M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

8 The men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “What kind of thing was that which you did to us by not inviting us when you went to fight against Midian?” They contended with him vigorously.

² Gideon said to them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer? ³ It was into your hands that God delivered Oreb and Ze’eb, the leaders of Midian. So what have I been able to accomplish compared to you?” Their anger against him died down when he said this.

⁴ Gideon then went to the Jordan and crossed over with the three hundred men who were with him. They were exhausted but kept pursuing the enemy.

⁵ Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the troops who are following right behind me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.”

⁶ But the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the cut-off hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your army?”

⁷ Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the Lord gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with thorns from the wilderness and with briars.”

⁸ Then Gideon went up from there to Penuel^[a] and made the same request, and the men of Penuel gave him the same answer that the men of Succoth had. ⁹ So Gideon said to the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”

¹⁰ In the meantime Zebah and Zalmunna had arrived in Karkor. Their armies were with them, but only about fifteen thousand men were left from all the forces of the peoples from the East. One hundred twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of the nomads who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He struck the camp when it was not on alert. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but Gideon pursued them and captured Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian. This made the entire army tremble.

¹³ When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres, ¹⁴ he captured a young man from Succoth. Gideon questioned the young man, who wrote down for him the names of the leaders of Succoth and of the town’s elders, seventy-seven men in all.

¹⁵ Gideon then went to the men of Succoth and said, “Look! Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands? Why then would we give bread to your exhausted men?’”

¹⁶ Then Gideon took the elders of the town, and he taught the men of Succoth a lesson with thorns from the wilderness and with briars. ¹⁷ He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What about^[b] the men you killed at Tabor?”

They said, “They were just like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”

¹⁹ “They were my brothers,” Gideon answered, “the sons of my mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

²⁰ Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them right now.” But the young man did not draw his sword because he was afraid, because he was still just a youth.

²¹ Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You get up and strike us down yourself, for a man’s strength shows what kind of man he is.” Gideon stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he collected the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and also your grandson—because you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. Only the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ But Gideon also said to them, “Let me ask you for one thing: that each man give me an earring from his plunder.” (The enemy wore gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵ They answered, “All right, we will give them to you.” Then they spread out a garment, and each man among them threw in an earring from his plunder. ²⁶ The weight of the gold earrings that he had requested was seventeen hundred shekels.^[c] This was in addition to the crescents, the pendants, and the purple clothing that had been worn by the kings of Midian, and the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. ²⁷ Gideon made the gold into a sacred breastplate.^[d] He set it up in his town of Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

²⁸ In this way Midian was humbled before the people of Israel, and they did not raise their heads again.

The land was quiet for forty years during the days of Gideon.

²⁹ Jerubbaal son of Joash returned and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons, who were his direct descendants from his own body, because he had many wives. ³¹ Also his concubine at Shechem bore him a son, and he named him Abimelek.^[e]

³² Finally Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and he was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

³³ After Gideon died, the people of Israel again prostituted themselves to the Baals, and they set up Baal of the Covenant as their god. ³⁴ The people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who saved them from the hand of all their enemies around them. ³⁵ They were not loyal to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

An Angel Frees Peter

12 At about that time, King Herod^[a] laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter during the days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴ After arresting Peter, Herod put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people for trial after the Passover. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church earnestly offered up prayer to God for him.

⁶ The very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains, while sentries were in front of the door, guarding the prison.

⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood near him, and a light shone in the cell. The angel woke Peter up by striking him on the side, saying, “Quick, get up!” The chains fell from his wrists.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” So he did so. Then the angel told him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” ⁹ Peter went out, following the angel, but he did not realize that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed through the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city. It opened all by itself for them. They went outside, walked down one street, and immediately the angel left him.

¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who is also called Mark. Many had gathered there and were praying. ¹³ When Peter knocked at the entrance gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ She recognized Peter’s voice and was so overjoyed, she did not open the gate. Instead she ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵ They told her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept on insisting it was so, and they started saying, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶ Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he left and went on to another place.

¹⁸ At daybreak, there was no small commotion among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ After Herod searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and ordered that they be executed.

Herod’s Death

Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. ²⁰ Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They joined together and approached him after they had won over Blastus, the king’s personal assistant. They asked for peace because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

²¹ On the appointed day Herod, dressed in his royal robes and seated on his throne, delivered a public address to them. ²² The crowd shouted, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give the glory to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of God continued to grow and increase.

²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul had completed their relief mission in Jerusalem, they returned^[b] and brought along John, who is called Mark.

The Lord Rejects King Zedekiah

21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malkijah along with Zephaniah the priest, the son of Ma’aseiah,^[a] to speak to Jeremiah. They said, ² “Inquire of the Lord for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform some of his wonders on our behalf as he did in the past, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

³ But Jeremiah answered them:

Commandments and Traditions

7 The Pharisees and some of the experts in the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. ² They saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands. ³ In fact, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they scrub their hands with a fist,^[a] holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.^[b] And there are many other traditions they adhere to, such as the washing^[c] of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.^{[d] 5} The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead they eat bread with unclean hands.”

⁶ He answered them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written:

⁸ “You abandon God’s commandment but hold to human tradition like the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”^{[f] 9} He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside God’s commandment to keep^[g] your own tradition. ¹⁰ For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[h] and ‘Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[i] 11} But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you might have received from me is corban”’^[j] (which means an offering), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ So you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. You do many things like that.”

¹⁴ He called the crowd to him again and said, “Everyone, listen to me and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a man that can make him unclean by going into him. But the things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean. ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”^[k]

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered a house, his disciples asked him about this illustration. ¹⁸ He said, “Are you lacking in understanding too? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unclean? ¹⁹ For it does not enter his heart but goes into his stomach and goes out of him into the latrine—in this way all foods are purified.”^[l]

²⁰ He continued, “What comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean. ²¹ In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”

The Faith of a Gentile Woman

²⁴ Jesus got up and went from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not remain hidden. ²⁵ Instead, when a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, she immediately came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ This woman was a Greek, of Syro-Phoenician origin. She asked him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to their little dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she answered, “their little dogs under the table also eat some of the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he said to her, “Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home, found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

³¹ Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.

“Ephphatha! Be Opened!”

³² They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) ³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. ³⁷ They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”