M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Water from the Rock

20 Then all the people of Israel came to the Desert of Zin in the first month. And the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried.

² Now there was no water for the people, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people complained to Moses, saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s people into this desert, for us and our animals to die here? ⁵ Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this bad place? It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the people to the door of the meeting tent, and bowed to the ground. They saw the shining-greatness of the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the special stick. You and your brother Aaron gather the people together. Speak to the rock in front of them and it will give its water. So you will bring water out of the rock for them. Let the people and their animals drink.” ⁹ So Moses took the special stick from before the Lord, just as He had told him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the people in front of the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you people who go against the Lord. Should we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted up his hand and hit the rock twice with his stick, and more than enough water came out. The people and their animals drank. ¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me and honored Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not bring these people into the land I have given them.” ¹³ These were the waters of Meribah because the people of Israel complained against the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴ Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, “This is what your brother Israel has said: ‘You know all the troubles we have had. ¹⁵ Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians were bad in the way they acted toward us. ¹⁶ But we cried out to the Lord. He heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out from Egypt. Now look, we are at Kadesh, a town at the side of your country. ¹⁷ We ask you to let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vines. We will not even drink water from a well. We will go on the king’s road and will not turn to the right or left, until we pass through your country.’” ¹⁸ But Edom said to him, “You must not pass through, or I will come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ The people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the straight road. If I and my animals do drink any of your water, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on my feet, nothing else.” ²⁰ But Edom said, “You must not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with many men and much strength. ²¹ Edom would not let Israel pass through his country. So Israel turned away from him.

²² When they traveled from Kadesh, all the people of Israel came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the side of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴ “Aaron will be buried with his people. For he will not go into the land I have given to the people of Israel, because you went against what I told you to do at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶ Take the clothing off Aaron and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will die there and be buried with his people.” ²⁷ Moses did just as the Lord had told him. They went up to Mount Hor before the eyes of all the people. ²⁸ After Moses had taken the clothing off Aaron and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ When all the people saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel cried in sorrow for Aaron thirty days.

Prayer for God to Punish the Sinful

58 Do you speak what is right and good, O you powerful ones? Are you always right in how you judge, O sons of men? ² No, in your heart you do what is wrong. You use your hands to hurt and destroy in the land. ³ The sinful go wrong as soon as they are born. Those who speak lies go the wrong way from birth. ⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a snake. They are like a cobra that cannot or will not listen. ⁵ It does not hear the voice of the man who has power over it, even if the man is very good in his work.

⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouth. Break out the teeth of the young lions, O Lord. ⁷ Let them flow away like water that pours. When he uses his arrows, let them have no heads. ⁸ Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes. Like a baby born dead, may they never see the sun. ⁹ Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, He will blow them away with a storm, both the green and the burning ones.

¹⁰ The one who is right and good will be full of joy when he sees the sinful punished. He will wash his feet in their blood. ¹¹ And men will say, “For sure there is pay for those who are right and good. For sure there is a God Who says who is guilty or not on the earth.”

Prayer for a Safe Place

59 O my God, take me away from those who hate me. Put me up high above those who rise up against me. ² Take me away from those who do wrong. And save me from those who kill. ³ For, look, they lie in wait for my life. Strong men are gathering together to fight me, but not because of my wrong-doing or my sin, O Lord. ⁴ I have done no wrong, but they get ready to fight against me. Rise up to help me. ⁵ You, O Lord God of All, God of Israel, rise up to punish all the nations. Show no loving-kindness to those people who cannot be trusted and plan sins. ⁶ They return at evening. They sound like dogs and go around the city. ⁷ See, they spit with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. And they say, “Who can hear us?” ⁸ But You laugh at them, O Lord. You laugh at all the nations.

⁹ O my Strength, I will watch for You. For God is my strong place. ¹⁰ My God in His loving-kindness will meet me. God will let me look at those who come against me and know that I will win the fight. ¹¹ Do not kill them, or my people may forget. Divide them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord, our safe-covering. ¹² Let them be caught in their pride for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips. For the lies and bad things they say, ¹³ destroy them in anger. Destroy them so that they will be no more. Let it be known that God rules in Jacob and to the ends of the earth.

¹⁴ They return at evening. They make sounds like dogs and go around the city. ¹⁵ They go around looking for food and they show their teeth if they are not filled.

¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing of Your strength. Yes, I will sing with joy of Your loving-kindness in the morning. For You have been a strong and safe place for me in times of trouble. ¹⁷ O my Strength, I will sing praises to You. For God is my strong place and the God Who shows me loving-kindness.

Punishment against Israel

⁸ The Lord sends word against Jacob, and it falls on Israel. ⁹ And all the people will know it, that is, Ephraim and the people of Samaria. They say with a proud spirit in their hearts, ¹⁰ “The clay blocks have fallen down, but we will build again with smooth stones. The sycamore trees have been cut down, but we will put cedar trees in their place.” ¹¹ So the Lord brings men from Rezin to fight against them. He makes those who hate them move to action. ¹² The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west swallow Israel with an open mouth. Even with this, the Lord’s anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

¹³ Yet the people do not return to Him Who punished them. They do not look to the Lord of All. ¹⁴ So the Lord will cut off the head and tail from Israel, both palm branch and river-grass in one day. ¹⁵ The leaders and men of honor are the head, and the tail is the false preachers who teach lies. ¹⁶ For those who lead these people are leading them from the right way, and those who are led by them are going the wrong way. ¹⁷ So the Lord is not pleased with their young men. He does not have pity on their children who have no parents or on their women whose husbands have died. Every one of them is without God and does sinful things. Every mouth speaks foolish words. Even with all this, His anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

¹⁸ For sin burns like a fire. It burns thistles and thorns. It sets the woods on fire, and they go up in smoke. ¹⁹ The land is burned up by the anger of the Lord, and the people are like wood for the fire. No man shows pity on his brother. ²⁰ They take what is on the right hand but still are hungry. They eat what is in the left hand but are not filled. Each of them eats the flesh of his own children. ²¹ Manasseh goes against Ephraim, and Ephraim goes against Manasseh. And together they are against Judah. Even with all this, the Lord’s anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

10 It is bad for those who make laws that are not fair. It is bad for those who make it hard for people. ² They keep what is right and fair from those in need. They take away the rights of the poor of My people. They take from wives after their husbands die, and take what belongs to those who have no parents. ³ Now what will you do in the day of punishment, when the destroying power comes from far away? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? ⁴ Nothing will be left to do but to bow down among those who are being taken to prison, or fall among those who are killed. Even with all this, His anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

The Power of the Tongue

3 My Christian brothers, not many of you should become teachers. If we do wrong, it will be held against us more than other people who are not teachers. ² We all make many mistakes. If anyone does not make a mistake with his tongue by saying the wrong things, he is a perfect man. It shows he is able to make his body do what he wants it to do. ³ We make a horse go wherever we want it to go by a small bit in its mouth. We turn its whole body by this. ⁴ Sailing ships are driven by strong winds. But a small rudder turns a large ship whatever way the man at the wheel wants the ship to go.

⁵ The tongue is also a small part of the body, but it can speak big things. See how a very small fire can set many trees on fire. ⁶ The tongue is a fire. It is full of wrong. It poisons the whole body. The tongue sets our whole lives on fire with a fire that comes from hell. ⁷ Men can make all kinds of animals and birds and fish and snakes do what they want them to do. ⁸ But no man can make his tongue say what he wants it to say. It is sinful and does not rest. It is full of poison that kills. ⁹ With our tongue we give thanks to our Father in heaven. And with our tongue we speak bad words against men who are made like God. ¹⁰ Giving thanks and speaking bad words come from the same mouth. My Christian brothers, this is not right! ¹¹ Does a well of water give good water and bad water from the same place? ¹² Can a fig tree give olives or can a grape-vine give figs? A well does not give both good water and bad water.

Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who among you is wise and understands? Let that one show from a good life by the things he does that he is wise and gentle. ¹⁴ If you have jealousy in your heart and fight to have many things, do not be proud of it. Do not lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the kind of wisdom that comes from God. But this wisdom comes from the world and from that which is not Christian and from the devil. ¹⁶ Wherever you find jealousy and fighting, there will be trouble and every other kind of wrong-doing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. Then it gives peace. It is gentle and willing to obey. It is full of loving-kindness and of doing good. It has no doubts and does not pretend to be something it is not. ¹⁸ Those who plant seeds of peace will gather what is right and good.