M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

1 Back in the days when the judges were judging, at a time when there was a famine in the land, a certain man from Beit-Lechem went to live in the territory of Mo’av — he, his wife and his two sons. ² The man’s name was Elimelekh, his wife’s name was Na‘omi, and his two sons were named Machlon and Kilyon; they were Efratim from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah. They arrived in the plain of Mo’av and settled there. ³ Elimelekh, Na‘omi’s husband, died; and she was left, she and her two sons. ⁴ They took wives for themselves from the women of Mo’av; the name of the one was ‘Orpah; and the name of the other was Rut. They lived there for about ten years. ⁵ Then Machlon and Kilyon died, both of them; and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.

⁶ So she prepared to return with her daughters-in-law from the plain of Mo’av; for in the plain of Mo’av she had heard how Adonai had paid attention to his people by giving them food. ⁷ She left the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law and took the road leading back to Y’hudah.

⁸ Na‘omi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you, go back to your mother’s house. May Adonai show grace to you, as you did to those who died and to me. ⁹ May Adonai grant you security in the home of a new husband.” Then she kissed them, but they began weeping aloud. ¹⁰ They said to her, “No; we want to return with you to your people.” ¹¹ Na‘omi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who could become your husbands? ¹² Go back, my daughters; go your way; for I’m too old to have a husband. Even if I were to say, ‘I still have hope’; even if I had a husband tonight and bore sons; ¹³ would you wait for them until they grew up? Would you refuse to marry, just for them? No, my daughters. On your behalf I feel very bitter that the hand of Adonai has gone out against me.” ¹⁴ Again they wept aloud. Then ‘Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Rut stuck with her. ¹⁵ She said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god; go back, after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ But Rut said,

¹⁸ When Na‘omi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Beit-Lechem. When they arrived in Beit-Lechem, the whole city was stirred with excitement over them. The women asked, “Can this be Na‘omi?” ²⁰ “Don’t call me Na‘omi [pleasant],” she answered them; “call me Marah [bitter], because Shaddai has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went out full, and Adonai has brought me back empty. Why call me Na‘omi? Adonai has testified against me, Shaddai has afflicted me.” ²² This is how Na‘omi returned, with Rut the woman from Mo’av, her daughter-in-law, accompanying her from the plain of Mo’av. They arrived in Beit-Lechem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

26 Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “You have permission to speak on your own behalf.” Then Sha’ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by Jews, ³ because you are so well informed about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then! All Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Yerushalayim. ⁵ They have known me for a long time; and if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion — that is, I have lived as a Parush. ⁶ How ironic it is that I stand on trial here because of my hope in the promise made to our fathers! ⁷ It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews! ⁸ Why do you people consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I used to think it was my duty to do all I could to combat the name of Yeshua from Natzeret; ¹⁰ and in Yerushalayim I did so. After receiving authority from the head cohanim, I myself threw many of God’s people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them, I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.

¹² “On one such occasion, I was traveling to Dammesek with the full authority and power of the head cohanim. ¹³ I was on the road, and it was noon, your Majesty, when I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It’s hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ and the Lord answered, ‘I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me! ¹⁶ But get up, and stand on your feet! I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve and bear witness to what you have already seen of me, and to what you will see when I appear to you in the future. ¹⁷ I will deliver you from the People and from the Goyim. I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to God, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven! ²⁰ On the contrary, I announced first in Dammesek, then in Yerushalayim and throughout Y’hudah, and also to the Goyim, that they should turn from their sins to God and then do deeds consistent with that repentance. ²¹ It was because of these things that Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me. ²² However, I have had God’s help; so to this day, I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what both the prophets and Moshe said would happen — ²³ that the Messiah would die, and that he, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the People and the Goyim.”

²⁴ But just as he reached this point in his defense, Festus shouted at the top of his voice, “Sha’ul, you’re out of your mind! So much learning is driving you crazy!”

²⁵ But Sha’ul said, “No, I am not ‘crazy,’ Festus, your Excellency; on the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity. ²⁶ For the king understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that none of these things have been hidden from him. After all, they didn’t happen in some back alley. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe!”

²⁸ Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “In this short time, you’re trying to convince me to become Messianic?” ²⁹ Sha’ul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!”

³⁰ Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others sitting with them. ³¹ After they had left, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “If he hadn’t appealed to the Emperor, he could have been released.”

36 In the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: ² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Isra’el, Y’hudah and all the other nations, from the day I started speaking to you, back in the time of Yoshiyahu, until today. ³ Perhaps the house of Y’hudah will listen to all the disaster I intend to bring on them, and turn back, each person from his evil way; then I will forgive their wickedness and sin.”

⁴ So Yirmeyahu summoned Barukh the son of Neriyah; and Barukh wrote down on a scroll, at Yirmeyahu’s dictation, all the words that Adonai had said to him. ⁵ Then Yirmeyahu gave this order to Barukh: “I am not allowed to enter the house of Adonai. ⁶ Therefore, you take the scroll which you wrote at my dictation, go into the house of Adonai on a fast-day, and read from it the words of Adonai in the hearing of the people; also read them to all Y’hudah as they exit their cities. ⁷ Perhaps they will turn to Adonai in prayer and will return, each one, from his evil way. For the anger and fury which Adonai has decreed against this people is great.”

⁸ Barukh the son of Neriyah obeyed everything Yirmeyahu the prophet ordered him to do, reading the words of Adonai from the scroll in Adonai’s house. ⁹ A fast was proclaimed in the ninth month of the fifth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, for all the people in Yerushalayim and all the people who came from the cities of Y’hudah to Yerushalayim. ¹⁰ It was then that Barukh read from the scroll the words of Yirmeyahu in the house of Adonai, in the chamber of G’maryahu the son of Shafan the secretary, in the upper courtyard, at the entry to the New Gate of Adonai’s house, for all the people to hear. ¹¹ When Mikhay’hu the son of G’maryahu, the son of Shafan, had heard from the scroll all the words of Adonai, ¹² he went down to the king’s palace, into the secretary’s room. All the officials were there — Elishama the secretary, D’layahu the son of Sh’ma‘yahu, Elnatan the son of ‘Akhbor, G’maryah the son of Shafan, Tzidkiyahu the son of Hananyahu and all the [other] officials. ¹³ Mikhay’hu told them all the words he had heard when Barukh read the scroll in the people’s hearing; ¹⁴ whereupon all the officials sent Y’hudi the son of N’tanyahu, the son of Shelemyahu, the son of Kushi, to Barukh to say, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Barukh the son of Neriyah took the scroll in his hand and went to them. ¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” Barukh read it to them. ¹⁶ After they had heard all the words, they turned in fear to each other and said to Barukh, “We will certainly tell the king about all these words.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Barukh, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?” ¹⁸ Barukh answered them, “He said all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll.” ¹⁹ At this, the officials said to Barukh, “Go and hide yourselves, you and Yirmeyahu; don’t let anyone know where you are.” ²⁰ After depositing the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went in to the courtyard and told everything to the king.

²¹ The king sent Y’hudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Y’hudi read it to the king and all the officials standing near the king. ²² The king was sitting in his winter house; and since it was the ninth month, he had a fire burning in the stove in front of him. ²³ After Y’hudi had read three or four columns from the scroll, he would cut off that portion with a knife and throw it into the fire that was burning in the stove, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire in the stove. ²⁴ But even though they heard all these words, neither the king nor any of his servants grew afraid or tore their clothes. ²⁵ Elnatan, D’layahu and G’maryahu had begged the king not to burn the scroll; but he wouldn’t listen to them. ²⁶ Then the king ordered Yerachme’el the king’s son, S’rayahu the son of ‘Azri’el and Shelemyahu the son of ‘Avde’el to arrest Barukh the scribe and Yirmeyahu the prophet; but Adonai hid them.

²⁷ Then this word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu after the king had burned the scroll with the words Barukh had written at Yirmeyahu’s dictation: ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Y’hoyakim the king of Y’hudah burned up. ²⁹ And as far as Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah is concerned, you are to say that Adonai says, ‘You burned this scroll, asking, “Why did you write in it that the king of Bavel will certainly come and destroy this land and leave it without either humans or animals?” ³⁰ Therefore Adonai says this about Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah: “He will have no one to occupy David’s throne; and his dead body will be thrown out to lie in the heat by day and in the frost by night. ³¹ Moreover, I will punish him, his offspring and his officials for their wickedness; and I will bring on them, the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and the people of Y’hudah all the disaster I have decreed against them, to which they have paid no attention.”’”

³² Then Yirmeyahu took another scroll and gave it to Barukh the scribe, the son of Neriyah. At Yirmeyahu’s dictation he wrote in it all the words of the scroll which Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah had burned up in the fire, and to those he added many similar words.

45 Here is what Yirmeyahu said to Barukh the son of Neriyah when he wrote these words in a book at Yirmeyahu’s dictation, in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah: ² “This is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says concerning you, Barukh. You said,

⁴ “Tell him that Adonai says:

⁵ Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t! For I am bringing disaster on everything living,’ says Adonai. ‘But wherever you go, you will escape with your life.’”