M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Land of Canaan

34 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel, ‘When you go into the land of Canaan, this is the land that will be given to you, all the land of Canaan. ³ Your south side will be from the Desert of Zin along the side of Edom. It will go east from the end of the Salt Sea. ⁴ Then the side of your land will turn from the south up to the pass of Akrabbim and on to Zin. Its end will be south of Kadesh-barnea. It will go to Hazaraddar and on to Azmon. ⁵ Then it will turn from Azmon to the river of Egypt, and will end at the sea.

⁶ ‘The west side of your land will be the shore of the Great Sea.

⁷ ‘Your north side will be from the Great Sea to Mount Hor. ⁸ And it will go from Mount Hor to the Lebohamath, and end at Zedad. ⁹ Then it will go to Ziphron and end at Hazer-enan. This will be the north side.

¹⁰ ‘The east side of your land will be from Hazer-enan to Shepham, ¹¹ then down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain. Then it will go down to the hill on the east side of the Sea of Chinnereth. ¹² It will go down to the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This will be the sides all around your land.’”

¹³ Moses told the people of Israel, “This is the land you will receive by drawing names, which the Lord has said should be given to the nine and a half-family groups. ¹⁴ For the sons of Reuben have received their land by their fathers’ houses. The sons of Gad have received theirs by their fathers’ houses. And the half-family group of Manasseh has received their land. ¹⁵ The two and a half-family groups have received their land on the other side of the Jordan from Jericho, toward the east.”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Eleazar the religious leader and Joshua the son of Nun are the men who will divide the land to be given to you. ¹⁸ And take one leader of every family group to divide the land among you. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men. Take Caleb the son of Jephunneh of the family group of Judah. ²⁰ Take Samuel the son of Ammihud of the family group of the sons of Simeon. ²¹ Take Elidad the son of Chislon of the family group of Benjamin. ²² Take Bukki the son of Jogli as the leader of the family group of the sons of Dan. ²³ Of the sons of Joseph, take Hanniel the son of Ephod as the leader of the family group of the sons of Manasseh. ²⁴ Take Kemuel the son of Shiphtan as the leader of the family group of the sons of Ephraim. ²⁵ Take Elizaphan the son of Parnach as the leader of the family group of the sons of Zebulun. ²⁶ Take Paltiel the son of Azzan as the leader of the family group of the sons of Issachar. ²⁷ Take Ahihud the son of Shelomi as the leader of the family group of the sons of Asher. ²⁸ And take Pedahel the son of Ammihud as the leader of the family group of the sons of Naphtali.” ²⁹ These are the men whom the Lord told to divide the land among the people of Israel in the land of Canaan.

³⁸ But He showed them loving-kindness and forgave their sins. He did not destroy them. He held back His anger many times. He did not let all of His anger loose. ³⁹ He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰ How many times they went against Him in the desert, and gave Him sorrow in that empty land! ⁴¹ They put God to the test again and again, and troubled the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power and the day He saved them from those who hated them, ⁴³ when He did His powerful works in Egypt and showed His greatness in the field of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He changed their rivers into blood. They could not drink from their rivers. ⁴⁵ He sent many flies among them that ate them, and frogs that destroyed them. ⁴⁶ He gave their fields of food to the grasshopper, and all they worked for to the locust. ⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with cold. ⁴⁸ He killed their cattle with hail and lightning. ⁴⁹ He sent them His burning anger and trouble. He sent a group of angels to bring trouble and sorrow to them. ⁵⁰ He made a straight path for His anger. He did not save their soul from death. But He gave their lives over to all these troubles. ⁵¹ He killed all the first-born in Egypt, the first children of their strength in the tents of Ham. ⁵² But He brought His people out like sheep. And He led them like a flock in the desert. ⁵³ He led them and kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea covered those who hated them.

⁵⁴ He brought them to His holy land, to the hill country His right hand had taken. ⁵⁵ He drove out the nations before them. He gave them parts of the land for a gift. And He made the families of Israel live in their tents.

⁵⁶ But they tempted and went against the Most High God. They did not keep His Law. ⁵⁷ They turned away and acted without faith like their fathers. They were like a bow that cannot be trusted. ⁵⁸ They made Him angry with their sinful places of worship. And they made Him jealous with their false gods. ⁵⁹ God was very angry when He heard them, and He hated Israel. ⁶⁰ He left the holy tent at Shiloh, the tent He had set up among men. ⁶¹ And He let His strength be taken. He put His greatness into the hands of those who hated Israel. ⁶² He allowed His people to be killed with the sword. And He was very angry with those who belong to Him. ⁶³ Fire burned up their young men. And their young women had no wedding songs. ⁶⁴ Their religious leaders fell by the sword. And the women who lost their husbands could not cry.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord woke up as if from sleep, like a strong man wild with wine. ⁶⁶ He beat back those who hated Him. And He put them to shame forever. ⁶⁷ He turned away from the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the family of Ephraim, ⁶⁸ but chose the family of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. ⁶⁹ He built His holy place like the high mountains, like the earth He has built forever. ⁷⁰ He chose David, His servant and took him from the flocks of sheep. ⁷¹ He brought him from caring for the sheep and their lambs to being the shepherd of Jacob His people, and Israel who belongs to Him. ⁷² So David was their shepherd with a heart that was right, and led them with good hands and wisdom.

A Song of Trust in God

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. The Lord saves us and puts up walls to keep us safe. ² Open the gates, that the nation that is right with God may come in, the one that keeps faithful. ³ You will keep the man in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever. For the Lord God is a Rock that lasts forever. ⁵ For He has brought down low those who live on a high place, the high city. He lays it low. He lays it low to the ground. He throws it to the dust. ⁶ It will be crushed under foot, under the feet of those who have suffered and the steps of those who cannot help themselves.”

⁷ The way of the man who is right with God is smooth. O Upright One, make the path straight of those who are right with You. ⁸ While following in Your ways, O Lord, we have waited for You. To remember You and Your name is the desire of our souls. ⁹ My soul has a desire for You in the night. Yes, my spirit within me looks for You in the morning. For when you punish the earth, the people of the world learn what is right and good. ¹⁰ When favor is shown to the sinful, he does not learn what is right and good. He goes on doing what is wrong in the land of those who are right. He does not see the wonderful power of the Lord.

¹¹ O Lord, Your hand is lifted up but they do not see it. Let them see Your care for Your people and be ashamed. Let fire destroy those who hate You. ¹² O Lord, You will give us peace, for You have done all our works for us. ¹³ O Lord our God, other lords than You have ruled us, but Your name alone is the One we honor. ¹⁴ They are dead, and will not live. Their spirits will not return. So You have punished and destroyed them. You have caused them all to be forgotten. ¹⁵ You have made the nation great, O Lord. You have made the nation great. You have received much praise. You have made the land larger. ¹⁶ O Lord, they looked for You in their trouble. They could only say a quiet prayer while You were punishing them. ¹⁷ As the woman who is going to have a baby comes close to the time to give birth, she suffers and cries out in her pains. This is how we were before You, O Lord. ¹⁸ We suffered in pain. We gave birth, as it were, only to wind. We could not bring the world out of its trouble. And no people of the earth were born. ¹⁹ Your dead will live. Their dead bodies will rise. You who lie in the dust, wake up and call out for joy. For as the water on the grass in the morning brings new life, the earth will bring back to life those who have been dead.

Punishment of Sinners

²⁰ Come, my people, go into your rooms. Close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until God’s anger is past. ²¹ For see, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the people of the earth for their sin. And the earth will let the blood be seen that has poured on her. She will no longer cover her dead.

The Spirits Must Be Tested

4 Dear Christian friends, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God for there are many false preachers in the world. ² You can tell if the spirit is from God in this way: Every spirit that says Jesus Christ has come in a human body is from God. ³ And every spirit that does not say Jesus has come in a human body is not from God. It is the teaching of the false-christ. You have heard that this teaching is coming. It is already here in the world. ⁴ My children, you are a part of God’s family. You have stood against these false preachers and had power over them. You had power over them because the One Who lives in you is stronger than the one who is in the world. ⁵ Those false teachers are a part of the world. They speak about the things of the world. The world listens to them. ⁶ We are a part of God’s family. The person who knows God will listen to us. The person who is not a part of God’s family will not listen to us. In this way, we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of false teaching.

Loving God Makes Us Love Our Christian Brothers

⁷ Dear friends, let us love each other, because love comes from God. Those who love are God’s children and they know God. ⁸ Those who do not love do not know God because God is love. ⁹ God has shown His love to us by sending His only Son into the world. God did this so we might have life through Christ. ¹⁰ This is love! It is not that we loved God but that He loved us. For God sent His Son to pay for our sins with His own blood.

¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us that much, then we should love each other. ¹² No person has ever seen God at any time. If we love each other, God lives in us. His love is made perfect in us. ¹³ He has given us His Spirit. This is how we live by His help and He lives in us.

Love Gives Us More Faith in Christ

¹⁴ We have seen and are able to say that the Father sent His Son to save the world from the punishment of sin. ¹⁵ The person who tells of Him in front of men and says that Jesus is the Son of God, God is living in that one and that one is living by the help of God. ¹⁶ We have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love. If you live in love, you live by the help of God and God lives in you.

The Love of God Has Power Over Fear and Hate

¹⁷ Love is made perfect in us when we are not ashamed as we stand before Him on the day He judges. For we know that our life in this world is His life lived in us. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. Perfect love puts fear out of our hearts. People have fear when they are afraid of being punished. The man who is afraid does not have perfect love. ¹⁹ We love Him because He loved us first. ²⁰ If a person says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. If a person does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God Whom he has not seen? ²¹ We have these words from Him. If you love God, love your brother also.