M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Moses Talks to the Israelites
1 This is the message Moses gave to all the people of Israel in the desert east of the Jordan River. They were in the desert area near Suph, between Paran and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2 (The trip from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the Mount Seir road takes eleven days.) 3 Forty years after the Israelites had left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses told the people of Israel everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. 4 This was after the Lord had defeated Sihon and Og. Sihon was king of the Amorite people and lived in Heshbon. Og was king of Bashan and lived in Ashteroth and Edrei.
5 Now the Israelites were east of the Jordan River in the land of Moab, and there Moses began to explain what God had commanded. He said:
6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Mount Sinai and said, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Get ready, and go to the mountain country of the Amorites, and to all the places around there—the Jordan Valley, the mountains, the western hills, the southern area, the seacoast, the land of Canaan, and Lebanon. Go as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land, so go in and take it for yourselves. The Lord promised it to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants.”
Moses Appoints Leaders
9 At that time I said, “I am not able to take care of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has made you grow in number so that there are as many of you as there are stars in the sky. 11 I pray that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, will give you a thousand times more people and do all the wonderful things he promised. 12 But I cannot take care of your problems, your troubles, and your arguments by myself. 13 So choose some men from each tribe—wise men who have understanding and experience—and I will make them leaders over you.”
14 And you said, “That’s a good thing to do.”
15 So I took the wise and experienced leaders of your tribes, and I made them your leaders. I appointed commanders over a thousand people, over a hundred people, over fifty people, and over ten people and made them officers over your tribes. 16 Then I told your leaders, “Listen to the arguments between your people. Judge fairly between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner. 17 When you judge, be fair to everyone; don’t act as if one person is more important than another, and don’t be afraid of anyone, because your decision comes from God. Bring the hard cases to me, and I will judge them.” 18 At that time I told you everything you must do.
Spies Enter the Land
19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and went toward the mountain country of the Amorite people. We went through that large and terrible desert you saw, and then we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, “You have now come to the mountain country of the Amorites, to the land the Lord our God will give us. 21 Look, here it is! Go up and take it. The Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you to do this, so don’t be afraid and don’t worry.”
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let’s send men before us to spy out the land. They can come back and tell us about the way we should go and the cities we will find.”
23 I thought that was a good idea, so I chose twelve of your men, one for each tribe. 24 They left and went up to the mountains, and when they came to the Valley of Eshcol they explored it. 25 They took some of the fruit from that land and brought it down to us, saying, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”
Israel Refuses to Enter
26 But you refused to go. You would not obey the command of the Lord your God, 27 but grumbled in your tents, saying, “The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to give us to the Amorites, who will destroy us. 28 Where can we go now? The spies we sent have made us afraid, because they said, ‘The people there are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are big, with walls up to the sky. And we saw the Anakites there!’”
29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be frightened; don’t be afraid of those people. 30 The Lord your God will go ahead of you and fight for you as he did in Egypt; you saw him do it. 31 And in the desert you saw how the Lord your God carried you, like one carries a child. And he has brought you safely all the way to this place.”
32 But you still did not trust the Lord your God, even though 33 he had always gone before you to find places for you to camp. In a fire at night and in a cloud during the day, he showed you which way to go.
34 When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and made an oath, saying, 35 “I promised a good land to your ancestors, but none of you evil people will see it. 36 Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will see it. I will give him and his descendants the land he walked on, because he followed the Lord completely.”
37 Because of you, the Lord was also angry with me and said, “You won’t enter the land either, 38 but your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to take the land for their own.
39 “Your little children that you said would be captured, who do not know right from wrong at this time, will go into the land. I will give the land to them, and they will take it for their own. 40 But you must turn around and follow the desert road toward the Red Sea.”
41 Then you said to me, “We have sinned against the Lord, but now we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” Then all of you put on weapons, thinking it would be easy to go into the mountains.
42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell the people, ‘You must not go up there and fight. I will not be with you, and your enemies will defeat you.’”
43 So I told you, but you would not listen. You would not obey the Lord’s command. You were proud, so you went on up into the mountains, 44 and the Amorites who lived in those mountains came out and fought you. They chased you like bees and defeated you from Edom to Hormah. 45 So you came back and cried before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to you; he refused to pay attention to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh a long time.
A Song for a Holiday
For the director of music. By the gittith. A psalm of Asaph.
81 Sing for joy to God, our strength;
shout out loud to the God of Jacob.
2 Begin the music. Play the tambourines.
Play pleasant music on the harps and lyres.
3 Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,
when the moon is full, when our feast begins.
4 This is the law for Israel;
it is the command of the God of Jacob.
5 He gave this rule to the people of Joseph
when they went out of the land of Egypt.
I heard a language I did not know, saying:
6 “I took the load off their shoulders;
I let them put down their baskets.
7 When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you.
I answered you with thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 My people, listen. I am warning you.
Israel, please listen to me!
9 You must not have foreign gods;
you must not worship any false god.
10 I, the Lord, am your God,
who brought you out of Egypt.
Open your mouth and I will feed you.
11 “But my people did not listen to me;
Israel did not want me.
12 So I let them go their stubborn way
and follow their own advice.
13 I wish my people would listen to me;
I wish Israel would live my way.
14 Then I would quickly defeat their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would bow before him.
Their punishment would continue forever.
16 But I would give you the finest wheat
and fill you with honey from the rocks.”
A Cry for Justice
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God is in charge of the great meeting;
he judges among the “gods.”
2 He says, “How long will you defend evil people?
How long will you show greater kindness to the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the weak and the orphans;
defend the rights of the poor and suffering.
4 Save the weak and helpless;
free them from the power of the wicked.
5 “You know nothing. You don’t understand.
You walk in the dark,
while the world is falling apart.
6 I said, ‘You are “gods.”
You are all sons of God Most High.’
7 But you will die like any other person;
you will fall like all the leaders.”
8 God, come and judge the earth,
because you own all the nations.
Warnings to Jerusalem
29 How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem,
the city where David camped.
Your festivals have continued
year after year.
2 I will attack Jerusalem,
and that city will be filled with sadness and crying.
It will be like an altar to me.
3 I will put armies all around you, Jerusalem;
I will surround you with towers
and with devices to attack you.
4 You will be pulled down and will speak from the ground;
I will hear your voice rising from the ground.
It will sound like the voice of a ghost;
your words will come like a whisper from the dirt.
5 Your many enemies will become like fine dust;
the many cruel people will be like chaff that is blown away.
Everything will happen very quickly.
6 The Lord All-Powerful will come
with thunder, earthquakes, and great noises,
with storms, strong winds, and a fire that destroys.
7 Then all the nations that fight against Jerusalem
will be like a dream;
all the nations that attack her
will be like a vision in the night.
8 They will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating,
but when he awakens, he is still hungry.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking,
but when he awakens, he is still weak and thirsty.
It will be the same way with all the nations
who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be surprised and amazed.
Blind yourselves so that you cannot see.
Become drunk, but not from wine.
Trip and fall, but not from beer.
10 The Lord has made you go into a deep sleep.
He has closed your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.)
He has covered your heads. (The seers are your heads.)
11 This vision is like the words of a book that is closed and sealed. You may give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But he will say, “I can’t read the book, because it is sealed.” 12 Or you may give the book to someone who cannot read and tell him to read it. But he will say, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says:
“These people worship me with their mouths,
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is based on
nothing but human rules.
14 So I will continue to amaze these people
by doing more and more miracles.
Their wise men will lose their wisdom;
their wise men will not be able to understand.”
Warnings About Other Nations
15 How terrible it will be for those who try
to hide things from the Lord
and who do their work in darkness.
They think no one will see them or know what they do.
16 You are confused.
You think the clay is equal to the potter.
You think that an object can tell the one who made it,
“You didn’t make me.”
This is like a pot telling its maker,
“You don’t know anything.”
A Better Time Is Coming
17 In a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland,
and the rich farmland will seem like a forest.
18 At that time the deaf will hear the words in a book.
Instead of having darkness and gloom, the blind will see.
19 The Lord will make the poor people happy;
they will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 Then the people without mercy will come to an end;
those who do not respect God will disappear.
Those who enjoy doing evil will be gone:
21 those who lie about others in court,
those who trap people in court,
those who lie and take justice from innocent people in court.
22 This is what the Lord who set Abraham free says to the family of Jacob:
“Now the people of Jacob will not be ashamed
or disgraced any longer.
23 When they see all their children,
the children I made with my hands,
they will say my name is holy.
They will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy,
and they will respect the God of Israel.
24 People who do wrong will now understand.
Those who complain will accept being taught.”
1 From the Elder.[a]
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth:[b]
2 My dear friend, I know your soul is doing fine, and I pray that you are doing well in every way and that your health is good. 3 I was very happy when some brothers and sisters came and told me about the truth in your life and how you are following the way of truth. 4 Nothing gives me greater joy than to hear that my children are following the way of truth.
5 My dear friend, it is good that you help the brothers and sisters, even those you do not know. 6 They told the church about your love. Please help them to continue their trip in a way worthy of God. 7 They started out in service to Christ, and they have been accepting nothing from nonbelievers. 8 So we should help such people; when we do, we share in their work for the truth.
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be their leader, will not listen to us. 10 So if I come, I will talk about what Diotrephes is doing, about how he lies and says evil things about us. But more than that, he refuses to accept the other brothers and sisters; he even stops those who do want to accept them and puts them out of the church.
11 My dear friend, do not follow what is bad; follow what is good. The one who does good belongs to God. But the one who does evil has never known God.
12 Everyone says good things about Demetrius, and the truth agrees with what they say. We also speak well of him, and you know what we say is true.
13 I have many things I want to write you, but I do not want to use pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon and talk face to face. 15 Peace to you. The friends here greet you. Please greet each friend there by name.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.