M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
5 Now [we come to] the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. For [Reuben] was the eldest, but because he polluted his father’s couch [with Bilhah his father’s concubine] his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph [favorite] son of Israel; so the genealogy is not to be reckoned according to the birthright.(A)
2 Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him came the prince and leader [and eventually the Messiah]; yet the birthright was Joseph’s.(B)
3 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
4 The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
6 Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive; he was a prince of the Reubenites.
7 And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief Jeiel, and Zechariah,
8 Bela son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
9 Eastward [Bela] inhabited the land as far as the entrance into the desert this [west] side of the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.
10 In the days of [King] Saul they made war with the Hagrites or Ishmaelites, who fell by their hands; they dwelt in their tents in all the land east of Gilead.
11 The children of Gad who dwelt opposite them in the land of Bashan, as far as Salecah:
12 Joel the chief, Shapham the next, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
13 Their kinsmen of the houses of their fathers: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber—seven in all.
14 These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz.
15 Ahi son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief in their fathers’ houses.
16 They dwelt in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the suburbs and pasturelands of Sharon to their limits.
17 All these were enrolled by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel.
18 The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—valiant men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in war—were 44,760 able and ready to go forth to war.
19 And [these Israelites, on the east side of the Jordan River] made war with the Hagrites [a tribe of northern Arabia], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.
20 They were given help against them, and the Hagrites or Ishmaelites were delivered into their hands, and all who were allied with them, for they cried to God in the battle; and He granted their entreaty, because they relied on, clung to, and trusted in Him.
21 And [these Israelites] took away their adversaries’ herds: of their camels 50,000, and of sheep 250,000, and of donkeys 2,000, and of the lives of men 100,000.
22 For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was God’s. And [these Israelites] dwelt in their territory until the captivity [by Assyria more than five centuries later].(C)
23 And the people of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land; their settlements spread from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.
24 And these were the heads of their fathers’ houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of strength of mind and spirit [enabling them to encounter danger with firmness and personal bravery], famous men, and heads of the houses of their fathers.
25 They transgressed against the God of their fathers and played the harlot [by unfaithfulness to their own God and running] after the gods of the native peoples, whom God had destroyed before them.
26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, [that is,] the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.
6 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
2 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
3 The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
4 Eleazar was the father of Phinehas, Phinehas of Abishua.
5 Abishua was the father of Bukki, and Bukki of Uzzi,
6 Uzzi of Zerahiah, and Zerahiah of Meraioth,
7 Meraioth of Amariah, and Amariah of Ahitub,
8 Ahitub of Zadok, and Zadok of Ahimaaz,
9 Ahimaaz of Azariah, and Azariah of Johanan,
10 Johanan of Azariah, who was priest in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem,
11 Azariah of Amariah, and Amariah of Ahitub,
12 Ahitub of Zadok, and Zadok of Shallum,
13 Shallum of Hilkiah, and Hilkiah of Azariah,
14 Azariah of Seraiah, and Seraiah of Jehozadak;
15 Jehozadak went into captivity when the Lord sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers:
20 Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,
21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son.
22 The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,
23 Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son,
24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.
25 And the sons of Elkanah: Amasai, Ahimoth,
26 Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son,
27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah [Samuel’s father] his son.
28 The sons of Samuel: the firstborn [Joel] and Abijah.
29 The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzza his son,
30 Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.
31 These David put over the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark of the covenant rested there [after being taken by the Philistines and later placed in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for nearly 100 years during the rest of Samuel’s judgeship and Saul’s entire reign and into David’s reign].
32 They ministered before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting with singing until Solomon had built the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.
33 These and their sons served of the Kohathites: Heman, the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel [the great prophet and judge],
34 The son of Elkanah [III], the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,
35 The son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah [II], the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai,
36 The son of Elkanah [I], the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah,
37 The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,
38 The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel (Jacob).
39 Heman’s [tribal] brother Asaph stood at his right hand: Asaph son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,
40 The son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah,
41 The son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah,
42 The son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei,
43 The son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi.
44 Their kinsmen the sons of Merari stood at the left hand: Ethan son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,
45 The son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah,
46 The son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer,
47 The son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.
48 And their brethren the Levites [who were not descended from Aaron] were appointed for all other kinds of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.
49 But [the line of] Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, ministering for all the work of the Holy of Holies, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, God’s servant, had commanded.
50 The sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son,
51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son,
52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son,
53 Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.
54 Their dwelling places are according to their settlements within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the families of the Kohathites, for theirs was the [first] lot—(D)
55 To them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding suburbs.
56 But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh.
57 To the sons of Aaron they gave the city of refuge, Hebron; also Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,(E)
58 Hilen with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,
59 Ashan with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands.
60 And out of the tribe of Benjamin: Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, with their pasturelands. All their cities according to their families were thirteen.
61 And to the rest of the Kohathites ten cities were given by lot out of the family of the tribe [of Ephraim and of Dan and], of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh.(F)
62 To the Gershomites, according to their families, [were allotted] thirteen cities out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan.
63 To the Merarites were given by lot, according to their families, twelve cities out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
64 And the Israelites gave to the Levites these cities with their pasturelands.
65 They gave by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these cities whose names are mentioned.
66 Some of the families of the Kohathites had cities in the allotted territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.
67 And [the Ephraimites] gave to [the Levites] the city of refuge, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim; also Gezer, [both] with their suburbs and pasturelands;
68 Jokmeam, Beth-horon,
69 Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon, with their suburbs and pasturelands;
70 And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh [these cities], with their suburbs and pasturelands: Aner and Bileam, for the rest of the families of the sons of Kohath.
71 To the Gershomites were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan and Ashtaroth, with their suburbs and pasturelands;
72 Out of the tribe of Issachar, with their suburbs and pasturelands: Kedesh, Daberath,
73 Ramoth, and Anem;
74 Out of the tribe of Asher, with their suburbs and pasturelands: Mashal, Abdon,
75 Hukok, and Rehob;
76 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, with their suburbs and pasturelands: Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim.
77 To the rest of the Merarites were given from the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono and Tabor, with their suburbs and pasturelands;
78 On the other side of the Jordan, on the east side by Jericho, the Levites were given out of the tribe of Reuben [these cities], with their suburbs and pasturelands: Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah,
79 Kedemoth, and Mephaath;
80 Out of the tribe of Gad [these cities], with their suburbs and pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim,
81 Heshbon, and Jazer.
10 For since the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come—instead of fully expressing those things—it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].
2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had [a]once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.
3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],
4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.
5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];
6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.
7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God—[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.(A)
8 When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings—all of which are offered according to the Law—
9 He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order.(B)
10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).
11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away—
12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.(C)
14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
15 And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said,
16 This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding),
17 He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more.(D)
18 Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these [sins and lawbreaking], there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin.
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus,
20 By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh,
21 And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God,
22 Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by [b]that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.
23 So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the [c]hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.
24 And let us consider and give [d]attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities,
25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.
26 For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward].
27 [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God].(E)
28 Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.(F)
29 How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?(G)
30 For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people.(H)
31 It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties and be cast into the hands of the living God!
32 But be ever mindful of the days gone by in which, after you were first spiritually enlightened, you endured a great and painful struggle,
33 Sometimes being yourselves a gazingstock, publicly exposed to insults and abuse and distress, and sometimes claiming fellowship and making common cause with others who were so treated.
34 For you did sympathize and suffer along with those who were imprisoned, and you bore cheerfully the plundering of your belongings and the confiscation of your property, in the knowledge and consciousness that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession.
35 Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward.
36 For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and [e]carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.
37 For still a little while (a very little while), and the Coming One will come and He will not delay.
38 But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live [f]by his conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.(I)
39 But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul.
4 Hear this word, you cows [women] of Bashan who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring and let us drink!(A)
2 The Lord God has sworn by His holiness that behold, the days shall come upon you when they shall take you away with hooks and the last of you with fishhooks.(B)
3 And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city’s wall], every [woman] straight before her, and you shall be cast forth into Harmon [an unknown place of exile], says the Lord.
4 Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.
5 And offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim and publish freewill offerings, for this you like to do, O children of Israel! says the Lord God.
6 I also gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.
7 And also I withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece of ground was rained upon, and the piece upon which it did not rain withered.
8 So [the people of] two or three cities wandered and staggered into one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.
9 I smote you with blight [from the poisonous east wind] and with mildew; I laid waste the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards; your fig trees and your olive trees the palmerworm [a form of locust] devoured; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.
10 I have sent among you the pestilence [which I made] epidemic in Egypt; your young men I slew with the sword and I took into exile your horses, and I made the stench of your camp come up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.(C)
11 I have overthrown some among you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.(D)
12 Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 For behold, He Who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought, Who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord, the God of hosts, is His name!(E)
Psalm 148
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights!
2 Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts!
3 Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars of light!
4 Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.
6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps!
8 You lightning, hail, fog, and frost, you stormy wind fulfilling His orders!
9 Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers and judges of the earth!
12 Both young men and maidens, old men and children!
13 Let them praise and exalt the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted and supreme! His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven!
14 He has lifted up a horn for His people [giving them power, prosperity, dignity, and preeminence], a song of praise for all His godly ones, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(A)
Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, praise Him in the assembly of His saints!
2 Let Israel rejoice in Him, their Maker; let Zion’s children triumph and be joyful in their King!(B)
3 Let them praise His name in chorus and choir and with the [single or group] dance; let them sing praises to Him with the tambourine and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory.
5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands,(C)
7 To wreak vengeance upon the nations and chastisement upon the peoples,
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 To execute upon them the judgment written. He [the Lord] is the honor of all His saints. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!(D)
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!
5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation