M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 Now there was a rich man living in Bethlehem whose name was Boaz. Boaz was one of Naomi’s close relatives from Elimelech’s family.
2 One day Ruth, the woman from Moab, said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields. Maybe someone will be kind and let me gather the grain he leaves in his field.”
Naomi said, “Go, my daughter.”
3 So Ruth went to the fields. She followed the workers who were cutting the grain. And she gathered the grain that they had left. It just so happened that the field belonged to Boaz. He was a close relative from Elimelech’s family.
4 When Boaz came from Bethlehem, he spoke to his workers: “The Lord be with you!”
And the workers answered, “May the Lord bless you!”
5 Then Boaz spoke to his servant who was in charge of the workers. He asked, “Whose girl is that?”
6 The servant answered, “She is the Moabite woman who came with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me follow the workers and gather the grain that they leave on the ground.’ She came and has remained here. From morning until just now, she has stopped only a few moments to rest in the shelter.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay here in my field to gather grain for yourself. Do not go to any other person’s field. Continue following behind my women workers. 9 Watch to see which fields they go to and follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink. Take water from the water jugs that the servants have filled.”
10 Then Ruth bowed low with her face to the ground. She said to Boaz, “I am a stranger. Why have you been so kind to notice me?”
11 Boaz answered her, “I know about all the help you have given to Naomi, your mother-in-law. You helped her even after your husband died. You left your father and mother and your own country. You came to this nation where you did not know anyone. 12 The Lord will reward you for all you have done. You will be paid in full by the Lord, the God of Israel. You have come to him as a little bird finds shelter under the wings of its mother.”
13 Then Ruth said, “You are very kind to me, sir. You have said kind words to me, your servant. You have given me hope. And I am not even good enough to be one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz told Ruth, “Come here! Eat some of our bread. Here, dip your bread in our vinegar.”
So Ruth sat down with the workers. Boaz gave her some roasted grain. Ruth ate until she was full, and there was some food left over. 15 Ruth rose and went back to work. Then Boaz told his servants, “Let her gather even around the bundles of grain. Don’t tell her to go away. 16 Drop some full heads of grain for her. Let her gather that grain, and don’t tell her to stop.”
17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the grain from the chaff. There was about one-half bushel of barley. 18 Ruth carried the grain into town. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. Ruth also gave her the food that was left over from lunch.
19 Naomi asked her, “Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you!”
Ruth told her about whose field she had worked in. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”
20 Naomi told her daughter-in-law, “The Lord bless him! The Lord still continues to be kind to all people—the living and the dead!” Then Naomi told Ruth, “Boaz is one of our close relatives,[a] one who will take care of us.”
21 Then Ruth said, “Boaz also told me to come back and continue working. He said, ‘Keep close by my servants until they have finished the harvest.’”
22 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good for you to continue working with his women servants. If you work in another field, someone might hurt you.” 23 So Ruth continued working closely with the women servants of Boaz. She gathered grain until the barley harvest was finished. She also worked there through the end of the wheat harvest. And Ruth continued to live with Naomi, her mother-in-law.
Paul Sails for Rome
27 It was decided that we would sail for Italy. An officer named Julius, who served in the Emperor’s[a] army, guarded Paul and some other prisoners. 2 We got on a ship and left. The ship was from the city of Adramyttium and was about to sail to different ports in Asia. Aristarchus, a man from the city of Thessalonica in Macedonia, went with us. 3 The next day we came to Sidon. Julius was very good to Paul. He gave Paul freedom to go visit his friends, who took care of his needs. 4 We left Sidon and sailed close to the island of Cyprus because the wind was blowing against us. 5 We went across the sea by Cilicia and Pamphylia. Then we came to the city of Myra, in Lycia. 6 There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was going to Italy. So he put us on it.
7 We sailed slowly for many days. We had a hard time reaching Cnidus because the wind was blowing against us. We could not go any farther that way. So we sailed by the south side of the island of Crete near Salmone. 8 We sailed along the coast, but the sailing was hard. Then we came to a place called Safe Harbors, near the city of Lasea.
9 But we had lost much time. It was now dangerous to sail, because it was already after the Day of Cleansing.[b] So Paul warned them, 10 “Men, I can see there will be a lot of trouble on this trip. The ship and the things in the ship will be lost. Even our lives may be lost!” 11 But the captain and the owner of the ship did not agree with Paul. So the officer did not believe Paul. Instead, the officer believed what the captain and owner of the ship said. 12 And that harbor was not a good place for the ship to stay for the winter. So most of the men decided that the ship should leave. The men hoped we could go to Phoenix. The ship could stay there for the winter. (Phoenix was a city on the island of Crete. It had a harbor which faced southwest and northwest.)
The Storm
13 Then a good wind began to blow from the south. The men on the ship thought, “This is the wind we wanted, and now we have it!” So they pulled up the anchor. We sailed very close to the island of Crete. 14 But then a very strong wind named the “Northeaster” came from the island. 15 This wind took the ship and carried it away. The ship could not sail against it. So we stopped trying and let the wind blow us. 16 We went below a small island named Cauda. Then we were able to bring in the lifeboat, but it was very hard to do. 17 After the men took the lifeboat in, they tied ropes around the ship to hold it together. The men were afraid that the ship would hit the sandbanks of Syrtis.[c] So they lowered the sail and let the wind carry the ship. 18 The next day the storm was blowing us so hard that the men threw out some of the cargo. 19 A day later they threw out the ship’s equipment. 20 For many days we could not see the sun or the stars. The storm was very bad. We lost all hope of staying alive—we thought we would die.
21 The men had gone without food for a long time. Then one day Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, I told you not to leave Crete. You should have listened to me. Then you would not have all this trouble and loss. 22 But now I tell you to cheer up. None of you will die! But the ship will be lost. 23 Last night an angel from God came to me. This is the God I worship. I am his. 24 God’s angel said, ‘Paul, do not be afraid! You must stand before Caesar. And God has given you this promise: He will save the lives of all those men sailing with you.’ 25 So men, be cheerful! I trust in God. Everything will happen as his angel told me. 26 But we will crash on an island.”
27 On the fourteenth night we were floating around in the Adriatic Sea.[d] The sailors thought we were close to land. 28 They threw a rope into the water with a weight on the end of it. They found that the water was 120 feet deep. They went a little farther and threw the rope in again. It was 90 feet deep. 29 The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water. Then they prayed for daylight to come. 30 Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat. These sailors wanted the other men to think that they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship. 31 But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, your lives cannot be saved!” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.
33 Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, “For the past 14 days you have been waiting and watching. You have not eaten. 34 Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you will lose even one hair off your heads.” 35 After he said this, Paul took some bread and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating. 36 All the men felt better. They all started eating too. 37 (There were 276 people on the ship.) 38 We ate all we wanted. Then we began making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.
The Ship Is Destroyed
39 When daylight came, the sailors saw land. They did not know what land it was, but they saw a bay with a beach. They wanted to sail the ship to the beach, if they could. 40 So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach. 41 But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move. Then the big waves began to break the back of the ship to pieces.
42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape. 43 But Julius, the officer, wanted to let Paul live. He did not allow the soldiers to kill the prisoners. Instead he ordered everyone who could swim to jump into the water and swim to land. 44 The rest used wooden boards or pieces of the ship. And this is how all the people made it safely to land.
Jeremiah in Prison
37 Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. He appointed Zedekiah son of Josiah as king of Judah. Zedekiah took the place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2 But Zedekiah, his servants and the people of Judah did not listen to the words of the Lord. The Lord had spoken his words through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 Now King Zedekiah sent Jehucal and Zephaniah with a message to Jeremiah the prophet. Jehucal was the son of Shelemiah. And Zephaniah the priest was the son of Maaseiah. This was the message: “Jeremiah, pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4 At that time Jeremiah had not yet been put into prison. So he was free to go anywhere he wanted. 5 The army of the king of Egypt had marched from Egypt toward Judah. Now the Babylonian army had surrounded the city of Jerusalem so they could attack it. Then they had heard about the Egyptian army marching toward them. So the Babylonian army left Jerusalem to fight the Egyptian army.
6 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Jehucal and Zephaniah, I know Zedekiah king of Judah sent you to ask me questions. Tell this to King Zedekiah: ‘The army of the king of Egypt marched out of Egypt. They came here to help you against the Babylonian army. But that army will go back to Egypt. 8 After that, the Babylonian army will come back here. And they will attack Jerusalem. Then the Babylonian army will take and burn Jerusalem.’
9 “This is what the Lord says: People of Jerusalem, do not fool yourselves. Do not say to yourselves: ‘The Babylonian army will surely leave us alone.’ They will not! 10 You might defeat all of the Babylonian army that is attacking you. But there would still be a few injured men left in their tents. Even those injured men would come from their tents and burn down Jerusalem!”
11 So the Babylonian army left Jerusalem. They left to fight the army of the king of Egypt. 12 Now Jeremiah wanted to travel from Jerusalem to his home in the land of Benjamin. He was going there to get his share of the property that belonged to his family. 13 Jeremiah got to the Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem. But then the captain in charge of the guards arrested him. The captain’s name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah. So Irijah the captain arrested Jeremiah. Irijah said, “You are leaving us to join the Babylonian side!”
14 Jeremiah said to Irijah, “That’s not true! I am not leaving to join the Babylonians.” But Irijah refused to listen to Jeremiah. So he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officers of Jerusalem. 15 Those rulers were very angry with Jeremiah. They gave an order for him to be beaten. Then they put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the royal assistant. Jonathan’s house had been made into a prison. 16 So those people put Jeremiah into a cell in a dungeon. And Jeremiah was there for a long time.
17 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the palace. Zedekiah talked to Jeremiah in private. He asked Jeremiah, “Is there any message from the Lord?”
Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is a message from the Lord. Zedekiah, you will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I done against you? What crime have I done to your officers or the people of Jerusalem? Why have you thrown me into prison? 19 Where are your prophets now? Those prophets prophesied this message to you: ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land of Judah.’ 20 But now, my master, king of Judah, please listen to me. And please do what I ask of you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the royal assistant. If you do, I will die there!”
21 So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be put under guard in the courtyard. And he ordered that Jeremiah be given bread from the street of the bakers. Jeremiah was to be given bread until there was no more bread in the city. So he stayed under guard in the courtyard.
A Complaint About Evil People
10 Lord, why are you so far away?
Why do you hide when there is trouble?
2 Proudly the wicked chase down those who suffer.
The wicked set traps to catch them.
3 They brag about the things they want.
They bless the greedy but hate the Lord.
4 The wicked people are too proud.
They do not look for God.
There is no room for God in their thoughts.
5 They always succeed.
They are far from keeping your laws.
They make fun of their enemies.
6 They say to themselves, “Nothing bad will ever happen to me.
I will never be ruined.”
7 Their mouths are full of curses, lies and threats.
They use their tongues for sin and evil.
8 They hide near the villages.
They look for innocent people to kill.
They watch in secret for the helpless.
9 They wait in hiding like a lion.
They wait to catch poor people.
They catch the poor in nets.
10 The poor are thrown down and crushed.
They are defeated because the others are stronger.
11 The wicked think,
“God has forgotten us.
He doesn’t see what is happening.”
12 Lord, rise up and punish the wicked.
Don’t forget those who need help.
13 Why do wicked people hate God?
They say to themselves, “God won’t punish us.”
14 Lord, surely you see these cruel and evil things.
Look at them and do something.
People in trouble look to you for help.
You are the one who helps the orphans.
15 Break the power of wicked men.
Punish them for the evil they have done.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever.
Remove from your land those nations that do not worship you.
17 Lord, you have heard what the poor people want.
Do what they ask. Listen to them.
18 Protect the orphans. Put an end to suffering.
Then they will no longer be afraid of evil people.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.