M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
20 “If you do evil and turn away from the Lord, he will make bad things happen to you. You will have frustration and trouble in everything you do. He will continue to do this until you are quickly and completely destroyed. He will do this because you turned away from him and left him. 21 The Lord will send you terrible diseases until you no longer exist, until you are completely gone from the land. 22 The Lord will punish you with diseases, fever, and swelling. He will send you terrible heat and you will have no rain. Your crops will die from the heat and disease.[a] All these bad things will happen until you are destroyed! 23 There will be no clouds in the sky—the sky will look like polished brass. And the ground under you will be hard like iron. 24 The Lord will not send rain—only sand and dust will fall from the sky. It will come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 “The Lord will let your enemies defeat you. You will go to fight against your enemies one way, but you will run away from them seven different ways. The bad things that happen to you will make all the people on earth afraid. 26 Your dead bodies will be food for the wild birds and animals. There will be no one to scare them away from your dead bodies.
27 “The Lord will punish you with boils, like those he sent on the Egyptians. He will punish you with tumors, sores that run, and an itch that cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will punish you by making you crazy. He will make you blind and confused. 29 In daylight you will have to feel your way like a blind man. You will fail in everything you do. Again and again people will hurt you and steal from you. And there will be no one to save you.
30 “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will have sexual relations with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not gather anything from it. 31 People will kill your cattle in front of you, but you will not eat any of the meat. People will take your donkeys, and they will not give them back to you. Your enemies will get your sheep, and there will be no one to help you.
32 “Other people will be allowed to take your sons and your daughters. Day after day you will look for your children. You will look for them until your eyes become weak and blind—but you will not find them. And God will not help you.
33 “A nation that you don’t know will take all your crops and everything you worked for. People will treat you badly and abuse you. 34 The things you see will make you go crazy. 35 The Lord will punish you with sore boils that cannot be healed. These boils will be on your knees and legs. The boils will be on every part of your body—from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.
36 “The Lord will send you and your king away to a nation you don’t know. You and your ancestors have never seen that nation. There you will serve false gods made of wood and stone. 37 In the countries where the Lord will send you, the people will be shocked at the terrible things that happen to you. They will laugh at you and say bad things about you.
The Curse of Failure
38 “Your fields will produce plenty of grain. But your harvest will be small, because the locusts will eat your harvest. 39 You will plant vineyards and work hard in them. But you will not gather the grapes or drink the wine from them, because the worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees everywhere on your land. But you will not have any of the oil to use, because the olives will drop to the ground and rot. 41 You will have sons and daughters. But you will not be able to keep them, because they will be captured and taken away. 42 Locusts will destroy all your trees and the crops in your fields. 43 The foreigners living among you will get more and more power, and you will lose the power you had. 44 The foreigners will have money to loan you, but you will not have any money to loan them. They will control you the way the head controls the body. You will be like the tail.
45 “All these curses will come on you. They will keep chasing you and catching you, until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to what the Lord your God told you. You did not obey the commands and laws that he gave you. 46 These curses will show people that God judged you and your descendants forever. People will be amazed at the terrible things that happen to you.
47 “The Lord your God gave you many blessings. But you did not serve him with joy and a glad heart. 48 So you will serve the enemies the Lord will send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor. He will put a load on you that cannot be removed. You will carry that load until he destroys you.[b]
The Curse of an Enemy Nation
49 “The Lord will bring a nation from far away to fight you. You will not understand their language. They will come quickly, like an eagle coming down from the sky. 50 These people will be cruel. They will not care about old people or show mercy to young children. 51 They will take your animals and the food you grow. They will take everything until they destroy you. They will not leave you any grain, wine, oil, cattle, sheep, or goats. They will take everything, until they destroy you.
52 “That nation will surround and attack your cities. You think that the tall, strong walls around your cities will protect you. But those walls will fall down. The enemy will surround all your cities everywhere in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 53 You will suffer very much. The enemy will surround your cities. They will not let you have any food. You will get very hungry. You will be so hungry that you will eat your own sons and daughters—you will eat the bodies of the children the Lord your God gave you.
54 “Even the most kind and gentle man among you will become cruel. He will be cruel to his family, and he will be cruel to his wife he loves so much. And he will be cruel to his children who are still alive. 55 He will have nothing left to eat, so he will eat his own children. And he will not share that meat with anyone—not even the other people in his own family. All these bad things will happen when your enemy comes to surround your cities and make you suffer.
56 “Even the most kind and gentle woman among you will become cruel. She might be a lady so gentle and delicate that she never put her feet on the ground to walk anywhere. But she will become cruel to her husband she loves so much. And she will be cruel to her own son and daughter. 57 She will hide and give birth to a baby. And she will eat the baby and everything that comes out of her body with it. All these bad things will happen when your enemy comes to surround your cities and make you suffer.
58 “You must obey all the commands and teachings that are written in this book. And you must respect the wonderful and awesome name of the Lord your God. If you don’t obey, 59 the Lord will punish you and your descendants with terrible diseases. He will cause you to suffer illnesses that have no cure. And you will find no relief for your misery! 60 He will bring on you all the diseases you saw in Egypt that filled you with fear, and you will not be able to avoid them. 61 The Lord will even bring troubles and diseases that are not written in this Book of Teachings. He will continue to do this until you are destroyed. 62 You might have as many people as the stars in the sky. But only a few of you will be left, because you did not listen to the Lord your God.
63 “The Lord was happy to be good to you and to make your nation grow. In the same way the Lord will be happy to ruin and destroy you. You are going to take that land to be yours. But people will take you out of that land! 64 The Lord will scatter you among all the people in the world. He will scatter you from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve false gods made of wood and stone. They are false gods that you or your ancestors never worshiped.
65 “You will not have any peace among these nations. You will have no place to rest. The Lord will fill your mind with worry. Your eyes will feel tired. You will be very upset. 66 You will live with danger and always be afraid. You will be afraid night and day. You will never feel sure about your life. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘I wish it were evening!’ In the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ This will happen because of the fear in your heart and the terrible things you will see. 68 The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships. I said you would never have to go to that place again, but he will send you there. In Egypt you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.”
Daleth
25 I lie here like a dying man.
Say the word, and I will live again.[a]
26 I told you about my life, and you answered me.
Now, teach me your laws.
27 Help me understand your instructions,
and I will think about your wonderful teachings.[b]
28 I am sad and tired.
Say the word, and make me strong again.
29 Don’t let me live a lie.
Guide me with your teachings.
30 I have chosen to be loyal to you.
I respect your laws.
31 I follow your rules closely, Lord.
Don’t let me be put to shame.
32 I do my best to follow your commands,
because you are the one who gives me the desire.
He
33 Lord, teach me your laws,
and I will always follow them.
34 Help me understand your teachings,
and I will follow them.
Obeying them will be my greatest desire.
35 Help me follow your commands,
because that makes me happy.
36 Give me the desire to follow your rules,
not the desire to get rich.
37 Don’t let me look at worthless things.
Help me live your way.
38 Do what you promised me, your servant,
so that people will respect you.
39 Take away the shame I fear.
Your laws are good.
40 See how much I want to obey your instructions!
Be good to me, and let me live.
Waw
41 Lord, show me your faithful love.
Save me, as you promised.
42 Then I will have an answer for those who make fun of me
for trusting what you say.
43 Let me always say what is true.
I depend on your judgment to be fair.
44 I will follow your teachings forever and ever.
45 So I will live in freedom,
because I do my best to know your instructions.
46 I will discuss your rules with kings,
and no one will embarrass me.
47 What joy your commands give me!
How I love them!
48 Not only do I love your commands, but I also honor them.
I will study your laws.
God Gives “Food” That Really Satisfies
55 “All you people who are thirsty, come!
Here is water for you to drink.
Don’t worry if you have no money.
Come, eat and drink until you are full!
You don’t need money.
The milk and wine are free.
2 Why waste your money on something that is not real food?
Why should you work for something that does not really satisfy you?
Listen closely to me and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the food that satisfies your soul.
3 Listen closely to what I say.
Listen to me so that you will live.
I will make an agreement with you that will last forever.
It will be an agreement you can trust, like the one I made with David—
a promise to love him and be loyal to him forever.
4 I made David a witness of my power for all nations.
I promised him that he would become a ruler and commander of many nations.”
5 There are nations in places you don’t know,
but you will call for them to come.
They don’t know you,
but they will run to you.
This will happen because the Lord, your God, wants it.
It will happen because the Holy One of Israel honors you.
6 So you should look for the Lord
before it is too late.
You should call to him now,
while he is near.
7 Evil people should stop living evil lives.
They should stop thinking bad thoughts.
They should come to the Lord again,
and he will comfort them.
They should come to our God
because he will freely forgive them.
People Cannot Understand God
8 The Lord says, “My thoughts are not like yours.
Your ways are not like mine.
9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
10 “Rain and snow fall from the sky
and don’t return until they have watered the ground.
Then the ground causes the plants to sprout and grow,
and they produce seeds for the farmer and food for people to eat.
11 In the same way, my words leave my mouth,
and they don’t come back without results.
My words make the things happen that I want to happen.
They succeed in doing what I send them to do.
12 “So you will go out from there with joy.
You will be led out in peace.
When you come to the mountains and hills, they will begin singing.
All the trees in the fields will clap their hands.
13 Large cypress trees will grow where there were thornbushes.
Myrtle trees will grow where there were weeds.
All this will happen to make the Lord known,
to be a permanent reminder of his goodness and power.”
John Prepares the Way for Jesus(A)
3 When it was the right time, John the Baptizer began telling people a message from God. This was out in the desert area of Judea. 2 John said, “Change your hearts and lives, because God’s kingdom is now very near.[a]” 3 John is the one Isaiah the prophet was talking about when he said,
“There is someone shouting in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make the road straight for him.’” (B)
4 John’s clothes were made from camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People came to John from Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and from all the areas along the Jordan River. 6 They confessed the bad things they had done, and John baptized them in the Jordan.
7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to where John was baptizing people. When John saw them, he said, “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run from God’s judgment that is coming? 8 Change your hearts! And show by the way you live that you have changed. 9 I know what you are thinking. You want to say, ‘but Abraham is our father!’ That means nothing. I tell you, God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. 10 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees.[b] Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water to show that you have changed your hearts and lives. But there is someone coming later who is able to do more than I can. I am not good enough to be the slave who takes off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He will come ready to clean the grain.[c] He will separate the good grain from the straw, and he will put the good part into his barn. Then he will burn the useless part with a fire that cannot be stopped.”
Jesus Is Baptized by John(C)
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River. He came to John, wanting John to baptize him. 14 But John tried to stop him. John said, “Why do you come to me to be baptized? I should be baptized by you!”
15 Jesus answered, “Let it be this way for now. We should do whatever God says is right.” Then John agreed.
16 So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International