M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Special Seventh Year
15 At the end of every seven years, you must forget about collecting what people owe you. 2 This is how you must do it: Everyone who has loaned money must forget the loan. He must not make his neighbor or brother pay it back. This is the Lord’s time for canceling what people owe. 3 You may make a foreigner pay what he owes you. But you must not collect what your brother owes you. 4 But there should be no poor people among you. The Lord your God will richly bless you in the land he is giving you to own. 5 He will bless you if you obey him completely. But you must be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you as he promised. You will lend to other nations. But you will not need to borrow from them. You will rule over many nations. But none will rule over you.
7 There might be a poor man among you. He might be in one of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you. Do not be selfish or greedy toward your poor brother. 8 But give freely to him. Freely lend him whatever he needs. 9 Beware of evil thoughts. Don’t think, “The seventh year is near. It’s the year to forget what people owe.” You might be mean to your needy brother. You might not give him anything. Then he will complain to the Lord about you. And the Lord will find you guilty of sin. 10 Give freely to the poor person. Do not wish that you didn’t have to give. The Lord your God will bless your work and everything you touch. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. So I command you to give freely to your brothers. Give freely to the poor and needy in your land.
Letting Slaves Go Free
12 One of your own people might sell himself to you as a slave. It may be a Hebrew man or woman. That person will serve you for six years. The seventh year you must let him go free. 13 And when you let him go, don’t send him away without anything. 14 Give him some of your sheep, your grain and your wine. Give to him as the Lord has given to you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. And the Lord your God saved you. That is why I am commanding this to you today.
16 But your slave might say to you, “I don’t want to leave you.” He might love you and your family. He might have a good life with you. 17 If he does this, stick an awl[a] through his ear into the door. He will be your slave for life. Also do this to a woman slave.
18 Do not think of it as a hard thing when you let your slave go free. After all, he served you six years. You paid him only half what a hired person would cost. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Rules About Firstborn Animals
19 Save all the first male animals born to your herds and flocks. They are for the Lord your God. Do not work the first calf born to your oxen. And do not cut off the wool from the first lamb born to your sheep. 20 Each year you and your family are to eat these animals. Eat them in the presence of the Lord your God. Eat them in the place he will choose to be worshiped. 21 An animal might have something wrong with it. It might be crippled or blind. It might have some other thing wrong with it. Do not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 But you may eat that animal in your own town. Both clean and unclean people may eat it. It would be like eating a gazelle or a deer. 23 But don’t eat its blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.
A Cry for Help
A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is discouraged and tells the Lord his complaints.
102 Lord, listen to my prayer.
Let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide from me
in my time of trouble.
Pay attention to me.
When I cry for help, answer me quickly.
3 My life is passing away like smoke.
My bones are burned up with fire.
4 My heart is like grass
that has been cut and dried.
I forget to eat.
5 Because of my grief,
my skin hangs on my bones.
6 I am like a desert owl.
I am like an owl living among the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long enemies insult me.
Those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes as my food.
My tears fall into my drinks.
10 Because of your great anger,
you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a passing shadow.
I am like dried grass.
12 But, Lord, you rule forever.
Your fame continues from now on.
13 You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem.
The time has now come to be kind to her.
14 Your servants love even her stones.
They even care about her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord.
All the kings on earth will honor him.
16 The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.
There his glory will be seen.
17 He will answer the prayers of the needy.
He will not reject their prayers.
18 Write these things for the future.
Then people who are not yet born will praise the Lord.
19 The Lord looked down from his holy place above.
From heaven he looked down at the earth.
20 He heard the moans of the prisoners.
And he freed those sentenced to die.
21 The name of the Lord will be heard in Jerusalem.
His praise will be heard in Jerusalem.
22 People will come together.
Kingdoms will serve the Lord.
23 God has made me tired of living.
He has cut short my life.
24 So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life.
Your years go on and on.
25 In the beginning you made the earth.
And your hands made the skies.
26 They will be destroyed, but you will remain.
They will all wear out like clothes.
And, like clothes, you will change them.
And they will be thrown away.
27 But you never change.
And your life will never end.
28 Our children will live in your presence.
And their children will remain with you.”
The Lord’s Special Servant
42 “Here is my servant, the one I support.
He is the one I chose, and I am pleased with him.
I will put my Spirit in him.
And he will bring justice to all nations.
2 He will not cry out or yell.
He will not speak loudly in the streets.
3 He will not break a crushed blade of grass.
He will not put out even a weak flame.
He will bring justice and find what is true.
4 He will not lose hope or give up
until he brings justice to the world.
And people far away will trust his teachings.”
5 God, the Lord, said these things.
He created the skies and stretched them out.
He spread out the earth and everything on it.
He gives life to all people on earth.
He gives life to everyone who walks on the earth.
6 The Lord says, “I called you to do right.
And I will hold your hand.
I will protect you.
You will be the sign of my agreement with the people.
You will be a light to shine for all people.
7 You will help the blind to see.
You will free those who are in prison.
You will lead those who live in darkness out of their prison.
8 “I am the Lord. That is my name.
I will not give my glory to another.
I will not let idols take the praise that should be mine.
9 The things I said would happen have happened.
And now I tell you about new things.
Before those things happen,
I tell you about them.”
A Song of Praise to the Lord
10 Sing a new song to the Lord.
Sing his praise everywhere on the earth.
Praise him, you people who sail on the seas and you animals who live in them.
Praise him, you people living in faraway places.
11 The deserts and their cities should praise him.
The settlements of Kedar should praise him.
The people living in Sela should sing for joy.
They should sing from the mountaintops.
12 They should give glory to the Lord.
People in faraway lands should praise him.
13 The Lord will march out like a strong soldier.
He will be excited like a man ready to fight a war.
He will shout out the battle cry.
And he will defeat his enemies.
14 The Lord says, “For a long time I have said nothing.
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now I will cry out.
I will strain like a woman giving birth to a child.
15 I will destroy the hills and mountains.
I will dry up all the plants that grow there.
I will make the rivers become dry land.
I will dry up the pools of water.
16 Then I will lead the blind along a way they never knew.
I will guide them along paths they have not known.
I will make the darkness become light for them.
And I will make the rough ground smooth.
These are the things I will do.
I will not leave my people.
17 But some people trust in idols.
They say to their statues,
‘You are our gods.’
Those people will be rejected in disgrace.
Israel Refused to Listen to God
18 “You who are deaf, hear me.
You who are blind, look and see.
19 No one is more blind than my servant Israel.
The messenger I send is the most deaf.
No one is more blind than the person I own.
No one is more blind than the servant of the Lord.
20 Israel, you have seen much, but you have not obeyed.
You have heard, but you refuse to listen.”
21 The Lord made his teachings wonderful.
He did this because he is good.
22 These people have been defeated and robbed.
They are trapped in pits.
They are locked up in prison.
Like robbers, enemies have taken them away.
There is no one to save them.
Enemies carried them off.
And no one said, “Bring them back.”
23 Will any of you listen to this?
Will you listen carefully in the future?
24 Who let the people of Jacob be carried off?
Who let robbers take Israel away?
The Lord allowed this to happen
because we sinned against him.
We did not live the way the Lord wanted us to live.
We did not obey his teaching.
25 So the Lord became very angry with us.
He brought terrible wars against us.
It was as if the people of Israel had fire all around them.
But they didn’t know what was happening.
It was as if they were burning.
But they didn’t pay any attention.
The Woman and the Dragon
12 And then a great wonder appeared in heaven: There was a woman who was clothed with the sun. The moon was under her feet. She had a crown of 12 stars on her head. 2 The woman was pregnant. She cried out with pain because she was about to give birth. 3 Then another wonder appeared in heaven: There was a giant red dragon. He had seven heads with seven crowns on each head. He also had ten horns. 4 The dragon’s tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was ready to give birth to a baby. He wanted to eat the woman’s baby as soon as it was born. 5 The woman gave birth to a son. He will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was taken up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman ran away into the desert to a place God prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then there was a war in heaven. Michael[a] and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But the dragon was not strong enough. He and his angels lost their place in heaven. 9 He was thrown down out of heaven. (The giant dragon is that old snake called the devil or Satan. He leads the whole world the wrong way.) The dragon with his angels was thrown down to the earth.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ have now come.
They have come because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown out.
He accused our brothers day and night before our God.
11 And our brothers defeated him
by the blood of the Lamb’s death
and by the truth they preached.
They did not love their lives so much
that they were afraid of death.
12 So be happy, you heavens
and all who live there!
But it will be terrible for the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you!
He is filled with anger.
He knows that he does not have much time.”
13 The dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth. So he hunted down the woman who had given birth to the son. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle. Then she could fly to the place that was prepared for her in the desert. There she would be taken care of for three and a half years. There she would be away from the snake. 15 Then the snake poured water out of its mouth like a river. He poured the water toward the woman, so that the flood would carry her away. 16 But the earth helped her. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that came from the mouth of the dragon. 17 Then the dragon was very angry at the woman. He went off to make war against all her other children. Her children are those who obey God’s commands and have the truth that Jesus taught.
18 And the dragon[b] stood on the seashore.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.