The Bible Reading Plan

Genesis Chapter 3

¹⁴Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you'll go, and eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."

¹⁶To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. You will bear children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

¹⁷To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten from the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'Don't eat from it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken. For you are dust, and you'll return to dust."

²⁰Adam called his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all living. ²¹Yahweh God made garments of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

²²Yahweh God said, "See, Adam has become one of those who know good and evil. Now, [we must act] in case he reaches out his hand, and takes from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." ²³So Yahweh God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to work the ground that he'd been taken from. ²⁴So he drove out Adam. He placed throne-angels at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned in all directions, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis Chapter 4

¹Adam knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have obtained a man with Yahweh's help." ²Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a worker of the ground. ³As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. ⁴Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, ⁵but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. ⁶Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? ⁷If you do well, won't it be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." ⁸Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

Joshua Chapter 6

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in. ²Yahweh said to Joshua, "Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor. ³All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days. ⁴Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

⁶Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh."

⁷They said to the people, "Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before Yahweh's ark."

⁸When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before Yahweh advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them. ⁹The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

¹⁰Joshua commanded the people, saying, "Don't shout, nor let your voice be heard, nor let any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout." ¹¹So he caused the ark of Yahweh to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. ¹²Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh. ¹³The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh. The trumpets sounded as they went. ¹⁴The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.

¹⁵On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city! ¹⁷The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. ¹⁹But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall enter Yahweh's treasury."

²⁰So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. ²²Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." ²³The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel. ²⁴They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh's house. ²⁵But Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Ruth Chapter 4

⁵Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance."

⁶The near kinsman said, "I can't redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can't redeem it."

⁷Now this was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his sandal, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the [way of] attestation in Israel. ⁸So the near kinsman said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." He took off his sandal.

⁹Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, "You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today."

¹¹All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has entered your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹²Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh shall give you of this young woman."

¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son. ¹⁴The women said to Naomi, "Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. ¹⁵He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him." ¹⁶Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. ¹⁷The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi;" and they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, ¹⁹and Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab, ²⁰and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon, ²¹and Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed, ²²and Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

Matthew Chapter 4

²³Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them. ²⁵Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

Matthew Chapter 5

¹Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the [side of the] mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. ²He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
³"Happier are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
⁴Happier are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
⁵Happier are the gentle,
for they shall inherit the earth.
⁶Happier are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
⁷Happier are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
⁸Happier are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
⁹Happier are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰Happier are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

¹¹"Happier are you-all when people reproach you-all, persecute you-all, and say all kinds of evil against you-all falsely for my sake. ¹²Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you-all.

¹³"You-all are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, except to be thrown out and trodden under people's feet.

¹⁴You-all are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do you-all light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. ¹⁶So, let your light shine before others that they may see your good work, and glorify your Father in heaven.

¹⁷"Don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill. ¹⁸For absolutely, I tell you-all, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one dot of an 'I' or cross of a 'T' will in any way pass away from the law, until all is accomplished. ¹⁹So whoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to do so, will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. ²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you-all will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.