M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Israel Fights Back Against the Midianites
31 The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 2 “Moses, tell the Israelites this: ‘Go and attack the Midianites, and do to them what they did to you.’ After that Moses, you will die.”[a]
3 So Moses spoke to the people. He said, “Choose some of your men to be soldiers. The Lord will use these men to do to the Midianites what they did to you. 4 Choose 1000 men from each of the tribes of Israel. 5 There will be a total of 12,000 soldiers from the tribes of Israel.”
6 Moses sent these 12,000 men to war. He sent Phinehas son of Eleazar with them as the priest. Phinehas took the holy things and the horns and trumpets with him. 7 The Israelites fought the Midianites as the Lord had commanded. They killed all the Midianite men. 8 Among the people who they killed were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with a sword.
9 The Israelites took the Midianite women and children as prisoners. They also took all their sheep, cattle, and other things. 10 Then they burned all their towns and villages. 11 They took all the people and animals 12 and brought them to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the other Israelites. They brought all the things they took in war to the camp of Israel. The Israelites were camped in the Jordan Valley in Moab, on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. 13 Then Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the people went out of the camp to meet with the soldiers.
14 Moses was very angry with the leaders of the army, the commanders of 1000 men, and the commanders of 100 men, who came back from the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Why did you let the women live? 16 These are the women who listened to Balaam and caused the men of Israel to turn away from the Lord that time at Peor. The disease will come to the Lord’s people again. 17 Now, kill all the Midianite boys, and kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations with a man. 18 You can let all the young girls live—but only if they never had sexual relations with any man. 19 And then, all you men who killed other people must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must stay outside the camp even if you just touched a dead body. On the third day you and your prisoners must make yourselves pure. You must do the same thing again on the seventh day. 20 You must wash all of your clothes. You must wash anything made with leather, wool, or wood. You must purify yourselves.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest spoke to the soldiers. He said, “These are the rules that the Lord gave to Moses for soldiers coming back from war. 22-23 You must put gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead into the fire and then wash these things with the special water to make them pure. If something can be put in the fire, you must put it in fire to purify it. If things cannot be put in fire, you must still wash them with the special water. 24 On the seventh day you must wash all of your clothes. Then you will be pure. After that you can come into camp.”
25 Then the Lord said to Moses, 26 “You, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders should count all the prisoners, animals, and everything the soldiers took in war. 27 Then divide these things between the soldiers who went to war and the rest of the Israelites. 28 Take part of these things from the soldiers who went to war. That part will belong to the Lord. His share is one from every 500 items. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, and sheep. 29 Take that share from the soldiers’ half of the things they took in war. Then give these things to Eleazar the priest. That part will belong to the Lord. 30 And then, from the people’s half, take one thing for every 50 items. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or any other animal. Give that share to the Levites, because they take care of the Lord’s Holy Tent.”
31 So Moses and Eleazar did what the Lord commanded Moses. 32 The soldiers had taken 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 women. (These are only the women who had not had sexual relations with any man.) 36 The soldiers who went to war got 337,500 sheep. 37 They gave 675 sheep to the Lord. 38 The soldiers got 36,000 cattle. They gave 72 cattle to the Lord. 39 The soldiers got 30,500 donkeys. They gave 61 donkeys to the Lord. 40 The soldiers got 16,000 women. They gave 32 women to the Lord. 41 Moses gave all these gifts for the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded him.
42 Then Moses counted the people’s half. This was their share that Moses had taken from the soldiers who had gone to war. 43 The people got 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 women. 47 Moses took one out of every 50 women and animals. He gave them to the Levites because they took care of the Lord’s Holy Tent. Moses did this as the Lord had commanded.
48 Then the leaders of the army (the leaders over 1000 men and the leaders over 100 men) came to Moses. 49 They told Moses, “We, your servants, have counted our soldiers. We have not missed any of them. 50 So we are bringing the Lord’s gift from every soldier. We are bringing things that are made of gold—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This gift to the Lord is to make us pure.”
51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted all these gold items from them. 52 The gold that the commanders[b] and captains[c] gave to the Lord weighed about 424 pounds.[d] 53 The soldiers kept the rest of their share of the things they took in war. 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders and captains and then put that gold in the Meeting Tent. This present was a memorial[e] before the Lord for the Israelites.
To the director: To the tune “Don’t Destroy.” One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
75 We praise you, God!
We praise you because you[a] are near to us.
We tell about the amazing things you have done.
2 God says, “I have chosen a time for judgment,
and I will judge fairly.
3 The earth and all its people may shake,
but I am the one who keeps it steady. Selah
4 “To those who are proud I say, ‘Stop your boasting.’
I warn the wicked, ‘Don’t brag about how strong you are.
5 Don’t be so sure that you will win.
Don’t boast that victory is yours!’”
6 There is no power on earth
that can make a person important.[b]
7 God is the judge.
He decides who will be important.
He lifts one person up and brings another down.
8 The Lord has a cup in his hand.
It is filled with the poisoned wine of his anger.
He will pour out this wine,
and the wicked will drink it to the last drop.
9 I will always tell people how great God is.
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 God says, “I will take away any power the wicked have
and give it to those who are good.”
To the director: With instruments. One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
76 People in Judah know God.
People in Israel respect his name.
2 His Temple is in Salem.[c]
His house is on Mount Zion.
3 There he shattered the arrows,
shields, swords, and other weapons of war. Selah
4 God, you are glorious coming back
from the hills where you defeated your enemies.
5 They thought they were strong, but now they lie dead in the fields.
Their bodies are stripped of all they owned.
They could not defend themselves.[d]
6 The God of Jacob shouted at them,
and their army of chariots and horses fell dead.
7 God, you are awesome!
No one can stand against you when you are angry.
8-9 You stood as judge and announced your decision.
You saved the humble people of the land.
From heaven you gave the decision,
and the whole earth was silent and afraid.
10 Even human anger can bring you honor
when you use it to punish your enemies.[e]
11 People, you made promises to the Lord your God.
Now give him what you promised.
People everywhere fear and respect God,
and they will bring gifts to him.
12 God defeats great leaders;
all the kings on earth fear him.
God’s Message About Tyre
23 This is a message[a] about Tyre:
Ships traveling from Cyprus heard this message:
“Cry, you ships from Tarshish[b]!
Your harbor has been destroyed.”
2 You people living near the sea, mourn in silence.
The merchants of Sidon sent traders across the sea
and filled the city with riches.
3 They traveled the seas looking for grain.
The men from Tyre bought grain that grows near the Nile River
and sold it to other nations.
4 Sidon, you should be very sad,
because now the Sea and the Fort of the Sea[c] say,
“I have no children.
I have never felt the pain of birth;
I have never given birth to children.
I have never raised young men and women.”
5 When Egypt hears the news about Tyre,
it will feel the pain of sorrow.
6 You ships, try to escape to Tarshish!
Cry out, you people living near the sea!
7 Can this be that happy city that was founded so long ago?
Is it that same city whose people traveled so far to settle other lands?[d]
8 This city produced so many leaders.
Its merchants were like princes.
Its traders had the whole world’s respect.
So who made these plans against Tyre?
9 It was the Lord All-Powerful.
He decided to destroy the great things they were so proud of.
He wanted to disgrace those who were so highly respected.
10 Ships from Tarshish, go back home.
Cross the sea as if it were a river.
No one will stop you now.
11 The Lord raised his arm over the sea
to make the kingdoms angry enough to fight against Tyre.
He commanded Canaan
to destroy her place of safety.[e]
12 He said, “Daughter Sidon,[f] you have been hurt badly,
so you will no longer rejoice like a bride.
Go ahead, go to Cyprus[g] for help,
but you will not find a place to rest there either.”
13 As for Babylon, look at the land of the Chaldeans!
It is not even a country now.
Assyria built war towers to attack it.
The soldiers took everything from the beautiful houses.
Assyria destroyed Babylon.
They turned it into a pile of ruins
and made it a place for wild animals.
14 So be sad, you ships from Tarshish.
Your place of safety has been destroyed.
15 People will forget about Tyre for 70 years—that is, about the length of a king’s rule. After 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song:
16 “Oh, woman who men forgot,
take your harp and walk through the city.
Play your song well and sing it often.
Maybe someone will remember you.”
17 After 70 years, the Lord will review Tyre’s case, and he will give her a decision. Tyre will again have trade. She will be like a prostitute for all the nations on earth. 18 But Tyre will not keep the money she earns. The profit from her trade will be saved for the Lord. Tyre will give that money to the people who serve the Lord to buy good food and nice clothes.
1 We want to tell you about the Word[a] that gives life—the one who existed before the world began. This is the one we have heard and have seen with our own eyes. We saw what he did, and our hands touched him. 2 Yes, the one who is life was shown to us. We saw him, and so we can tell others about him. We now tell you about him. He is the eternal life that was with God the Father and was shown to us. 3 We are telling you about what we have seen and heard because we want you to have fellowship[b] with us. The fellowship we share together is with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We write these things to you so that you can be full of joy with us.
God Forgives Our Sins
5 We heard the true teaching from God. Now we tell it to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 6 So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don’t follow the truth. 7 We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we are saying that God is a liar and that we don’t accept his true teaching.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International