M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David’s Song of Praise

22 David spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord saved him from all who hated him, and from Saul. ² He said, “The Lord is my rock, my strong place, and the One Who sets me free. ³ He is my God, my rock, where I go to be safe. He is my covering and the horn that saves me, my strong place where I go to be safe. You save me from being hurt. ⁴ I call upon the Lord, Who should be praised. I am saved from those who hate me.

⁵ “For the waves of death were all around me. The storm that destroys made me afraid. ⁶ The cords of the grave were around me. The nets of death came against me. ⁷ In my trouble I called upon the Lord. Yes, I cried to my God. From His house He heard my voice. My cry for help came into His ears.

⁸ “Then the earth shook. The mountains were shaking. They shook because He was angry. ⁹ Smoke went up from His nose. Fire that destroyed came from His mouth. Burnt pieces of wood were set on fire by it. ¹⁰ He tore open the heavens and came down, with darkness under His feet. ¹¹ He sat on a cherub and flew. He was seen on the wings of the wind. ¹² He made darkness around Him his tent, gathering waters, and clouds of the sky. ¹³ From the light before Him, burnt pieces of wood were set on fire. ¹⁴ “The Lord thundered from heaven. The Most High let His voice be heard. ¹⁵ He sent out arrows, and made them run. He sent lightning, and made them troubled and afraid. ¹⁶ Then the bottom of the sea was seen. The bottom of the world lost its covering, at the strong words of the Lord, at the rush of breath from His nose.

¹⁷ “He sent from above. He took me. He pulled me out of many waters. ¹⁸ He saved me from those strong ones who hated me. For they were too strong for me. ¹⁹ They came upon me in the day of my trouble. But the Lord held me up. ²⁰ He brought me into a big place. He saved me, because He was pleased with me. ²¹ “The Lord has paid me for being right with Him. He has paid me for my clean hands. ²² For I have kept the ways of the Lord. I have not acted in sin against my God. ²³ For all His Laws were in front of me, and I did not turn aside from them. ²⁴ I was without blame before Him. I kept myself from guilt. ²⁵ So the Lord has paid me for being right with Him, for being clean in His eyes.

²⁶ “With the faithful You show Yourself faithful. With the one without blame You show Yourself without blame. ²⁷ With the pure You show Yourself pure. But with the sinful, You show Yourself wise. ²⁸ You save a troubled people. But Your eyes are on the proud whom You put to shame.

²⁹ “For You are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord gives light to my darkness. ³⁰ For by You I can run through an army. By my God I can jump over a wall. ³¹ As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of the Lord is proven true. He is a covering to all who go to Him to be safe.

³² “For who is God, but the Lord? Who is a Rock, except our God? ³³ God is my strong place. He has made my way safe. ³⁴ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He sets me safe on high places. ³⁵ He makes my hands ready for battle, so that my arms can use a bow of brass.

³⁶ “You have given me the covering of Your saving power. Your help makes me strong. ³⁷ You give me a big place for my steps. I have not fallen. ³⁸ I went after those who hated me and destroyed them. I did not return until they were destroyed. ³⁹ I destroyed them and cut them through, so that they did not rise. They fell under my feet. ⁴⁰ For You have dressed me with strength for battle. You have put under me those who came against me. ⁴¹ You made those who fought me turn their backs to me. I destroyed those who hated me. ⁴² They looked, but there was no one to save them. They cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them. ⁴³ Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth. I crushed and stepped on them like the mud of the streets.

⁴⁴ “You have saved me from trouble with my people. You have kept me as head of the nations. People whom I have not known serve me. ⁴⁵ Strangers obey me. As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. ⁴⁶ Strangers lost their strength of heart. They came out of their secret places shaking with fear.

⁴⁷ “The Lord lives. Thanks be to my Rock. May God be honored, the Rock that saves me. ⁴⁸ He is the God Who punishes for me. He puts people under my rule. ⁴⁹ He makes me free from those who hate me. You lift me above those who come against me. You save me from the man who wants to hurt me. ⁵⁰ So I will give thanks to You among the nations, O Lord. I will sing praises to Your name. ⁵¹ With great power He saves His king. He shows loving-kindness to His chosen one, to David and his children forever.”

The Church Leaders in Jerusalem Say Paul Is a True Missionary

2 Fourteen years later I went again to Jerusalem. This time I took Barnabas. Titus went with us also. ² God showed me in a special way I should go. I spoke to them about the Good News that I preach among the people who are not Jews. First of all, I talked alone to the important church leaders. I wanted them to know what I was preaching. I did not want that which I was doing or would be doing to be wasted.

³ Titus was with me. Even being a Greek, he did not have to go through the religious act of becoming a Jew. ⁴ Some men who called themselves Christians asked about this. They got in our meeting without being asked. They came there to find out how free we are who belong to Christ. They tried to get us to be chained to the Law. ⁵ But we did not listen to them or do what they wanted us to do so the truth of the Good News might be yours.

⁶ Those who seemed to be important church leaders did not help me. They did not teach me anything new. What they were, I do not care. God looks on us all as being the same. ⁷ Anyway, they saw how I had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the people who are not Jews, as Peter had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the Jews. ⁸ For God helped Peter work with the Jews. He also helped me work with those who are not Jews. ⁹ James and Peter and John were thought of as being the head church leaders. They could see that God’s loving-favor had been given to me. Barnabas and I were joined together with them by shaking hands. Then we were sent off to work with the people who are not Jews. They were to work with the Jews. ¹⁰ They asked us to do only one thing. We were to remember to help poor people. I think this is important also.

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to stand up against him because he was guilty. ¹² Peter had been eating with the people who are not Jews. But after some men came who had been with James, he kept away from them. He was afraid of those who believe in the religious act of becoming a Jew. ¹³ Then the rest of the Jews followed him because they were afraid to do what they knew they should do. Even Barnabas was fooled by those who pretended to be someone they were not. ¹⁴ When I saw they were not honest about the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, “If you are a Jew, but live like the people who are not Jews, why do you make the people who are not Jews live like the Jews?” ¹⁵ You and I were born Jews. We were not sinners from among the people who are not Jews. ¹⁶ Even so, we know we cannot become right with God by obeying the Law. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Jesus Christ. For that reason, we have put our trust in Jesus Christ also. We have been made right with God because of our faith in Christ and not by obeying the Law. No man can be made right with God by obeying the Law. ¹⁷ As we try to become right with God by what Christ has done for us, what if we find we are sinners also? Does that mean Christ makes us sinners? No! Never! ¹⁸ But if I work toward being made right with God by keeping the Law, then I make myself a sinner. ¹⁹ The Law has no power over me. I am dead to the Law. Now I can live for God. ²⁰ I have been put up on the cross to die with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by putting my trust in the Son of God. He was the One Who loved me and gave Himself for me. ²¹ I say that we are not to put aside the loving-favor of God. If we could be made right with God by keeping the Law, then Christ died for nothing.

Word against Egypt

29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, look toward Pharaoh king of Egypt, and speak against him and against all Egypt. ³ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are the big animal that lies in his rivers and says, ‘The Nile is mine. I made it.’ ⁴ I will put hooks in your mouth. I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your hard skin. And I will pull you up out of your rivers, with the fish that stick to your hard skin. ⁵ Then I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field, and not be gathered or buried. I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky. ⁶ Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. They have been only a weak piece of river grass to the people of Israel. ⁷ When they took hold of you with their hands, you broke and tore all their shoulders. When they rested on you, you broke and hurt their backs.” ⁸ So the Lord God says, “I will bring a sword against you and kill your people and animals. ⁹ And the land of Egypt will be destroyed and laid waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,’ ¹⁰ I am against you and against your rivers. I will destroy Egypt and make it nothing but waste from Migdol to Syene and even to the land of Ethiopia. ¹¹ No foot of man or animal will pass through it, and no one will live there for forty years. ¹² I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the lands which are laid waste. Her cities will be a waste for forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will divide the Egyptians among the nations and spread them out among the lands.”

¹³ ’For the Lord God says, “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were divided. ¹⁴ I will bring them back to Egypt and let them live in Pathros, the land they came from. And there they will be a small nation. ¹⁵ It will be the least of the nations, and will never lift itself up above other nations again. I will make them so small that they will never rule over the nations. ¹⁶ It will never again be a hope for the people of Israel. They will remember their sin in turning to Egypt for help in the past. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.”’”

King Nebuchadnezzar Will Take Egypt

¹⁷ On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard against Tyre. Every head lost its hair, and skin was rubbed off every shoulder. But he and his army did not receive anything from Tyre to pay for the work he had done against it.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God says, “I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry away her riches. He will take all her good things, and they will be pay for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for the work he has done, because he and his army worked for Me,” says the Lord God.

²¹ “On that day I will make the people of Israel strong, and give you the power to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

God Is Good to His People

78 O my people, hear my teaching. Listen to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in picture-stories. I will tell things which have been kept secret from long ago, ³ which we have heard and known because our fathers have told us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children. But we will tell the children-to-come the praises of the Lord, and of His power and the great things He has done.

⁵ For He has made His will known to Jacob. He made the Law in Israel, which He told our fathers to teach their children. ⁶ So the children-to-come might know, even the children yet to be born. So they may rise up and tell it to their children. ⁷ Then they would put their trust in God and not forget the works of God. And they would keep His Law. ⁸ They would not be like their fathers, who were not right with God and would not obey Him or be faithful to Him.

⁹ The sons of Ephraim were ready with their bows. But they turned away in the day of fighting. ¹⁰ They did not keep the agreement of God. And they would not walk in His Law. ¹¹ They forgot what He had done and His great works that He had shown them. ¹² He did powerful works in front of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. ¹³ He divided the sea and made them pass through it. He made the water stand up like a wall. ¹⁴ He led them with the cloud during the day, and with a light of fire during the night. ¹⁵ He broke the rocks in the desert, and gave them water as if it flowed from the sea. ¹⁶ He made water come out of the rock. He made the water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they still kept on sinning against Him. They did not obey the Most High in the desert. ¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts by asking for the food they wanted. ¹⁹ Then they spoke against God, saying, “Can God set a table in the desert? ²⁰ See, He hit the rock and water poured out and rivers flowed over. Can He give bread also? Will He give meat to His people?”

²¹ The Lord was full of anger when He heard them. And a fire was set against Jacob. His anger went up against Israel, ²² because they did not believe in God. They did not trust in Him to save them. ²³ Yet He spoke to the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven. ²⁴ He sent down bread from heaven for them to eat. He gave them food from heaven. ²⁵ Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat. ²⁶ He made the east wind blow in the heavens. And He brought in the south wind by His power. ²⁷ He sent meat down on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He let them fall in the place where they were staying, all around their tents. ²⁹ So they ate until they were full. He gave them what they wanted. ³⁰ But before they had eaten all they wanted, even while it was still in their mouths, ³¹ the anger of God came upon them. And He killed the strongest of them. He cut down the young men of Israel. ³² But still they kept on sinning. They did not believe in His powerful works. ³³ So He made their days come to nothing. He made their years end in fear all at once.

³⁴ When He killed some of them, the others would look for Him. They returned and looked for God. ³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, and that the Most High God was the One Who set them free. ³⁶ But they gave Him false honor with their mouth. They lied to Him with their tongue. ³⁷ For their heart was not right toward Him. They were not faithful to His agreement.