M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Levites’ Cities(A)
35 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying: 2 Command the children of Israel, and they will give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in, and you will give the Levites pasturelands around the city. 3 The cities will be for them to dwell in, and their pasturelands will be for their livestock, and for their property, and for all their animals.
4 The pasturelands of the cities, which you will give to the Levites, will reach from the wall of the city and beyond one thousand cubits[a] all around. 5 You will measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits,[b] and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, and the city will be in the middle. This will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
Cities of Refuge
6 Among the cities which you will give to the Levites there will be six cities of refuge, which you will appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee there, and to them you will add forty-two cities. 7 So all the cities which you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities. You will give them with their pasturelands. 8 The cities which you shall give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel. From the larger tribes you shall give many, and from the smaller tribes you shall give few. Each tribe, in proportion to the inheritance that it receives, shall give of its cities to the Levites.
9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 10 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you are crossing over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall designate cities as your cities of refuge, so that a manslayer who unintentionally kills a person may flee there. 12 The cities will be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die until he stands trial before the assembly. 13 The cities which you designate shall be your six cities of refuge. 14 You will give three cities across the Jordan, and three cities you will give in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. 15 For the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the foreign sojourner among them will be six cities. These will be for a refuge. Everyone that unintentionally kills any person may flee there.
16 If he strikes him with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 If he strikes him with a stone in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he strikes him with a weapon of wood in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself will slay the murderer. When he meets him, he will slay him. 20 But if he pushed him out of hatred, or threw something at him, lying in wait, so he dies, 21 or in hatred struck him with his hand, so he died, he that struck him shall surely be put to death, because he is a murderer. The avenger of blood will slay the murderer when he meets him.
22 But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or threw anything at him without lying in wait, 23 or used a stone that may cause death, unintentionally throwing it at him, resulting in death, though they were not enemies, and was not trying to harm him, 24 then the assembly will judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. 25 And the assembly will deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly will restore him to the city of his refuge where he fled, and he will dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 But if the manslayer will go out at any time beyond the border of the city of his refuge where he fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood, 28 because the manslayer should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
29 So these things will be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
30 Whoever kills a person, the murderer will be put to death by the testimony of witnesses, but one witness will not testify against a person for death.
31 And you will not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he will surely be put to death.
32 You will not take a ransom for him who fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come out again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
33 So you will not defile the land which you are in, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it. 34 So do not defile the land which you are dwelling in, where I am residing, because I the Lord am residing among the children of Israel.
Psalm 79
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 The dead bodies of Your servants
they have given to the birds of the sky for food
and the flesh of Your faithful to the animals of the land.
3 Their blood they have poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations who do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
who have not called upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not choose to remember our former iniquities;
let Your tender mercies come swiftly to us,
for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for Your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
May the avenging of the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before You;
according to the greatness of Your power
preserve those who are appointed to die.
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their lap
the reproach that they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 But we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
and will give You thanks forever;
we will declare Your praise
to all generations.
The Deliverance of Israel
27 In that day
the Lord with His fierce and great
and strong sword shall punish
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
2 In that day:
Sing of it! A vineyard of red wine.
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
I water it every moment;
lest anyone damage it,
I protect it night and day.
4 I have no fury.
Should someone give Me briers and thorns in battle,
then I would step on them,
I would burn them fully.
5 Or let him rely on My strength;
let him make peace with Me;
let him make peace with Me.
6 In the days to come Jacob shall take root;
Israel shall blossom and bud
and shall fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Has He struck them,
as He struck those who struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain,
have they been slain?
8 You fought with them by banishing them, by driving them away.
He has expelled them
on the day of the east wind with His fierce wind.
9 Through this, therefore, the iniquity of Jacob shall be forgiven,
and this will be the full price of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the altar
as chalkstones that are pulverized,
when the groves and incense altars
shall not stand.
10 For the fortified city shall be desolate,
a homestead forlorn and forsaken like a wilderness;
there the calf shall graze,
and there it shall lie down
and eat its branches.
11 When its boughs are withered, they are broken off;
the women come and make a fire with them,
for they are not a people of understanding;
therefore, their Maker will not have mercy on them,
and their Creator will show them no grace.
12 In that day the Lord shall thresh from the channel of the River[a] to the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O sons of Israel. 13 And in that day the great trumpet shall be blown, and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and the outcasts in the land of Egypt shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Overcoming the World
5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the one born of the Father. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God: when 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 for whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The Witness Concerning the Son
6 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one. 8 There are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are toward the one.[a] 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God which He has given concerning His Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he does not believe the testimony that God gave about His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Purpose of Writing
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 So if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have whatever we asked of Him.
16 If anyone sees his brother commit a sin which does not lead to death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life. This is for those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I do not say that he should pray for it. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that whoever is born of God does not keep on sinning. But whoever has been born of God guards himself, and the wicked one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true—His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.