M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Deborah’s Song
5 Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day saying:
2 “When leaders take the lead in Israel,
when people freely offer themselves,
bless Adonai!
3 Listen, O kings! Give ear, O rulers!
I, to Adonai I will sing,
I will sing praise to Adonai,
the God of Israel.
4 Adonai, when You came out from Seir,
when You marched from Edom’s field,
the earth trembled,
the heavens also dropped,
yes, the clouds dropped water.
5 The mountains quaked before Adonai,
this Sinai at the presence of Adonai,
the God of Israel!
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Yael,
the highways were deserted,
travelers walked by crooked paths.
7 Villages were deserted in Israel,
deserted, until I, Deborah, arose,
a mother in Israel arose.
8 They chose new gods—
then war was in the gates.
No shield or spear was seen
among 40,000 in Israel!
9 My heart is with Israel’s rulers,
who offer themselves freely among the people. Bless Adonai!
10 Riders on white donkeys,
sitting on saddle blankets,
traveling on the road, sing!
11 Louder than the sound of archers,
at the watering places!
There let them rehearse
the righteous acts of Adonai,
the righteous deeds for His villages in Israel.
Then the people of Adonai
went down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam!
13 Then a remnant of nobles came down.
Adonai’s people came down to me
with the mighty ones.
14 Those with root in Amalek
are from Ephraim, following you,
Benjamin, with your peoples.
From Machir came down rulers,
and from Zebulun wielding
the marshal’s staff.
15 Issachar’s chiefs were with Deborah.
Issachar was with Barak.
Into the valley they rushed at his heels.
Among the divisions of Reuben
there were great resolves of heart.
16 Why did you stay in the sheepfolds—
to hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan,
and Dan, why did he stay by the ships?
Asher sat at the seacoast,
dwelling by its docks.
18 Zebulun is a people who jeopardized
their lives to death, and Naphtali also,
on the heights of the battlefield.
19 The kings came, they fought,
then the kings of Canaan fought,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
but they took no spoil of silver.
20 From heaven, the stars fought,
in their courses they fought Sisera.
21 The Kishon torrent swept them away—
that ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon!
O my soul, march on with strength!
22 Then the horses’ hooves beat
from the dashing,
the dashing of his mighty steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz!’ said the angel of Adonai,
‘Utterly curse its inhabitants,
for they came not to the aid of Adonai,
to the aid of Adonai among the mighty.’
24 Blessed above women is Yael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
above women in the tent is she blessed.
25 Water he asked, milk she gave him.
In a lordly bowl she brought him butter.
26 Her hand reached for the tent pin,
her right hand to the workmen’s hammer,
and with the hammer she struck Sisera,
she smashed his head—
yes, she crushed and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay.
Between her feet he bowed, he fell.
Where he bowed, there he fell dead.
28 Through the window, Sisera’s mother
looked out, through the lattice.
and lamented shrilly:
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the wheels of his chariots tarry?’
29 The wisest of her princesses answer her,
yes, she repeats the words to herself:
30 ‘Are they not finding, dividing the spoil?
A maiden, maidens for every warrior!
To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments—
a spoil of dyed garments of embroidery,
double-dyed garments of embroidery
for the necks of every spoiler!’
31 So let all Your enemies perish, Adonai!
But may those who love Him be
like the rising of the sun in its might.”
Then the land had peace for 40 years.
Saul Turns from Murder to Messiah
9 Now Saul, still breathing out threats and murder against the Lord’s disciples, went to the kohen gadol. 2 He requested letters of introduction from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
3 As he was traveling, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 “Who are You, Lord?” Saul said.
“I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. [a] 6 But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”[b]
7 The men travelling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. [c] 8 Saul got up from the ground—but opening his eyes, he could see nothing. They led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he could not see, and he did not eat or drink.
10 Now there was a disciple named Ananias in Damascus. The Lord said to him, “Ananias.”
He said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street named Straight, and ask in the house of Judah for someone from Tarsus named Saul. For look, he is praying; 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man—how much harm he has done to your kedoshim in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the ruling kohanim to tie up all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choice instrument to carry My name before nations and kings and Bnei-Yisrael. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias left and entered into the house. Laying hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Yeshua, the One who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming—has sent me, so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh.”
18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was immersed; 19 and when he had taken food, he was strengthened. Now for several days, he was with the disciples in Damascus. 20 Immediately he began proclaiming Yeshua in the synagogues, saying, “He is Ben-Elohim.”
21 All those hearing him were amazed. They were saying, “Isn’t this the one who made havoc in Jerusalem for all those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to bring them as prisoners before the ruling kohanim?” 22 But Saul kept growing stronger, and he was confounding the Jewish people living in Damascus by proving that Yeshua is the Messiah. 23 When many days had passed, these Jewish people plotted to kill him— 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night, to kill him. 25 But the disciples took Saul by night and let him down over the wall, lowering him in a basket.
26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he made attempts to join up with the disciples—but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him in and brought him to the emissaries. He described to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and the Lord had spoken to him, and how he had spoken boldly in the name of Yeshua.
28 So Saul was with them, going in and out in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He was speaking and arguing with the Hellenists, but they were trying to kill him. 30 When the brothers found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 So Messiah’s community throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had shalom and was built up. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, it kept multiplying.
Signs and Wonders Follow Peter
32 Peter went here and there among them all. He came down as well to the kedoshim living in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years—he was paralyzed. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Messiah Yeshua heals you. Get up and pack up your bed.” Immediately, he got up! 35 All who lived in Lydda and the Plain of Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translates as Dorcas). She was full of mitzvot and tzedakah, which she continually did. 37 In those days, she became ill and died. When they had washed her for burial, they placed her in an upstairs room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples—hearing that Peter was there—sent two men to him, begging him, “Please come to us without delay!”
39 So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. All the widows were crying, showing all the tunics and other clothing Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 But Peter sent them all outside, and he got down on his knees and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and raised her up. Then he called the kedoshim and widows and presented her alive.[d]
42 It became known throughout Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord. 43 So it happened that Peter stayed on in Joppa for several days with Simon, a tanner.[e]
The Potter’s House
18 The word came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making a work on the wheels. 4 Whenever the pot that he was making from the clay became flawed in the hand of the potter, he remade it into another pot, as it pleased the potter to make.
5 Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares Adonai. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may speak about a nation or about a kingdom, to uproot, to pull down or to destroy it. 8 But if that nation turns from their evil, because of what I have spoken against it, I will relent concerning the calamity that I planned to do to it. 9 Or at another time I may speak about a nation or about a kingdom, to build up or to plant it. 10 But if it does evil in My sight, not listening to My voice, then I will relent of the good that I had said I would do to it.”
11 So now, speak to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, thus says Adonai: “I am about to bring calamity against you, and devise disaster against you. Turn back now—everyone from his evil way—and amend your ways and your doings.
12 But they say: ‘It’s hopeless! So we will walk after our own plans, and each of us will act in the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
13 Therefore thus says Adonai:
“Ask now among the nations,
whoever has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done
a most terrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
abandon the rock of the field?
Or is the cold water flowing from afar
pulled back?
15 Yet My people have forgotten Me.
They burn incense to a delusion
and stumble in their ways
—off the ancient paths—
to walk on side-tracks,
rather than a built-up highway.
16 Their land will become a horror,
a perpetual hissing—
every one passing by will be stunned
and shake his head.
17 Like an east wind,
I will scatter them before the enemy.
I will see their back, not their face,
in the day of their calamity.”
Plots Against Jeremiah
18 Then they said: “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely Torah from the kohen will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor will the word from the prophet. Come, let’s strike at him with the tongue, and pay no attention to any of his words.”
19 Be attentive to me, Adonai!
Listen to the voice of my opponents.
20 Will good be repaid for evil?
For they dug a pit for my soul.
Remember how I stood before You
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore give their children to famine
and pour out the power of the sword.
Let their wives be bereaved of children, and widows,
and let their men be slain to death,
and their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses
when suddenly You bring a troop on them.
For they dug a pit to capture me,
and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet You know their whole plot,
Adonai, against me to slay me.
Do not forgive their iniquity
or blot out their sin before You.
But make them stumble before You.
Act against them in the time of Your anger.
Storytelling Opens Hearts
4 Again Yeshua began to teach by the sea. A large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 He began teaching them many things by parables, and in His teaching, He said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to spread some seed. 4 It happened that as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and the birds came and ate it up.
5 “Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it didn’t have much soil. It sprang up immediately, because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 “Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 “And others fell into the good soil and were producing fruit, springing up and increasing. They yielded a crop, producing thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Yeshua was alone, those around Him with the Twelve started asking Him about the parables. 11 And He told them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those who are outside, everything is in parables,[a] so that
12 ‘Seeing, they may se and not perceive,
and hearing, they may hear and not understand,
so they may not turn back and be forgiven.’”[b]
13 He said to them, “Don’t you grasp this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones beside the road where the word is sown. Whenever they hear, satan comes quickly and takes away the word that has been sown in them.
16 “These are the ones sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves but last only a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.
18 “And others are the ones sown among the thorns. They have heard the word; 19 but the worries of the world, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 “And those are the ones sown on the good soil. They hear the word and accept it and produce fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Reaping What You Sow
21 He also was saying to them, “Is a lamp put under a basket or a bed? No, shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything kept secret except that it would come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 Then He continued, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you; and more will be added to you. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given. And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
What Is the Kingdom of God Like?
26 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like when a man spreads seed on the soil 27 and falls asleep at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He himself doesn’t know how. 28 Automatically, the earth brings forth a crop—first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ready, at once he sends in the sickle, for the harvest has come.”
30 Yeshua also said, “How should we picture the kingdom of God? Or by what story shall we present it? 31 It is like a mustard seed when it’s planted in the ground. Though the smallest of all seeds in the earth, 32 yet when planted it grows up and becomes the largest of all the herbs. It puts forth big branches, so the birds of the air can nest in its shade.”[c]
33 With many such parables He used to tell them the word, as much as they were able to hear. 34 But apart from a parable, He wasn’t speaking to them. Yet when they were alone, to His own disciples He would explain everything.
Power Over Nature
35 Now on that same day in the evening, He says to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side.” 36 After leaving the crowd, they take Him along in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him.
37 A great windstorm arises, and the waves were rushing into the boat. The boat was beginning to fill up. 38 But Yeshua was in the back of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They wake Him up and say to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?”
39 So He woke up and rebuked the wind. And He said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind stopped, and it became totally calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Even now you have no faith?”
41 They were struck with awe and said to one another, “Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.