M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Cities to Be a Safe Place
19 “The Lord your God will destroy the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you. You will take their place and live in their cities and in their houses. At that time 2 you should set apart three cities for yourself in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. 3 Make the roads good that lead to these cities. Divide into three parts the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. Any man who kills another may run to a city and be safe.
4 “This is the law of the person who kills another and runs to a city to save his life. He might have killed his friend without meaning to, a friend he did not hate in the past. 5 He could have gone among the trees with his friend to cut wood. As he was using his ax to cut down a tree, the ax head could have come off the stick and hit his friend, killing him. Then he may run to one of these cities and live. 6 Or else the one who is angry will want to punish him for the killing, and will catch him and kill him. But the killer should not be put to death, because he had not hated the man in the past. 7 So I tell you, ‘Set apart three cities for yourself.’ 8 The Lord your God will give you even more land, as He has promised your fathers. He will give you all the land which He promised to give your fathers, 9 if you are careful to obey all the Laws I tell you today. Love the Lord your God. Walk in His ways always. Then you will add three other cities to these three. 10 So the person without guilt will not be put to death in the land the Lord your God gives you as a gift. And you will not be guilty of blood.
11 “But there might be a man who hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, goes against him, and hurts him so that he dies. After this he might run to one of these cities. 12 Then the leaders of his city should send men to take him from there and bring him to the one who wants to punish him for the killing that he may die. 13 Do not pity him. In Israel be free from the blood of those that are not guilty. Then it will go well with you.
14 “Do not move your neighbor’s land-mark which the fathers of long ago have set in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own.
15 “One person will not prove the guilt of a sin another man may have done. It will take two or three people who know about the sin to prove the man’s guilt. 16 If an angry person speaks against a man, saying that he did something wrong, 17 then both men who are arguing should stand before the Lord, in front of the religious leaders and the judges who are at work at that time. 18 The judges will choose careful questions to ask about the problem. If the man lied who said his brother is guilty, 19 then you should do to him just what he wanted to do to his brother. In this way you will get rid of the sin among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear and be afraid. They will never do such a sinful thing among you again. 21 Do not pity him. It will be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The Lord Is Good to His People
106 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. 2 Who can put into words the great works of the Lord? Who can make known all His praise? 3 Happy are those who are faithful in being fair and who always do what is right and good!
4 O Lord, remember me when You show favor to Your people. Visit me also when You save them. 5 So I may share in the well-being of Your chosen ones. So I may share in the joy of Your nation, and be proud of Your people.
6 We have sinned like our fathers. We have done wrong. We have been sinful in our actions. 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your powerful works. They did not remember how many times You showed Your loving-kindness. But they turned against You by the sea, the Red Sea. 8 Yet He saved them because of the honor of His name, and to make His great power known. 9 So He spoke sharp words to the Red Sea and it dried up. And He led them through the sea as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of those who hated them. He set them free from the hand of those who went against them. 11 And the waters covered those who hated them. Not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed His promises. They sang His praise.
13 But they soon forgot His works. They did not wait to hear what He wanted them to do. 14 They wanted many things in the desert, and they tempted God there. 15 So He gave them what they wanted, but He allowed their souls to become weak because of it.
16 They were jealous of Moses in the place where they set up their tents. And they were jealous of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord. 17 So the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan. It closed over the group of Abiram. 18 And a fire came among their followers. It burned up the sinful people.
19 They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a god of gold. 20 They traded their shining-greatness for something that looked like a bull that eats grass. 21 They forgot the God Who saved them, Who had done great things in Egypt, 22 powerful works in the land of Ham, and works that brought fear by the Red Sea. 23 So He said that He would destroy them. But Moses, His chosen one, stood in the way to keep His anger from destroying them. 24 Then they hated the good land. They did not believe in His Word. 25 But they complained in their tents. They did not listen to the voice of the Lord. 26 So He swore to them that He would let them die in the desert. 27 And He would spread out their children among the nations and divide them over all the earth.
28 They joined themselves to Baal of Peor and ate gifts given to the dead. 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions and a sickness broke out among them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and came between them, and the sickness was stopped. 31 And this made him right with God to all people forever.
32 They also made the Lord angry at the waters of Meribah. And trouble came to Moses because of them. 33 He spoke from his lips without thinking because they went against the Spirit of God.
34 They did not destroy the people as the Lord told them to do. 35 But they mixed with the nations and learned their ways. 36 They served their gods, which became a trap to them. 37 They even gave their sons and daughters as gifts on an altar to the demons. 38 They poured out the blood of those who were not guilty, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they gave on an altar to the gods of Canaan. And the land was poisoned with blood. 39 They made themselves unclean by what they did. They were not true to God in what they did.
40 So the Lord was angry with His people. He hated His people. 41 So He handed them over to the nations. And those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Those who hated them held a strong power over them. And they were made to obey them. 43 God set them free many times. But they always turned against Him and went deeper into sin.
44 But He looked upon their trouble when He heard their cry. 45 He remembered His agreement because of them, and took pity on them by the greatness of His loving-kindness. 46 Those who held them also saw how God took pity on them.
47 O Lord our God, save us! Gather us from among the nations. And we will give thanks to Your holy name and find honor in Your praise. 48 Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel, forever and ever. Let all the people say, “Let it be so!” Praise the Lord!
False Gods and the Living God
46 The false gods, Bel and Nebo, bow down. Their objects of worship were put on animals and cattle and the wagons had heavy loads making it hard for the tired animals. 2 They get down, they bow down together. They could not save the heavy load, but are themselves carried away to another land.
3 “Listen to Me, O family of Jacob, and all who are left of the family of Israel. You have been helped by Me before you were born and carried since you were born. 4 Even when you are old I will be the same. And even when your hair turns white, I will help you. I will take care of what I have made. I will carry you, and will save you.
5 “To whom will you compare Me? With whom will you make Me the same and compare Me, that we should be alike? 6 Those who take much gold from the money bag and weigh silver hire one who works with gold, and he makes it into a god. Then they bow down and worship it. 7 They lift it upon their shoulders and carry it. They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. When one cries to it, it cannot answer. It cannot take him away from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and be men. Bring it to mind again, you sinners. 9 Remember the things of long ago. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me. 10 I tell from the beginning what will happen in the end. And from times long ago I tell of things which have not been done, saying, ‘My Word will stand. And I will do all that pleases Me.’ 11 I call a strong and hungry bird from the east, the man from a far country who will do what I have planned. I have spoken, and I will make it happen. I have planned it, and I will do it.
12 “Listen to Me, you strong-willed people who are far from being right and good. 13 I bring near what is right and good. It is not far away. And My saving power is ready now. I will save Zion, and will bring My great power to Israel.
The First Jar—Painful Sores
16 Then I heard a loud voice coming from the house of God. The voice said to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven jars of God’s anger onto the earth!”
2 The first angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the earth. Painful sores were given to everyone who had the mark of the wild animal and who worshiped his god.
The Second Jar—Death in the Sea
3 The second angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the sea. The water became like the blood of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.
The Third Jar—Water Turns to Blood
4 The third angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the rivers and places where water comes out of the earth. The water turned to blood. 5 I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are right in punishing by sending this trouble. You are the Holy One Who was and is and will be. 6 They have poured out the blood of God’s people and of the early preachers. You have given them blood to drink. They are getting the pay that is coming to them.” 7 I heard a voice from the altar saying, “Lord God, the All-powerful One! What You decide about people is right and true.”
The Fourth Jar—Burning Heat
8 The fourth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the sun. It was allowed to burn men with its fire. 9 Men were burned with the heat of this fire and they called God bad names even when He had the power over these kinds of trouble. They were not sorry for their sins and did not turn from them and honor Him.
The Fifth Jar—Darkness
10 The fifth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger upon the throne of the wild animal. The whole nation of the wild animal was turned into darkness. Those who worshiped him bit their tongues because of the pain. 11 They called the God of heaven bad names because of their pain and their sores. They were not sorry for what they had done.
The Sixth Jar—the Euphrates River Dries Up
12 The sixth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the great Euphrates River. The water dried up. In this way, the kings of the countries of the east could cross over. 13 Then I saw three demons that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouths of the dragon and the second wild animal and the false preacher. 14 These are demons that do powerful works. These demons go to all the kings of all the earth. They bring them together for the war of the great day of the All-powerful God.
15 (See! I will come like a robber. The man is happy who stays awake and keeps his clothes ready. He will not be walking around without clothes and be ashamed.) 16 Then the demons brought the kings together in the place called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.
The Seventh Jar—the Earth Shakes and Hail Falls
17 The seventh angel poured out his jar of God’s anger into the air. A loud voice came from the throne in the house of God, saying, “It is all done!” 18 Then there were voices and lightning and thunder and the earth shook. The earth shook much more than it had ever shaken before. 19 The big and strong city of Babylon was split in three parts. The cities of other nations fell to the ground. Then God remembered the strong city of Babylon. He made her drink the wine from His cup of much anger. 20 Every island went down into the sea. No mountain could be found. 21 Large pieces of hail fell from heaven on men. These pieces were about as heavy as an older child. But men called God bad names because of so much trouble from the hail.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.