M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Three Tribes Go Home

22 Then Joshua called a meeting of all the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. ² He said to them, “You have obeyed everything Moses told you to do. He was a servant of the Lord. And also, you have obeyed all my commands. ³ All this time you have supported all the other Israelites. You have been careful to obey all the commands the Lord your God gave you. ⁴ The Lord your God promised to give the Israelites peace. Now he has kept his promise. Now you may go back to your homes. You may go to the land that Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave you. It is the land on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁵ But continue to obey the teachings Moses gave you. That law is to love the Lord your God and obey his commands. Continue to follow him and serve him the very best you can.”

⁶ Then Joshua said good-bye to them, and they left. They went away to their homes. ⁷ Moses had given the land of Bashan to the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan River to the western half-tribe of Manasseh. And he sent them to their homes. He blessed them. ⁸ He said, “Go back to your homes and your riches. You have many animals, silver, gold, bronze and iron. And you have many beautiful clothes. Also, you have taken many things from your enemies. You should divide these among yourselves.”

⁹ So the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh left the other Israelites. They left Shiloh in Canaan and went back towards Gilead. This was their own land. Moses gave it to them as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁰ The people of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh traveled to Geliloth. This was near the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. There they built a beautiful altar. ¹¹ But the other Israelites still at Shiloh heard about the altar these three tribes had built. They heard that the altar was at the border of Canaan at Geliloth. It was near the Jordan River on Israel’s side. ¹² All the Israelites became very angry at these three tribes. They met together and decided to fight them.

¹³ So the Israelites sent some men to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. The leader of these men was Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest. ¹⁴ They also sent one leader of each of the ten tribes at Shiloh. Each of these men was a leader of his family group of Israelites.

¹⁵ So these men went to Gilead. They went to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. The men said to them: ¹⁶ “All the Israelites ask you: ‘Why did you turn against the God of Israel? Why did you build an altar for yourselves? You know that this is against God’s law. ¹⁷ Remember what happened at Peor? We still suffer today because of that sin. Because of it, God caused many of the Israelites to become very sick. ¹⁸ And now are you doing the same thing? Are you turning against the Lord? Will you refuse to follow the Lord?

“‘If you don’t stop what you’re doing, the Lord will be angry with everyone in Israel. ¹⁹ Your land may not be a good enough place to worship. If not, come over into our land. The Lord’s Tent is in our land. You may have some of our land and live there. But don’t turn against the Lord by building another altar. We already have the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰ Remember Achan son of Zerah. He refused to obey the command about what must be completely destroyed. That one man broke God’s law, but all the Israelites were punished. Achan died because of his sin. But many other people also died.’”

²¹ The people from Reuben, Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh answered them. They said: ²² “The Lord is our God! Again we say that the Lord is our God! God knows why we did this. We want you to know also. You can judge what we did. If you believe we have done something wrong, you may kill us. ²³ If we broke God’s law, we ask the Lord himself to punish us. Do you think we built this altar to offer burnt offerings? And did we build it to use for offerings of grain and fellowship?

²⁴ “No! We did not build it for that reason. We feared that some day your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord, the God of Israel. ²⁵ God gave you land on the other side of the Jordan River. It separates us from you people of Reuben and Gad. You cannot worship the Lord.’ So we feared that your children might make our children stop worshiping the Lord.

²⁶ “So we decided to build this altar. But we did not plan to use it for burning sacrifices and making offerings. ²⁷ It was really to show our people that we worship the same God as you. This altar is proof to you and us. And it will prove to all our children who will come after us that we worship the Lord. We give our whole burnt offerings, grain and fellowship offerings to the Lord. This was to keep your children from saying that our children could not worship the Lord.

²⁸ “In the future your children might say that we do not belong to Israel. Then our children could say, ‘Look! Our fathers who lived before us made an altar. It is exactly like the Lord’s altar. We do not use it for sacrifices. This altar shows that we are part of Israel.’

²⁹ “Truly, we don’t want to be against the Lord. We don’t want to stop following him. We know the only true altar is the one in front of the Holy Tent. It belongs to the Lord our God.”

³⁰ Phinehas the priest and the ten leaders heard these things. They listened to the people of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. And they were pleased. ³¹ So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, spoke. He said, “Now we know the Lord is with us. And we know you didn’t turn against him. We’re happy that the Israelites will not be punished by the Lord.”

³² Then Phinehas and the leaders went home. They left the people of Reuben and Gad in Gilead. And they went back to Canaan. There they told the Israelites what had happened. ³³ They were also pleased. They were happy and thanked God. And they decided not to fight against the people of Reuben and Gad. They decided not to destroy those lands.

³⁴ And the people of Reuben and Gad gave the altar a name. They called it Proof that We Believe that the Lord Is God.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a noise came from heaven. It sounded like a strong wind blowing. This noise filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw something that looked like flames of fire. The flames were separated and stood over each person there. ⁴ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak different languages. The Holy Spirit was giving them the power to speak these languages.

⁵ There were some religious Jews staying in Jerusalem who were from every country in the world. ⁶ When they heard this noise, a crowd came together. They were all surprised, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ⁷ They were completely amazed at this. They said, “Look! Aren’t all these men that we hear speaking from Galilee?^{[a] 8} But each of us hears them in his own language. How is this possible? We are from different places: ⁹ Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the areas of Libya near Cyrene, Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and those who had become Jews), Crete and Arabia. But we hear these men telling in our own languages about the great things God has done!” ¹² They were all amazed and confused. They asked each other, “What does this mean?”

¹³ But others were making fun of them, saying, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Speaks to the People

¹⁴ But Peter stood up with the 11 apostles. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd: “My fellow Jews, and all of you who are in Jerusalem, listen to me. Pay attention to what I have to say. ¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you think; it is only nine o’clock in the morning! ¹⁶ But Joel the prophet wrote about what is happening here today:

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus from Nazareth was a very special man. God clearly showed this to you by the miracles, wonders, and signs God did through him. You all know this, because it happened right here among you. ²³ Jesus was given to you, and you killed him. With the help of evil men you nailed him to a cross. But God knew all this would happen. This was God’s plan which he had made long ago. ²⁴ God raised Jesus from death. God set him free from the pain of death. Death could not hold him. ²⁵ For David said this about him:

²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you truly about David, our ancestor. He died and was buried. His grave is still here with us today. ³⁰ David was a prophet and knew what God had said. God had promised David that he would make a person from David’s family a king just as he was.^{[b] 31} David knew this before it happened. That is why he said:

David was talking about the Christ rising from death. ³² So Jesus is the One who God raised from death! And we are all witnesses to this. ³³ Jesus was lifted up to heaven and is now at God’s right side. The Father has given the Holy Spirit to Jesus as he promised. So now Jesus has poured out that Spirit. This is what you see and hear. ³⁴ David was not the one who was lifted up to heaven. But he said:

³⁶ “So, all the people of Israel should know this truly: God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. He is the man you nailed to the cross!”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were sick at heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter said to them, “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for all who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself.”

⁴⁰ Peter warned them with many other words. He begged them, “Save yourselves from the evil of today’s people!” ⁴¹ Then those people who accepted what Peter said were baptized. About 3,000 people were added to the number of believers that day. ⁴² They spent their time learning the apostles’ teaching. And they continued to share, to break bread,^[d] and to pray together.

The Believers Share

⁴³ The apostles were doing many miracles and signs. And everyone felt great respect for God. ⁴⁴ All the believers stayed together. They shared everything. ⁴⁵ They sold their land and the things they owned. Then they divided the money and gave it to those people who needed it. ⁴⁶ The believers met together in the Temple every day. They all had the same purpose. They broke bread in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. ⁴⁷ They praised God, and all the people liked them. More and more people were being saved every day; the Lord was adding those people to the group of believers.

The Agreement Is Broken

11 These are the words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah: ² “Listen to the words of this agreement. Tell the people of Judah about it. Tell it to those living in Jerusalem. ³ Tell them this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Trouble will come to anyone who does not obey this agreement. ⁴ I am talking about the agreement I made with your ancestors. I made it with them when I brought them out of Egypt. Egypt was like a furnace for melting iron!’ I told them, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you. If you do this, you will be my people. And I will be your God. ⁵ Then I will keep the promise I made to your ancestors. I promised to give them a land where much food grows.’ And you are living in that country today!”

I, Jeremiah, answered, “Amen, Lord.”

⁶ The Lord said this to me: “Prophesy this message in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the words of this agreement. Then obey them! ⁷ I warned your ancestors to obey me when I brought them out of Egypt. I have warned them again and again to this very day! ⁸ But your ancestors did not listen to me. They were stubborn and did what their own evil hearts wanted. The agreement says curses will come upon them if they don’t obey it. So I made all those curses come upon them! I commanded them to obey the agreement, but they did not.’”

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “I know the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem have made secret plans. ¹⁰ They are doing the same sins their ancestors did! Their ancestors refused to listen to my message. They followed and worshiped other gods. The families of Israel and Judah have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. ¹¹ So this is what the Lord says: ‘I will soon bring a disaster on the people of Judah. They will not be able to escape! And they will cry to me for help. But I will not listen to them! ¹² The people living in the towns of Judah and the city of Jerusalem will pray to their idols for help. They will burn incense to their idols. But those idols will not be able to help when that terrible time comes! ¹³ The people of Judah have as many idols as there are towns in Judah. They have built many altars for worshiping that shameful god Baal. There are as many altars as there are streets in Jerusalem!’

¹⁴ “As for you, Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people. Don’t cry out for them or ask anything for them. I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.

¹⁷ The Lord of heaven’s armies planted you. And he has announced that disaster will come to you. This is because the families of Israel and Judah have done evil things. They have made him angry by offering sacrifices to Baal.

Evil Plans Against Jeremiah

¹⁸ The Lord showed me that men were making plans against me. The Lord showed me what they were doing. So I knew they were against me. ¹⁹ Before this, I was like a gentle lamb waiting to be butchered. I did not know they had made plans against me. They said:

²¹ So the Lord speaks about the men from Anathoth who were planning to kill Jeremiah. Those men say, “Don’t prophesy in the name of the Lord. If you do, we will kill you!” ²² So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: “I will soon punish the men from Anathoth. Their young men will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger. ²³ No one from the city of Anathoth will be left alive. I will cause a disaster to happen to them that year.”

A Story About Ten Girls

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten girls who went to wait for the bridegroom. They took their lamps with them. ² Five of the girls were foolish and five were wise. ³ The five foolish girls took their lamps, but they did not take more oil for the lamps to burn. ⁴ The wise girls took their lamps and more oil in jars. ⁵ The bridegroom was very late. All the girls became sleepy and went to sleep.

⁶ “At midnight someone cried out, ‘The bridegroom is coming! Come and meet him!’ ⁷ Then all the girls woke up and got their lamps ready. ⁸ But the foolish girls said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ The wise girls answered, ‘No! The oil we have might not be enough for all of us. Go to the people who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “So the five foolish girls went to buy oil. While they were gone, the bridegroom came. The girls who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Then the door was closed and locked.

¹¹ “Later the others came back. They called, ‘Sir, sir, open the door to let us in.’ ¹² But the bridegroom answered, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

¹³ “So always be ready. You don’t know the day or the time the Son of Man will come.

A Story About Three Servants

¹⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was going to another place for a visit. Before he left, he talked with his servants. The man told them to take care of his things while he was gone. ¹⁵ He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. He gave one servant five bags of money. He gave another servant two bags of money. And he gave a third servant one bag of money. Then the man left. ¹⁶ The servant who got five bags went quickly to invest the money. The five bags of money earned five more. ¹⁷ It was the same with the servant who had two bags of money. He invested the money and earned two more. ¹⁸ But the servant who got one bag of money went out and dug a hole in the ground. Then he hid his master’s money in the hole.

¹⁹ “After a long time the master came home. He asked the servants what they did with his money. ²⁰ The servant who got five bags of money brought five more bags to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of money. So I used your five bags to earn five more.’ ²¹ The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good servant who can be trusted. You did well with small things. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.’

²² “Then the servant who got two bags of money came to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of money to care for. So I used your two bags to earn two more.’ ²³ The master answered, ‘You did well. You are a good servant who can be trusted. You did well with small things. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.’

²⁴ “Then the servant who got one bag of money came to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, I knew that you were a hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not sow any seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid. I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is the bag of money you gave me.’ ²⁶ The master answered, ‘You are a bad and lazy servant! You say you knew that I harvest things I did not plant, and that I gather crops where I did not sow any seed? ²⁷ So you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back with interest.’

²⁸ “So the master told his other servants, ‘Take the bag of money from that servant and give it to the servant who has ten bags of money. ²⁹ Everyone who uses what he has will get more. He will have much more than he needs. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him.’ ³⁰ Then the master said, ‘Throw that useless servant outside, into the darkness! There people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.’

The King Will Judge All People

³¹ “The Son of Man will come again in his great glory. All his angels will come with him. He will be King and sit on his great throne. ³² All the people of the world will be gathered before him. Then he will separate them into two groups as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ The Son of Man will put the sheep, the good people, on his right and the goats, the bad people, on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to the good people on his right, ‘Come. My Father has given you his blessing. Come and receive the kingdom God has prepared for you since the world was made. ³⁵ I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house. ³⁶ I was without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

³⁷ “Then the good people will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you alone and away from home and invite you into our house? When did we see you without clothes and give you something to wear? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and care for you?’

⁴⁰ “Then the King will answer, ‘I tell you the truth. Anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then the King will say to those on his left, ‘Go away from me. God has said that you will be punished. Go into the fire that burns forever. That fire was prepared for the devil and his helpers. ⁴² I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. ⁴³ I was alone and away from home, and you did not invite me into your house. I was without clothes, and you gave me nothing to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

⁴⁴ “Then those people will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty? When did we see you alone and away from home? Or when did we see you without clothes or sick or in prison? When did we see these things and not help you?’

⁴⁵ “Then the King will answer, ‘I tell you the truth. Anything you refused to do for any of my people here, you refused to do for me.’

⁴⁶ “These people will go off to be punished forever. But the good people will go to live forever.”