M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

21 The Adversary ^[a] now rose up against Isra’el and incited David to take a census of Isra’el. ² David said to Yo’av and the leaders of the people, “Go, take a census of Isra’el from Be’er-Sheva to Dan; then report to me, so that I can know how many of them there are.” ³ Yo’av said, “May Adonai make his people a hundred times as many as they are now! But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants in any case? Why does my lord the king require this? Why should he bring guilt upon Isra’el?” ⁴ Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Yo’av. So Yo’av left and went through all Isra’el, after which he came to Yerushalayim.

⁵ Yo’av reported the results of the census to David: in Isra’el were 1,100,000 men who could handle a sword, while Y’hudah had 470,000 men who could handle a sword. ⁶ But he didn’t count Levi and Binyamin among them, because the king’s order was hateful to Yo’av.

⁷ God was displeased with this and therefore punished Isra’el. ⁸ David said to God, “I have greatly sinned by doing this. But now, please! Put aside your servant’s sin, for I have done a very foolish thing.” ⁹ Adonai spoke to Gad, David’s seer: ¹⁰ “Go and tell David that Adonai says, ‘I am offering you a choice of three punishments: choose one of them, and I will execute it against you.’” ¹¹ Gad came to David and said to him, “Take your choice: ¹² three years of famine; or three months of being swept away by your enemies, while your enemies’ sword overwhelms you; or three days of Adonai’s sword — plague in the land, with the angel of Adonai destroying everywhere in Isra’el’s territory. Now think about what answer I should give to the one who sent me.”

¹³ David said to Gad, “This is very hard for me. Let me fall into the hand of Adonai, because his mercies are very great, rather than have me fall into the hand of man.” ¹⁴ So Adonai sent a plague on Isra’el; 70,000 of the people of Isra’el died.

¹⁵ God also sent an angel to destroy Yerushalayim, but when he was about to carry out the destruction, Adonai saw it and changed his mind about causing such distress; so he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of Adonai was standing at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi. ¹⁶ David raised his eyes and saw the angel of Adonai standing between the earth and the sky, and in his hand was a drawn sword stretched out over Yerushalayim. Then David and the leaders, wearing sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷ David said to God, “Wasn’t it I who ordered the census of the people? Yes, I am the one who has sinned and done something very wicked. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and my father’s family, but not against your people, striking them with this plague!”

¹⁸ Then the angel of Adonai ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to Adonai on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi. ¹⁹ David went up at Gad’s word, spoken in Adonai’s name. ²⁰ Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As Ornan was threshing wheat, ²¹ David approached Ornan. When Ornan looked and saw David, he went out from the threshing-floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground. ²² Then David said to Ornan, “Let me have the parcel with this threshing-floor, so that I can build on it an altar to Adonai — I will pay you its full value — so that the plague will be lifted from the people.” ²³ Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. I’m giving you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing-sledges for firewood and the wheat for the grain offering — I’m giving it all.” ²⁴ But King David said to Ornan, “No; I insist on buying it from you at the full price. I refuse to take what is yours for Adonai or offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” ²⁵ So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 shekels of gold by weight [fifteen pounds]. ²⁶ Then David built an altar to Adonai there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on Adonai, who answered him from heaven by fire on the altar for burnt offerings. ²⁷ Adonai gave an order to the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. ²⁸ When David saw that Adonai had answered him at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi, he sacrificed there. ²⁹ For at that time the tabernacle of Adonai, which Moshe had made in the desert, together with the altar for burnt offerings, were in the high place at Giv‘on. ³⁰ But David could not go into its presence to consult God, because the sword of the angel of Adonai had struck him with terror.

2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, of all deceit, hypocrisy and envy, and of all the ways there are of speaking against people; ² and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. ³ For you have tasted that Adonai is good.^[a]

⁴ As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, ⁵ you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. ⁶ This is why the Tanakh says,

⁷ Now to you who keep trusting, he is precious. But to those who are not trusting,

⁸ also he is

They are stumbling at the Word, disobeying it — as had been planned. ⁹ But you are a chosen people,^[e] the King’s cohanim,^[f] a holy nation,^[g] a people for God to possess!^[h] Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.^[i]

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents^[j] not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you; ¹² but to live such good lives among the pagans that even though they now speak against you as evil-doers, they will, as a result of seeing your good actions, give glory to God on the Day of his coming. ¹³ For the sake of the Lord, submit yourselves to every human authority — whether to the emperor as being supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as being sent by him to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do what is good. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that your doing good should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Submit as people who are free, but not letting your freedom serve as an excuse for evil; rather, submit as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Be respectful to all — keep loving the brotherhood, fearing God and honoring the emperor.

¹⁸ Household servants, submit yourselves to your masters, showing them full respect — and not only those who are kind and considerate, but also those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For it is a grace when someone, because he is mindful of God, bears up under the pain of undeserved punishment. ²⁰ For what credit is there in bearing up under a beating you deserve for doing something wrong? But if you bear up under punishment, even though you have done what is right, God looks on it with favor. ²¹ Indeed, this is what you were called to; because the Messiah too suffered, on your behalf, leaving an example so that you should follow in his steps.

²³ When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins^[l] in his body on the stake,^[m] so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness — by his wounds you were healed.^{[n] 25} For you used to be like sheep gone astray, but now you have turned to^[o] the Shepherd, who watches over you.

4 But this was very displeasing to Yonah, and he became angry. ² He prayed to Adonai, “Now, Adonai, didn’t I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment. ³ Therefore, Adonai, please, just take my life away from me; it’s better for me to be dead than alive!” ⁴ Adonai asked, “Is it right for you to be so angry?”

⁵ Yonah left the city and found a place east of the city, where he made himself a shelter and sat down under it, in its shade, to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Adonai, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Yonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Yonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up. ⁸ Then, when the sun rose, God prepared a scorching east wind; and the sun beat down on Yonah’s head so hard that he grew faint and begged that he could die, saying, “I would be better off dead than alive.”

⁹ God asked Yonah, “Is it right for you to be so angry about the castor-bean plant?” He answered, “Yes, it’s right for me to be so angry that I could die!” ¹⁰ Adonai said, “You’re concerned over the castor-bean plant, which cost you no effort; you didn’t make it grow; it came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ So shouldn’t I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals?”

9 Calling together the Twelve, Yeshua gave them power and authority to expel all the demons and to cure diseases; ² and he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. ³ He said to them, “Take nothing for your trip — neither a walking stick nor a pack, neither bread nor money; and don’t have two shirts. ⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there and go out from there. ⁵ Wherever they don’t welcome you, shake the dust from your feet when you leave that town as a warning to them.” ⁶ They set out and went through village after village, healing and announcing the Good News everywhere.

⁷ Herod the governor heard about all that was going on and was perplexed, because it was said by some that Yochanan had been raised from the dead, ⁸ by others that Eliyahu had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. ⁹ Herod said, “I had Yochanan beheaded, so who is this about whom I keep hearing such things?” And he began trying to see him.

¹⁰ On their return, the emissaries detailed to Yeshua what they had done. Then, taking them with him, he withdrew by himself to a town called Beit-Tzaidah. ¹¹ But the crowds found out and followed him. Welcoming them, he went on to speak to them about the Kingdom of God and to heal those who needed to be healed.

¹² The day began to draw to a close. The Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they can go and get lodging and food in the towns and farms around here, because where we are is a remote place.” ¹³ But he said to them, “Give them something to eat, yourselves!” They said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish — unless we ourselves are supposed to go and buy food for all these people!” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) He said to his talmidim, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did what he told them and had them all sit down. ¹⁶ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and began giving them to the talmidim to distribute to the crowd. ¹⁷ Everyone ate as much as he wanted; and they took up what was left over, twelve baskets full of broken pieces.

¹⁸ Once when Yeshua was praying in private, his talmidim were with him; and he asked them, “Who are the crowds saying I am?” ¹⁹ They answered, “Yochanan the Immerser; but others say Eliyahu, and others that some prophet of long ago has risen.” ²⁰ “But you,” he said to them, “who do you say I am?” Kefa answered, “The Mashiach of God!” ²¹ However, he, warning them, ordered them to tell this to no one, ²² adding, “The Son of Man has to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and he has to be put to death; but on the third day, he has to be raised to life.”

²³ Then to everyone he said, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake daily and keep following me. ²⁴ For whoever tries to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life on my account will save it. ²⁵ What will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but destroys or forfeits his own life? ²⁶ For if someone is ashamed of me and of what I say, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, there are some people standing here who will not experience death until they see the Kingdom of God.”

²⁸ About a week after Yeshua said these things, he took Kefa, Yochanan and Ya‘akov with him and went up to the hill country to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed; and his clothing became gleaming white. ³⁰ Suddenly there were two men talking with him — Moshe and Eliyahu! ³¹ They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke of his exodus, which he was soon to accomplish in Yerushalayim. ³² Kefa and those with him had been sound asleep; but on becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Yeshua, Kefa said to him, not knowing what he was saying, “It’s good that we’re here, Rabbi! Let’s put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu.” ³⁴ As he spoke, a cloud came and enveloped them. They were frightened as they entered the cloud; ³⁵ and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him!” ³⁶ When the voice spoke, Yeshua was alone once more. They kept quiet — at that time they told no one anything of what they had seen.

³⁷ The next day, as they were coming down out of the hill country, a large crowd met him. ³⁸ Suddenly a man in the crowd shouted, “Rabbi! Look at my son, I beg you, because he’s my only child! ³⁹ What happens is this: a spirit seizes him, and suddenly it lets out a shriek and throws him into convulsions with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty will it leave him. It’s destroying him! ⁴⁰ I asked your talmidim to drive the spirit out, but they couldn’t.” ⁴¹ “Perverted people, without any trust!” Yeshua answered, “How long do I have to be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² Even as the boy was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground and threw him into a fit. But Yeshua rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ All were struck with amazement at the greatness of God. While they were all marvelling at everything Yeshua was doing, he said to his talmidim, ⁴⁴ “Listen very carefully to what I’m going to say. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But they didn’t understand what he meant by this. It had been concealed from them so that they would not grasp its meaning, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

⁴⁶ An argument arose among the talmidim as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Yeshua, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, took a child, stood him beside himself, ⁴⁸ and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me. In other words, the one who is least among you all — this is the one who is great.” ⁴⁹ Yochanan responded, “Rabbi, we saw someone expelling demons in your name; and we stopped him because he doesn’t follow you along with us.” ⁵⁰ Yeshua said to him, “Don’t stop such people, because whoever isn’t against you is for you.”

⁵¹ As the time approached for him to be taken up into heaven, he made his decision to set out for Yerushalayim. ⁵² He sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village in Shomron to make preparations for him. ⁵³ However, the people there would not let him stay, because his destination was Yerushalayim. ⁵⁴ When the talmidim Ya‘akov and Yochanan saw this, they said, “Sir, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”^{[a] 55} But he turned and rebuked them.^{[b] 56} And they went on to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were traveling on the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ Yeshua answered him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds flying about have nests, but the Son of Man has no home of his own.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me!” but the man replied, “Sir, first let me go away and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ Yeshua said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, sir, but first let me say good-by to the people at home.” ⁶² To him Yeshua said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and keeps looking back is fit to serve in the Kingdom of God.”