M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Birth of Samson
13 Bnei-Yisrael again did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, and Adonai gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from a Danite clan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and bore no children. 3 Then the angel of Adonai appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have not borne children, but you will conceive and bear a son. [a] 4 Now therefore be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. 5 For behold, you will conceive and bear a son. Let no razor come upon his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb.[b] He will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman came and told her husband saying, “A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome! But I did not ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and bear a son. So, drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child will be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.”
8 Then Manoah entreated Adonai and said, “My Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again and teach us what we will do for the boy to be born.”
9 God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the man that came to me the other day has appeared to me!”
11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him, “Are you the one who spoke to the woman?”
“I am,” he said.
12 Then Manoah said, “Now may your words come about! What will be the child’s rule and his mission?”
13 The angel of Adonai said to Manoah, “Let the woman abstain from all that I mentioned to her. 14 She should not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, or drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She must observe all that I commanded her.”
15 Then Manoah said to the angel of Adonai, “Please, let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.”
16 But the angel of Adonai said to Manoah, “If you could detain me, I would not eat your food. But if you present a burnt offering, then offer it to Adonai.” For Manoah did not realize that he was the angel of Adonai.
17 Then Manoah asked the angel of Adonai, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass we may honor you?” 18 But the angel of Adonai said to him, “Why do you ask for my name? It is wonderful.”
19 Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering and offered them on the rock to Adonai, and He did something wonderful as Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 For it came about when the flame went up from off the altar toward heaven that the angel of Adonai ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife were looking on, then they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 But the angel of Adonai appeared no more to Manoah or to his wife.
Then Manoah realized that he was the angel of Adonai. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If Adonai had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a meal offering from our hand, nor would He have shown us all these things or let us hear such things as these at this time.”
24 Then the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. So the boy grew up and Adonai blessed him. 25 The Ruach Adonai began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Synagogue Responses Vary
17 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went to the Jewish people; and for three Shabbatot, he debated the Scriptures with them. 3 He opened them and gave evidence that Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, saying, “This Yeshua, whom I declare to you, is the Messiah.” 4 Some of them were convinced and became attached to Paul and Silas, as were a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and no small number of the leading women.
5 But some of the Jewish people became jealous. Taking some wicked fellows of the marketplace and gathering a crowd, they stirred the city into an uproar. They attacked Jason’s house, trying to bring Paul and Silas out to the mob. 6 When they did not find them, they instead began dragging Jason and some of the brethren before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them! They are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Yeshua.” 8 Hearing these things, the crowd and the city officials were confused. 9 But after receiving bail from Jason and the rest, they released them.
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. Upon arrival, they made their way to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, because they received the message with goodwill, searching the Scriptures each day to see whether these things were true. 12 Therefore many of them believed, as well as quite a few prominent Greek women and men.
13 But when the Jewish people of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they came there too, agitating and inciting the people. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those escorting Paul brought him as far as Athens. After receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.
An Unknown God in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was aroused within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he was debating in the synagogue with the Jewish people and the God-fearers, as well as in the marketplace every day with all who happened to be there. 18 Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What’s this babbler trying to say?” while others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities”—because he was proclaiming the Good News of Yeshua and the resurrection. 19 So they took Paul to the Aereopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are talking about? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners visiting there used to pass their time doing nothing but telling or hearing something new.
22 So Paul stood in the middle of the Aereopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in all ways you are very religious. 23 For while I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth,[a] does not live in temples made by hands. [b] 25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything,[c] since He Himself gives to everyone life and breath and all things. [d] 26 From one He made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having set appointed times and the boundaries of their territory. [e] 27 They were to search for Him, and perhaps grope around for Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us, [f] 28 for ‘In Him we live and move and have our being.’
As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’ [g] 29 Since we are His offspring, we ought not to suppose the Deity is like gold or silver or stone, an engraved image of human art and imagination. [h] 30 Although God overlooked the periods of ignorance, now He commands everyone everywhere to repent. 31 For He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, through a Man whom He has appointed.[i] He has brought forth evidence of this to all men, by raising Him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began scoffing. But others said, “We will hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left from their midst. 34 But some men joined with him and believed—among them Dionysius (a member of the council of the Aereopagus), a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Surviving a Death Sentence
26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Adonai, saying, 2 thus says Adonai: “Stand in the court of Adonai’s House, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in Adonai’s House all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not omit a word! 3 Perhaps they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way, so I may relent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.”
4 Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai: “If you will not listen to Me, by walking in My Torah, which I have set before you, 5 and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, early and often—but you have not listened— 6 then I will make this House like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
7 So the kohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of Adonai.
8 Now when Jeremiah finished speaking all that Adonai had commanded him to speak to all the people, the kohanim and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying: “You will surely die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the Name of Adonai, saying, ‘This House will be like Shiloh, and this city will be an uninhabited ruin?’” Then all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the House of Adonai.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s palace to the House of Adonai, and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Adonai’s House. 11 The kohanim and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying: “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying: “Adonai sent me to prophesy all the words you have heard against this House and against this city. 13 So now, mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Adonai your God; so Adonai will relent of the calamity that He has pronounced against you.
14 “But as for me, here I am in your hand; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. 15 Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants. For in truth Adonai has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
16 Then said the princes and all the people to the kohanim and to the prophets: “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the Name of Adonai our God.”
17 Then some of the elders of the land rose up and addressed all the assembly of the people, saying: 18 “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
‘Zion will be plowed as a field,
and Jerusalem will become ruins,
and the mountain of the House
as the high places of a forest.’
19 “Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Adonai and plead for the favor of Adonai, and then Adonai relented of the calamity that He had pronounced against them? So we may be committing great evil against our own souls.”
20 Now there was a man who had prophesied in the Name of Adonai, Uriah son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land words like all those of Jeremiah. 21 When King Jehoiakim with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt. 22 So King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt—Elnathan son of Achbor and some others with him— 23 and they brought Uriah back from Egypt, and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they did not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Taking the Kingdom by Force
12 Yeshua began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He leased it to some tenant farmers and went on a journey. 2 And at the season, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants part of the vineyard’s fruit. 3 But grabbing him, they beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again the man sent another servant to them, and they wounded his head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent another, and that one they killed; and so on with many others, beating some and killing some. 6 He had yet one, a well-loved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir! Come on, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So grabbing the son, they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “What then will the master of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this Scripture?
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
this has become the chief cornerstone.
11 This came from Adonai,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.’”[a]
12 They were trying to seize Yeshua, because they realized that He spoke the parable against them. But they feared the crowd, so they left Him and went away.
A Test of Loyalty
13 Then they send some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Yeshua in order to trap Him with a word. 14 They come and say to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are honest, and what others think doesn’t concern You. You don’t look at men’s appearance, but teach the way of God according to the truth. Is it permitted to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”
But Yeshua saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius so I may see it.”
16 They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they said to Him.
17 Then Yeshua said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were completely amazed at Him.
The Challenge of the Sadducees
18 Then Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came and began questioning Yeshua, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, then his brother should take the widow and father children for his brother.’ [b] 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and, when he died, left no offspring. 21 And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring, and the third likewise. 22 Now the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died, too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise up, whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”
24 Yeshua said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you’ve gone astray, because you don’t understand the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise up from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 But concerning the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the burning bush? How God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? [c] 27 He’s not the God of the dead, but of the living. You have gone far astray!”
Love Ends the Argument
28 One of the Torah scholars came and heard them debating. Seeing that Yeshua had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which commandment is first of all?”
29 Yeshua answered, “The first is, ‘Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30 And you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [d] 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[e] There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, Teacher,” the Torah scholar said to Him. “You have spoken the truth, that He is echad, and besides Him there is no other! [f] 33 And ‘to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’[g] and ‘to love the neighbor as oneself,’[h] is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Yeshua saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared any longer to question Him.
Who Is King David’s Lord?
35 While Yeshua was teaching in the Temple, He said, “How is it that the Torah scholars say that the Messiah is Ben-David? 36 David himself, through the Ruach ha-Kodesh, said,
‘Adonai said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’[i]
37 If David himself calls Him ‘Lord,’ in what way is He his son?” And the large crowd was listening to Him with delight.
38 In His teaching He said, “Watch out for the Torah scholars, who like to walk around in long robes. They like greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at feasts. 40 They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers as a show. These men will receive greater condemnation!”
41 He sat down opposite the treasury and began watching how the people were putting money into the offering box. Many rich people were putting in a lot. 42 Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. 43 Calling His disciples over, He said to them, “Amen, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those contributing to the box! 44 For they all put in from their surplus; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, her whole living.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.