M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Moses Tells Israel to Obey

4 “Now, O Israel, listen to the Laws I am teaching you. Do them so that you may live and go in to take the land for your own that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ² Do not add to the Word that I tell you, and do not take away from it. Keep the Laws of the Lord your God which I tell you. ³ Your eyes saw what the Lord did because of Baal-peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. ⁴ But you who stayed faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today. ⁵ See, I have taught you Laws just as the Lord my God told me. So you are to live by them in the land you are going to have for your own. ⁶ Keep them and do them. For this will show how wise and understanding you are. The people who will hear all these Laws will say, ‘For sure this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For what great nation is there that has a god so near as the Lord our God is to us every time we call to Him? ⁸ What great nation is there that has laws as right as this whole Law which I am giving you today?

⁹ “Only be careful. Keep watch over your life. Or you might forget the things you have seen. Do not let them leave your heart for the rest of your life. But teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai. The Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people together before Me, so I may let them hear My words. Then they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and they may teach their children.’ ¹¹ You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain. And the mountain burned with fire into the heavens, which were covered with darkness and black clouds. ¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the center of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no body. There was only a voice. ¹³ He told you His agreement which He told you to keep, the Ten Laws. And He wrote them on two pieces of stone. ¹⁴ The Lord told me at that time to teach you Laws. So you might obey them in the land that you are going to have for your own.

Israel Not to Worship False Gods

¹⁵ “So watch yourselves and be careful. For you saw no body on the day the Lord spoke to you in the fire at Mount Sinai. ¹⁶ Do not become sinful and make a false god for yourselves that looks like a body or object, like a male or female, ¹⁷ or like an animal on the earth, or a bird with wings that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ or like anything that moves on the ground, or like any fish in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ Be careful not to lift up your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and moon and stars, all the things of heaven, and be pulled away and worship them and serve them. The Lord your God has given these things to all the nations under the whole heavens. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron stove, out of Egypt, to be His own people, as you are this day.

²¹ “The Lord was angry with me because of you. He swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not go into the good land the Lord your God is giving you for your own. ²² For I must die in this land. I will not cross the Jordan. But you will cross and take that good land for your own. ²³ So watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the agreement the Lord your God made with you, or make a false god for yourselves that looks like something which the Lord your God has told you not to do. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you become the father of children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, if you become sinful and make a god that looks like anything, and anger the Lord your God by doing what is bad in His eyes, ²⁶ I call heaven and earth to speak against you this day. You will soon be destroyed from the land you are crossing the Jordan to have for your own. You will not live long on it, but will all be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will spread you out among the nations. And there will not be many of you left among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ There you will work for gods made by man’s hands out of wood and stone. They do not see or hear or eat or smell. ²⁹ But from there you will look for the Lord your God. And you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and soul. ³⁰ When you are in trouble and all these things have happened to you in later days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a God of loving-pity. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the agreement He promised to your fathers.

³² “Ask about the past days, the days before your time, since the day that God made man on the earth. Ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing? Has anything been heard like it? ³³ Have any people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the center of the fire, as you have heard it, and still live? ³⁴ Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation, by trials, special things to see, great works, war, a powerful hand, a long arm, and spreading much fear? The Lord your God did this for you in Egypt in front of your eyes. ³⁵ It was shown to you so you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other except Him. ³⁶ He let you hear His voice from the heavens to teach you. On earth He let you see His great fire. And you heard His words from the center of the fire. ³⁷ He loved your fathers, so He chose their children after them. He Himself brought you from Egypt by His great power. ³⁸ He drove out from in front of you nations greater and more powerful than you. And He brought you in and gave you their land for your own, as it is today. ³⁹ So know this day, take it to your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. ⁴⁰ Keep His Laws which I am giving you today. Then it may go well with you and your children after you. And you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

⁴¹ Then Moses set apart three cities east of the Jordan ⁴² where a person may run to, if he killed his neighbor without meaning to and had not hated him in the past. He might save his life by running to one of these cities: ⁴³ Bezer in the desert on the plain for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴ This is the Law which Moses gave to the children of Israel. ⁴⁵ These are the Laws which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁶ They were on the other side of the Jordan, in the valley beside Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon. Moses and the sons of Israel won the war against him when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took for their own his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, east of the Jordan, ⁴⁸ from Aroer beside the valley of Arnon, as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon). ⁴⁹ They took all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the sea of the Arabah at the bottom of the hills of Pisgah.

A Prayer for Help

86 Hear, O Lord, and answer me. For I am suffering and in need. ² Keep my life, for I am faithful to You. You are my God. Save Your servant who trusts in You. ³ Show me loving-kindness, O Lord. For I cry to You all day long. ⁴ Bring joy to Your servant. For I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. ⁵ For You are good and ready to forgive, O Lord. You are rich in loving-kindness to all who call to You. ⁶ Hear my prayer, O Lord. Listen to my cry for help. ⁷ I will call to You in the day of my trouble. For You will answer me. ⁸ There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord. And there are no works like Yours. ⁹ All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, O Lord. And they will bring honor to Your name. ¹⁰ For You are great and do great things. You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord. I will walk in Your truth. May my heart fear Your name. ¹² O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You with all my heart. I will bring honor to Your name forever. ¹³ For Your loving-kindness toward me is great. And You have saved my soul from the bottom of the grave.

¹⁴ O God, proud men have come up against me. A group of fighting men want to take my life. And they do not think of You. ¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a God full of love and pity. You are slow to anger and rich in loving-kindness and truth. ¹⁶ Turn to me, and show me loving-kindness. Give Your strength to Your servant. And save the son of your woman servant. ¹⁷ Give me something special to see of Your favor. Then those who hate me may see it and be ashamed. Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Praise in Zion

87 The city God built stands on the holy mountains. ² The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other places of Jacob. ³ Great things are said about you, O city of God. ⁴ I will say that Rahab and Babylon are among those who know Me. Look, Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia say, “This one was born there.” ⁵ But it will be said of Zion, “This one and that one were born in her.” And the Most High Himself will make her strong. ⁶ The Lord will write in the book of the people, “This one was born there.” ⁷ Then those who sing and those who play music will say, “All my wells of joy are in you.”

A Nation of Right Living

32 See, a king will rule by what is right and good and princes will be fair. ² Each will be like a safe place from the wind, and a covering from the storm. Each will be like rivers of water in a dry country, and like the shadow of a large rock in a waste land. ³ Then the eyes of those who see will be able to see. And the ears of those who hear will listen. ⁴ The mind of those who act in a hurry will understand the truth. And the tongue of those who have trouble speaking will hurry to speak well. ⁵ The fool will no more be called great. The bad man will no more be called a man of honor. ⁶ For a fool speaks foolish things. His mind plans wrong-doing, to sin and to say false things against the Lord, to keep the hungry person hungry, and to keep drink from the thirsty. ⁷ The ways of the bad man are sinful. He makes sinful plans to destroy the suffering with lies, even when the one in need asks for what is right. ⁸ But the man of honor makes good plans, and he stands for what is good.

The Women of Jerusalem

⁹ Rise up, you women who live an easy life, and hear my voice. Listen to what I say, you daughters. ¹⁰ In a little more than a year, you will be troubled. There will be no grapes to gather, the wine will not be made. ¹¹ Shake with fear, you women who live an easy life. Be troubled, you daughters, who feel safe. Take off your clothes and cover your bodies with cloth made from hair. ¹² Beat your breasts for the good fields, for the vine full of fruit, ¹³ and for the land of my people in which thorns and thistles will come up. Yes, be sorry for all the houses of joy, and for the happy city, ¹⁴ because the king’s house will be empty. The city full of people will be left empty. The hill and the watch-tower will become a place for wild animals forever, a happy place for wild donkeys, a field for flocks. ¹⁵ It will be this way until the Spirit is poured out upon us from heaven, and the desert becomes a field giving so much fruit, that it seems as if it has many trees. ¹⁶ Then what is right and fair will be in the desert. What is right and good will be in the field of much fruit. ¹⁷ The work of being right and good will give peace. From the right and good work will come quiet trust forever. ¹⁸ Then my people will live in a place of peace, in safe homes, and in quiet resting places. ¹⁹ But it will hail when the many trees come down and all the city will be laid waste. ²⁰ How happy will you be, you who plant seeds beside all waters, and let the cattle and donkeys eat in any field.

Words to the Church in Ephesus

2 “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Ephesus: ‘The One Who holds the seven stars in His right hand and the One Who walks among the seven lights made of gold, says this: ² I know what you have done and how hard you have worked. I know how long you can wait and not give up. I know that you cannot put up with sinful men. I know that you have put men to the test who call themselves missionaries. You have found they are not missionaries but are false. ³ You have waited long and have not given up. You have suffered because of Me. You have kept going on and have not become tired. ⁴ But I have this one thing against you. You do not love Me as you did at first. ⁵ Remember how you once loved Me. Be sorry for your sin and love Me again as you did at first. If you do not, I will come to you and take your light out of its place. I will do this unless you are sorry for your sin and turn from it. ⁶ But you have this: You hate what the Nicolaitans do. I hate what they do also. ⁷ You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the fruit of the tree of life in the garden of God to everyone who has power and wins.’

Words to the Church in Smyrna

⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Smyrna: ‘The One Who is First and Last, the One Who died and came to life again, says this: ⁹ I know of your troubles. I know you are poor. But still you are rich! I know the bad things spoken against you by those who say they are Jews. But they are not Jews. They belong to the devil. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you will suffer. Listen! The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will be in trouble for ten days. Be faithful even to death. Then I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The person who has power and wins will not be hurt by the second death!’

Words to the Church in Pergamum

¹² “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Pergamum: ‘The One Who has the sharp sword that cuts both ways, says this: ¹³ I know where you live. It is the place where Satan sits. I know that you are true to Me. You did not give up and turn away from your faith in Me, even when Antipas was killed. He was faithful in speaking for Me. He was killed in front of you where Satan is. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you. You have some people who follow the teaching of Balaam. He taught Balak to set a trap for the Jews. He taught them to eat food that had been given as a gift in worship to false gods and to do sex sins. ¹⁵ You also have some who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans in the same way. ¹⁶ Be sorry for your sins and turn from them. If you do not, I will come to you right away. I will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. ¹⁷ You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give the hidden bread from heaven to everyone who has power and wins. I will give each of them a white stone also. A new name will be written on it. No one will know the name except the one who receives it!’

Words to the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸ “Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Thyatira: ‘The Son of God Who has eyes like fire and Whose feet are like shining brass, says this: ¹⁹ I know what you are doing. I know of your love and faith. I know how you have worked and how you have waited long and have not given up. I know that you are working harder now than you did at first. ²⁰ But I have this against you: You are allowing Jezebel who calls herself a preacher to teach my servants. She is leading them in the wrong way and they are doing sex sins. And they are eating food that has been given as a gift in worship to false gods. ²¹ I gave her time to be sorry for her sins and turn from them. She does not want to turn from her sex sins. ²² See! I will throw her on a bed. Those who do sex sins with her will suffer much trouble and pain. I will let them suffer unless they are sorry for the sins they have done with her and turn from them. ²³ And I will kill her children. All the churches will know that I am the One Who looks deep into the hearts and minds. I will give you whatever is coming to you because of your work. ²⁴ But the rest of you there in the city of Thyatira have not followed this false teaching. You have not learned what they call the secrets of Satan. So I will put no other load on you. ²⁵ But hold on to what you have until I come. ²⁶ To the one who has power and wins and does what I want him to do, I will give the right and the power over the nations. ²⁷ He will be leader over them using a piece of iron. And they will be broken in pieces like pots of clay. My Father has given Me this right and power. ²⁸ And I will give him the Morning Star. ²⁹ You have ears! Then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!’