M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

18 In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day [their lot] had not fallen to them for inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

² And the children of Dan sent of their family five men of their whole number, men of valour, from Zoreah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to examine it; and they said to them, Go, examine the land. And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

³ When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what doest thou in this [place]? and what hast thou here?

⁴ And he said to them, Thus and thus has Micah done to me; and he has hired me, and I am his priest.

⁵ And they said to him, Inquire, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way on which we go shall be prosperous.

⁶ And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before Jehovah is your way on which ye go.

⁷ And the five men departed, and came to Laish; and they saw the people that were therein, dwelling securely, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and no one was in the land who possessed authority, that might put [them] to shame in anything; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had nothing to do with [any] man.

⁸ —And they came to their brethren at Zoreah and Eshtaol. And their brethren said to them, What [say] ye?

⁹ And they said, Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and ye are still! Be not slothful to go, to enter to take possession of the land.

¹⁰ When ye go in, ye shall come to a people secure, and the land is spacious in every direction; for God has given it into your hands; [it is] a place where there is no want of anything that is on the earth.

¹¹ And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zoreah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girded with weapons of war.

¹² And they went up and encamped in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah; therefore they call that place Mahaneh-Dan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.

¹³ And they passed thence to mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then the five men that had gone to spy out the country of Laish spoke and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? And now ye know what to do.

¹⁵ And they turned thither, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, the house of Micah, and inquired after his welfare.

¹⁶ And the six hundred men of the children of Dan, girded with their weapons of war, stood at the entrance of the gate.

¹⁷ And the five men that had gone to spy out the land went up, entered in thither, [and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were girded with weapons of war.

¹⁸ And these came into Micah's house, and took the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest said to them, What do ye?

¹⁹ And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest for the house of one man, or to be priest for a tribe and a family in Israel?

²⁰ Then the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

²¹ And they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the baggage before them.

²² They were already far from the house of Micah, when the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

²³ And they cried to the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

²⁴ And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away; and what have I more? and what is this that ye say to me, What aileth thee?

²⁵ And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest men of exasperated spirit run upon you, and thou lose thy life and the lives of thy household.

²⁶ And the children of Dan went their way; and Micah saw that they were too strong for him, and he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷ And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest that he had had, and came upon Laish, upon a people quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire.

²⁸ And there was no deliverer, for it was far from Zidon, and they had nothing to do with [any] man; and it [lay] in the valley that is by Beth-rehob. And they built the city and dwelt therein.

²⁹ And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; howbeit Laish was the name of the city at the first.

³⁰ And the children of Dan set up the graven image; and Jehonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses; he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

³¹ And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image, which he had made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

22 Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you.

² And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,

³ *I* am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as *ye* are all this day;

⁴ who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women;

⁵ as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood: from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished.

⁶ And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me.

⁷ And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁸ And *I* answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, *I* am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom *thou* persecutest.

⁹ But they that were with me beheld the light, [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me.

¹⁰ And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do.

¹¹ And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus.

¹² And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt [there],

¹³ coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And *I*, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him.

¹⁴ And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth;

¹⁵ for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

¹⁶ And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.

¹⁷ And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy,

¹⁸ and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

¹⁹ And *I* said, Lord, they themselves know that *I* was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those that believe on thee;

²⁰ and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting, and kept the clothes of them who killed him.

²¹ And he said to me, Go, for *I* will send thee to the nations afar off.

²² And they heard him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying, Away with such a one as that from the earth, for it was not fit he should live.

²³ And as they were crying, and throwing away their clothes, and casting dust into the air,

²⁴ the chiliarch commanded him to be brought into the fortress, saying that he should be examined by scourging, that he might ascertain for what cause they cried thus against him.

²⁵ But as they stretched him forward with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood [by], Is it lawful for you to scourge a man [who is] a Roman and uncondemned?

²⁶ And the centurion, having heard it, went and reported it to the chiliarch, saying, What art thou going to do? for this man is a Roman.

²⁷ And the chiliarch coming up said to him, Tell me, Art *thou* a Roman? And he said, Yes.

²⁸ And the chiliarch answered, *I*, for a great sum, bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But *I* was also [free] born.

²⁹ Immediately therefore those who were going to examine him left him, and the chiliarch also was afraid when he ascertained that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

³⁰ And on the morrow, desirous to know the certainty [of the matter] why he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and having brought Paul down set him before them.

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah: that year was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

² And the king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem; and the prophet Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.

³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why dost thou prophesy and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans; for he shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;

⁵ and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

⁶ And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

⁷ Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy for thyself my field which is in Anathoth; for thine is the right of redemption, to buy [it].

⁸ And Hanameel, mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine: buy [it] for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.

⁹ And I bought of Hanameel, mine uncle's son, the field which is in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰ And I subscribed the writing, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances.

¹¹ And I took the writing of the purchase, that which was sealed [according to] the law and the statutes, and that which was open;

¹² and I gave the writing of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Nerijah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's [son], and in the presence of the witnesses that had subscribed the writing of purchase, before all the Jews that were sitting in the court of the guard.

¹³ And I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,

¹⁴ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these writings, this writing of the purchase, both that which is sealed and this writing which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may remain many days.

¹⁵ For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.

¹⁶ And after I had given the writing of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Nerijah, I prayed unto Jehovah saying,

¹⁷ Alas, Lord Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm; there is nothing too hard for thee:

¹⁸ who shewest mercy unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, thou, the great, the mighty God,—Jehovah of hosts is his name;

¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

²⁰ who hast displayed signs and wonders unto this day, in the land of Egypt and in Israel and among [other] men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day.

²¹ And thou broughtest forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt by signs, and by wonders, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terror;

²² and didst give them this land, which thou hadst sworn unto their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³ And they came in and possessed it: but they hearkened not unto thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do; so that thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.

²⁴ Behold the mounds, they are come unto the city for taking it; and the city is given over into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, by the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and behold, thou seest [it].

²⁵ And thou, Lord Jehovah, thou hast said unto me, Buy for thyself the field for money, and take witnesses;—and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying,

²⁷ Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?

²⁸ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

²⁹ And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come in and set fire to this city, and shall burn it, and the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.

³⁰ For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been doing only evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.

³¹ For this city hath been to me [a provocation] of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

³² because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³ And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face; and though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they hearkened not to receive instruction.

³⁴ And they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it;

³⁵ and they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause to pass through [the fire] their sons and their daughters unto Molech: which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶ And now therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith thus concerning this city, whereof ye say, It hath been given over into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:

³⁷ Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries whither I have driven them, in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.

³⁸ And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

³⁹ And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me all [their] days, for the good of them, and of their children after them.

⁴⁰ And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not draw back from them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their heart, that they may not turn aside from me.

⁴¹ And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

⁴² For thus saith Jehovah: Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have spoken concerning them.

⁴³ And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

⁴⁴ [Men] shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the writings, and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south: for I will turn their captivity, saith Jehovah.

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, and standeth not in the way of sinners, and sitteth not in the seat of scorners;

² But his delight is in Jehovah's law, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

³ And he [is] as a tree planted by brooks of water, which giveth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf fadeth not; and all that he doeth prospereth.

⁴ The wicked are not so; but are as the chaff which the wind driveth away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

2 Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and [why] do the peoples meditate a vain thing?

² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the princes plot together, against Jehovah and against his anointed:

³ Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us!

⁴ He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.

⁵ Then will he speak to them in his anger, and in his fierce displeasure will he terrify them:

⁶ And *I* have anointed my king upon Zion, the hill of my holiness.

⁷ I will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; *I* this day have begotten thee.

⁸ Ask of me, and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth:

⁹ Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter's vessel thou shalt dash them in pieces.

¹⁰ And now, O kings, be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth.

¹¹ Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹² Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his anger burn but a little. Blessed are all who have their trust in him.