M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Samson Goes to the City of Gaza
16 One day Samson went to Gaza. He saw a prostitute there. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 Someone told the people of Gaza, “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the place and hid and waited for him. Remaining very quiet, they stayed near the city gate all night. They said to each other, “When dawn comes, we will kill Samson!”
3 But Samson only stayed with the prostitute until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the doors and the two posts of the city gate. He tore them loose, along with the bar. Then he put them on his shoulders. And he carried them to the top of the hill that faces the city of Hebron!
Samson and Delilah
4 After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah. She lived in the Valley of Sorek. 5 The kings of the Philistines went to Delilah. They said, “Try to find out what makes Samson so strong. Try to trick him into telling you. Find out how we could capture him and tie him up. Then we will be able to control him. If you do this, each one of us will give you 28 pounds of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me why you are so strong. How could someone tie you up and take control of you?”
7 Samson answered, “Someone would have to tie me up. He would have to use seven new bowstrings that have not been dried. If he did that, I would be as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the kings of the Philistines brought seven new bowstrings to Delilah. They had not been dried. She tied Samson with them. 9 Some men were hiding in another room. Delilah said to Samson, “Samson, the Philistines are about to capture you!” But Samson easily broke the bowstrings. They broke like pieces of string burned in a fire. So the Philistines did not find out the secret of Samson’s strength.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You’ve made me look foolish. You lied to me. Please tell me. How could someone tie you up?”
11 Samson said, “They would have to tie me with new ropes that have not been used before. Then I would become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied Samson. Some men were hiding in another room. Then she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are about to capture you!” But he broke the ropes as easily as if they were threads.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have made me look foolish. You have lied to me. Tell me how someone could tie you up.”
He said, “Use the loom.[a] Weave the seven braids of my hair into the cloth. Tighten it with a pin. Then I will become as weak as any other man.”
Then Samson went to sleep. So Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the cloth. 14 Then she fastened it with a pin.
Again she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are about to capture you!” Samson woke up and pulled up the pin and the loom with the cloth.
15 Then Delilah said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t even trust me? This is the third time you have made me look foolish. You haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 She kept bothering Samson about his secret day after day. He became so tired of it he felt he was going to die!
17 So he told her everything. He said, “I have never had my hair cut. I have been set apart to God as a Nazirite since I was born. If someone shaved my head, then I would lose my strength. I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 Delilah saw that he had told her everything sincerely. So she sent a message to the kings of the Philistines. She said, “Come back one more time. He has told me everything.” So the kings of the Philistines came back to Delilah. They brought the silver they had promised to give her. 19 Delilah got Samson to go to sleep. He was lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she began to make him weak. And Samson’s strength left him.
20 Then she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are about to capture you!”
He woke up and thought, “I’ll get loose as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines captured Samson. They tore out his eyes. And they took him down to Gaza. They put bronze chains on him. They put him in prison and made him grind grain. 22 But his hair began to grow again.
Samson Dies
23 The kings of the Philistines gathered to celebrate. They were going to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us Samson our enemy.” 24 When they saw him, they praised their god. They said,
“This man destroyed our country.
He killed many of us!
But our god helped us
capture our enemy.”
25 The people were having a good time at the celebration. They said, “Bring Samson out to perform for us.” So they brought Samson from the prison. He performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars of the temple of Dagon. 26 A servant was holding his hand. Samson said to him, “Let me feel the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the kings of the Philistines were there. There were about 3,000 men and women on the roof.[b] They watched Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord. He said, “Lord God, remember me. God, please give me strength one more time. Let me pay these Philistines back for putting out my two eyes!” 29 Then Samson held the two center pillars of the temple. These two pillars supported the whole temple. He braced himself between the two pillars. His right hand was on one, and his left hand was on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with these Philistines!” Then he pushed as hard as he could. And the temple fell on the kings and all the people in it. So Samson killed more of the Philistines when he died than when he was alive.
31 Samson’s brothers and his whole family went down to get his body. They brought him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah, his father. That tomb is between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was a judge for the people of Israel for 20 years.
Paul in Macedonia and Greece
20 When the trouble stopped, Paul sent for the followers to come to him. He encouraged them and then told them good-bye. Paul left and went to the country of Macedonia. 2 He said many things to strengthen the followers in the different places on his way through Macedonia. Then he went to Southern Greece. 3 He stayed there three months. He was ready to sail for Syria, but some Jews were planning something against him. So Paul decided to go back through Macedonia to Syria. 4 Some men went with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from the city of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; and Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus, two men from Asia. 5 These men went first, ahead of Paul, and waited for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we met them in Troas five days later. We stayed there seven days.
Paul’s Last Visit to Troas
7 On the first day of the week,[a] we all met together to break bread.[b] Paul spoke to the group. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he kept on talking till midnight. 8 We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many lamps in the room. 9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul continued talking, Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep. Finally, he went sound asleep and fell to the ground from the third floor. When they picked him up, he was dead. 10 Paul went down to Eutychus. He knelt down and put his arms around him. He said, “Don’t worry. He is alive now.” 11 Then Paul went upstairs again, broke bread, and ate. He spoke to them a long time, until it was early morning. Then he left. 12 They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
The Trip from Troas to Miletus
13 We sailed for the city of Assos. We went first, ahead of Paul. He wanted to join us on the ship there. Paul planned it this way because he wanted to go to Assos by land. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene. 15 The next day, we sailed from Mitylene and came to a place near Chios. The next day, we sailed to Samos. A day later, we reached Miletus. 16 Paul had already decided not to stop at Ephesus. He did not want to stay too long in Asia. He was hurrying to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, if that was possible.
The Elders from Ephesus
17 Now from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 When they came to him, he said, “You know about my life from the first day I came to Asia. You know the way I lived all the time I was with you. 19 The Jews plotted against me. This troubled me very much. But you know that I always served the Lord. I never thought of myself first, and I often cried. 20 You know I preached to you, and I did not hold back anything that would help you. You know that I taught you in public and in your homes. 21 I warned both Jews and Greeks to change their lives and turn to God. And I told them all to believe in our Lord Jesus. 22 But now I must obey the Holy Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. 23 I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me. 24 I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.
25 “And now, I know that none of you will ever see me again. All the time I was with you, I was preaching the kingdom of God. 26 So today I can tell you one thing that I am sure of: If any of you should be lost, I am not responsible. 27 This is because I have told you everything God wants you to know. 28 Be careful for yourselves and for all the people God has given you. The Holy Spirit gave you the work of caring for this flock. You must be like shepherds to the church of God.[c] This is the church that God bought with his own death. 29 I know that after I leave, some men will come like wild wolves and try to destroy the flock. 30 Also, men from your own group will rise up and twist the truth. They will lead away followers after them. 31 So be careful! Always remember this: For three years I never stopped warning each of you. I taught you night and day. I often cried over you.
32 “Now I am putting you in the care of God and the message about his grace. That message is able to give you strength, and it will give you the blessings that God has for all his holy people. 33 When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. 34 You know that I always worked to take care of my own needs and the needs of those who were with me. 35 I showed you in all things that you should work as I did and help the weak. I taught you to remember the words of Jesus. He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37-38 And they all cried because Paul had said that they would never see him again. They put their arms around him and kissed him. Then they went with him to the ship.
A Letter to the Jews in Babylon
29 Jeremiah the prophet sent a letter to the people taken as captives to Babylon. He sent it to the elders who were among the captives, the priests and the prophets. And he sent it to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This letter was sent after all these people were taken away: Jehoiachin and the queen mother; the officers and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem; and the craftsmen and metalworkers.) 3 Zedekiah king of Judah had sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. So Jeremiah gave the letter to them to take to Babylon. This is what the letter said:
4 This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says to all those people he sent away from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food you grow. 6 Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons. Let your daughters be married so they may also have sons and daughters. Have many children and grow in number in Babylon. Don’t become fewer in number. 7 Also do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living. If there is peace in that city, you will have peace also.” 8 The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets and the people who do magic fool you. Don’t listen to their dreams. 9 They are prophesying lies. And they are saying that their message is from me. But I did not send them,” says the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for 70 years. After that time I will come to you who are living in Babylon. I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11 I say this because I know what I have planned for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me. And I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! 14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place. But I will gather you from all the nations. I will gather you from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.”
15 You might say, “The Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.”
16 But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now. And I’m also talking about all the other people still in Jerusalem. These are your relatives who did not go to Babylon with you. 17 The Lord of heaven’s armies says: “I will soon send war, hunger and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat. 18 I will chase them with war, hunger and terrible diseases. I will make them a hated people by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will speak evil of them. They will be shocked when they hear what has happened. And people will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go. 19 This is because those in Jerusalem have not listened to my message,” says the Lord. “I sent my message to them again and again. I used my servants, the prophets, to give my messages to them. But they did not listen,” says the Lord.
20 You captives, I forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon. So listen to the message from the Lord. 21 The Lord of heaven’s armies says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah. And he says it about Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been prophesying lies to you. They have said that their message is from me. But I will hand over those two prophets to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar will kill them in front of you who are captives in Babylon. 22 Because of this, all the captives from Judah will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab. The king of Babylon burned them with fire.’ 23 They have done evil things among the people of Israel. They are guilty of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have also spoken lies. And they said those lies were a message from me, the Lord. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done. I am a witness!” says the Lord.
24 Also give a message to Shemaiah. He is from the Nehelamite family. 25 The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters to all the people in Jerusalem. And you sent letters to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. You also sent letters to all the priests. You sent those letters in your own name. 26 You said to Zephaniah, ‘The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Temple of the Lord. You should arrest any madman who acts like a prophet. You should lock the hands and feet of that person between wooden blocks. And put iron rings around his neck. 27 Now Jeremiah from Anathoth is acting like a prophet. So why haven’t you arrested him? 28 Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You will be there for a long time. So build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow.’”
29 Zephaniah the priest read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: 31 “Send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has prophesied to you, but I did not send him. He has made you believe a lie. 32 Because Shemaiah has done that, this is what the Lord says: I will soon punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite. He will not see the good things I will do for my people, says the Lord. None of his family will be left alive among the people. This is because he has taught the people to turn against me.’”
Pilate Questions Jesus
15 Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the Jewish elders, the teachers of the law, and all the Jewish council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, I am.”
3 The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. 4 So Pilate asked Jesus another question. He said, “You can see that these people are accusing you of many things. Why don’t you answer?”
5 But Jesus still said nothing. Pilate was very surprised at this.
Pilate Tries to Free Jesus
6 Every year at the Passover time the governor would free one person from prison. He would free any person the people wanted him to free. 7 At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was a rebel and had committed murder during a riot. 8 The crowd came to Pilate and asked him to free a prisoner as he always did.
9 Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” 10 Pilate knew that the leading priests had given Jesus to him because they were jealous of Jesus. 11 And the leading priests had persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.
12 Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13 They shouted, “Kill him on a cross!”
14 Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted louder and louder, “Kill him on a cross!”
15 Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he freed Barabbas for them. And Pilate told the soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he gave Jesus to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.
16 Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium). They called all the other soldiers together. 17 They put a purple robe on Jesus. Then they used thorny branches to make a crown. They put it on his head. 18 Then they called out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They also spit on him. Then they made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. 20 After they finished making fun of him, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led Jesus out of the palace to be killed on a cross.
Jesus Is Killed on a Cross
21 There was a man from Cyrene coming from the fields to the city. The man was Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. 22 They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means the Place of the Skull.) 23 At Golgotha the soldiers tried to give Jesus wine to drink. This wine was mixed with myrrh. But he refused to drink it. 24 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. Then they divided his clothes among themselves. They threw lots to decide which clothes each soldier would get.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed Jesus to the cross. 26 There was a sign with the charge against Jesus written on it. The sign read: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27 They also put two robbers on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. 28 [And the Scripture came true that says, “They put him with criminals.”][a] 29 People walked by and insulted Jesus. They shook their heads, saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. 30 So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”
31 The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also there. They made fun of Jesus just as the other people did. They said among themselves, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. 32 If he is really the Christ, the king of Israel, then let him come down from the cross now. We will see this, and then we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being killed on the crosses beside Jesus also insulted him.
Jesus Dies
33 At noon the whole country became dark. This darkness lasted for three hours. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means, “My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”
35 Some of the people standing there heard this. They said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”
36 One man there ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with vinegar and tied it to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to drink from it. The man said, “We should wait now and see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”
37 Then Jesus cried in a loud voice and died.
38 When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple[b] split into two pieces. The tear started at the top and tore all the way to the bottom. 39 The army officer that was standing there before the cross saw what happened when Jesus died.[c] The officer said, “This man really was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were standing at a distance from the cross, watching. Some of these women were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. (James was her youngest son.) 41 These were the women who followed Jesus in Galilee and cared for him. Many other women were also there who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem.
Jesus Is Buried
42 This was Preparation Day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) It was becoming dark. 43 A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph was an important member of the Jewish council. He was one of the people who wanted the kingdom of God to come. 44 Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. Pilate called the army officer who guarded Jesus and asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 The officer told Pilate that he was dead. So Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46 Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in the linen. He put the body in a tomb that was cut in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone to cover the entrance. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the place where Jesus was laid.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.