M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Levitical Cities
35 The Lord told Moses in the wilderness of Moab, beside the Jordan River near[a] Jericho, 2 “Instruct the Israelis to set aside a portion of their inheritance for the descendants of Levi to live in, along with grazing land surrounding their towns. 3 The towns are to be reserved for their dwelling places and the grazing lands[b] are to be reserved for their cattle, livestock, and all their animals. 4 The grazing lands that you are to reserve for use by the descendants of Levi are to extend 1,000 cubits[c] from the walls of the town. 5 You are to measure from outside the wall of the town on the east side 2,000 cubits,[d] on the south side 2,000 cubits,[e] on the west side 2,000 cubits,[f] and on the north side 2,000 cubits,[g] with the town placed at the center. This reserved area is to serve as grazing[h] land for their towns. 6 You are to set aside six towns of refuge from the towns that you will be giving to the descendants of Levi, where someone who kills a human being may run for shelter. In addition, give them 42 other towns. 7 The total number of towns that you are to give to the descendants of Levi is to be 48 towns, including grazing lands surrounding these towns. 8 You are to apportion the towns that you will be giving the Israelis according to the relative size of the tribe. Take a larger portion from those larger in number and a lesser portion from those fewer in number. Each is to set aside towns for the descendants of Levi proportional to the size of their inheritance that they receive.”
Appointment of Cities of Refuge
9 Then the Lord told Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelis that when they have crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 11 they are to designate some towns of refuge so that anyone who kills someone inadvertently may flee there. 12 They are to serve as cities of refuge from a blood avenger[i] in order to keep the inadvertent killer from dying until he has stood trial in the presence of the community. 13 You are to set aside six towns of refuge. 14 Appoint three towns this side of the Jordan River and three towns in the land of Canaan to serve as the towns of refuge, 15 that is, places[j] of refuge for the Israelis, the resident alien,[k] and any travelers among them. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently may flee there.”
Exceptions to Eligibility
16 “Whoever uses an iron implement to kill someone is to be adjudged[l] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 17 Furthermore, whoever uses a stone implement to kill someone is to be adjudged[m] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 18 Also, whoever uses a wooden implement to kill someone with it is to be adjudged[n] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 19 The blood avenger himself is to execute the murderer. When he meets him, the blood avenger[o] is to put him to death. 20 If the killer[p] shoved his victim[q] out of hatred, or hurled something[r] at him while waiting in ambush so that he died, 21 or if he struck him with his hand out of hatred so that he died, then the killer is certainly to be put to death for murder. The avenger of blood is to put him to death when he meets him.”
Case Examples for Eligibility
22 “But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or if he hurled something[s] in his direction without waiting in ambush, 23 or if he hit him[t] with a stone carelessly[u] so that he was fatally injured, though he isn’t his enemy and he wasn’t seeking to commit evil against him, 24 then the community is to judge between the inadvertent killer and the blood avenger, following these ordinances. 25 The community is to release[v] the inadvertent killer from the blood avenger and return him to the town of refuge where he had fled. He is to live there until the High Priest dies, who will have anointed him with holy oil. 26 But if the inadvertent killer leaves the town of refuge where he had fled 27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the town of refuge where he had fled and kills him, the blood avenger is not to be found guilty of murder. 28 The inadvertent killer[w] is to live in the town of refuge until the High Priest dies. After the death of the High Priest, the inadvertent killer is to return to the land of his inheritance. 29 These are to be the statutes and ordinances for you throughout all your generations, regardless of where you live.”[x]
Capital Cases Require Multiple Witnesses
30 “Every murderer of a human being[y] is to be executed only according to testimony[z] given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence.[aa] 31 You are to receive no ransom for the life[ab] of a killer who is guilty of murder; instead, he is to die. 32 You are not to receive payment of a[ac] ransom for someone who had fled to a town of refuge but then left to live in his homeland before the death of the high priest. 33 You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. 34 You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I’m living among you. I am the Lord, who lives in Israel.”
A Psalm of Asaph
A Prayer for Jerusalem
79 God, nations have invaded your land[a]
to desecrate your holy Temple,
to destroy Jerusalem,
2 to give the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the skies
and the flesh of your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth;
3 to make their blood flow like water around Jerusalem,
with no one being buried.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a mockery and a derision to those around us.
5 How long, Lord, will you be angry? Forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath upon the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
and over the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.
7 For they consumed Jacob,
making his dwelling place desolate.
8 Don’t charge[b] us for previous iniquity,
but let your compassion come quickly to us,
for we have been brought very low.
9 Help us, God, our deliverer,
on account of your glorious name,
deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
on account of your name.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let vengeance for the blood of your servants be meted[d] out
before our eyes and among the nations.
11 Let the cries of the prisoners reach you.
With the strength of your power,
release those condemned to death.[e]
12 Pay back our neighbors seven times[f]
the reproach with which they reproached you, Lord.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you always, from generation to generation.
We will declare your praise.
Israel’s Deliverance
27 At that time,[a] with his fierce, mighty, and powerful sword, the Lord will punish the gliding serpent Leviathan—the coiling serpent Leviathan—and he will kill the dragon that’s in the sea.
2 At that time,[b]
“A fermenting[c] vineyard—
sing about it!
3 I, the Lord, watch over it
And I water it continuously.
I guard it night and day
so no one can harm it.
4 I am not angry.
If only the vineyard[d] could give me briers and thorns[e] to battle,
I would march against it,
and[f] I would burn it all up.
5 Or else let it lay claim to my protection;
let it make peace with me,
yes, let it make peace with me.”
6 In times to come, Jacob will take root,
and[g] Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has the Lord[h] struck them down,
just as he struck down those who struck them?
Or have they been killed,
just as their killers were killed?
8 Measure by measure,[i]
in their exile you contended with them;
with his fierce blast he removed them,
as on a day when the east wind blows.
9 By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
and this will be the full harvest
that comes from the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
like pulverized chalkstones,
no Asherah[j] poles or incense altars will be left standing.
10 For the fortified city stands desolate,
a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert;
calves graze there,
and there they lie down
and strip bare its branches.
11 When its branches are dry,
they are broken off,
and women come and kindle fires with them,
since this is a people who show no consideration.
That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion;
the One who created them shows them no mercy.
Assyria and Egypt Exiles Redeemed
12 At that time,[k] the Lord will winnow grain from the Euphrates River[l] channel to the Wadi[m] of Egypt,[n] and you will be gathered in one by one, O people of Israel. 13 Furthermore, at that time,[o] a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled[p] to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Faith Overcomes the World
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah[a] has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: we love God and keep his commandments. 3 For this demonstrates our love for God: We keep his commandments, and his commandments are not difficult, 4 because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 5 Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This man, Jesus the Messiah,[b] is the one who came by water and blood—not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three witnesses in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.[c] 8 And there are three witness on earth—the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one.
9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God and because he has testified about his Son. 10 The person who believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally.[d] The person who does not believe God[e] has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he[f] has given about his Son.
11 This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. 12 The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.
Conclusion
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God[g] would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.
18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son[h] of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.[i] We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah,[j] who is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.[k]
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