M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Samson’s marriage to a Philistine woman

14 Samson traveled down to Timnah. While he was in Timnah, a Philistine woman caught his eye. ² He went back home and told his father and mother, “A Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye; now get her for me as a wife!”

³ But his father and mother replied to him, “Is there no woman among your own relatives or among all our people that you have to go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she’s the one I want!” ⁴ His father and mother didn’t know that the Lord was behind this. He was looking for an opening with the Philistines, because they were ruling over Israel at that time.

⁵ Then Samson traveled down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he came to the vineyards in Timnah, suddenly a lone young lion came roaring to meet him. ⁶ The Lord’s spirit rushed over him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he traveled down and talked with the woman; she was the one Samson wanted.

⁸ After a while, he came back again to marry her. He turned aside to look at the lion’s remains, and there was a swarm of bees with honey inside the lion’s skeleton. ⁹ He scooped the honey into his hands, eating it as he continued along. When he got to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it too. But he didn’t tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s skeleton.

¹⁰ His father traveled down to the woman, and Samson put on a feast there, as was the custom for young men. ¹¹ When the townspeople saw him, they selected thirty companions to be with him. ¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you can figure it out and tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I’ll give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes. ¹³ But if you can’t tell me the answer, then it’s you who have to give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.”

So they replied to him, “Tell your riddle; let’s hear it.”

¹⁴ He said to them,

For three days they couldn’t tell the answer to the riddle. ¹⁵ On the fourth^[a] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Seduce your husband so he’ll tell us the answer to the riddle, or else we’ll set fire to you and your household. Were we invited here just to become poor?”

¹⁶ So Samson’s wife cried on his shoulder and said, “You hate me! You don’t love me! You told a riddle to my people but didn’t tell me the answer.”

He replied to her, “Look, I haven’t even told the answer to my father and mother. Why should I tell it to you?” ¹⁷ But she cried on his shoulder for the rest of the seven days of the feast. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her the answer, for she had nagged him. And she told her people the answer to the riddle. ¹⁸ So on the seventh day, before the sun set, the townspeople said to him,

He replied to them,

¹⁹ Then the Lord’s spirit rushed over him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty of their men, stripped them of their gear, and gave the sets of clothes to the ones who had told the answer to the riddle. In anger, he went back up to his father’s household. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife married one of those who had been his companions.

Paul in Corinth

18 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus. He had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul visited with them. ³ Because they practiced the same trade, he stayed and worked with them. They all worked with leather. ⁴ Every Sabbath he interacted with people in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks. ⁵ Once Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ When they opposed and slandered him, he shook the dust from his clothes in protest and said to them, “You are responsible for your own fates! I’m innocent! From now on I’ll go to the Gentiles!” ⁷ He left the synagogue and went next door to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile God-worshipper. ⁸ Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household came to believe in the Lord. Many Corinthians believed and were baptized after listening to Paul.

⁹ One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Don’t be afraid. Continue speaking. Don’t be silent. ¹⁰ I’m with you and no one who attacks you will harm you, for I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ So he stayed there for eighteen months, teaching God’s word among them.

¹² Now when Gallio was the governor of the province of Achaia, the Jews united in their opposition against Paul and brought him before the court. ¹³ “This man is persuading others to worship God unlawfully,” they declared.

¹⁴ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If there had been some sort of injury or criminal behavior, I would have reason to accept your complaint. ¹⁵ However, since these are squabbles about a message, names, and your own Law, deal with them yourselves. I have no desire to sit in judgment over such things.” ¹⁶ He expelled them from the court, ¹⁷ but everyone seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and gave him a beating in the presence of the governor. None of this mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸ After Paul stayed in Corinth for some time, he said good-bye to the brothers and sisters. At the Corinthian seaport of Cenchreae he had his head shaved, since he had made a solemn promise. Then, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila, he sailed away to Syria. ¹⁹ After they arrived in Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila and entered the synagogue and interacted with the Jews. ²⁰ They asked him to stay longer, but he declined. ²¹ As he said farewell to them, though, he added, “God willing, I will return.” Then he sailed off from Ephesus. ²² He arrived in Caesarea, went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

²³ After some time there he left and traveled from place to place in the region of Galatia and the district of Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Apollos and his ministry

²⁴ Meanwhile, a certain Jew named Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria and was well-educated and effective in his use of the scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and spoke as one stirred up by the Spirit. He taught accurately the things about Jesus, even though he was aware only of the baptism John proclaimed and practiced. ²⁶ He began speaking with confidence in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they received him into their circle of friends and explained to him God’s way more accurately. ²⁷ When he wanted to travel to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples so they would open their homes to him. Once he arrived, he was of great help to those who had come to believe through grace. ²⁸ He would vigorously defeat Jewish arguments in public debate, using the scriptures to prove that Jesus was the Christ.

Submit to the king of Babylon and live

27 Early in the rule of Judah’s King Zedekiah,^[a] Josiah’s son, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² This is what the Lord said to me: Make a yoke of straps and bars and wear it on your neck. ³ Then send word^[b] to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their representatives who have come to Jerusalem to Judah’s King Zedekiah. ⁴ Tell them to say to their masters: The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Say this to your masters:

⁵ By my great power and outstretched arm, I have made the earth and the people and animals that are on it. I can give it to anyone I please. ⁶ Now I hand over all these countries to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I even give him the wild animals as subjects. ⁷ All nations will serve him, his son and grandson, until the time for his land arrives; then many nations and great kings will conquer him.

⁸ As for the nation or country that won’t serve Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and won’t put its neck under his yoke, I will punish it with sword, famine, and disease until I have destroyed it by his hand, declares the Lord. ⁹ As for you, don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers,^[c] mediums, or your sorcerers who say to you, “Don’t serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ They are lying to you, and their lies will lead to banishment from your land. I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹ But any nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let stay in its land to till it and live on it, declares the Lord.

¹² I delivered the same message to Judah’s King Zedekiah: If you want to live, put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people. ¹³ Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and disease, as the Lord pronounced against any nation that won’t serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Pay no attention to the words of the prophets who encourage you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are lying to you. ¹⁵ I haven’t sent these prophets, declares the Lord; they are prophesying falsely in my name. If you listen to them, I will drive you out, and you will perish, both you and your prophets!

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and all this people: This is what the Lord says: Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you, “In a short while, the temple equipment will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you. ¹⁷ Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Otherwise, this city will be reduced to ruin. ¹⁸ If they are really prophets and have the Lord’s word, let them intercede with the Lord of heavenly forces not to let the equipment left in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace of Judah and Jerusalem be carted off to Babylon.

¹⁹ This is what the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims about the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the equipment left in this city, ²⁰ which Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t plunder when he deported Jeconiah the son of Judah’s King Jehoiakim from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the officials of Judah and Jerusalem. ²¹ Yes, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims about the equipment that is left in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace in Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²² They will be carted off to Babylon where they will remain until the day I come looking for them, declares the Lord; then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.

The temple’s fate

13 As Jesus left the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What awesome stones and buildings!”

² Jesus responded, “Do you see these enormous buildings? Not even one stone will be left upon another. All will be demolished.”

³ Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen? What sign will show that all these things are about to come to an end?”

Keep watch!

⁵ Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many people will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people. ⁷ When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. ⁸ Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end.

⁹ “Watch out for yourselves. People will hand you over to the councils. You will be beaten in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me so that you can testify before them. ¹⁰ First, the good news must be proclaimed to all the nations. ¹¹ When they haul you in and hand you over, don’t worry ahead of time about what to answer or say. Instead, say whatever is given to you at that moment, for you aren’t doing the speaking but the Holy Spirit is. ¹² Brothers and sisters will hand each other over to death. A father will turn in his children. Children will rise up against their parents and have them executed. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because of my name. But whoever stands firm until the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “When you see the disgusting and destructive thing standing where it shouldn’t be (the reader should understand this), then those in Judea must escape to the mountains. ¹⁵ Those on the roof shouldn’t come down or enter their houses to grab anything. ¹⁶ Those in the field shouldn’t come back to grab their clothes. ¹⁷ How terrible it will be at that time for women who are pregnant and for women who are nursing their children. ¹⁸ Pray that it doesn’t happen in winter. ¹⁹ In those days there will be great suffering such as the world has never before seen and will never again see. ²⁰ If the Lord hadn’t shortened that time, no one would be rescued. But for the sake of the chosen ones, the ones whom God chose, he has cut short the time.

²¹ “Then if someone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Christ,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. ²² False christs and false prophets will appear, and they will offer signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, those whom God has chosen. ²³ But you, watch out! I’ve told you everything ahead of time.

²⁴ “In those days, after the suffering of that time, the sun will become dark, and the moon won’t give its light. ²⁵ The stars will fall from the sky, and the planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁶ Then they will see the Human One^[a] coming in the clouds with great power and splendor. ²⁷ Then he will send the angels and gather together his chosen people from the four corners of the earth, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

A lesson from the fig tree

²⁸ “Learn this parable from the fig tree. After its branch becomes tender and it sprouts new leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that he’s near, at the door. ³⁰ I assure you that this generation won’t pass away until all these things happen. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.

³² “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the angels in heaven and not the Son. Only the Father knows. ³³ Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming. ³⁴ It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert. ³⁵ Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come,whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. ³⁶ Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to all: Stay alert!”