M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

24 Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to speak good of Israel. So he did not go, as at other times, and look for special things to see. Instead he looked toward the desert. ² Balaam looked up and saw Israel living in their tents by their families. And the Spirit of God came upon him. ³ He began speaking and said, “Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened. ⁴ He hears the words of God. He sees what the All-powerful wants him to see. He falls down, but has his eyes open. ⁵ How fair are your tents, O Jacob, and your homes, O Israel! ⁶ They are like valleys that spread out, and like gardens beside the river. They are like aloes planted by the Lord, and like cedars beside the waters. ⁷ Water will flow from his pails. His seed will be by many waters. His king will be more powerful than Agag, and his nation will be honored. ⁸ God brings him out of Egypt. He is for him like the horns of the wild bull. He will destroy the nations who fight against him. He will crush their bones in pieces and cut through them with his arrows. ⁹ He bows down. He lies down like a lion. And as a lion, who will wake him? Good will come to everyone who prays for you. And cursed is everyone who curses you.”

¹⁰ Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he hit his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse those who hate me. But see, you have done nothing but pray that good would come to them these three times! ¹¹ So now run away to your place. I said I would give you much honor, but the Lord has kept you from honor.” ¹² Then Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell the men you had sent to me, ¹³ ‘Even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot do anything against the Word of the Lord’? I said, ‘I cannot do good or bad because I want to. What the Lord says, I will say.’ ¹⁴ Now see, I am going to my people. Come, I will tell you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.”

Balaam Tells What Will Happen the Fourth Time

¹⁵ Then he began speaking and said, “Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened. ¹⁶ He hears the words of God. He knows what the Most High wants him to know. He sees what the All-powerful wants him to see. He falls down, but has his eyes open. ¹⁷ I see him, but not now. I see him, but he is not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A special stick of power will rise from Israel. It will crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁸ It will take the land of Edom. And it will take the land of Seir, who fights against Israel. And Israel will fight with much power. ¹⁹ One from Jacob will rule. He will destroy from the city all who are left alive.” ²⁰ Then Balaam looked at Amalek and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations. But he will be destroyed in the end.” ²¹ Then he looked at the Kenite and said, “The place where you live is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. ²² But Kain will be destroyed. How long will Asshur keep you against your will?” ²³ Then Balaam said, “Who can live when God does this? ²⁴ But ships will come from Kittim. They will bring trouble to Asshur and Eber, but they will be destroyed also.” ²⁵ Then Balaam got up and left. He returned to his place, and Balak went on his way.

Song of Praise and Thanks to God

66 Raise the voice of joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing out the honor of His name! Make His praise great! ³ Say to God, “How Your great works make those who hate You afraid! They will have to obey You because of Your great power. ⁴ All the earth will worship You and sing praises to You. They will sing praises to Your name.”

⁵ Come and see what God has done. There is much fear because of His great works toward the children of men. ⁶ He changed the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we were full of joy in Him. ⁷ He rules forever by His power. His eyes keep watch over the nations. Do not let those who do not obey You honor themselves.

⁸ Give honor and thanks to God, O people, and let all hear how great He is! ⁹ He keeps us alive, and does not let our feet go out from under us. ¹⁰ For You have tested us, O God. You have made us pure like silver is made pure. ¹¹ You brought us into the net. And You laid a heavy load on our back. ¹² You made men travel over our heads. We went through fire and through water. But You brought us out into a place where we have much more than we need. ¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt gifts. I will give You what I promised, ¹⁴ promises made by my lips and spoken by my mouth when I was in trouble. ¹⁵ I will give You burnt gifts of fat animals with the smoke of rams. I will give You bulls with male goats.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for me. ¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue. ¹⁸ The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart. ¹⁹ But it is sure that God has heard. He has listened to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Honor and thanks be to God! He has not turned away from my prayer or held His loving-kindness from me.

Nations Praise God

67 May God show loving-kindness toward us and bring good to us. May He make His face shine upon us. ² May Your way be known on the earth, and Your saving power among all nations. ³ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy. For You will be fair when You judge the people and rule the nations of the earth. ⁵ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁶ The earth has given its fruit. God, our God, will bring good to us. ⁷ God will bring good to us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

Loving-Pity on Jacob

14 The Lord will have loving-pity on Jacob and will again choose Israel. He will have them return to live in their own land. Then people from other countries will come and be with them, and will join themselves to the family of Jacob. ² Nations will take them and bring them to their place. The family of Israel will own them in the Lord’s land as men and women servants. They will take those who had taken them away and they will rule over those who had made it hard for them.

Babylon’s King in the World of the Dead

³ When the Lord gives you rest from your pain and trouble and the hard work which you were made to do, ⁴ you will speak against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the one who made it hard for us has been stopped! How his anger has been stopped! ⁵ The Lord has broken the walking stick of the sinful, the power of rulers, ⁶ which used to beat the people in anger without stopping. The nations were ruled in anger. It was very hard for the people and there was no pity shown to them.

⁷ “Now the whole earth is at rest and quiet. They sing out with joy. ⁸ Even the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon are glad over you, and say, ‘Since you were cut down no one comes to cut us down.’ ⁹ The world of the dead below wants to meet you when you come. It wakes up the spirits of the dead for you, all the leaders of the earth. It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. ¹⁰ All of them will speak and say to you, ‘Even you have become as weak as we. You have become like us. ¹¹ Your honor and power along with the music of your harps have been brought down to the place of the dead. Worms are spread out as your bed under you and worms cover you.’

¹² “How you have fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have made the nations weak! ¹³ You said in your heart, ‘I will go up to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of meeting in the far north. ¹⁴ I will go much higher than the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.’ ¹⁵ But you will be brought down to the place of the dead, to the bottom of the grave. ¹⁶ Those who see you will look hard at you and think about you, and say, ‘Is this the man who made the earth shake with fear, who shook nations? ¹⁷ Is this the man who made the world like a desert and destroyed its cities, who did not let those whom he had put in prison go home?’

¹⁸ “All the kings of the nations lie in greatness, each in his own grave. ¹⁹ But you have been thrown out of your grave like a hated part of the family. You are clothed with the dead who were killed with a sword, who go down to the stones of the grave, like a dead body crushed under foot. ²⁰ You will not be joined with them when you are buried, because you have destroyed your country. You have killed your people. May the children of sinners never be spoken about again! ²¹ Make a place ready for his sons to be killed because of the sin of their fathers. They must not come into power and take the earth, and fill the world with cities.”

God Will Destroy Babylon

²² “I will come against them,” says the Lord of All. “And I will cut off from Babylon its name and people, its children and their children,” says the Lord. ²³ “I will turn it into a place for hedgehogs, full of pools of water. And I will go over it and destroy it,” says the Lord of All.

God Will Destroy the Assyrians

²⁴ The Lord of All has promised, “It will happen just as I have planned it. As I have planned, so will it be. ²⁵ I will break Assyria in My land. I will crush him under foot on My mountains. Then his load will be taken from My people. His load will be taken from their shoulder.” ²⁶ This is the plan made against the whole earth and this is the hand that is put out against all the nations. ²⁷ For the Lord of All has planned, and who can keep it from happening? Who can turn His hand back?

God Will Destroy the Philistines

²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz died this special word came: ²⁹ “Do not be glad, O Philistia, all of you, because the special stick that made it hard for you is broken. One snake dies and a worse one comes, a snake that can fly. ³⁰ The poor will eat. Those in need will lie down and be safe. I will destroy all of you with hunger and it will kill those who are left. ³¹ Cry out, O gate. Cry, O city. All you Philistines are weak in heart. For smoke comes from the north, and everyone keeps his place in his army. ³² What answer will be given to the men sent by the nation? That the Lord is the builder of Zion, and it will be a safe place for His people who are poor and troubled.”

Food for Christians

2 Put out of your life hate and lying. Do not pretend to be someone you are not. Do not always want something someone else has. Do not say bad things about other people. ² As new babies want milk, you should want to drink the pure milk which is God’s Word so you will grow up and be saved from the punishment of sin. ³ If you have tasted of the Lord, you know how good He is.

The Living Stone

⁴ Come to Christ as to a living stone. Men have put Him aside, but He was chosen by God and is of great worth in the sight of God. ⁵ You are to be as living stones in the building God is making also. You are His religious leaders giving yourselves to God through Jesus Christ. This kind of gift pleases God. ⁶ The Holy Writings say, “See, I lay down in Jerusalem a Stone of great worth, worth far more than any amount of money. Anyone who puts his trust in Him will not be ashamed.” ^{(A) 7} This Stone is of great worth to you who have your trust in Him. But to those who have not put their trust in Him, the Holy Writings say, “The Stone which the workmen put aside has become the most important part of the building.” ^{(B) 8} The Holy Writings say, also, “Christ is the Stone that some men will trip over and the Rock over which they will fall.” When they do not obey the Word of God, they trip over it. This is what happens to such men. ⁹ But you are a chosen group of people. You are the King’s religious leaders. You are a holy nation. You belong to God. He has done this for you so you can tell others how God has called you out of darkness into His great light. ¹⁰ At one time you were a people of no use. Now you are the people of God. At one time you did not have loving-kindness. Now you have God’s loving-kindness.

¹¹ Dear friends, your real home is not here on earth. You are strangers here. I ask you to keep away from all the sinful desires of the flesh. These things fight to get hold of your soul. ¹² When you are around people who do not know God, be careful how you act. Even if they talk against you as wrong-doers, in the end they will give thanks to God for your good works when Christ comes again.

Obey the Leaders

¹³ Obey the head leader of the country and all other leaders over you. This pleases the Lord. ¹⁴ Obey the men who work for them. God sends them to punish those who do wrong and to show respect to those who do right. ¹⁵ This is what God wants. When you do right, you stop foolish men from saying bad things. ¹⁶ Obey as men who are free but do not use this to cover up sin. Live as servants owned by God at all times. ¹⁷ Show respect to all men. Love the Christians. Honor God with love and fear. Respect the head leader of the country.

Servants

¹⁸ Servants, you are to respect your owners and do what they say. Do this if you have a good and kind owner. You must do it even if your owner is hard to work for. ¹⁹ This shows you have received loving-favor when you are even punished for doing what is right because of your trust in God. ²⁰ What good is it if, when you are beaten for doing something wrong, you do not try to get out of it? But if you are beaten when you have done what is right, and do not try to get out of it, God is pleased. ²¹ These things are all a part of the Christian life to which you have been called. Christ suffered for us. This shows us we are to follow in His steps. ²² He never sinned. No lie or bad talk ever came from His lips. ²³ When people spoke against Him, He never spoke back. When He suffered from what people did to Him, He did not try to pay them back. He left it in the hands of the One Who is always right in judging. ²⁴ He carried our sins in His own body when He died on a cross. In doing this, we may be dead to sin and alive to all that is right and good. His wounds have healed you! ²⁵ You were like lost sheep. But now you have come back to Him Who is your Shepherd and the One Who cares for your soul.