M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
23 (A)When David was very old, he made his son Solomon king of Israel.
The Work of the Levites
2 King David brought together all the Israelite leaders and all the priests and Levites. 3 He took a census of all the male Levites aged thirty or older. The total was thirty-eight thousand. 4 The king assigned twenty-four thousand to administer the work of the Temple, six thousand to keep records and decide disputes, 5 four thousand to do guard duty, and four thousand to praise the Lord, using the musical instruments provided by the king for this purpose.
6 David divided the Levites into three groups, according to their clans: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7 Gershon had two sons: Ladan and Shimei. 8 Ladan had three sons: Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel, 9 who were the heads of the clans descended from Ladan. (Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.)[a] 10-11 Shimei had four sons: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah, in order of age. Jeush and Beriah did not have many descendants, so they were counted as one clan.
12 Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 13 (B)His oldest son, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. (Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, to burn incense in the worship of the Lord, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name. 14 But the sons of Moses, the man of God, were included among the Levites.) 15 Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The leader among Gershom's sons was Shebuel. 17 Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, but Rehabiah had many descendants.
18 Kohath's second son, Izhar, had a son, Shelomith, the head of the clan. 19 Kohath's third son, Hebron, had four sons: Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam. 20 Kohath's fourth son, Uzziel, had two sons, Micah and Isshiah.
21 Merari had two sons, Mahli and Mushi. Mahli also had two sons, Eleazar and Kish, 22 but Eleazar died without having any sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish. 23 Merari's second son, Mushi, had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.
24 These were the descendants of Levi, by clans and families, every one of them registered by name. Each of his descendants, twenty years of age or older, had a share in the work of the Lord's Temple.
25 David said, “The Lord God of Israel has given peace to his people, and he himself will live in Jerusalem forever. 26 (C)So there is no longer any need for the Levites to carry the Tent of the Lord's presence and all the equipment used in worship.” 27 On the basis of David's final instructions all Levites were registered for service when they reached the age of twenty, 28 (D)and were assigned the following duties: to help the priests descended from Aaron with the Temple worship, to take care of its courtyards and its rooms, and to keep undefiled everything that is sacred; 29 to be responsible for the bread offered to God, the flour used in offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the baked offerings, and the flour mixed with olive oil; to weigh and measure the Temple offerings; 30 and to praise and glorify the Lord every morning and every evening 31 and whenever offerings to the Lord are burned on the Sabbath, the New Moon Festival, and other festivals. Rules were made specifying the number of Levites assigned to do this work each time. The Levites were assigned the duty of worshiping the Lord for all time. 32 They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Tent of the Lord's presence and the Temple, and of assisting their relatives, the priests descended from Aaron, in the Temple worship.
Changed Lives
4 Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin. 2 From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires. 3 You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols. 4 And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you. 5 But they will have to give an account of themselves to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 That is why the Good News was preached also to the dead, to those who had been judged in their physical existence as everyone is judged; it was preached to them so that in their spiritual existence they may live as God lives.
Good Managers of God's Gifts
7 The end of all things is near. You must be self-controlled and alert, to be able to pray. 8 (A)Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins. 9 Open your homes to each other without complaining. 10 Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. 11 Those who preach must preach God's messages; those who serve must serve with the strength that God gives them, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Suffering as a Christian
12 My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you. 13 Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed. 14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you. 15 If you suffer, it must not be because you are a murderer or a thief or a criminal or a meddler in other people's affairs. 16 However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name.
17 The time has come for judgment to begin, and God's own people are the first to be judged. If it starts with us, how will it end with those who do not believe the Good News from God? 18 (B)As the scripture says,
“It is difficult for good people to be saved;
what, then, will become of godless sinners?”
19 So then, those who suffer because it is God's will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, who always keeps his promise.
The Fate of Those Who Oppress the Poor
2 How terrible it will be for those who lie awake and plan evil! When morning comes, as soon as they have the chance, they do the evil they planned. 2 When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.
3 And so the Lord says, “I am planning to bring disaster on you, and you will not be able to escape it. You are going to find yourselves in trouble, and then you will not walk so proudly any more. 4 When that time comes, people will use the story about you as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience:
We are completely ruined!
The Lord has taken our land away
And given it to those who took us captive.”[a]
5 So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the Lord's people, there will be no share for any of you.
6 The people preach at me and say, “Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us. 7 Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse?[b] Has the Lord lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he[c] speak kindly to those who do right?”
8 The Lord replies, “You attack my people[d] like enemies. Men return from battle, thinking they are safe at home, but there you are, waiting to steal the coats off their backs. 9 You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings forever. 10 Get up and go; there is no safety here any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction.
11 “These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, ‘I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.’
12 “But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people.”
13 God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the Lord himself, will lead them out.
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer(A)
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:
‘Father:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come.
3 Give us day by day the food we need.[a]
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
And do not bring us to hard testing.’”
5 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!’ 7 And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’ 8 Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. 9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. 11 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? 12 Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Jesus and Beelzebul(B)
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that could not talk; and when the demon went out, the man began to talk. The crowds were amazed, 15 (C)but some of the people said, “It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, who gives him the power to drive them out.”
16 (D)Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him. 17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart. 18 So if Satan's kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last? You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. 19 If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out? Your own followers prove that you are wrong! 20 No, it is rather by means of God's power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.
21 “When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. 22 But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.
23 (E)“Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.
The Return of the Evil Spirit(F)
24 “When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house.’ 25 So it goes back and finds the house clean and all fixed up. 26 Then it goes out and brings seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning.”
True Happiness
27 When Jesus had said this, a woman spoke up from the crowd and said to him, “How happy is the woman who bore you and nursed you!”
28 But Jesus answered, “Rather, how happy are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
The Demand for a Miracle(G)
29 (H)As the people crowded around Jesus, he went on to say, “How evil are the people of this day! They ask for a miracle, but none will be given them except the miracle of Jonah. 30 (I)In the same way that the prophet Jonah was a sign for the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign for the people of this day. 31 (J)On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse the people of today, because she traveled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and there is something here, I tell you, greater than Solomon. 32 (K)On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Jonah!
The Light of the Body(L)
33 (M)“No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a bowl;[b] instead, it is put on the lampstand, so that people may see the light as they come in. 34 Your eyes are like a lamp for the body. When your eyes are sound, your whole body is full of light; but when your eyes are no good, your whole body will be in darkness. 35 Make certain, then, that the light in you is not darkness. 36 If your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be bright all over, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness.”
Jesus Accuses the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law(N)
37 When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and sat down to eat. 38 The Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus had not washed before eating. 39 So the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of your cup and plate, but inside you are full of violence and evil. 40 Fools! Did not God, who made the outside, also make the inside? 41 But give what is in your cups and plates to the poor, and everything will be ritually clean for you.
42 (O)“How terrible for you Pharisees! You give to God one tenth of the seasoning herbs, such as mint and rue and all the other herbs, but you neglect justice and love for God. These you should practice, without neglecting the others.
43 “How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the reserved seats in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44 How terrible for you! You are like unmarked graves which people walk on without knowing it.”
45 One of the teachers of the Law said to him, “Teacher, when you say this, you insult us too!”
46 Jesus answered, “How terrible also for you teachers of the Law! You put onto people's backs loads which are hard to carry, but you yourselves will not stretch out a finger to help them carry those loads. 47 How terrible for you! You make fine tombs for the prophets—the very prophets your ancestors murdered. 48 You yourselves admit, then, that you approve of what your ancestors did; they murdered the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 For this reason the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and messengers; they will kill some of them and persecute others.’ 50 So the people of this time will be punished for the murder of all the prophets killed since the creation of the world, 51 (P)from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the Holy Place. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will be punished for them all!
52 “How terrible for you teachers of the Law! You have kept the key that opens the door to the house of knowledge; you yourselves will not go in, and you stop those who are trying to go in!”
53 When Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to criticize him bitterly and ask him questions about many things, 54 trying to lay traps for him and catch him saying something wrong.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.