M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today. ² Take seven pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal with you. Take a male and a female of each kind. Take one pair of every kind of animal that is not ‘clean.’ Take a male and a female of each kind. ³ Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. Take a male and a female of each kind. Then every kind will be kept alive. They can spread out again over the whole earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. ⁷ He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons’ wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Male and female pairs of “clean” animals and pairs of animals that were not “clean” came to Noah. So did male and female pairs of birds and of all the creatures that move along the ground. ⁹ All of them came to Noah and entered the ark. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ After seven days the flood came on the earth.

¹¹ Noah was 600 years old. It was the 17th day of the second month of the year. On that day all of the springs at the bottom of the oceans burst open. God opened the windows of the sky. ¹² Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah entered the ark together with his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah’s wife and the wives of his three sons also entered it. ¹⁴ They had every kind of wild animal with them. They had every kind of livestock, creature that moves along the ground, and bird that flies. ¹⁵ Pairs of all living creatures that breathe came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water. ¹⁹ The waters rose on the earth until all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. ²⁰ The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being. ²² Every breathing thing on dry land died. ²³ Every living thing on earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds in the sky were wiped out. Everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for 150 days.

Be Fair When You Judge Other People

7 “Do not judge other people. Then you will not be judged. ² You will be judged in the same way you judge others. You will be measured in the same way you measure others.

³ “You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend’s eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. ⁴ How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? ⁵ You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye.

⁶ “Do not give holy things to dogs. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they might walk all over them. They might turn around and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Search, Knock

⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. The door will be opened to the one who knocks.

⁹ “Suppose your son asks for bread. Which of you will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or suppose he asks for a fish. Which of you will give him a snake? ¹¹ Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you. This is what is written in the Law and in the Prophets.

The Large and Small Gates

¹³ “Enter God’s kingdom through the narrow gate. The gate is large and the road is wide that leads to ruin. Many people go that way. ¹⁴ But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life. Only a few people find it.

True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you pretending to be sheep. But on the inside they are hungry wolves. ¹⁶ You can tell each tree by its fruit. Do people pick grapes from bushes? Do they pick figs from thorns? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit. But a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t bear bad fruit. And a bad tree can’t bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down. It is thrown into the fire. ²⁰ You can tell each tree by its fruit.

True and False Disciples

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord! Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we drive out demons in your name? Didn’t we do many miracles in your name?’ ²³ Then I will tell them clearly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who do evil!’

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴ “So then, everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise man. He builds his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. But it does not fall. It is built on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man. He builds his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. And it falls with a loud crash.”

²⁸ Jesus finished saying all these things. The crowds were amazed at his teaching. ²⁹ That’s because he taught like one who had authority. He did not speak like their teachers of the law.

Ezra Comes to Jerusalem

7 After all these things had happened, Ezra came up to Jerusalem from Babylon. It was during the rule of Artaxerxes. He was king of Persia. Ezra was the son of Seraiah. Seraiah was the son of Azariah. Azariah was the son of Hilkiah. ² Hilkiah was the son of Shallum. Shallum was the son of Zadok. Zadok was the son of Ahitub. ³ Ahitub was the son of Amariah. Amariah was the son of Azariah. Azariah was the son of Meraioth. ⁴ Meraioth was the son of Zerahiah. Zerahiah was the son of Uzzi. Uzzi was the son of Bukki. ⁵ Bukki was the son of Abishua. Abishua was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. And Eleazar was the son of Aaron the chief priest. ⁶ So Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher who knew the Law of Moses very well. The Lord, the God of Israel, had given Israel that law. The king had given Ezra everything he asked for. That’s because the Lord his God helped him. ⁷ Some of the Israelites came up to Jerusalem too. They included priests, Levites and musicians. They also included the temple servants and those who guarded the temple gates. It was in the seventh year that Artaxerxes was king.

⁸ Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king’s rule. ⁹ Ezra had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month. He arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month. That’s because God was gracious to him and helped him. ¹⁰ Ezra had committed himself to study and obey the Law of the Lord. He also wanted to teach the Lord’s rules and laws in Israel.

King Artaxerxes’s Letter to Ezra

¹¹ Ezra was a priest and teacher of the Law. He was an educated man. He knew the Lord’s commands and rules for Israel very well. Here is a copy of a letter King Artaxerxes had given to Ezra. It said,

¹² I, Artaxerxes, am writing this letter. I am the greatest king of all.

I have given it to Ezra the priest. He is the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven.

I give you my greetings.

¹³ Ezra, I am giving an order about the Israelites in my kingdom. Any of them who want to go to Jerusalem with you may go. The order also allows priests and Levites to go with you. ¹⁴ I and my seven advisers are sending you to see how things are going in Judah and Jerusalem. Find out whether the people there are obeying the Law of your God. You have a copy of that law with you. ¹⁵ I and my advisers have freely given some silver and gold to the God of Israel. He is the God who lives in Jerusalem. Take that silver and gold with you. ¹⁶ Also take any other silver and gold you can get from the land of Babylon. And take the offerings the people and priests choose to give for the temple of their God in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ Make sure you use the money to buy bulls, rams and male lambs. Also buy their grain offerings and drink offerings. Then sacrifice them on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ You and the other Jews can do what you think is best with the rest of the silver and gold. Do what your God wants you to do. ¹⁹ Give to the God of Jerusalem all the things you are responsible for. Use them for worshiping your God in his temple. ²⁰ You might need to supply some other things for the temple of your God. If you do, take them from among the royal treasures.

²¹ I, King Artaxerxes, also give this order. It applies to all those who are in charge of the treasures west of the Euphrates River. Make sure you provide anything Ezra the priest might ask you to give. He is the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven. ²² Give Ezra up to three and three-fourths tons of silver. Give him up to 18 tons of wheat. Give him up to 600 gallons of wine and up to 600 gallons of olive oil. And give him as much salt as he needs. ²³ Work hard for the temple of the God of heaven. Do everything he has required. I don’t want him to be angry with my kingdom and the kingdom of my sons. ²⁴ Here is something else I want you to know. You have no authority to collect taxes, gifts or fees from these people. You may not collect them from the priests, Levites or musicians. You may not collect them from those who guard the temple gates. You may not collect them from the temple servants. And you may not collect them from other workers at the house of God in Jerusalem.

²⁵ Ezra, appoint judges and other court officials. When you do it, use the wisdom your God gives you. Those you appoint should do what is right and fair when they judge people. They should do it for everyone who lives west of the Euphrates River. They should do it for everyone who knows the laws of your God. And I want you to teach the people who don’t know those laws. ²⁶ Anyone who doesn’t obey the law of your God must be punished. The same thing applies to anyone who doesn’t obey my law. The people must be punished in keeping with the laws they have broken. Some of them must be put to death. Others must be forced to leave the places where they live. Others must have their property taken away from them. Still others must be put in prison.

²⁷ So here is what I, Ezra, say to you people of Israel. “Give praise to the Lord. He is the God of our people who lived long ago. He has put it in the king’s heart to bring honor to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. The king has honored the Lord in his letter. ²⁸ The Lord has been kind to me. He has caused the king and his advisers to be kind to me. In fact, all the king’s powerful officials have been kind to me. The strong hand of the Lord my God helped me. That gave me new strength. So I gathered together leaders from Israel to go up to Jerusalem with me.”

Stephen Speaks to the Sanhedrin

7 Then the high priest questioned Stephen. “Is what these people are saying true?” he asked.

² “Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Harran. ³ ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said. ‘Go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1)

⁴ “So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Harran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living. ⁵ God didn’t give him any property here. He didn’t even give him enough land to set his foot on. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child. ⁶ Here is what God said to him. ‘For 400 years your family after you will be strangers in a country not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly. ⁷ But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,’ God said. ‘After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’ (Genesis 15:13,14) ⁸ Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac’s father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob’s father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.

⁹ “Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him. ¹⁰ He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.

¹¹ “There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn’t find food. ¹² But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit. ¹³ On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴ After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75. ¹⁵ Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died. ¹⁶ Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor’s sons at Shechem. He had purchased it for a certain amount of money.

¹⁷ “In Egypt the number of our people grew and grew. It was nearly time for God to make his promise to Abraham come true. ¹⁸ Then ‘a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him.’ (Exodus 1:8) ¹⁹ The king was very evil and dishonest with our people. He treated them badly. He forced them to throw out their newborn babies to die.

²⁰ “At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family. ²¹ Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh’s daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son. ²² Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.

²³ “When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people. ²⁴ He saw one of them being treated badly by an Egyptian. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man. ²⁵ Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn’t. ²⁶ The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting. He tried to make peace between them. ‘Men, you are both Israelites,’ he said. ‘Why do you want to hurt each other?’

²⁷ “But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Exodus 2:14) ²⁹ When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as an outsider. He became the father of two sons there.

³⁰ “Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord say, ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn’t dare to look.

³³ “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You must do this because the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)

³⁵ “This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through an angel. The angel had appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.

³⁷ “This is the same Moses who spoke to the Israelites. ‘God will send you a prophet,’ he said. ‘He will be like me. He will come from your own people.’ (Deuteronomy 18:15) ³⁸ Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.

³⁹ “But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt. ⁴⁰ They told Aaron, ‘Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him!’ (Exodus 32:1) ⁴¹ That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands. ⁴² But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says,

⁴⁴ “Long ago our people were in the desert. They had with them the holy tent. The tent was where the tablets of the covenant law were kept. Moses had made the holy tent as God had commanded him. Moses made it like the pattern he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our people received the tent from God. Then they brought it with them when they took the land of Canaan. God drove out the nations that were in their way. At that time Joshua was Israel’s leader. The tent remained in the land until David’s time. ⁴⁶ David was blessed by God. So David asked if he could build a house for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built the temple for God.

⁴⁸ “But the Most High God does not live in houses made by human hands. As God says through the prophet,

⁵¹ “You stubborn people! You won’t obey! You won’t listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your people didn’t try to hurt? They even killed those who told about the coming of the Blameless One. And now you have handed him over to his enemies. You have murdered him. ⁵³ The law you received was given by angels. But you haven’t obeyed it.”

Stephen Is Killed

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became very angry. They were so angry they ground their teeth at Stephen. ⁵⁵ But he was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory. He saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ⁵⁶ “Look!” he said. “I see heaven open. The Son of Man is standing at God’s right hand.”

⁵⁷ When the Sanhedrin heard this, they covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city. They began to throw stones at him to kill him. The people who had brought false charges against Stephen took off their coats. They placed them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While the members of the Sanhedrin were throwing stones at Stephen, he prayed. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” he said. ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees. He cried out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he died.