M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Greatest Law

6 “These are the Laws which the Lord your God has told me to teach you. You are to do them in the land you are going to take for your own. ² Then you and your son and your grandson will fear the Lord your God. You will obey all His Laws that I tell you, all the days of your life. And then you will have a longer life. ³ O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do them. Then it will go well with you. And you will become many in a land flowing with milk and honey. This is what the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord! ⁵ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ Keep these words in your heart that I am telling you today. ⁷ Do your best to teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as something special to see on your hand and on your forehead. ⁹ Write them beside the door of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “The Lord your God will bring you into the land He promised to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to you. There will be big and beautiful cities which you did not build. ¹¹ Houses will be full of good things which you did not fill. There will be pools for keeping water which you did not dig, and grape vines and olive trees which you did not plant. You will eat and be filled. ¹² But then be careful not to forget the Lord Who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the land where you were held as servants. ¹³ You must fear the Lord your God. You must worship Him, and swear by His name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the people around you. ¹⁵ Or the anger of the Lord your God will burn against you. He will destroy you from the earth. For the Lord your God Who is among you is a jealous God.

¹⁶ “Do not test the Lord your God, as you put Him to the test at Massah. ¹⁷ Be careful to keep all the Laws which the Lord your God has told you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord. Then it will be well with you. And you may go in and take the good land for your own which the Lord promised to give to your fathers. ¹⁹ You will drive out of your way all who hate you, as the Lord has promised.

²⁰ “In time to come your son will ask you, ‘What do all the Laws mean which the Lord told you?’ ²¹ Then say to your son, ‘We were servants of Pharaoh in Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²² The Lord showed us great and powerful works against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all those of his house. ²³ The Lord brought us out from there to bring us into the land He had promised to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord told us to do all these Laws and to fear the Lord our God for our good always, as it is today. ²⁵ We will be right with the Lord our God if we are careful to obey all of the Law before Him, just as He told us.

God’s Promise to David

89 I will sing of the loving-kindness of the Lord forever. I will make known with my mouth how faithful You are to all people. ² For I said, “Loving-kindness will be built up forever. You will make known how faithful You are in the heavens.”

³ You said, “I have made an agreement with My chosen one. I have promised to David, Your servant. ⁴ I will make your seed last forever. I will build up your throne for all the children-to-come.”

⁵ O Lord, the heavens will praise Your great works and how faithful You are in the meeting of the holy ones. ⁶ For who in the heavens is like the Lord? Who among the sons of the powerful is like the Lord? ⁷ God is honored with fear in the meeting of the holy ones. He is honored with fear more than all who are around Him. ⁸ Lord God of all, powerful Lord, who is like You? All around You we see how faithful You are. ⁹ You rule over the rising sea. When its waves rise, You quiet them. ¹⁰ You have crushed Rahab like one who is killed. You have destroyed those who hate You with Your powerful arm.

¹¹ The heavens are Yours; and the earth is Yours. You have made the world and all that is in it. ¹² You have made from nothing the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon call out for joy at Your name. ¹³ You have a strong arm. Your hand is powerful. Your right hand is honored. ¹⁴ Your throne stands on what is right and fair. Loving-kindness and truth go before You. ¹⁵ How happy are the people who know the sound of joy! They walk in the light of Your face, O Lord. ¹⁶ They are full of joy in Your name all day long. And by being right with You, they are honored. ¹⁷ For You are the shining-greatness of their strength. And our horn is lifted high by Your favor. ¹⁸ For our safe-covering belongs to the Lord. And our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹ Once You spoke in a special dream to Your faithful ones, saying: “I have given help to a powerful one. I have honored a chosen one from among the people. ²⁰ I have found David, Your servant. I have poured My holy oil upon him. ²¹ My hand will stay with him. And My arm will give him strength. ²² Those who hate him will not fool him. No sinful man will bring trouble to him. ²³ But he will see Me crush those who fight against him. I will kill those who hate him. ²⁴ I will be faithful and My loving-kindness will be with him. And in My name he will become great. ²⁵ I will set his hand on the sea also, and his right hand on the rivers. ²⁶ He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock that saves me.’ ²⁷ I will make him My first-born also, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸ I will keep My loving-kindness for him forever. And My agreement with him will be made strong. ²⁹ I will make his seed last forever. And his throne will last as long as heaven.

³⁰ “If his sons leave My Law and do not do what I say, ³¹ and if they break My Laws and do not obey My Word, ³² then I will punish their sin with the stick, and their wrong-doing with the whip. ³³ But I will not take my loving-kindness from him. I will always be faithful to him. ³⁴ I will not break My agreement, or change what was spoken by My lips. ³⁵ Once I have promised by My holy name, I will not lie to David. ³⁶ His seed will last forever. And his throne will last before Me like the sun. ³⁷ It will last forever like the moon, which may always be seen in the sky.”

³⁸ But You have thrown off and turned away from Your chosen one. You have been full of anger against him. ³⁹ You have hated the agreement with Your servant. You have made his crown dirty in the dust. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls. You have destroyed his strong places. ⁴¹ All who pass on the road rob him. He has become a shame to his neighbors. ⁴² You have honored the right hand of those who fight against him. You have made all who hate him glad. ⁴³ You have turned away the sharp part of his sword. And You have not made him stand in a fight. ⁴⁴ You have put an end to what shows of his greatness, and have thrown his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵ You have made him old before his time, and have covered him with shame.

⁴⁶ How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your anger burn like fire? ⁴⁷ Remember how fast my life is passing. You have made all men for nothing. ⁴⁸ What man can live and not see death? Can he save himself from the power of the grave?

⁴⁹ O Lord, where is the loving-kindness You used to have, that You promised in faith to David? ⁵⁰ O Lord, remember the shame of those who work for You. Remember how I carry near my heart the shame of all the nations. ⁵¹ Those who hate You have put us to shame, O Lord. They have put to shame the footsteps of Your chosen one.

⁵² Praise the Lord forever! Let it be so.

God Will Punish the Nations

34 Come near, O nations, to hear! Listen, O people! Let the earth and all that is in it listen, the world and all that comes from it. ² For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations. And His anger is against all their armies. He has destroyed all of them. He has given them over to be killed. ³ Their dead will be thrown out. Their dead bodies will give off a bad smell. The mountains will flow with their blood. ⁴ All the stars of the heavens will waste away. And the sky will be rolled up like writings. All that are in them will waste away also, as a leaf dries up from the vine, or as one dries up from the fig tree. ⁵ For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven. See, it will come down to punish Edom. It will come down upon the people whom I have given over to be destroyed. ⁶ The sword of the Lord is covered with blood. It is filled with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a killing in Bozrah, and much killing in the land of Edom. ⁷ Wild oxen will fall with them, and young bulls with strong ones. So their land will be filled with blood, and their dust will become rich with fat. ⁸ For the Lord has a day when He will punish, a year when He pays back which will help Zion. ⁹ Edom’s rivers will be turned into tar, and its dust into sulphur. Her land will become burning tar. ¹⁰ Its fire will not be put out night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From one family to their children’s children and on into the future, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever. ¹¹ But the pelican and hedgehog will have it for their own. The owl and raven will live in it. The Lord will make it into an empty waste land. ¹² Its rulers will be gone. And no kings will be named there. All their rulers will be no more. ¹³ Thorns will grow in its strong towers. Thistles will grow in cities where battles were fought. It will be a place for wild dogs, and a home for ostriches. ¹⁴ The desert animals will meet with the wolves. The wild goats will cry to its kind. Yes, the night-demon will stop there and find a resting place. ¹⁵ The snake will make its nest and lay eggs there. Her young will be born from the eggs and she will gather them under her shadow. Yes, the hawks will be gathered there, every one with its kind.

¹⁶ Look in the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these will be missing. None will be without its mate. For the mouth of the Lord has said so, and His Spirit has gathered them. ¹⁷ He will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. It will be theirs forever. From one family to their children’s children and on into the future, they will live in it.

The King’s Place of Power in Heaven

4 After this, I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice I heard was like the loud sound of a horn. It said, “Come up here. I will show you what must happen after these things.” ² At once I was under the Spirit’s power. See! The throne was in heaven, and One was sitting on it. ³ The One Who sat there looked as bright as jasper and sardius stones. The colors like those of an emerald stone were all around the throne. ⁴ There were twenty-four smaller thrones around the throne. And on these thrones twenty-four leaders were sitting dressed in white clothes. They had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ Lightning and noise and thunder came from the throne. Seven lights of fire were burning before the throne. These were the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ Before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, shining and clear. Around the throne and on each side there were four living beings that were full of eyes in front and in back. ⁷ The first living being was like a lion. The second one was like a young cow. The third one had a face like a man. The fourth one was like a very large bird with its wings spread. ⁸ Each one of the four living beings had six wings. They had eyes all over them, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the All-powerful One. He is the One Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”

⁹ The four living beings speak of His shining-greatness and give honor and thanks to Him Who sits on His throne as King. It is He Who lives forever. ¹⁰ The twenty-four leaders get down before Him and worship Him Who lives forever. They lay their crowns before Him and say, ¹¹ “Our Lord and our God, it is right for You to have the shining-greatness and the honor and the power. You made all things. They were made and have life because You wanted it that way.”