M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules for War
20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses, chariots, and many more people than you have, you must not be afraid of them. The Lord your God is with you—and he brought you out of Egypt.
2 “When you go to the battle, the priest must go to the soldiers and speak to them. 3 The priest will say, ‘Men of Israel, listen to me! Today you are going against your enemies in battle. Don’t lose your courage. Don’t be troubled or upset. Don’t be afraid of the enemy. 4 The Lord your God is going with you to help you fight against your enemies. He will help you win!’
5 “The Levite officials will say to the soldiers, ‘Is there any man here who has built a new house but has not yet dedicated it? That man should go back home. He might be killed in the battle, and then another person will dedicate that man’s house. 6 Is there any man here who has planted a vineyard but has not yet gathered any of the grapes? That man should go back home. If that man dies in the battle, someone else will enjoy the fruit from his field. 7 Is there any man here who is engaged to be married? That man should go back home. If he dies in the battle, another man will marry the woman he is engaged to.’
8 “These Levite officials must also say to the people, ‘Is there any man here who has lost his courage and is afraid? He should go back home. Then he will not cause the other soldiers to lose their courage too.’ 9 Then, after the officers have finished speaking to the army, they must choose captains to lead the soldiers.
10 “When you go to attack a city, you must first offer peace to the people there. 11 If they accept your offer and open their gates, all the people in that city will become your slaves and be forced to work for you. 12 But if the city refuses to make peace with you and fights against you, you should surround the city. 13 And when the Lord your God lets you take the city, you must kill all the men in it. 14 But you may take for yourselves the women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city. You may use all these things. The Lord your God has given these things to you. 15 That is what you must do to all the cities that are very far from you—the cities that are not in the land where you will live.
16 “But when you take cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must kill everyone. 17 You must completely destroy all the people—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. 18 So then they will not be able to teach you to sin against the Lord your God or to do any of the terrible things they do when they worship their gods.
19 “When you are making war against a city, you might surround that city for a long time. You must not cut down the fruit trees around that city. You may eat the fruit from these trees, but you must not cut them down. These trees are not the enemy, so don’t make war against them. 20 But you may cut down the trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may use these trees to build weapons for making war against that city. You may use them until the city falls.
Book 5
(Psalms 107-150)
107 Praise the Lord, because he is good!
His faithful love will last forever!
2 Everyone the Lord has saved should repeat that word of thanks.
Praise him, all who have been rescued from the enemy.
3 He gathered his people together from many different countries.
He brought them from east and west, north and south.[a]
4 Some of them wandered in the dry desert.
They were looking for a place to live,
but they could not find a city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty
and growing weak.
6 Then they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.
7 He led them straight to the city where they would live.
8 Thank the Lord for his faithful love
and for the amazing things he does for people.
9 He satisfies those who are thirsty.
He fills those who are hungry with good things.
10 Some of God’s people were prisoners,
locked behind bars in dark prisons.
11 That was because they had fought against what God said.
They refused to listen to the advice of God Most High.
12 God made life hard for those people
because of what they did.
They stumbled and fell,
and there was no one to help them.
13 They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.
14 He took them out of their dark prisons.
He broke the ropes that held them.
15 Thank the Lord for his faithful love
and for the amazing things he does for people.
16 He breaks down their bronze gates.
He shatters their iron bars.
17 Some people became fools and turned against God,
and they suffered for the evil they did.
18 They became so sick that they refused to eat,
so they almost died.
19 They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.
20 He gave the command and healed them,
so they were saved from the grave.
21 Thank the Lord for his faithful love
and for the amazing things he does for people.
22 Offer sacrifices of thanks to him.
Sing with joy about all that he has done.
23 Some sailed the sea in ships.
Their work carried them across the water.
24 They saw what the Lord can do.
They saw the amazing things he did at sea.
25 He gave the command, and a strong wind began to blow.
The waves became higher and higher.
26 The waves lifted them high into the sky
and dropped them into the deep sea.
The storm was so dangerous that the men lost their courage.
27 They were stumbling and falling like someone who is drunk.
Their skill as sailors was useless.
28 They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.
29 He stopped the storm
and calmed the waves.
30 The sailors were happy that the sea became calm,
and he led them safely to where they wanted to go.
31 Thank the Lord for his faithful love
and for the amazing things he does for people.
32 Praise God in the great assembly.
Praise him when the older leaders meet together.
33 He changed rivers into a desert.
He stopped springs from flowing.
34 He made the fertile land become salty,
because the people living there did such evil things.
35 He changed the desert into a land with pools of water.
He caused springs to flow from dry ground.
36 He led the hungry to that good land,
and they built a city to live in.
37 They planted seeds in their fields and grapes in their vineyards,
and they had a good harvest.
38 God blessed them with many children
and plenty of animals.
39 But because of disaster and troubles,
their families became small and weak.
40 God shames even great leaders
and makes them wander through empty deserts.
41 But he rescues the poor from their misery.
He makes their families large like flocks of sheep.
42 Good people see this and are happy.
But the wicked see it and don’t know what to say.
43 Whoever is wise will remember these things
and begin to understand the Lord’s faithful love.
God’s Message to Babylon
47 “Fall down and sit in the dirt, Virgin Daughter Babylon.
You have no throne, so sit on the ground, daughter of the Chaldeans.[a]
You are not the ruler now.
You are no longer the beautiful young princess that people said you were.
2 Get the millstones ready
and grind the grain into flour.
Take off your veil and fancy clothes.
Lift your skirt and get ready to cross the rivers.[b]
3 Men will see your naked body
and use you for sex.
I will make you pay for the bad things you did,
and I will not let anyone help you.
4 “My people say, ‘God saves us.
His name is the Lord All-Powerful, the Holy One of Israel.’”
5 “So Babylon, sit down and shut up.
Daughter of the Chaldeans, go into the dark prison.
You will no longer be ‘The Queen of the Kingdoms.’
6 “I was angry with my people.
They were mine, but I turned against them.
I let you punish them,
but you showed them no mercy.
Even for those who were old
you made the work hard.
7 You said, ‘I will live forever.
I will always be the queen.’
You didn’t care what you did to my people.
You didn’t think about what might happen later.
8 So now listen, you who love only pleasure!
Feeling so safe, you tell yourself,
‘I alone am important, and no one else matters.
I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
9 These two things will happen to you:
First, you will lose your children and then your husband.
And none of your magic spells will help you.
10 You do bad things but still feel safe.[c]
You say to yourself, ‘No one sees the wrong I do.’
You thought that your wisdom and knowledge would save you.
You tell yourself, ‘I alone am important,
and no one else matters.’
11 “But disaster is coming your way.
You don’t know when it will happen, but disaster is coming.
And there is nothing you can do to stop it.
12 You worked hard all your life
learning magic and spells.
So start using that magic.
Maybe those spells will help you.
Maybe you will be able to frighten someone.
13 You have many advisors.
Are you tired of the advice they give?
Then send out your men who read the stars.
They can tell when the month starts,
so maybe they can tell you when your troubles will come.
14 But they cannot even save themselves.
They will burn like straw.
They will burn so fast that there will be no coals left to cook bread.
There will be no fire left to sit by.
15 That’s what will happen to those you have worked with,
the people you did business with all your life.
They will all go their own way.
There will be no one left to save you.”
The Woman on the Red Beast
17 One of the seven angels came and spoke to me. This was one of the angels that had the seven bowls. The angel said, “Come, and I will show you the punishment that will be given to the famous prostitute. She is the one sitting over many waters. 2 The rulers of the earth sinned sexually with her. The people of the earth became drunk from the wine of her sexual sin.”
3 Then the angel carried me away by the Spirit to the desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a red beast. The beast was covered with evil names. It had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and red. She was shining with the gold, jewels, and pearls that she was wearing. She had a golden cup in her hand. This cup was filled with terribly evil things and the filth of her sexual sin. 5 She had a title written on her forehead. This title has a hidden meaning. This is what was written:
the great babylon
mother of prostitutes
and the evil things of the earth
6 I saw that the woman was drunk. She was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people. She was drunk with the blood of those who told about their faith in Jesus.
When I saw the woman, I was fully amazed. 7 Then the angel said to me, “Why are you amazed? I will tell you the hidden meaning of this woman and the beast she rides—the beast with seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast you saw was once alive, but now it is not. However, it will come up out of the bottomless pit and go away to be destroyed. The people who live on the earth will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was once alive, is no longer living, but will come again. These are the people whose names have never been written in the book of life since the beginning of the world.
9 “You need wisdom to understand this. The seven heads on the beast are the seven hills where the woman sits. They are also seven rulers. 10 Five of the rulers have already died. One of the rulers lives now, and the last ruler is coming. When he comes, he will stay only a short time. 11 The beast that was once alive but is no longer living is an eighth ruler. This eighth ruler also belongs to the first seven rulers. And he will go away to be destroyed.
12 “The ten horns you saw are ten rulers. These ten rulers have not yet received their kingdom, but they will receive power to rule with the beast for one hour. 13 All ten of these rulers have the same purpose. And they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And with him will be his chosen and faithful followers—the people he has called to be his.”
15 Then the angel said to me, “You saw the waters where the prostitute sits. These waters are the many peoples, the different races, nations, and languages in the world. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will take everything she has and leave her naked. They will eat her flesh and destroy her with fire. 17 God put the idea in their minds to do what would complete his purpose. They agreed to give the beast their power to rule until what God has said is completed. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International