M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 35
Cities for the Levites. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho: 2 (A)Command the Israelites out of the heritage they possess to give the Levites cities to dwell in; you will also give the Levites the pasture lands around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to dwell in, and the pasture lands will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their other animals. 4 The pasture lands of the cities to be assigned the Levites shall extend a thousand cubits out from the city walls in every direction. 5 You will measure out two thousand cubits outside the city along the east side, two thousand cubits along the south side, two thousand cubits along the west side, and two thousand cubits along the north side, with the city lying in the center. These will be the pasture lands of their cities.
6 (B)Now these are the cities you will give to the Levites: the six cities of asylum which you must establish for the homicide to run to, and in addition forty-two other cities— 7 a total of forty-eight cities with their pasture lands which you will assign to the Levites. 8 [a]In assigning the cities from what the Israelites possess, take more from a larger group and fewer from a smaller one, so that each will cede cities to the Levites in proportion to the heritage which it receives.
Cities of Asylum. 9 (C)The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 select for yourselves cities to serve as cities of asylum, where a homicide who has killed someone inadvertently may flee. 12 These cities will serve you as places of asylum from the avenger of blood,[b] so that a homicide will not be put to death until tried before the community. 13 As for the cities you assign, you will have six cities of asylum: 14 you will designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and you will designate three cities in the land of Canaan. These will be cities of asylum. 15 These six cities will serve as places of asylum for the Israelites, and for the resident or transient aliens among them, so that anyone who has killed a person inadvertently may flee there.
Murder and Manslaughter. 16 [c]If someone strikes another with an iron instrument and causes death, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death.(D) 17 If someone strikes another with a death-dealing stone in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. 18 Or if someone strikes another with a death-dealing club in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is the one who will kill the murderer, putting the individual to death on sight.
20 If someone pushes another out of hatred, or throws something from an ambush, and death results,(E) 21 or strikes another with the hand out of enmity and death results, the assailant must be put to death as a murderer. The avenger of blood will kill the murderer on sight.
22 (F)However, if someone pushes another without malice aforethought, or without lying in ambush throws some object at another, 23 or without seeing drops upon another some death-dealing stone and death results, although there was neither enmity nor malice— 24 then the community will judge between the assailant and the avenger of blood in accordance with these norms. 25 The community will deliver the homicide from the avenger of blood and the community will return the homicide to the city of asylum where the latter had fled;(G) and the individual will stay there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with sacred oil. 26 If the homicide leaves at all the bounds of the city of asylum to which flight had been made, 27 and is found by the avenger of blood beyond the bounds of the city of asylum, and the avenger of blood kills the homicide, the avenger incurs no bloodguilt; 28 for the homicide was required to stay in the city of asylum until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the homicide return to the land of the homicide’s possession.
29 This is the statute for you throughout all your generations, wherever you live, for rendering judgment.
Judgment. 30 Whenever someone kills another, the evidence of witnesses is required to kill the murderer.(H) A single witness does not suffice for putting a person to death.
No Indemnity. 31 You will not accept compensation in place of the life of a murderer who deserves to die, but that person must be put to death. 32 Nor will you accept compensation to allow one who has fled to a city of asylum to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You will not pollute the land where you live. For bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for the blood shed on it except through the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land in which you live and in the midst of which I dwell;(I) for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the Israelites.
Psalm 79[a]
A Prayer for Jerusalem
1 A psalm of Asaph.
I
O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.(A)
2 They have left the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky,
the flesh of those devoted to you for the beasts of the earth.(B)
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and no one is left to do the burying.(C)
4 We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.(D)
II
5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealous anger keep burning like fire?(E)
6 Pour out your wrath on nations that do not recognize you,
on kingdoms that do not call on your name,(F)
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
laid waste his dwelling place.
8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers;
let your compassion move quickly ahead of us,
for we have been brought very low.(G)
III
9 Help us, God our savior,
on account of the glory of your name.
Deliver us, pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.(H)
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”(I)
Before our eyes make known to the nations
that you avenge the blood of your servants which has been poured out.(J)
IV
11 Let the groaning of the imprisoned come in before you;
in accord with the greatness of your arm
preserve those doomed to die.(K)
12 Turn back sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors
the insult with which they insulted you, Lord.(L)
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation
we will recount your praise.
Chapter 27
The Judgment and Deliverance of Israel
1 On that day,
The Lord will punish with his sword
that is cruel, great, and strong,
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the coiled serpent;
he will slay the dragon[a] in the sea.(A)
2 [b]On that day—
The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!(B)
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper,
I water it every moment;
Lest anyone harm it,
night and day I guard it.(C)
4 I am not angry.
But if I were to find briers and thorns,
In battle I would march against it;
I would burn it all.(D)
5 But if it holds fast to my refuge,
it shall have peace with me;(E)
it shall have peace with me.
6 In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall sprout and blossom,
covering all the world with fruit.(F)
7 [c]Was he smitten as his smiter was smitten?
Was he slain as his slayer was slain?
8 Driving out and expelling, he struggled against it,
carrying it off with his cruel wind on a day of storm.(G)
9 This, then, shall be the expiation of Jacob’s guilt,
this the result of removing his sin:
He shall pulverize all the stones of the altars
like pieces of chalk;
no asherahs or incense altars shall stand.
10 For the fortified city shall be desolate,
an abandoned pasture, a forsaken wilderness;
There calves shall graze, there they shall lie down,
and consume its branches.
11 When its boughs wither, they shall be broken off;
and women shall come to kindle fires with them.
For this is not an understanding people;
therefore their maker shall not spare them;
their creator shall not be gracious to them.(H)
12 On that day,
The Lord shall beat out grain
from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned[d] one by one, children of Israel.
13 On that day,[e]
A great trumpet shall blow,
and the lost in the land of Assyria
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt
Shall come and worship the Lord
on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.(I)
Chapter 5
Faith Is Victory over the World. 1 [a]Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves [also] the one begotten by him.(A) 2 In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,(B) 4 for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.(C) 5 Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D)
6 This is the one who came through water and blood,[b] Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth.(E) 7 So there are three that testify, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.(F) 9 If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on behalf of his Son.(G) 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son.(H) 11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.(I) 12 Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.
IV. Epilogue[c]
Prayer for Sinners. 13 I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.(J) 14 And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.(K) 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. 16 If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.(L) 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
18 We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.(M) 21 Children, be on your guard against idols.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.