M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 7
Destruction of the Nations in the Land. 1 (A)When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land which you are about to enter to possess, and removes many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,(B) seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and when the Lord, your God, gives them over to you and you defeat them, you shall put them under the ban. Make no covenant with them(C) and do not be gracious to them. 3 (D)You shall not intermarry with them, neither giving your daughters to their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons. 4 For they would turn your sons from following me to serving other gods, and then the anger of the Lord would flare up against you and he would quickly destroy you.
5 But this is how you must deal with them:(E) Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, chop down their asherahs,[a] and destroy their idols by fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.(F) 7 It was not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you; for you are really the smallest of all peoples.(G) 8 It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your ancestors, that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.(H) 9 (I)Know, then, that the Lord, your God, is God: the faithful God who keeps covenant mercy to the thousandth generation toward those who love him and keep his commandments,(J) 10 but who repays with destruction those who hate him; he does not delay with those who hate him, but makes them pay for it. 11 Therefore carefully observe the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances which I command you today.
Blessings of Obedience. 12 (K)As your reward for heeding these ordinances and keeping them carefully, the Lord, your God, will keep with you the covenant mercy he promised on oath to your ancestors. 13 He will love and bless and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain and wine and oil, the young of your herds and the offspring of your flocks, in the land which he swore to your ancestors he would give you. 14 You will be blessed above all peoples; no man or woman among you shall be childless nor shall your livestock be barren. 15 The Lord will remove all sickness from you; he will not afflict you with any of the malignant diseases that you know from Egypt, but will leave them with all those who hate you.
16 You shall consume all the peoples which the Lord, your God, is giving over to you. You are not to look on them with pity, nor serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.(L) 17 (M)If you say to yourselves, “These nations are more numerous than we. How can we dispossess them?” 18 do not be afraid of them. Rather, remember clearly what the Lord, your God, did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great testings which your own eyes have seen, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm with which the Lord, your God, brought you out. The same also will he do to all the peoples of whom you are now afraid. 20 Moreover, the Lord, your God, will send hornets among them, until those who are left and those who are hiding from you are destroyed.(N) 21 Therefore, do not be terrified by them, for the Lord, your God, who is in your midst, is a great and awesome God. 22 He will remove these nations before you little by little. You cannot finish with them quickly, lest the wild beasts become too numerous for you.(O) 23 The Lord, your God, will give them over to you and throw them into utter panic until they are destroyed.(P) 24 He will deliver their kings into your power, that you may make their names perish from under the heavens. No one will be able to stand up against you,(Q) till you have destroyed them. 25 (R)The images of their gods you shall destroy by fire. Do not covet the silver or gold on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord, your God.(S) 26 You shall not bring any abominable thing into your house, so as to be, like it, under the ban; loathe and abhor it utterly for it is under the ban.[b]
Fourth Book—Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90[a]
God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
I
Lord, you have been our refuge
through all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born,
the earth and the world brought forth,
from eternity to eternity you are God.(A)
3 You turn humanity back into dust,[b]
saying, “Return, you children of Adam!”(B)
4 A thousand years in your eyes
are merely a day gone by,(C)
Before a watch passes in the night,
5 [c]you wash them away;(D)
They sleep,
and in the morning they sprout again like an herb.
6 In the morning it blooms only to pass away;
in the evening it is wilted and withered.[d](E)
II
7 Truly we are consumed by your anger,
filled with terror by your wrath.
8 You have kept our faults before you,
our hidden sins in the light of your face.(F)
9 Our life ebbs away under your wrath;(G)
our years end like a sigh.
10 Seventy is the sum of our years,
or eighty, if we are strong;
Most of them are toil and sorrow;
they pass quickly, and we are gone.
11 Who comprehends the strength of your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear it inspires.
12 Teach us to count our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
III
13 Relent, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your mercy,(H)
that all our days we may sing for joy.
15 Make us glad as many days as you humbled us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.(I)
16 Show your deeds to your servants,
your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God be ours.(J)
Prosper the work of our hands!
Prosper the work of our hands!
Chapter 35
Israel’s Deliverance[a]
1 The wilderness and the parched land will exult;
the Arabah will rejoice and bloom;(A)
2 Like the crocus it shall bloom abundantly,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
They will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.(B)
3 Strengthen hands that are feeble,
make firm knees that are weak,(C)
4 Say to the fearful of heart:
Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.(D)
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall see,
and the ears of the deaf be opened;(E)
6 Then the lame shall leap like a stag,
and the mute tongue sing for joy.
For waters will burst forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the Arabah.(F)
7 The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals crouch
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.
8 A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
but it will be for his people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray on it.(G)
9 No lion shall be there,
nor any beast of prey approach,
nor be found.
But there the redeemed shall walk,(H)
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning flee away.(I)
Chapter 5
The Scroll and the Lamb.[a] 1 I saw a scroll[b] in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.(A) 2 Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. 4 I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. 5 One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,[c] has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”(B)
6 Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb[d] that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the [seven] spirits of God sent out into the whole world.(C) 7 He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. 8 When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. 9 They sang a new hymn:
“Worthy are you to receive the scroll
and to break open its seals,
for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God
those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
10 You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign on earth.”(D)
11 I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless[e] in number,(E) 12 and they cried out in a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and blessing.”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out:
“To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever.”
14 The four living creatures answered, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
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.