M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Gifts offered for the dwelling
25 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Tell the Israelites to collect gift offerings for me. Receive my gift offerings from everyone who freely wants to give. 3 These are the gift offerings that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and copper; 4 blue, purple, and deep red yarns; fine linen; goats’ hair; 5 rams’ skins dyed red; beaded leather;[a] acacia wood; 6 oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense; 7 gemstones; and gems for setting in the priest’s vest[b] and chest piece. 8 They should make me a sanctuary so I can be present among them. 9 You should follow the blueprints that I will show you for the dwelling and for all its equipment.
Instructions for building the chest containing the covenant
10 Have them make an acacia-wood chest. It should be forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 11 Cover it with pure gold, inside and out, and make a gold molding all around it. 12 Cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. 14 Then put the poles into the rings on the chest’s sides and use them to carry the chest. 15 The poles should stay in the chest’s rings. They shouldn’t be taken out of them. 16 Put the covenant document that I will give you into the chest.
17 Then make a cover of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. 18 Make two winged heavenly creatures of hammered gold, one for each end of the cover. 19 Put one winged heavenly creature at one end and one winged heavenly creature at the other. Place the winged heavenly creatures at the cover’s two ends. 20 The heavenly creatures should have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. The winged heavenly creatures should face each other toward the cover’s center. 21 Put the gold cover on top of the chest and put the covenant document that I will give you inside the chest. 22 There I will meet with you. From there above the cover, from between the two winged heavenly creatures that are on top of the chest containing the covenant, I will deliver to you all that I command you concerning the Israelites.
Instructions for the table
23 Make an acacia-wood table, three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 24 Cover it with pure gold and make a gold molding all around it. 25 Make a frame around it that is four inches wide and a gold molding around the frame. 26 Make four gold rings for the table. Fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27 The rings that house the poles used for carrying the table should be close to the frame. 28 Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. The table should be carried with these poles. 29 Make its plates, dishes, jars, and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them of pure gold. 30 Set the bread of the presence on the table so it is always in front of me.
Instructions for the lampstand
31 Make a lampstand of pure hammered gold. The lampstand’s base, branches, cups, flowers, and petals should all be attached to it. 32 It should have six branches growing out from its sides, three branches on one side of the lampstand and three branches on the other side of the lampstand. 33 One branch will have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals, and the next branch will also have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. 34 In addition, on the lampstand itself there will be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its flower and petals. 35 There will be a flower attached under the first pair of branches, a flower attached under the next pair of branches, and a flower attached under the last pair of branches. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. 36 Their flowers and their branches will be permanently attached to it. The whole lampstand should be one piece of pure hammered gold. 37 Make its seven lamps and set up its lamps so that they direct their light in front of the lampstand. 38 You should also make its tongs and fire pans out of pure gold. 39 All these items should be made from pure gold weighing one kikkar. 40 See to it that you make them according to the blueprint for them that you were shown on the mountain.
Jesus leaves Judea
4 Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John (2 although Jesus’ disciples were baptizing, not Jesus himself). 3 Therefore, he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
Jesus in Samaria
4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food.
9 The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)
10 Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
“You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. 18 “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.”
19 The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. 24 God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.”[a]
27 Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.
31 In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples asked each other, “Has someone brought him food?”
34 Jesus said to them, “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then it’s time for harvest’? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. 36 Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. 37 This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. 38 I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.”
39 Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.”
Jesus arrives in Galilee
43 After two days Jesus left for Galilee. (44 Jesus himself had testified that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the festival, for they also had been at the festival.
Jesus’ second miraculous sign in Galilee
46 He returned to Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus was coming from Judea to Galilee, he went out to meet him and asked Jesus if he would come and heal his son, for his son was about to die. 48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you see miraculous signs and wonders, you won’t believe.”
49 The royal official said to him, “Lord, come before my son dies.”
50 Jesus replied, “Go home. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and set out for his home.
51 While he was on his way, his servants were already coming to meet him. They said, “Your son lives!” 52 So he asked them at what time his son had started to get better. And they said, “The fever left him yesterday at about one o’clock in the afternoon.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did while going from Judea to Galilee.
Purpose of Proverbs
1 The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel:
2 Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline,
to help one understand wise sayings.
3 They provide insightful instruction,
which is righteous, just, and full of integrity.
4 They make the naive mature,
the young knowledgeable and discreet.
5 The wise hear them and grow in wisdom;
those with understanding gain guidance.
6 They help one understand proverbs and difficult sayings,
the words of the wise, and their puzzles.
7 Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Avoid evil associations
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction;
don’t neglect your mother’s teaching;
9 for they are a graceful wreath on your head,
and beads for your neck.
10 My son, don’t let sinners entice you.
Don’t go
11 when they say:
“Come with us.
Let’s set up a deadly ambush.
Let’s secretly wait for the innocent just for fun.
12 Let’s swallow up the living like the grave[a]—
whole, like those who go down into the pit.
13 We’ll find all sorts of precious wealth;
we’ll fill our houses with plunder.
14 Throw in your lot with us;
we’ll share our money.”
15 My son, don’t go on the path with them;
keep your feet from their way,
16 because their feet run to evil;
they hurry to spill blood.
17 It’s useless to cast a net
in the sight of a bird.
18 But these sinners set up a deadly ambush;
they lie in wait for their own lives.
19 These are the ways of all who seek unjust gain;
it costs them their lives.
Listen to “Woman Wisdom”
20 Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
21 Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
22 “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
24 I invited you, but you rejected me;
I stretched out my hand to you,
but you paid no attention.
25 You ignored all my advice,
and you didn’t want me to correct you.
26 So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
27 when terror hits you like a hurricane,
and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me, but won’t find me
29 because they hated knowledge
and didn’t choose the fear of the Lord.
30 They didn’t want my advice;
they rejected all my corrections.
31 They will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
32 The immature will die because they turn away;
smugness will destroy fools.
33 Those who obey me will dwell securely,
untroubled by the dread of harm.”
13 This is the third time that I’m coming to visit you. Every matter is settled on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 When I was with you on my second visit, I already warned those who continued to sin. Now I’m repeating that warning to all the rest of you while I’m at a safe distance: if I come again, I won’t spare anyone. 3 Since you are demanding proof that Christ speaks through me, Christ isn’t weak in dealing with you but shows his power among you. 4 Certainly he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. Certainly we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power that is directed toward you.
5 Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. 6 But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. 7 We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail.
8 We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. 9 We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. 10 This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down.
Final greeting
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, good-bye. Put things in order, respond to my encouragement, be in harmony with each other, and live in peace—and the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Say hello to each other with a holy kiss.[a] All of God’s people say hello to you.
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible