M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Nations Remaining in the Land
3 Now these are the nations that the Lord left to test all those in Israel who had no experience of war in Canaan(A) 2 (it was only for successive generations of Israelites, to teach war to those who had no experience of it): 3 the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.(B) 4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord that he commanded their ancestors by Moses.(C) 5 So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 6 and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.(D)
Othniel
7 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God and serving the Baals and the Asherahs.(E) 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.(F) 10 The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the Lord gave King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.(G) 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ehud
12 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.(H) 13 In alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, he went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of palms.(I) 14 So the Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.
15 But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab.(J) 16 Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.(K) 18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent the people who carried the tribute on their way. 19 But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” So the king said,[a] “Silence!” and all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he rose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon’s[b] belly; 22 the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the dirt[c] came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule[d] and closed the doors of the roof chamber on him and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “He must be relieving himself[e] in the cool chamber.”(L) 25 So they waited until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on the floor.(M)
26 Ehud escaped while they delayed and passed beyond the sculptured stones and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, having him at their head. 28 He said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and allowed no one to cross over.(N) 29 At that time they killed about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; no one escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.(O)
Shamgar
31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred of the Philistines with an oxgoad. He, too, delivered Israel.(P)
Stephen’s Speech to the Council
7 Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen replied:
“Brothers[a] and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,(A) 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’(B) 4 Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living.(C) 5 He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.(D) 6 And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years.(E) 7 ‘But I will judge the people whom they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’(F) 8 Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham[b] became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did likewise to Jacob and Jacob to the twelve patriarchs.(G)
9 “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.(I) 11 Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food.(J) 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit.(K) 13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.(L) 14 Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all;(M) 15 so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors,(N) 16 and their bodies[c] were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(O)
17 “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied(P) 18 until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt craftily with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.(Q) 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 21 and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.(R)
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his kinfolk, the Israelites.(S) 24 When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses[d] aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.(T) 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.(U) 34 I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’(V)
35 “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.(W) 36 He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.(X) 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’(Y) 38 He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us.(Z) 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’(AA) 41 At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.(AB) 42 But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to me slain victims and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?(AC)
43 No; you took along the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God[e] directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(AD) 45 Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the peoples whom God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David,(AE) 46 who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.[f](AF) 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands;[g] as the prophet says,(AG)
49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?(AH)
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.(AI) 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.(AJ) 53 You are the ones who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”(AK)
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.[h] 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.(AL) 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”(AM) 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.(AN) 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”(AO) 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.[i](AP)
Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message
16 The word of the Lord came to me:(A) 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.(B) 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:(C) 4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall become like dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall become food for the birds of the air and for the wild animals of the earth.(D)
5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning or go to lament or bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, my steadfast love and mercy.(E) 6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them; there shall be no gashing, no shaving of the head for them.(F) 7 No one shall break bread[a] for the mourner, to offer comfort for the dead, nor shall anyone give them the cup of consolation to drink for their fathers or their mothers.(G) 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.(H) 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to banish from this place, in your days and before your eyes, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.(I)
10 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?”(J) 11 then you shall say to them: It is because your ancestors have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,(K) 12 and because you have behaved worse than your ancestors, for here you are, every one of you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me.(L) 13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.(M)
God Will Restore Israel
14 Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,”(N) 15 but “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors.(O)
16 I am now sending for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall catch them, and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.(P) 17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my presence, nor is their iniquity concealed from my sight.(Q) 18 And[b] I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.(R)
19 O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our ancestors have inherited nothing but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.(S)
20 Can mortals make for themselves gods?
Such are no gods!”(T)
21 “Therefore I am surely going to teach them, this time I am going to teach them my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”(U)
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them.(A) 3 Then some people[a] came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.(B) 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”(C) 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves, and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat, and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”(D)
Jesus Calls Levi
13 Jesus[b] went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.(E) 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.(F)
15 And as he sat at dinner[c] in Levi’s[d] house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting[e] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of[f] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[g] with tax collectors and sinners?”(G) 17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”(H)
The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people[h] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.(I)
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”[i]
Pronouncement about the Sabbath
23 One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.(J) 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food, 26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions?”(K) 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath,(L) 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.