M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Territory of Ephraim
16 The allotment of the Josephites went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel;(A) 2 then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites;(B) 3 then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends at the sea.(C)
4 The Josephites—Manasseh and Ephraim—received their inheritance.
5 The territory of the Ephraimites by their families was as follows: the boundary of their inheritance on the east was Ataroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon,(D) 6 and the boundary goes from there to the sea; on the north is Michmethath; then on the east the boundary makes a turn toward Taanath-shiloh and passes along beyond it on the east to Janoah,(E) 7 then it goes down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah and touches Jericho, ending at the Jordan.(F) 8 From Tappuah the boundary goes westward to the Wadi Kanah and ends at the sea. Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites by their families,(G) 9 together with the towns that were set apart for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages. 10 They did not, however, drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived within Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.(H)
The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)
17 Then allotment was made to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a warrior.(I) 2 And allotments were made to the rest of the tribe of Manasseh by their families, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their families.(J)
3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh had no sons but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.(K) 4 They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our male kin.” So according to the commandment of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen of their father.(L) 5 Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the Manassites.(M)
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.(N) 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites.(O) 9 Then the boundary went down to the Wadi Kanah. The towns here, to the south of the wadi, among the towns of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes along the north side of the wadi and ends at the sea.(P) 10 The land to the south is Ephraim’s and that to the north is Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary; on the north Asher is reached and on the east Issachar. 11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages (the third is Naphath).[a](Q) 12 Yet the Manassites could not take possession of those towns, but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.(R) 13 But when the Israelites grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out.(S)
The Tribe of Joseph Protests
14 The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, whom all along the Lord has blessed?”(T) 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear ground there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The tribe of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”(U) 17 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are indeed a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders, for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.”
Psalm 148
Praise for God’s Universal Glory
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!(A)
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the heavens!(B)
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.(C)
6 He established them forever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.[a](D)
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,(E)
8 fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!(F)
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!(G)
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
8 At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs,(A) 2 and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have followed, and which they have inquired of and worshiped, and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be like dung on the surface of the ground.(B) 3 Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the Lord of hosts.(C)
The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation
4 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
If they go astray, do they not turn back?(D)
5 Why then has this people[a] turned away
in perpetual faithlessness?
They have held fast to deceit;
they have refused to return.(E)
6 I have given heed and listened,
but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.(F)
7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows its times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane[b]
observe the time of their coming,
but my people do not know
the ordinance of the Lord.(G)
8 How can you say, “We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us,”
when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie?(H)
9 The wise shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom is in them?(I)
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(J)
11 They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(K)
12 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.(L)
13 I will surely gather them,[c] says the Lord;
there are no grapes on the vine
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.[d](M)
14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has given us poisoned water to drink
because we have sinned against the Lord.(N)
15 We look for peace but find no good,
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.(O)
16 The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who live in it.(P)
17 See, I am letting snakes loose among you,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,
says the Lord.(Q)
The Prophet Mourns for the People
18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;
my heart is sick.
19 Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
from far and wide in the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”)(R)
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken,
I mourn, and horror has seized me.(S)
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?(T)
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.(A) 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.(B) 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’(C) 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.(D) 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.(E) 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.(F)
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,(G) 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.(H) 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’(I) 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Question about Paying Taxes
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.(J) 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”(K) 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” 21 They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”(L) 22 When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
The Question about the Resurrection
23 The same day some Sadducees came to him saying there is no resurrection,[a] and they asked him a question:(M) 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’(N) 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”
29 Jesus answered them, “You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.(O) 30 For in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels of God[b] in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living.”(P) 33 And when the crowds heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.(Q)
The Greatest Commandment
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him.(R) 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’(S) 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’(T) 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”(U)
The Question about David’s Son
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah?[c] Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”(V) 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit[d] calls him Lord, saying,
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?(W)
45 “If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.(X)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.