M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jacob establishes worship at Bethel
35 God said to Jacob, “Get up, go to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you ran away from your brother Esau.”
2 Jacob said to his household and to everyone who was with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you. Clean yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then let’s rise and go up to Bethel so that I can build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I’ve gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all of the foreign gods they had, as well as the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth at Shechem. 5 When they set out, God made all of the surrounding cities fearful so that they didn’t pursue Jacob’s sons. 6 Jacob and all of the people with him arrived in Luz, otherwise known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there and named the place El-bethel,[a] because God had revealed himself to him there when he ran away from his brother. 8 Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried at Bethel under the oak, and Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.[b]
9 God appeared to Jacob again, while he was on his way back from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will be Jacob no longer. No, your name will be Israel.” And he named him Israel. 11 God said to him, “I am El Shaddai.[c] Be fertile and multiply. A nation, even a large group of nations, will come from you; kings will descend from your own children. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, I give to you; and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God ascended, leaving him alone in the place where he spoke to him. 14 So Jacob set up a sacred pillar, a stone pillar, at the place God spoke to him. He poured an offering of wine on it and then poured oil over it. 15 Jacob named the place Bethel where God spoke to him.
Benjamin’s birth and Rachel’s death
16 They left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into hard labor. 17 During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid. You have another son.” 18 As her life faded away, just before she died, she named him Ben-oni,[d] but his father named him Benjamin.[e] 19 Rachel died and was buried near the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. 20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. It’s the pillar on Rachel’s tomb that’s still there today. 21 Israel continued his trip and pitched his tent farther on near the tower of Eder.
Jacob’s family
22 While Israel stayed in that place, Reuben went and slept with Bilhah his father’s secondary wife, and Israel heard about it.
Jacob had twelve sons. 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob’s sons born to him in Paddan-aram.
Isaac’s death
27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, that is, Kiriath-arba. This is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac lived as immigrants. 28 At the age of 180 years, 29 Isaac took his last breath and died. He was buried with his ancestors after a long, satisfying life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Esau’s descendants
36 These are the descendants of Esau, that is, Edom. 2 Esau married Canaanite women: Adah the daughter of the Hittite Elon; Oholibamah the daughter of Anah son of the Hittite Zibeon,[f] 3 and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 4 Adah gave birth to Eliphaz for Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel, 5 and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are Esau’s sons born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and everyone in his household, and his livestock, all of his animals, and all of the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan; and he moved away from the land of Canaan[g] and from his brother Jacob. 7 They had so many possessions that they couldn’t live together. The land where they lived as immigrants couldn’t support all of their livestock. 8 So Esau, that is, Edom, lived in the mountains of Seir.
9 These are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of Edom, which lies in the mountains of Seir. 10 These are the names of Edom’s sons: Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath. 11 Eliphaz’s sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Timna was the secondary wife of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. 13 These are Reuel’s sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. 14 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, Zibeon’s son:[h] she gave birth to Esau, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the tribal chiefs from Esau’s sons. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s oldest son: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These are the tribal chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are Adah’s sons. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These are the tribal chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. 18 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chief Jeush, Chief Jalam, and Chief Korah. They are the tribal chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their tribal chiefs.
20 These are the sons of Seir, the Horite, who live in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the Horite tribal chiefs, Seir’s sons, in the land of Edom. 22 Lotan’s sons are Hori and Heman, and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are Shobal’s sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah. Anah is the one who found water[i] in the desert while pasturing his father Zibeon’s donkeys.
25 These are Anah’s children: Dishon and Anah’s daughter Oholibamah. 26 These are Dishon’s[j] sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the Horite tribal chiefs: Chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the Horite tribal chiefs, listed according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
31 These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before a king ruled over the Israelites. 32 Bela, Beor’s son, ruled in Edom; his city’s name was Dinhabah. 33 After Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became king. 34 After Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became king. 35 After Husham died, Hadad, Bedad’s son who defeated Midian in the countryside of Moab, became king; his city’s name was Avith. 36 After Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah became king. 37 After Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river became king. 38 After Shaul died, Baal-hanan, Achbor’s son, became king. 39 After Baal-hanan, Achbor’s son, died, Hadar became king; his city’s name was Pau and his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Me-zahab.
40 These are the names of Esau’s tribal chiefs according to their families, their locations, and their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, 41 Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, 42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43 Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These are Edom’s tribal chiefs according to their settlements in the land they possessed. This is Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.
Jesus in his hometown
6 Jesus left that place and came to his hometown. His disciples followed him. 2 On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were surprised. “Where did this man get all this? What’s this wisdom he’s been given? What about the powerful acts accomplished through him? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t he Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were repulsed by him and fell into sin.
4 Jesus said to them, “Prophets are honored everywhere except in their own hometowns, among their relatives, and in their own households.” 5 He was unable to do any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 He was appalled by their disbelief.
Sending out the disciples
Then Jesus traveled through the surrounding villages teaching.
7 He called for the Twelve and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority over unclean spirits. 8 He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a walking stick—no bread, no bags, and no money in their belts. 9 He told them to wear sandals but not to put on two shirts. 10 He said, “Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. 11 If a place doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, as you leave, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should change their hearts and lives. 13 They cast out many demons, and they anointed many sick people with olive oil and healed them.
Death of John the Baptist
14 Herod the king heard about these things, because the name of Jesus had become well-known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and this is why miraculous powers are at work through him.” 15 Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the ancient prophets.” 16 But when Herod heard these rumors, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised to life.”
17 He said this because Herod himself had arranged to have John arrested and put in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. Herod had married her, 18 but John told Herod, “It’s against the law for you to marry your brother’s wife!” 19 So Herodias had it in for John. She wanted to kill him, but she couldn’t. 20 This was because Herod respected John. He regarded him as a righteous and holy person, so he protected him. John’s words greatly confused Herod, yet he enjoyed listening to him.
21 Finally, the time was right. It was on one of Herod’s birthdays, when he had prepared a feast for his high-ranking officials and military officers and Galilee’s leading residents. 22 Herod’s daughter Herodias[a] came in and danced, thrilling Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the young woman, “Ask me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 Then he swore to her, “Whatever you ask I will give to you, even as much as half of my kingdom.”
24 She left the banquet hall and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”
“John the Baptist’s head,” Herodias replied.
25 Hurrying back to the ruler, she made her request: “I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head on a plate, right this minute.” 26 Although the king was upset, because of his solemn pledge and his guests, he didn’t want to refuse her. 27 So he ordered a guard to bring John’s head. The guard went to the prison, cut off John’s head, 28 brought his head on a plate, and gave it to the young woman, and she gave it to her mother. 29 When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came and took his dead body and laid it in a tomb.
Jesus feeds five thousand people
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. 31 Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.” 32 They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place.
33 Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. 34 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
35 Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. 36 Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.”
37 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay[b] and give it to them to eat?”
38 He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.”
After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate until they were full. 43 They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. 44 About five thousand had eaten.
Jesus walks on water
45 Right then, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and go ahead to the other side of the lake, toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying good-bye to them, Jesus went up onto a mountain to pray. 47 Evening came and the boat was in the middle of the lake, but he was alone on the land. 48 He saw his disciples struggling. They were trying to row forward, but the wind was blowing against them. Very early in the morning, he came to them, walking on the lake. He intended to pass by them. 49 When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost and they screamed. 50 Seeing him was terrifying to all of them. Just then he spoke to them, “Be encouraged! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” 51 He got into the boat, and the wind settled down. His disciples were so baffled they were beside themselves. 52 That’s because they hadn’t understood about the loaves. Their minds had been closed so that they resisted God’s ways.
Healings at Gennesaret
53 When Jesus and his disciples had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret, anchored the boat, 54 and came ashore. People immediately recognized Jesus 55 and ran around that whole region bringing sick people on their mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 Wherever he went—villages, cities, or farming communities—they would place the sick in the marketplaces and beg him to allow them to touch even the hem of his clothing. Everyone who touched him was healed.
Job’s Adversary refuses to give up
2 One day the divine beings came to present themselves before the Lord. The Adversary also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Where have you come from?”
The Adversary answered the Lord, “From wandering throughout the earth.”
3 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you thought about my servant Job, for there is no one like him on earth, a man who is honest, who is of absolute integrity, who reveres God and avoids evil? He still holds on to his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him for no reason.”
4 The Adversary responded to the Lord, “Skin for skin—people will give up everything they have in exchange for their lives. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his bones and flesh. Then he will definitely curse[a] you to your face.”
6 The Lord answered the Adversary, “There he is—within your power; only preserve his life.”
The test intensifies
7 The Adversary departed from the Lord’s presence and struck Job with severe sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself and sat down on a mound of ashes. 9 Job’s wife said to him, “Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse[b] God, and die.”
10 Job said to her, “You’re talking like a foolish woman. Will we receive good from God but not also receive bad?” In all this, Job didn’t sin with his lips.
Job’s three friends come to comfort him
11 When Job’s three friends heard about all this disaster that had happened to him, they came, each one from his home—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamah. They agreed to come so they could console and comfort him. 12 When they looked up from a distance and didn’t recognize him, they wept loudly. Each one tore his garment and scattered dust above his head toward the sky. 13 They sat with Job on the ground seven days and seven nights, not speaking a word to him, for they saw that he was in excruciating pain.
Our new life in Christ
6 So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply? 2 Absolutely not! All of us died to sin. How can we still live in it? 3 Or don’t you know that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life. 5 If we were united together in a death like his, we will also be united together in a resurrection like his. 6 This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore, 7 because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power. 8 But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has power over him. 10 He died to sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his life. 11 In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
12 So then, don’t let sin rule your body, so that you do what it wants. 13 Don’t offer parts of your body to sin, to be used as weapons to do wrong. Instead, present yourselves to God as people who have been brought back to life from the dead, and offer all the parts of your body to God to be used as weapons to do right. 14 Sin will have no power over you, because you aren’t under Law but under grace.
Freedom from sin
15 So what? Should we sin because we aren’t under Law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, that you are slaves of the one whom you obey? That’s true whether you serve as slaves of sin, which leads to death, or as slaves of the kind of obedience that leads to righteousness. 17 But thank God that although you used to be slaves of sin, you gave wholehearted obedience to the teaching that was handed down to you, which provides a pattern. 18 Now that you have been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. 19 (I’m speaking with ordinary metaphors because of your limitations.) Once, you offered the parts of your body to be used as slaves to impurity and to lawless behavior that leads to still more lawless behavior. Now, you should present the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness, which makes your lives holy. 20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What consequences did you get from doing things that you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves to God, you have the consequence of a holy life, and the outcome is eternal life. 23 The wages that sin pays are death, but God’s gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible