M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Cities for the Levites
35 Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert plains of Moab beyond the Jordan across Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites[a] that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all around the cities.[b] 3 The cities will be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their domestic animals, for their possessions, and their animals.[c]
4 “The pasturelands of the cities that you will give to the Levites will extend from the wall of the city to a distance of a thousand cubits all around. 5 You will measure outside the city the eastern edge two thousand cubits, for the southern edge two thousand cubits, for the western edge two thousand cubits, and for the northern edge two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
6 “All the cities that you will give the Levites will be six cities of refuge, to which the killer can flee; in addition to them you will give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities that you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, them with their pasturelands. 8 And the cities that you will give from the property of the Israelites,[d] you will take more from the larger group and less from the smaller group; each of them will give according to the portion of their inheritance according to the portion that he inherits.”
Cities of Refuge
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the Israelites[e] and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 you will select for yourselves cities for your cities of refuge, that a killer who has killed a person unintentionally can flee there. 12 The cities will be to you a refuge from a redeemer, so that the killer will not die until he stands before the community for judgment. 13 The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge. 14 You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge. 15 To the Israelites,[f] to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.
16 “‘But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death. 17 And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. 18 Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. 19 The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. 20 If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, 21 or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him.
22 “‘Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, 23 or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while he was not seeking his injury, 24 then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. 25 The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. 26 But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, 27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, he will not be guilty of blood[g] 28 because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. 29 These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings.
30 “‘If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death according to the testimony[h] of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person. 31 Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who is guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death. 32 You will not take a ransom payment for the one that flees to the city of his refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. 33 So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out. 34 You will not defile the land on which you are living because I am living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I am living in the midst of the Israelites.’”[i]
A Lament for Jerusalem after Its Destruction
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
79 O God, the nations have entered your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have reduced Jerusalem to ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the heavens,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was none to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
a derision and a scorn to those around us.
5 How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name,
7 because they[b] have devoured Jacob
and have laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us former iniquities;
let your mercies meet us quickly
because we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
and deliver us and forgive[c] our sins
for the sake of your name.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let it[d] be known among the nations before our eyes,
by the avenging of the blood of your servants
that was poured out.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the greatness of your power,[e]
spare[f] the children appointed to death.
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold upon them[g]
their taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord.
13 Then we, your people and the flock of your pasture,
we will give thanks to you forever.
Generation after generation[h]
we will tell of your praise.
Israel Rescued
27 On that day, Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.
2 On that day:
“A vineyard of beauty! Sing in praise of it!
3 I, Yahweh, am her keeper;
I water it again and again.[a]
Lest one afflict harm on it,
I guard it night and day;
4 I have no wrath.[b]
Whatever gives me thorns and briers,
I will step forth against in battle.
I will set it on fire altogether.
5 Or let it grasp at my protection;
let it make peace with me;
peace let it make with me.”
6 Days are coming,[c] let Jacob take root;
Israel will blossom and send out shoots,
and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Does he strike him as he struck down those who struck him?[d]
Or is he killed as those who killed him were killed?[e]
8 By expelling[f] her, by her sending away, you argue with her.
He removed them with his strong wind,
in the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore by this he will make atonement for the guilt of Jacob,
and this will be all of the fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes[g] all the stones of the altar like crushed stones of chalk,
no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.
10 For the fortified city is solitary,
a settlement deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
the calf grazes there,
lies down there and destroys its branches.
11 When its branches are dry,[h] they are broken;
women are coming and setting light to it.
For it is not a people of understanding;
therefore his maker will not have compassion on him,
and his creator will not show him favor.
12 And this shall happen:
on that day, Yahweh will thresh from the floodwaters of the Euphrates to the wadi[i] of Egypt, and as for you, you will be gathered one by one, sons of Israel.
13 And this shall happen:
on that day, a great trumpet will be blown,
and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come,
and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt,
and they will bow down to Yahweh on the holy mountain[j] at Jerusalem.
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father[a] also loves the child fathered by him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 because everyone who is fathered by God conquers the world.
God Has Given Us Eternal Life in the Son
And this is the victory which has conquered the world: our faith. 5 Now who is the one who conquers the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify,[b] 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement[c].
9 If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son. 10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.) 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
Our Assurance of Eternal Life
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 And this is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him. 16 If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and he will grant life to him, to those who sin not leading to death. (There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.)
18 We know that everyone who is fathered by God does not sin, but the one fathered by God, he protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, in order that we may know the one who is true, and we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
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