M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Years in the Desert

2 “Then we turned and went into the desert by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord said to me. We went around Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have traveled around this mountain long enough. Now turn north. ⁴ Tell the people, “You will pass through the land of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. ⁵ Do not make them angry. For I will not give you any of their land, not even enough for a foot to step on. I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his own. ⁶ You will pay them with money for the food you eat. And you will pay them with money for the water you drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has brought good to you in all you have done. He knows about your traveling through this big desert. The Lord your God has been with you these forty years. You have not been without a thing.”’

⁸ “So we moved on from our brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and Ezion-geber. We turned and went by the way of the desert of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not bring trouble to Moab or fight them in war. For I will not give you any of their land for your own. I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their own.’ ¹⁰ (The Emim had lived there before. These people were many and powerful, and as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ They are known as Rephaim also, like the Anakim. But the Moabites call them Emim. ¹² The Horites once lived in Seir also. But the sons of Esau took their place. They destroyed them and took the land for themselves, as Israel did to the land which the Lord gave them for their own.) ¹³ ‘Now get up and go over the river Zered.’ So we went over the river Zered. ¹⁴ It was thirty-eight years from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the river Zered. By that time all the men of war among us had died, as the Lord had said they would. ¹⁵ The hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them within their tents until they were all dead.

¹⁶ “When all the men of war had died from among the people, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ ‘Today you will cross over Ar and into Moab. ¹⁹ But when you come near the land of the sons of Ammon, do not bring them trouble or make them angry. For I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon for your own. Because I have given it to the sons of Lot for their own.’ ²⁰ (It is known as the land of the Rephaim also. For Rephaim once lived in it. But the Amorites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, as many and as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them, and the sons of Ammon took their place and lived in their land. ²² It was as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir. He destroyed the Horites, and the sons of Esau took their place and live in their land even to this day. ²³ And the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed the Avvim who lived in towns as far as Gaza. Then they lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Now rise up and go on your way. Pass through the valley of Arnon. See, I have given you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take it for your own, and fight with him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put much fear of you upon the nations everywhere under the heavens. When they hear about you, they will shake with fear and be filled with trouble because of you.’

Battle with King Sihon

²⁶ “So I sent men carrying news from the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace. They said, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land. I will travel only on the road. I will not turn to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so I may eat, and give me water for money so I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot ²⁹ as the sons of Esau did for us in Seir and the Moabites in Ar. Do this until I cross over the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through his land. For the Lord your God made his spirit and heart hard, so He might give him into your hand, as he is today. ³¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take it for your own, so you may live in it.’

³² “Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ The Lord our God gave him to us. We won the fight against him, his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we took all his cities at that time, and destroyed every man, woman and child in them. We left no one alive. ³⁵ We took only the animals for our own, and the things that were left behind in the cities. ³⁶ There was no city too strong for us, from Aroer by the valley of Arnon, and from the city which is in the valley, as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave all to us. ³⁷ Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country. You did not go where the Lord our God told us not to go.

A Prayer for Israel

83 O God, do not keep quiet. Do not be quiet, O God, and do not hold Your peace. ² For, look, those who hate You are making much noise. Those who fight against You have honored themselves. ³ They make bad plans against Your people. They plan against those You care for. ⁴ They say, “Come, let us destroy them as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no longer.” ⁵ For they plan together with one mind. They make an agreement against You: ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; ⁷ Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with those who live in Tyre; ⁸ Assyria has joined them also. They help the children of Lot.

⁹ Do to them as You did to Midian, and to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor. They were spread over the field. ¹¹ Make their respected men like Oreb and Zeeb. Make their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹² who said, “Let us take for ourselves the fields of God.”

¹³ O my God, make them like dust turning in the wind, like parts of the grass that have no worth and are blown away. ¹⁴ As the fire that burns up the trees and spreads over the mountains, ¹⁵ so go behind them with Your storm. Make them afraid with Your storm. ¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, so they will look to Your name, O Lord. ¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and afraid forever. Let them be put to shame and lost. ¹⁸ Then they may know that You alone, Whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

A Desire for God’s House

84 How beautiful are the places where You live, O Lord of all! ² My soul wants and even becomes weak from wanting to be in the house of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. ³ Even the bird has found a home. The swallow has found a nest for herself where she may lay her young at Your altars, O Lord of all, my King and my God. ⁴ How happy are those who live in Your house! They are always giving thanks to You.

⁵ How happy is the man whose strength is in You and in whose heart are the roads to Zion! ⁶ As they pass through the dry valley of Baca, they make it a place of good water. The early rain fills the pools with good also. ⁷ They go from strength to strength. Every one of them stands before God in Zion.

⁸ O Lord God of all, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. ⁹ Look upon our safe-covering, O God. And look upon the face of Your chosen one. ¹⁰ For a day in Your house is better than a thousand outside. I would rather be the one who opens the door of the house of my God, than to live in the tents of the sinful. ¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and a safe-covering. The Lord gives favor and honor. He holds back nothing good from those who walk in the way that is right. ¹² O Lord of all, how happy is the man who trusts in You!

Israel Cannot Depend on Egypt

30 “It is bad for the children who will not obey!” says the Lord, “They act on a plan that is not Mine, and make an agreement that is not of My Spirit, and so add sin to sin. ² They go down to Egypt without asking Me. They want Pharaoh to keep them safe and they look for a safe place in the shadow of Egypt. ³ So the safe place of Pharaoh will be your shame. You will be brought low in the safe place in the shadow of Egypt. ⁴ For their rulers are at Zoan, and leaders come to Hanes. ⁵ Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot be of help to them. They do not bring help or riches, but only shame.”

⁶ The special word about the wild animals of the Negev: They go through a land of trouble and suffering, where there are male and female lions, deadly snakes and flying snakes. They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and camels, to a people who cannot be of help to them. ⁷ Egypt’s help is of no worth and is empty. So I have called her Rahab who has done nothing.

The People Who Do Not Obey

⁸ Now go and write it down in front of them. And write it in a book, that it may be seen for all time to come. ⁹ For these people will not obey. They are not true sons. They will not listen to the teaching of the Lord. ¹⁰ They say to the men who tell what will happen in the future, “Do not see special dreams.” They say to those who speak for God, “You must not tell to us what is right. Speak pleasing things to us, tell us what we like to hear. ¹¹ Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. We do not want to hear any more about the Holy One of Israel.” ¹² So the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you have turned away from this Word, and have put your trust in a power that makes it hard for others and fools them, ¹³ this sin will be to you like a high wall, ready to break and fall apart. It will fall all at once. ¹⁴ Its fall is like the breaking of a pot-maker’s jar. It is broken in so many pieces that a piece will not be found big enough to pick up hot coals from the fire or to get water from the well.” ¹⁵ The Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In turning away from sin and in rest, you will be saved. Your strength will come by being quiet and by trusting.” But you would not. ¹⁶ You said, “No, we will go away fast on horses.” So you will go away in a hurry! You say, “We will go on fast horses.” So those who come to take you will be fast. ¹⁷ One thousand will run away as one man stands up against them. You will all run away when five stand up against them, until you are like flags lifted up on a mountain top, like something special to see on a hill.

Good Will Come to God’s People

¹⁸ So the Lord wants to show you kindness. He waits on high to have loving-pity on you. For the Lord is a God of what is right and fair. And good will come to all those who hope in Him. ¹⁹ O people in Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will cry no more. For sure He will show loving-kindness to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you. ²⁰ The Lord has given you the bread of trouble and water of suffering. But He, your Teacher, will not hide Himself any more. Your eyes will see your Teacher. ²¹ Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. ²² You will take your sinful objects of worship, covered with silver and gold and will throw them away as an unclean cloth, and say to them, “Be gone!”

²³ Then He will give you rain for the seed you will plant in the ground. And He will give you bread from the grain from the ground. It will be good, and more than you need. In that day your cattle will eat in a large field. ²⁴ The oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted grain, which has been spread out with certain tools. ²⁵ On every high mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers flowing with water in the day when many will be killed, when the towers fall. ²⁶ The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord takes care of the hurts of His people and heals the sores He has given them.

God Will Punish Assyria

²⁷ See, the name of the Lord comes from a far away place, with His anger burning, and with dark smoke rising. His lips are full of anger and His tongue is like a destroying fire. ²⁸ His breath is like a river flowing over, that comes up to the neck. It shakes the nations back and forth putting them through a test of pride. And it puts a piece of iron in the mouths of the people to lead them the wrong way.

²⁹ You will have a song as in the night when you have a special holy supper. You will be glad in your heart as when one steps to the sound of the horn going to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. ³⁰ The Lord will make His voice of great power heard. And He will let His arm be seen coming down in the destroying fire, hard rain, storm, and hailstones. ³¹ The Assyrians will be filled with fear at the voice of the Lord, when He punishes them with His power. ³² Every beat from the special stick of punishment which the Lord will give them will be to the sound of timbrels and of harps. He will fight them in battle with a strong arm. ³³ For a place of fire has long been ready. Yes, it has been made ready for the king. It has been made deep and wide, with fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord starts the fire and it is like a river of sulphur.

¹ This letter is from Jude, a brother of James. I am a servant owned by Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who have been chosen by God the Father. You are kept for Jesus Christ. ² May you have much of God’s loving-kindness and peace and love.

³ Dear friends, I have been trying to write to you about what God did for us when He saved us from the punishment of sin. Now I must write to you and tell you to fight hard for the faith which was once and for all given to the holy people of God. ⁴ Some sinful men have come into your church without anyone knowing it. They are living in sin and they speak of the loving-favor of God to cover up their sins. They have turned against our only Leader and Lord, Jesus Christ. Long ago it was written that these people would die in their sins.

⁵ You already know all this, but think about it again. The Lord saved His people out of the land of Egypt. Later He destroyed all those who did not put their trust in Him. ⁶ Angels who did not stay in their place of power, but left the place where they were given to stay, are chained in a dark place. They will be there until the day they stand before God to be judged. ⁷ Do you remember about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them? The people in those cities did the same things. They were full of sex sins and strong desires for sinful acts of the body. Those cities were destroyed by fire. They still speak to us of the fire of hell that lasts forever.

What False Teachers Are Like

⁸ In the same way, these men go on dreaming and sinning against their bodies. They respect no leaders. They speak bad against those who live in the heavens. ⁹ Michael was one of the head angels. He argued with the devil about the body of Moses. But Michael would not speak sharp words to the devil, saying he was guilty. He said, “The Lord speaks sharp words to you.” ¹⁰ But these men speak against things they do not understand. They are like animals in the way they act. By these things they destroy themselves. ¹¹ It is bad for them! They have followed the way of Cain who killed his brother. They have chosen the way of Balaam and think only about making money. They were destroyed as Korah was destroyed who would not show respect to leaders. ¹² When you come together to eat the Christians’ love suppers, these people are like hidden rocks that wreck a ship. They only think of themselves. They are like clouds without rain carried along by the wind and like trees without fruit in the fall of the year. They are pulled out by the roots and are dead now and never can live again. ¹³ They are like the waves of a wild sea. Their sins are like the dirty water along the shore. They look like stars moving here and there. But the darkest place has been kept for them forever.

¹⁴ Enoch was the head of the seventh family born after Adam. He said this about such people, “The Lord comes with many thousands of His holy ones. ¹⁵ He comes to say that all are guilty for all the sin they have done and all the sinful things these sinners have spoken against God.” ¹⁶ These men complain and are never happy with anything. They let their desires lead them into sin. When they talk about themselves, they make it sound as if they are great people. They show respect to people only to get something out of them.

¹⁷ Dear friends, you must remember the words spoken by the missionaries of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said, “In the last days there will be men who will laugh at the truth and will be led by their own sinful desires.” ¹⁹ They are men who will make trouble by dividing people into groups against each other. Their minds are on the things of the world because they do not have the Holy Spirit.

²⁰ Dear friends, you must become strong in your most holy faith. Let the Holy Spirit lead you as you pray. ²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God. Wait for life that lasts forever through the loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² Have loving-kindness for those who doubt. ²³ Save some by pulling them out of the fire. Have loving-kindness for others but also fear them. Be afraid of being led into doing their sins. Hate even the clothes that have touched sinful bodies.

²⁴ There is One Who can keep you from falling and can bring you before Himself free from all sin. He can give you great joy as you stand before Him in His shining-greatness. ²⁵ He is the only God. He is the One Who saves from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ our Lord. May He have shining-greatness and honor and power and the right to do all things. He had this before the world began, He has it now, and He will have this forever. Let it be so.