M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Brothers Leave for Canaan
44 Later, Joseph[a] commanded his palace manager, “Fill the men’s sacks to full capacity with food and replace each man’s money at the top of the sack. 2 Then place my cup—the silver one—in the top of the sack belonging to the youngest one, along with the money he brought to buy[b] grain.” So the manager[c] did precisely what Joseph told him to do.
3 Early the next morning, the men were sent on their way, along with their donkeys. 4 They had not traveled far from the city when Joseph ordered his palace manager, “Get up, follow those men, and when you’ve caught up with them, ask them, ‘Why did you repay evil for good? 5 Don’t you have[d] the cup that my master uses to drink from and also uses to practice divination? You’re wrong to have done this.’” 6 So he went after them and made that accusation.
7 “Your Excellency,” they replied, “Why do you speak like this? Far be it from your servants to act like this. 8 Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found at the top of our sacks. How, then, could we have stolen silver or gold from your master’s palace? 9 Go ahead and execute whichever one of your servants is discovered to have it, and we’ll remain as your master’s slaves.”
10 “Agreed,” he responded. “Just as you’ve said, the one who is found to have it in his possession will become my slave, and the rest of[e] you will be innocent.”
11 So they quickly dismounted, unloaded their sacks onto the ground, and each one of them opened his own sack. 12 The palace manager[f] searched for the cup, beginning with the oldest brother’s sack and ending with the youngest brother’s sack, and there it was!—in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they all tore their clothes,[g] reloaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
Joseph Confronts His Brothers
14 Joseph was waiting for them back at his palace when his brothers returned. They fell to the ground in front of him, 15 and Joseph asked them, “Why did you do this? Don’t you know that I’m an expert at divination?”
Judah Explains Their Predicament
16 “What can we say, Your Excellency?” Judah replied. “How can we explain this or justify ourselves? God has discovered the sin of your servants, and now we’ve become slaves to you, Your Excellency, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been discovered.”
17 “Far be it from me to do this,” Joseph[h] responded. “The man in whose possession the cup was discovered will be my slave, but the rest of you may leave in peace to be with your father.”
18 But Judah approached him and begged him, “Your Excellency, please allow your servant to speak to you privately.[i] Please don’t be angry with your servant, since you are equal to Pharaoh. 19 Your Excellency asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or brother?’ 20 and we answered Your Excellency, ‘We have an aged father and a younger child who was born when he was old. His brother is now dead, so he’s the only surviving son of his mother. His father loves him.’
21 “But then you ordered your servants, ‘Bring him here to me so I can see him for myself.’ 22 So we told Your Excellency, ‘The young man cannot leave his father, because if he were to do so, his father would die.’ 23 But then you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you won’t see my face again.’ 24 Later on, after we had gone back to your servant, my father, we told him what Your Excellency had said.
25 “‘Go back,’ our father ordered, ‘and buy us a little food.’
26 “But we told him, ‘We can’t go back there. If our youngest brother accompanies us, we’ll go back, but we cannot see the man’s face again unless our youngest brother accompanies us.’
27 “Then your servant, our father, told us, ‘You know my wife bore me two sons. 28 One of them left me, so I concluded “I’m certain that he has been torn to pieces,” and I haven’t seen him since then. 29 If you take this one from me, too, and then something harmful happens to him, then it will be death for me and my sad, gray hair!’[j]
30 “So when I go back to your servant, my father, and the young man isn’t with us, since he’s constantly living life focused on his son,[k] 31 when he notices that the young man hasn’t come back with us, he’ll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father,[l] along with his sad, gray hair! 32 Also, your servant pledged his own life as[m] a guarantee of the young man’s safety. I told my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me forever.’ 33 Therefore, please allow your servant to remain as a slave to Your Excellency, instead of the young man, and let the young man go back home with his brothers. 34 After all, how can I go back to my father if the young man doesn’t accompany me? I’m afraid of what might happen to my father.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus(A)
14 Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death, 2 because they kept saying, “This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there’ll be a riot among the people.”
A Woman Anoints Jesus(B)
3 While Jesus[a] was in Bethany sitting at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman arrived with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Irritated, some who were there asked one another, “Why was the perfume wasted like this? 5 This perfume could have been sold for more than 300 denarii[b] and the money[c] given to the destitute.” So they got extremely angry with her.
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me, 7 because you’ll always have the destitute with you and can help them whenever you want, but you won’t always have me. 8 She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial. 9 I tell all of you[d] with certainty, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus(C)
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the high priests to betray Jesus[e] to them. 11 After they had listened to him,[f] they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he began to look for a good opportunity to betray him.
The Passover with the Disciples(D)
12 On the first day of the Festival[g] of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’[h] disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”
13 He sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him. 14 When he goes into a house,[i] say to its owner that the Teacher asks, ‘Where is my room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 Then he will show you a large upstairs room that is furnished and ready. Get everything ready for us there.” 16 So the disciples left and went into the city. They found everything just as Jesus[j] had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
17 When evening came, Jesus[k] arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell all of you[l] with certainty, one of you is going to betray me, one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be very sad and asked him, one after the other, “Surely I am not the one, am I?”
20 He told them, “It’s one of you Twelve, the one who is dipping his bread into the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”
The Lord’s Supper(E)
22 While they were eating, Jesus[m] took a loaf of bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to them, saying, “Take some. This is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He told them, “This is my blood of the covenant that is being poured out for many people. 25 I tell all of you[n] with certainty, I’ll never again drink the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial(F)
27 Then Jesus told them, “All of you will turn against me, because it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’[o]
28 However, after I’ve been raised, I’ll go to Galilee ahead of you.”
29 But Peter told him, “Even if everyone else turns against you, I certainly won’t.”
30 Jesus told him, “I tell you[p] with certainty, today, this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.”
31 But Peter[q] kept saying emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never deny you!” And all the others kept saying the same thing.
Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane(G)
32 Then they came to a place called Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Sit down here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to feel distressed and troubled. 34 So he told them, “I’m deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Wait here and stay awake.”
35 Going on a little farther, he fell to the ground and kept praying that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. 36 He kept repeating, “Abba![r] Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.”
37 When he went back, he found his disciples[s] asleep. “Simon, are you asleep?” he asked Peter. “You couldn’t stay awake for one hour, could you? 38 All of you must stay awake and pray that you won’t be tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body[t] is weak.”
39 He went away again and prayed the same prayer as before.[u] 40 Again he came back and found them asleep, because they could not keep their eyes open. They didn’t even know what they should say to him.
41 He came back a third time. “Are you still sleeping and resting?”[v] he asked. “Enough of that! The time has come. Look! The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up! Let’s go! See, the one who is betraying me is near!”
Jesus is Arrested(H)
43 Just then, while Jesus[w] was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. A crowd armed with swords and clubs was with him. They were from the high priests, the scribes, and the elders. 44 Now the betrayer personally had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss[x] is the man. Arrest him, and lead him safely away.” 45 So Judas[y] immediately went up to Jesus[z] and said, “Rabbi,”[aa] and kissed him tenderly.
46 Then the men[ab] took hold of Jesus[ac] and arrested him. 47 But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear. 48 Jesus asked them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were a bandit?[ad] 49 Day after day I was with you in the Temple teaching, yet you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” 50 Then all the disciples[ae] deserted Jesus[af] and ran away.
The Young Man who Ran Away
51 A certain young man, who was wearing nothing but a linen sheet, was following Jesus.[ag] When the men[ah] grabbed him, 52 he left the linen sheet behind and ran away naked.
Jesus is Tried before the High Priest(I)
53 Then they took Jesus to the high priest. All the high priests, elders, and scribes had gathered together. 54 Peter followed Jesus[ai] at a distance as far as the high priest’s courtyard. He was sitting with the servants and warming himself at the fire. 55 Meanwhile, the high priests and the whole Council[aj] were looking for some testimony against Jesus in order to have him put to death, but they couldn’t find any. 56 Although many people gave false testimony against him, their testimony didn’t agree.
57 Then some men stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, 58 “We ourselves heard him say, ‘I will destroy this sanctuary made by human[ak] hands, and in three days I will build another one not made by human[al] hands.’” 59 But even on this point their testimony didn’t agree.
60 Then the high priest stood up before them[am] and asked Jesus, “Don’t you have any answer to what these men are testifying against you?” 61 But he kept silent and didn’t answer at all. The high priest asked him again, “Are you the Messiah,[an] the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 Jesus said, “I AM, and
‘you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power’[ao]
and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”[ap]
63 Then the high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we still need witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard his blasphemy! What is your verdict?” All of them condemned him as deserving death.
65 Some of them began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and kept hitting him with their fists and telling him, “Prophesy!” Even the servants took him and slapped him around.
Peter Denies Jesus(J)
66 While Peter was down in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant girls came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she glared at him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus from Nazareth.”
68 But he denied it, saying, “I don’t know—or even understand—what you’re talking about!” Then he went out into the entryway. Just then a rooster crowed.[aq]
69 The servant girl saw him and again told those who were standing around, “This man is one of them!” 70 Again he denied it.
After a little while, the people who were standing there began to say to Peter again, “Obviously you’re one of them, because you are a Galilean!”
71 Then he began to invoke a divine curse and to swear with an oath, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” 72 Just then a rooster crowed a second time.
Peter remembered that Jesus told him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” Then he broke down and cried.
Job Asks God to Acquit Him
10 “I am disgusted with living,
so I’m going to talk about my complaint freely.
I’ll speak out from the bitterness of my soul.
2 I’ll say to God,
‘Don’t condemn me!
Let me know why you are fighting me.
3 Does it delight you to oppress
or despise what you have made,
while you smile at the plans of the wicked?[a]
4 Do you have eyes made of flesh?
Can you look at things as humans do?
5 Can you live only as long as a human being?
Or live the years[b] of a mortal man?
6 “‘For you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin.
7 Although you know that I’m not guilty,
there’s no one to deliver me from you![c]
8 Your hands formed and fashioned me,
but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides.
9 “‘Please remember that you’ve made me like clay
and you’ll return me to dust.
10 Didn’t you pour me out like milk
and let me congeal like cheese?
11 You covered me with skin and flesh,
weaving me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave life and gracious love to me;
your providential care has preserved my spirit.
13 But you’ve hidden these things in your heart—
I know this was your purpose:[d]
14 If I sin, you watch me
and won’t acquit me for my iniquity.
15 “‘Woe to me if I’m guilty!
If I’m innocent, I cannot lift my head,
because I am filled with disgrace.
Look at my affliction!
16 But if I do lift up my head,
you will hunt me like a lion!
You will perform miracles in order to fight against me.
17 “‘You have brought new witnesses against me,
you’re even more angry with me—
you’ve brought fresh troops to attack me!
18 So why did you bring me out from the womb?
I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me,
19 as if I had never existed;
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 My days are so few, aren’t they?
So leave me alone, then,
so I can smile a little
21 before I go, never to return,
leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow.
22 It’s a gloomy land, like deepest darkness;
where there’s no order,
and where even[e] the brightness is like darkness.’”
How to Treat Weak Believers
14 Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of arguing over differences of opinion. 2 One person believes that he may eat anything, while the weak[a] person eats only[b] vegetables. 3 The person who eats any kind of food[c] must not ridicule the person who does not eat them,[d] and the person who does not eat certain foods[e] must not criticize the person who eats them,[f] for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? He stands or falls before his own Lord—and stand he will, because the Lord[g] makes him stand.
5 One person decides in favor of one day over another, while another person decides that all days are the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind: 6 The one who observes a special day,[h] observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. 8 If we live, we live to honor the Lord; and if we die, we die to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this reason the Messiah[i] died and returned to life, so that he might become the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 Why, then, do you criticize your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For all of us will stand before the judgment seat of God.[j] 11 For it is written,
“As certainly as I live, declares the Lord,[k]
every knee will bow to me,
and every tongue will praise[l] God.”[m]
12 Consequently, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Acting in Love
13 Therefore, let’s no longer criticize[n] each other. Instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know—and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus—that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean to a person who thinks it is unclean. 15 For if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not destroy the person for whom the Messiah[o] died by what you eat. 16 Do not allow what seems good to you to be spoken of as evil. 17 For God’s kingdom does not consist of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the Holy Spirit. 18 For the person who serves the Messiah[p] in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. 19 Therefore, let’s keep on pursuing those things that bring peace and that lead to building up one another.
20 Do not destroy God’s action for the sake of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make another person stumble because of what you eat. 21 The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that makes your brother stumble, upset, or weak.[q] 22 As for the faith you do have, have it as your own conviction before God. How blessed is the person who has no reason to condemn himself because of what he approves! 23 But the person who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not act in faith; and anything that is not done in faith is sin.
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