M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Regulations Concerning Vows
30 [a]Later, Moses told the elders of the Israeli tribes, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 2 ‘When a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath—an obligation that is binding to himself—he is not to break his word. Instead, he is to fulfill whatever promise[b] came out of his mouth.’”
Vows by Unmarried Women
3 “When a young woman makes a vow to the Lord or pledges[c] herself[d] to an obligation while she still lives in her father’s house, 4 and her father hears her vow and the obligations that she had pledged[e] herself to fulfill, yet her father keeps silent about it, then all her vows and every obligation she pledged herself to are to stand. 5 But if her father disallows her on the same day that he hears what she has said, then all her vows and every obligation she had pledged herself to fulfill are not to stand. The Lord will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.”
Vows by Married Women
6 “If she has a husband and she makes a vow that is binding on herself, or if she makes a hasty vow with her mouth that she pledges herself[f] to fulfill, 7 and her husband hears her vow, yet remains silent on the day that he hears it, then her vows are to stand and the obligation to which she had pledged herself is to stand. 8 But if, on the same day her husband hears and disallows her, then he has revoked her vows that she made for herself, along with any hasty vows that she spoke and to which she pledged herself to fulfill. The Lord will forgive her.”
Vows by Widows or the Divorced
9 “Everything that a widow or a divorced woman pledges herself to fulfill are to be binding on her.[g] 10 If, while she had been living in her late or former[h] husband’s house, she makes a vow or a promise that binds her with an oath, 11 and her husband hears it but remains silent, not disallowing it, then all her vows are to stand, along with every obligation that she has pledged to fulfill. 12 But if her husband disallowed them the very day that he heard her, everything that she spoke relating to her vows and her obligation to herself are not to stand, because her husband revoked them. The Lord will forgive her. 13 Her husband may confirm[i] or revoke every vow and binding obligation that afflicts her. 14 But if her husband remains silent about her from day to day, then he has affirmed all her vows or obligations that she has obligated herself to fulfill.[j] He has affirmed them because he remained silent from the day he heard her vows.[k] 15 But if he nullified them after he had heard, then he will be responsible for any resulting iniquity.”
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife and concerning a father and his young daughter while she still lives in her father’s house.
An instruction[a] of Asaph
A Plea for Deliverance
74 Why, God? Have you rejected us forever?
Your anger is burning against the sheep of your pasture.
2 Remember your community,
whom you purchased long ago,
the tribe whom you redeemed
for your possession.
Remember[b] Mount Zion,
where you live.
3 Hurry! Look at the permanent ruins—
every calamity the enemy brought upon the Holy Place.
4 Those who are opposing you roar
where we were meeting with you;
they unfurl their war banners as signs.
5 As one blazes a trail
through a forest with an ax,
6 now they’re tearing down all its carved work
with hatchets and hammers.
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground,
desecrating your dwelling place.
8 They say to themselves,
“We’ll crush them completely;”
They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We see no signs for us;
there is no longer a prophet,
and no one among us knows the future.[c]
10 God, how long will the adversary scorn
while the enemy despises your name endlessly?
11 Why do you not withdraw your hand—
your right hand—from your bosom
and destroy them?[d]
12 But God is my king from ancient times,
who brings acts of deliverance throughout the earth.
13 You split the sea by your own power.
You shattered the heads of sea monsters in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan.
You set it as food for desert creatures.[e]
15 You opened both the spring and the river;
you dried up flowing rivers.
16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night;
you established the moon and the sun.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made summer and winter.
18 Remember this: The enemy scorns the Lord
and a foolish people despises your name.
19 Don’t hand over the life of your dove to beasts;
do not continuously forget your afflicted ones.
20 Pay attention to your covenant,
for the dark regions of the earth are full of violence.
21 Don’t let the oppressed return in humiliation.
The poor and needy will praise your name.
22 Get up, God, and prosecute your case—
remember that you’re being scorned
by fools all day long.
23 Don’t ignore the shout of those opposing you,
The uproar of those who rebel against you continuously.
Jerusalem is Rebuked
22 A message[a] concerning the Valley of Vision.[b]
“What troubles you,
now that you’ve all gone up
to the rooftops,
2 you who are full of commotion,
you passionate city,
you rollicking town?
Your slain weren’t killed by the sword,
nor are they dead in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together;
she is captured[c] without using bows.
All of you who were caught were captured together,
although they had fled
while the enemy was still[d] far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
and let me weep bitter tears;
don’t try to console[e] me
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”[f]
5 For to the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
belongs the day of tumult, trampling, and confusion
in the Valley of Vision,[g]
and the pulling down of his Temple on[h] its mountain.
6 Elam takes up the quiver
with chariots and cavalry,
while Kir unsheathes the shield.
7 And it will come about[i]
that your choicest valleys will be filled with chariots,
and horsemen will take their positions at the gates.
8 He has uncovered the defenses of Judah.”
At that time,[j] you looked at the arsenal of the Palace of the Forest,[k] 9 and saw that there were many breaches in the City of David. So you stored up water from the Lower Pool, 10 counted the houses of Jerusalem, tore down certain houses to strengthen the wall, 11 and built a reservoir between the walls to store water from the Old Pool. But you did not look at[l] the One who did it, nor did you see the One who planned it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies
called for weeping and mourning,
for shaving heads[m] and wearing sackcloth.
13 But look!
There is joy and festivity,
slaughtering of cattle
and killing of sheep,
eating meat
and drinking[n] wine.
“Let us eat and drink, you say,
because we die tomorrow.”
14 “Nevertheless, the Lord of the Heavenly Armies has revealed himself to my hearing:
‘“Surely because of you[o]
this iniquity will not be forgiven
you until you die,’
says the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.”
The Lord Rebukes Shebna
15 This is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies[p] says:
“Come, go to this steward, to Shebna who is in charge of the household, and ask him: 16 ‘What are you doing here, and who are your relatives here[q] that you could carve out a grave for yourself here—cutting out a tomb at the choicest location,[r] chiseling out a resting place for yourself out of solid rock? 17 Look Out! The Lord is about to hurl you away violently, my strong fellow! He[s] will fold you up completely, 18 rolling you up tightly like a ball and throwing you into a large country. There[t] you will die, and there[u] your splendid chariots will lie. You’re a disgrace to your master’s house! 19 I will depose you from your office, ousting you[v] from your position.
20 “At that time,[w] I’ll call for my servant, Hilkiah’s[x] son Eliakim, 21 and I’ll clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him. I’ll transfer your authority to him,[y] and he’ll be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22 “I’ll place on his shoulder the key to the house of David—what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open. 23 I’ll set him like a peg into a secure place; he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 The entire reputation of his father’s house will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its smaller vessels, from the cups to all the jars. 25 At that time,”[z] declares the Lord[aa] of the Heavenly Armies, “the peg that was driven into a secure place will give way; it will be sheared and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.”
The Lord has spoken.
Be Ready for the Day of the Lord
3 Dear friends, this is now the second of two letters[a] I am writing to you, in which I have been trying to stimulate your pure minds by reminding you 2 to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior spoken[b] through your apostles.
3 First of all you must understand this: In the last days mockers will come and, following their own desires, will ridicule us[c] 4 by saying, “What happened to the Messiah’s[d] promise to return? Ever since our ancestors died,[e] everything continues as it did from the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth was formed by God’s word out of water and with water, 6 by which the world at that time was deluged with water and destroyed. 7 Now by that same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire and are being kept for the day when ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.
8 Don’t forget this fact, dear friends: With the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to find room for repentence. 10 But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day[f] the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, think of the kind of holy and godly people you ought to be 12 as you look forward to and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire. 13 But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to have the Lord[g] find you at peace and without spot or fault. 15 Think of our Lord’s patience as facilitating salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. 16 He speaks about this subject in all his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, leading to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures.
17 And so, dear friends, since you already know these things, continuously be on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of lawless people. Otherwise, you may[h] fall from your secure position. 18 Instead, continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.[i] Glory belongs to him both now and on that eternal day! Amen.[j]
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