M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
23 Don’t spread false rumors. Don’t plot with evil people to act as a lying witness. 2 Don’t take sides with important people to do wrong. When you act as a witness, don’t stretch the truth to favor important people. 3 But don’t privilege unimportant people in their lawsuits either.
4 When you happen to come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has wandered off, you should bring it back to them.
5 When you see a donkey that belongs to someone who hates you and it’s lying down under its load and you are inclined not to help set it free, you must help set it free.
6 Don’t undermine the justice that your poor deserve in their lawsuits. 7 Stay away from making a false charge. Don’t put an innocent person who is in the right to death, because I will not consider innocent those who do such evil. 8 Don’t take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
9 Don’t oppress an immigrant. You know what it’s like to be an immigrant, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt.
Sabbaths and festivals
10 For six years you should plant crops on your land and gather in its produce. 11 But in the seventh year you should leave it alone and undisturbed so that the poor among your people may eat. What they leave behind, the wild animals may eat. You should do the same with your vineyard and your olive trees.
12 Do your work in six days. But on the seventh day you should rest so that your ox and donkey may rest, and even the child of your female slave and the immigrant may be refreshed.
13 Be careful to obey everything that I have said to you. Don’t call on the names of other gods. Don’t even mention them.
14 You should observe a festival for me three times a year. 15 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, as I commanded you. Eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib,[a] because it was in that month that you came out of Egypt.
No one should appear before me empty-handed. 16 Observe the Harvest Festival for the early produce of your crops that you planted in the field, and the Gathering Festival at the end of the year, when you gather your crop of fruit from the field. 17 All your males should appear three times a year before the Lord God.
18 Don’t offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened. Don’t let the fat of my festival offering be left over until the morning.
19 Bring the best of your land’s early produce to the Lord your God’s temple.
Don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
God’s promise: messenger and land
20 I’m about to send a messenger in front of you to guard you on your way and to bring you to the place that I’ve made ready. 21 Pay attention to him and do as he says. Don’t rebel against him. He won’t forgive the things you do wrong because I[b] am with him. 22 But if you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, then I’ll be an enemy to your enemies and fight those fighting you.
23 When my messenger goes in front of you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I wipe them out, 24 don’t bow down to their gods, worship them, or do what they do. Instead, you should completely destroy them and smash their sacred stone pillars to bits. 25 If you worship the Lord your God, the Lord will bless your bread and your water. I’ll take sickness away from you, 26 and no woman will miscarry or be infertile in your land. I’ll let you live a full, long life. 27 My terrifying reputation will precede you, and I’ll throw all the people that you meet into a panic. I’ll make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I’ll send insect swarms in front of you and drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. 29 I won’t drive them out before you in a single year so the land won’t be abandoned and the wild animals won’t multiply around you. 30 I’ll drive them out before you little by little, until your numbers grow and you eventually possess the land. 31 I’ll set your borders from the Reed Sea[c] to the Philistine Sea and from the desert to the River. I’ll hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out before you. 32 Don’t make any covenants with them or their gods. 33 Don’t allow them to live in your land, or else they will lead you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a dangerous trap for you.
Wedding at Cana
2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They don’t have any wine.”
4 Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet.”
5 His mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby were six stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. 9 The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
The headwaiter called the groom 10 and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” 11 This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, Jesus and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.
Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. 15 He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. 16 He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written, Passion for your house consumes me.[a]
18 Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?”
19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.”
20 The Jewish leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21 But the temple Jesus was talking about was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he had said, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, many believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs that he did. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust himself to them because he knew all people. 25 He didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature, for he knew what human nature was.
Leviathan
41 [a] Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook,
restrain his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose,
pierce his jaw with a barb?
3 Will he beg you at length
or speak gentle words to you?
4 Will he make a pact with you
so that you will take him as a permanent slave?
5 Can you play with him like a bird,
put a leash on him for your girls?
6 Will merchants sell him;
will they divide him among traders?
7 Can you fill his hide with darts,
his head with a fishing spear?
8 Should you lay your hand on him,
you would never remember the battle.
9 Such hopes[b] would be delusional;
surely the sight of him makes one stumble.
10 Nobody is fierce enough to rouse him;
who then can stand before me?
11 Who opposes me that I must repay?
Everything under heaven is mine.
12 I’m not awed by his limbs,
his strength, and impressive form.
13 Who can remove his outer garment;
who can come with a bridle for him?
14 Who can open the doors of his mouth,
surrounded by frightening teeth?
15 His matching scales are his pride,
closely locked and sealed.
16 One touches another;
even air can’t come between them.
17 Each clings to its pair;
joined, they can’t be separated.
18 His sneezes emit flashes of light;
his eyes are like dawn’s rays.
19 Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth;
like fiery sparks they fly out.
20 Smoke pours from his nostrils
like a boiling pot over reeds.
21 His breath lights coals;
a flame shoots from his mouth.
22 Power resides in his neck;
violence dances before him.
23 The folds of his flesh stick together;
on him they are tough and unyielding.
24 His heart is solid like a rock,
hard like a lower millstone.
25 The divine beings dread his rising;
they withdraw before his thrashing.
26 The sword that touches him won’t prevail;
neither will the dart, spear, nor javelin.
27 He treats iron as straw,
bronze as rotten wood.
28 Arrows can’t make him flee;
slingstones he turns to straw.
29 He treats a club like straw;
he laughs at the lance’s rattle.
30 His abdomen is like jagged pottery shards;
its sharp edges leave a trail in the mud.
31 He causes the depths to churn like a boiling pot,
stirs up the sea like a pot of scented oils,
32 leaves a bright wake behind him;
the frothy deep seems white-haired.
33 None on earth can compare to him;
he is made to be without fear.
34 He looks on all the proud;
he is king over all proud beasts.
Confrontation of the super-apostles
11 I hope that you will put up with me while I act like a fool. Well, in fact, you are putting up with me! 2 I’m deeply concerned about you with the same concern that God has. As your father, I promised you in marriage to one husband. I promised to present you as an innocent virgin to Christ himself. 3 But I’m afraid that your minds might be seduced in the same way as the snake deceived Eve with his devious tricks. You might be unable to focus completely on a genuine and innocent commitment to Christ.
4 If a person comes and preaches some other Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different Spirit than the one you had received, or a different gospel than the one you embraced, you put up with it so easily! 5 I don’t consider myself as second-rate in any way compared to the “super-apostles.” 6 But even if I’m uneducated in public speaking, I’m not uneducated in knowledge. We have shown this to you in every way and in everything we have done. 7 Did I commit a sin by humbling myself to give you an advantage because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by taking a salary from them in order to serve you! 9 While I was with you, I didn’t burden any of you even though I needed things. The believers who came from Macedonia gave me everything I needed. I kept myself from being a financial drain on you in any way, and I will continue to keep myself from being a burden.
10 Since Christ’s truth is in me, I won’t stop telling the entire area of Greece that I’m proud of what I did. 11 Why? Is it because I don’t love you? God knows that I do! 12 But I’m going to continue to do what I’m doing. I want to contradict the claims of the people who want to be treated like they are the same as us because of what they brag about. 13 Such people are false apostles and dishonest workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 It is no great surprise then that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Paul defends himself
16 I repeat, no one should take me for a fool. But if you do, then allow me to be a fool so that I can brag like a fool for a bit. 17 I’m not saying what I’m saying because the Lord tells me to. I’m saying it like I’m a fool. I’m putting my confidence in this business of bragging. 18 Since so many people are bragging based on human standards, that is how I’m going to brag too. 19 Because you, who are so wise, are happy to put up with fools. 20 You put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone places themselves over you, or if someone hits you in the face. 21 I’m ashamed to say that we have been weak in comparison! But in whatever they challenge me, I challenge them (I’m speaking foolishly).
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ? I’m speaking like a crazy person. What I’ve done goes well beyond what they’ve done. I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been imprisoned much more often. I’ve been beaten more times than I can count. I’ve faced death many times. 24 I received the “forty lashes minus one” from the Jews five times. 25 I was beaten with rods three times. I was stoned once. I was shipwrecked three times. I spent a day and a night on the open sea. 26 I’ve been on many journeys. I faced dangers from rivers, robbers, my people, and Gentiles. I faced dangers in the city, in the desert, on the sea, and from false brothers and sisters. 27 I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes.
28 Besides all the other things I could mention, there’s my daily stress because I’m concerned about all the churches. 29 Who is weak without me being weak? Who is led astray without me being furious about it? 30 If it’s necessary to brag, I’ll brag about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the one who is blessed forever, knows that I’m not lying. 32 At Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to capture me, 33 but I got away from him by being lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible