M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Whom Will You Worship?
24 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned Israel’s elders, heads, judges and officials. So they presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to all the people: “Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: ‘From ancient times your fathers—Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—lived beyond the River and worshipped other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through the entire land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac, 4 then to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it as his own, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 “So I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst, and afterward I brought you out. 6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt. When you came to the sea, the Egyptians pursued your fathers to the Sea of Reeds with chariots and horsemen. 7 But when they cried out to Adonai, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, then He brought the sea upon them, and it covered them; and your eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you stayed in the wilderness for a long time.
8 “Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites who were living beyond the Jordan. Though they fought against you, I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land when I destroyed them from before you. 9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose and fought against Israel. He even sent and called for Balaam son of Beor to curse you. 10 But I refused to listen to Balaam; instead, he had to keep blessing you. Thus I delivered you from his hand.
11 “Then you crossed over the Jordan and came to Jericho, but the men of Jericho fought against you—the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—but I delivered them into your hand. 12 Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove them out from before you—the two kings of the Amorites—not by your sword or your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities that you had not built and you have settled in them, vineyards and olive groves that you had not planted, that you are eating.
14 “Now therefore, fear Adonai and worship Him in sincerity and in truth. Get rid of the gods that your fathers had worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and worship Adonai. 15 If it seems bad to you to worship Adonai, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers worshipped that were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!”
16 Then the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake Adonai to worship other gods! 17 For it was Adonai our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us all along the way that we travelled and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 It was Adonai who drove out from before us all the peoples, the Amorites that lived in the land. Therefore we also will worship Adonai, for He is our God.”
19 But Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to worship Adonai, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not pardon your transgression and your sins. 20 If you forsake Adonai and worship foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done good to you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! For we will worship Adonai.”
22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses to yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves Adonai, to worship Him.”
“We are witnesses,” they responded.
23 “Now therefore, get rid of the foreign gods that are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Adonai, God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will worship none but Adonai our God, and we will obey none but His voice.”
25 So Joshua cut a covenant with the people that day, and set for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the Torah of God. Also he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the Sanctuary of Adonai. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone will be a witness to us. For it has heard all the words of Adonai which He has spoken to us. So it will be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”
28 Joshua then dismissed the people, each to his own inheritance.
29 Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Adonai, died at the age of 110 years. 30 So they buried him in the territory of his own portion in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel worshipped Adonai all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work of Adonai that He had done for Israel.
32 Joseph’s bones, which Bnei-Yisrael had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the parcel of ground that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for 100 pieces of silver.[a] It became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33 Then Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah, which had been given to Phinehas his son, in the hill country of Ephraim.
Standing Before the Sanhedrin
4 As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the kohanim and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees came up to them. 2 They were indignant because Peter and John were teaching the people and announcing in Yeshua the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they grabbed them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
5 On the next day, the rulers and elders and Torah scholars were gathered together in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the kohen gadol was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all those who were of high-priestly descent. 7 When they had placed Peter and John in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or in what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are on trial today for a mitzvah done for a sick man, as to how this fellow was healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua ha-Mashiach ha-Natzrati—whom you had crucified, whom God raised from the dead—this one stands before you whole. 11 This Yeshua is ‘the stone—rejected by you, the builders—that has become the chief cornerstone.’ [a] 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved!”
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and figured out they were laymen without training, they were amazed. They began to realize that these men had been with Yeshua. 14 But seeing the healed man standing with them, they had nothing to say in response. 15 When they had ordered Peter and John to go out of the council chamber, they began to confer with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For indeed, it’s obvious to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable miracle has happened through them, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so it won’t spread any further among the people, let’s warn them not to speak anymore to anyone in this name.”
18 So they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Yeshua. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. 20 For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After threatening them again, they let them go—finding no way they could punish them on account of the people, because they all were glorifying God for what had happened. 22 For the man in whom this miracle of healing had happened was more than forty years old.
Prayer for Courage
23 As soon as they were released, Peter and John went to their own people and reported all that the ruling kohanim and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “O Sovereign Master, ‘You made heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in them.’ [b] 25 You said by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, through the mouth of our father David Your servant,
‘Why did the nations rage
and the peoples plot foolish things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand
and the rulers were gathered together
against Adonai and against His
Anointed One.’[c]
27 “For truly both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together in this city against Your holy Servant Yeshua, whom You anointed. 28 They did whatever Your hand and Your purpose predetermined to happen. 29 And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant Your servants to speak Your word with utmost courage— 30 while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy Servant Yeshua.”
31 When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. And they were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Ruach-Filled Community Life
32 Now the whole group of those who believed was one in heart and mind. No one would say anything he owned was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 With great power the emissaries were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua, and abundant favor was upon them all. 34 No one among them was needy, for all who were owners of lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds 35 and set them at the feet of the emissaries. And the proceeds were distributed according to the need each one had.
36 Now Joseph, also called Barnabas by the emissaries (which is translated Son of Encouragement), was a Levite and native of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field that he owned and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the emissaries.
Linen Waistband and Wine Jugs
13 Thus Adonai said to me: “Go, and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, and do not put it in water.”
2 So I got a waistband in keeping with the word of Adonai, and put it on my waist. 3 Then the word of Adonai came to me a second time, saying: 4 “Take the waistband that you bought, which is on your waist, and get up, go to Perath[a] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as Adonai commanded me. 6 Now it came to pass after many days that Adonai said to me: “Get up, go to Perath, and take the waistband that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath, dug it up and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But to my surprise, the waistband was marred, worth nothing at all.
8 Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying, 9 thus says Adonai: “Just so I will mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This wicked people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their own heart, and go after other gods to serve them and worship them, will be just like this waistband—worth nothing at all. 11 For just as the waistband clings to a man’s waist, so I will make the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me,” declares Adonai, “to be to Me a people, a name, a praise and a glory. But they would not obey.”
12 Moreover, speak this word to them, thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Every jug should be filled with wine.” When they say to you, ‘Don’t we know very well that every jug should be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai, ‘I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the kohanim, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 And I will smash them against each other, even fathers and sons,’ says Adonai. ‘I will show no pity, nor regret, nor compassion, to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Darkness and Downfall
15 Hear and give ear!
o not be haughty!
For Adonai has spoken.
16 Give glory to Adonai your God,
before it grows dark,
and before your feet stumble
on mountains at dusk.
When you look for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death,
and turns it into deep darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my soul will sob in secret
before such pride,
and my eyes will weep bitterly
and overflow with tears,
for Adonai’s flock will be taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Sit down low,
for your glorious crown
has fallen from your head.”
19 The towns of the South will be shut up,
with no one to open them.
All Judah is taken into exile—
utterly swept into exile.
20 Lift up your eyes and see
those coming from the north.
Where is the flock given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say, when He sets up the allies
you cultivated for yourself, over you as head?
Will not labor pains seize you,
like a woman in travail?
22 Suppose you say in your heart,
“Why did these things happen to me?”
Because of your great iniquity,
your skirts are uncovered
and your heels suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin?
Or the leopard his spots?
So, could you do good,
that are accustomed to doing evil?
24 “Therefore I will scatter them
like drifting straw in the desert wind.
25 This is your lot, the portion
measured for you from Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“For you have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I will also uncover your skirts over your face,
expose your shame.
27 Your adulteries, your lustful neighings,
the lewdness of your prostitution—
on the hills in the field
I have seen your loathsome acts.
Oy you, Jerusalem! You are unclean!
How much longer?”
Judah’s Remorse
27 When daybreak came, the ruling kohanim and elders of the people conspired against Yeshua to put Him to death. 2 And they tied Him up, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate, the governor. 3 Then Judah, His betrayer, saw that Yeshua had been condemned. Feeling remorse, he brought the thirty silver pieces back to the ruling kohanim and elders, 4 saying, “I’ve sinned, betraying innocent blood!”
But they said, “What’s that to us? You see to it yourself!” 5 After tossing the silver into the Temple sanctuary, he left. Then he went off and hanged himself. 6 But the ruling kohanim took the silver pieces and said, “It is not permitted to put these in the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So after they conferred, they bought with them the potter’s field, as a cemetery for strangers. 8 For this reason that field has been called the “Field of Blood” to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty silver pieces, the price of Him on whom a price had been set by Bnei-Yisrael; 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, just as Adonai arranged for me.”[a]
“Kill the King!”
11 Now Yeshua stood before the governor. The governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
“You say so,” Yeshua said. 12 And while He was accused by the ruling kohanim and elders, He did not answer.
13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Don’t You hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 Yeshua did not answer, not even one word, so the governor was greatly amazed.
15 Now during the feast, the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner, anyone they wanted. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Yeshua Bar-Abba. 17 So when they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release for you? Yeshua who is Bar-Abba, or Yeshua who is called Messiah?” [b] 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over out of envy.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Don’t have anything to do with that righteous Man, for today I’ve suffered many things in a dream because of Him.”
20 Now the ruling kohanim and elders persuaded the crowds that they should ask for Bar-Abba and destroy Yeshua. 21 But the governor responded, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”
And they said, “Bar-Abba!”
22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Yeshua, who is called Messiah?”
“Execute Him!” all of them say.
23 But Pilate said, “Why? What evil has He done?”
But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be executed!”
24 When Pilate saw he was accomplishing nothing, but instead a riot was starting, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this blood,”[c] he said. “You see to it yourselves!”
25 All the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children!”[d]
26 Then he released to them Bar-Abba. And after he had Yeshua scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Nailed to a Stake
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Yeshua into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe around Him. 29 And after braiding a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and put a staff in His right hand. And falling on their knees before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and they took the staff and beat Him over and over on the head. 31 When they finished mocking Him, they stripped the robe off Him and put His own clothes back on Him. And they led Him away to crucify Him.
32 As they came out, they found a man from Cyrene, Simon by name. They forced him into service, to carry Yeshua’s cross-beam. [e] 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (that is to say, Place of a Skull), 34 they offered Him wine mixed with gall to drink;[f] but after tasting, He was unwilling to drink it. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided His clothing among themselves by casting lots. [g] 36 And they sat down and kept guard over Him there. 37 Over His head they put the charge against Him, which read: “THIS IS YESHUA, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
38 Then two outlaws were executed with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 Those passing by were jeering at Him,[h] shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If you are Ben-Elohim, come down from the stake!”
41 Likewise the ruling kohanim, along with the Torah scholars and elders, were also mocking Him. 42 “He saved others,” they were saying, “but He can’t save Himself? He’s the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the stake, and we’ll believe in Him! 43 He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He wants Him.[i] For He said, ‘I am Ben-Elohim.’” 44 Even the outlaws who were executed with Him were ridiculing Him in the same way.[j]
Yeshua Lays Down His Life
45 Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. [k] 46 About the ninth hour Yeshua cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”[l] that is, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?”
47 When some of those standing there heard it, they began saying, “This Man is calling for Elijah.” 48 Right away one of them ran and took a sponge. He filled it with sour wine and put it on a stick, and was offering it to Yeshua to drink. [m] 49 But the rest were saying, “Leave Him alone! Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him.” 50 And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain[n] of the Temple was split in two, from top to bottom. And the earth quaked and rocks were split apart. 52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the kedoshim who were sleeping were raised to life. 53 And coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 Now the centurion, and those with him keeping guard over Yeshua, when they saw the earthquake and what was happening, they became terribly frightened and said, “This really was the Son of God!”
The Tomb Is Sealed
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Yeshua from the Galilee, serving Him. 56 Among them were Miriam from Magdala, Miriam the mother of Jacob and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
57 Now when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had also become a disciple of Yeshua. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. Then Pilate ordered it to be given up. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. 60 And he laid it in his own new tomb,[o] which he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone up to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Now Miriam from Magdala was there, and the other Miriam, sitting opposite the tomb.
Guarding the Tomb
62 Now on the next day, which is after the preparation, the ruling kohanim and Pharisees were gathered before Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember how that deceiver said while He was still alive, ‘After three days I’m to be raised.’ 64 Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, so His disciples do not come and steal Him away. They will tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first!”
65 “You have a guard,” Pilate said to them. “Go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone along with the soldiers of the guard.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.