their clothes in anger. Then they ran in among the people and shouted, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We are only men, human beings like you! We are bringing you the Good News. We are telling you to turn away from these worthless things and turn to the true living God. He is the One who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them. 16 In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted. 17 Yet he did things to prove he is real: He shows kindness to you. He gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times. He gives you food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they were barely able to keep the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They persuaded the people to turn against Paul. And so they threw stones at Paul and dragged him out of town. They thought that they had killed him. 20 But the followers gathered around him, and he got up and went back into the town. The next day, he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 Paul and Barnabas told the Good News in Derbe and many became followers. Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. 22 In those cities they made the followers of Jesus stronger. They helped them to stay in the faith. They said, “We must suffer many things to enter God’s kingdom.” 23 They chose elders for each church, by praying and giving up eating.[c] These elders were men who had trusted the Lord. So Paul and Barnabas put them in the Lord’s care.
24 Then they went through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 They preached the message in Perga, and then they went down to Attalia. 26 And from there they sailed away to Antioch. This is where the believers had put them into God’s care and had sent them out to do this work. And now they had finished the work.
27 When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the church together. Paul and Barnabas told them all about what God had done with them. They told how God had made it possible for the non-Jews to believe! 28 And they stayed there a long time with the followers.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.