M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Micah and the Danites

18 There was no king of Israel in those days. At that time the family of the Danites was looking for their own land to live in. For no land had been given to them yet among the families of Israel. ² So the people of Dan sent five men from all those in their family. They were men with strength of heart, from Zorah and Eshtaol, sent to look over the land. The people of Dan said to them, “Go and look over the land.” And the men came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. They stayed there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, they heard the voice of the young man, the Levite. They knew who he was, and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?” ⁴ The Levite said to them, “This is what Micah has done for me. He has hired me. I have become his religious leader.” ⁵ They said to him, “We beg you to ask God if all will go well for us as we travel.” ⁶ The religious leader said to them, “Go in peace. The way you are going is pleasing to the Lord.”

⁷ Then the five men left and came to Laish. They saw how the people lived there, quiet and feeling safe, like the Sidonians. There was no ruler in the land who would put them to shame for anything. They were far from the Sidonians and had nothing to do with anyone. ⁸ The five men returned to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol. Their brothers said to them, “What do you have to say?” ⁹ They answered, “Get ready. Let us go up against them. For we have seen their land and it is very good. Will you sit and do nothing? Do not wait. Go into the land and take it. ¹⁰ When you go in, you will come to people who feel very safe. They have much land, but God has given it to you. It will be a place where you will have all you need on earth.”

¹¹ Then 600 men from the family of Dan, from Zorah and Eshtaol, went out ready for war. ¹² They went to Kiriath-jearim in Judah and set up their tents. They called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day. It is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ They went from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to look over the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in these houses there are gods, a holy vest, and objects made to look like gods? So think about what you should do.” ¹⁵ They turned there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, at the home of Micah. They asked him how he was getting along. ¹⁶ The 600 men of the sons of Dan who were ready for war were standing by the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who had gone to look over the land went in the house. They took the objects made to look like gods, the holy vest and the other gods. The religious leader stood by the gate with the 600 men who were ready for war. ¹⁸ When the men went into Micah’s house and took the objects made to look like gods, the holy vest and the other gods, the religious leader said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They said to him, “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a religious leader to us. Is it better for you to be a religious leader to the house of one man, or to a family in Israel?” ²⁰ The religious leader felt glad in his heart. He took the holy vest, the house gods and objects made to look like gods. And he went among the people.

²¹ Then they turned and left. They put the little ones, the animals and their riches in front of them. ²² They had gone a long way from the house of Micah. And the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and went after them. When they came to the sons of Dan, ²³ they called out to them. The sons of Dan turned around and said to Micah, “What is wrong with you? Why have you gathered together?” ²⁴ Micah said, “You have taken away my gods which I made. And you go away with the religious leader. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What is wrong with you?’” ²⁵ The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us. Or angry men will kill you and those of your house.” ²⁶ Then the sons of Dan went on their way. Micah saw that they were too strong for him. So he returned to his house.

²⁷ The men of Dan took what Micah had made and the religious leader who had belonged to him. They came to Laish, to people who were quiet and felt safe. And they killed them with the sword. They burned the city with fire. ²⁸ There was no one to take them away from their trouble, because it was far from Sidon and they had nothing to do with anyone. It was in the valley near Beth-rehob. The sons of Dan built the city again, and lived in it. ²⁹ They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel. The name of the city had been Laish before. ³⁰ The people of Dan set up for themselves the object made to look like a god. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were religious leaders to the family of Dan until the day their land was taken. ³¹ They set up the false god that Micah had made, while the house of God was at Shiloh.

Paul Tells of His Past Life

22 Paul said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to what I have to say to you.” ² When they heard him speak to them in their own language, they stopped making noise. Then he said,

³ “I am a Jew. I was born in the city of Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. When I was a young man, I lived here in Jerusalem. I went to Gamaliel’s school and learned all about the Law of our early fathers. I worked hard for God as you all do today.

⁴ “I worked hard and killed men and women who believed as I believe today. I put them in chains and sent them to prison. ⁵ The head religious leader and the leaders of the people can tell you this is true. I got letters from them to take to our Jewish brothers in the city of Damascus. I was going there to put the Christians in chains and bring them to Jerusalem where they would be beaten.

The Change in Paul’s Life on the Damascus Road

⁶ “I was near Damascus. All at once, about noon, I saw a bright light from heaven shining around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground. A voice said to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you work so hard against Me?’ ⁸ I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the One you are working against.’ ⁹ Those who were with me saw the light. But they did not hear Him speaking to me. ¹⁰ I asked, ‘Lord, what should I do?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up! Go to Damascus. You will be told what to do there.’

¹¹ “I could not see because of the bright light. Those who were with me had to lead me by the hand until we came to Damascus. ¹² Ananias lived there. He obeyed the Law and was respected by all the Jews. ¹³ He came and stood near me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ At once I was able to see him. ¹⁴ Then Ananias said, ‘The God of our fathers chose you to know what He wants done. He chose you to see Jesus Christ, the One Right with God, and to hear His voice. ¹⁵ You are to tell all men what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ What are you waiting for? Get up! Be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on His name.’

Paul Is Called to Work with the People Who Are Not Jews

¹⁷ “I came back to Jerusalem. When I was praying in the house of God, I had a dream. ¹⁸ I saw Him as He said to me, ‘Get out of Jerusalem! They will not listen to you when you tell them about Me!’ ¹⁹ I said, ‘Lord, they know I took Christians out of every Jewish place of worship. I had them beaten and put in prison. ²⁰ Also when Stephen was killed, I stood there and watched them throw stones at him. Those who threw the stones had me watch their coats.’ ²¹ The Lord said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the people who are not Jews.’ ” ²² They listened to him until he said that. Then they all cried out with loud voices, “Kill him! Take such a man from the earth! He should not live!” ²³ They kept on calling out. Then they pulled off their coats and threw dust in the air.

Paul Tells Who He Is

²⁴ The captain told them to bring Paul into the soldiers’ building. He told his soldiers to find out from Paul, by beating him, why the people were crying out against him. ²⁵ As they tied him up, Paul said to the soldier, “Does the law say that you can beat a Roman citizen when no one has said he is guilty?”

²⁶ When the soldier heard this, he told it to the captain. He said, “Listen! What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷ The captain came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” Paul said, “Yes!” ²⁸ The captain said, “I had to pay a lot of money to be a citizen.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.” ²⁹ Those who were going to beat him left him at once. The captain was also afraid when he heard that Paul was a Roman citizen because he had him tied.

Paul Stands in Front of the Religious Leaders’ Court

³⁰ The next day they took off the chains that were holding Paul. The captain wanted to know why the Jews wanted to kill him. So the captain told the head religious leaders to gather for their court. They brought Paul and put him in front of them.

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was around Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the man of God was shut up in the open space of the prison, in the house of the king of Judah. ³ For King Zedekiah of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you speak these things in the Lord’s name? You have said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will take it. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah will not get away from the Babylonians. For sure he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵ He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not win.”’”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Hanamel, the son of your father’s brother Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my field at Anathoth. For because of your place in the family you have the right to buy it.”’ ⁸ Then Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother, came to me in the open space of the prison, as the Word of the Lord had said. And he said to me, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. For you have the right to own it. Because of your place in the family you have the right, so buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother. And I weighed out seventeen pieces of silver for him. ¹⁰ I wrote my name and put my mark on the agreement, and called in people to watch. And I weighed the silver. ¹¹ Then I took the agreement which showed that I had bought the field, both the agreement which was not to be opened, and the open one. ¹² And I gave the written agreement to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. This was seen by Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother, and by those who watched me write my name on the agreement, and by all the Jews who were sitting in the open space of the prison. ¹³ I said to Baruch in front of them, ¹⁴ ‘This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: “Take these agreements, both the closed and open one, and put them in a clay jar so they may last a long time.” ¹⁵ For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “Houses and fields and grape-fields will again be bought in this land.”’

Jeremiah’s Prayer

¹⁶ “After I had given the agreement showing I had bought the field to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying, ¹⁷ ‘O Lord God! See, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your long arm! Nothing is too hard for You! ¹⁸ You show loving-kindness to thousands, but put punishment for the sins of fathers on their children after them. O great and powerful God, the Lord of All is Your name. ¹⁹ You are great in wisdom and powerful in Your works. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men. You pay every one for what he does and for the fruit of what he does. ²⁰ You have made special things to see and have done wonders in the land of Egypt, and are still doing them even to this day both in Israel and among all men. You have made a name for Yourself as it is today. ²¹ You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with special things to see and with wonders, and with a strong hand and a long arm, and with much trouble. ²² And You gave them this land which You promised their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They came in and took it for their own. But they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your Law. They did not do anything that You told them to do. So You have made all this trouble come upon them. ²⁴ See, a battle-wall has been built up against the city to take it. And the city is given to the Babylonians who fight against it, because of the sword, hunger, and disease. What You have said would happen has now happened, as You see. ²⁵ O Lord God, You have said to me, “Buy the field with money, and call in people to see you buy it,” even though the city will be given over to the Babylonians.”’”

²⁶ Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me? ²⁸ So this is what the Lord says: ‘See, I am giving this city to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹ The Babylonians who are fighting against this city will come into it and set this city on fire and burn it. And the houses will burn where people have given special perfume to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink gifts to other gods to make Me angry. ³⁰ For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only what is sinful in My eyes since they were young. The sons of Israel have been only making Me angry by the work of their hands,” says the Lord. ³¹ ‘This city has made Me very angry since the day they built it until now. So I will put it away from before My face ³² because of all the sin of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to make Me angry. They have sinned together with their kings, their leaders, their religious leaders, their men who speak in My name, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. ³³ They have turned their back to Me, and not their face. I taught them again and again, but they would not listen and learn. ³⁴ They put their things that I hate in the house which is called by My name, and made it unclean. ³⁵ They built the high places of the false god Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to give their sons and daughters as burnt gifts to Molech. I did not tell them to do this hated thing that made Judah sin. It did not even come into My mind.

A Promise for the Future

³⁶ “So now this is what the Lord God of Israel says about this city of which you say, ‘It is given over to the king of Babylon because of the sword, hunger, and disease.’ ³⁷ I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My strong anger. And I will bring them back to this place to live where they will be safe. ³⁸ They will be My people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an agreement with them that I will not turn away from them. I will do good to them, an agreement that will last forever. And I will help them fear Me in their hearts so they will not turn away from Me. ⁴¹ I will have joy in doing good to them. And I will be faithful to plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. ⁴² For the Lord says, ‘Just as I brought all this trouble on these people, so I am going to bring all the good on them that I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a waste, without man or animal. It is given over to the Babylonians.” ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, write their names and put their marks on agreements while people watch them do this in the land of Benjamin and in the places around Jerusalem. Also they will do this in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the Negev. For I will bring them back to their own land,’ says the Lord.”

The Difference between Good and Sinful People

1 Happy is the man who does not walk in the way sinful men tell him to, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit with those who laugh at the truth. ² But he finds joy in the Law of the Lord and thinks about His Law day and night. ³ This man is like a tree planted by rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time and its leaf never dries up. Whatever he does will work out well for him.

⁴ Sinful men are not like this. They are like straw blown away by the wind. ⁵ So the sinful will not stand. They will be told they are guilty and have to suffer for it. Sinners will not stand with those who are right with God. ⁶ For the Lord knows the way of those who are right with Him. But the way of the sinful will be lost from God forever.

God’s Chosen One Will Rule

2 Why are the nations so shaken up and the people planning foolish things? ² The kings of the earth stand in a line ready to fight, and all the leaders are against the Lord and against His Chosen One. ³ They say, “Let us break their chains and throw them away from us.”

⁴ He Who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord makes fun of them. ⁵ Then He will speak to them in His anger and make them afraid, saying, ⁶ “But as for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy mountain.” ⁷ I will make known the words of the Lord. He said to Me, “You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father. ⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for you to own. The ends of the earth will belong to You. ⁹ You will break them using a piece of iron. And they will be broken in pieces like pots of clay.”

¹⁰ So, kings, be wise. Listen, you rulers of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear, and be full of joy as you shake in fear. ¹² Kiss the Son. Be afraid that He may be angry and destroy you in the way. For His anger is quick. Happy are all who put their trust in Him.