M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

7 But the people of Israel sinned with the things that were to be destroyed. Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the family of Judah, took some of the things that were to be destroyed. So the Lord was very angry with the people of Israel.

² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He said to them, “Go and spy out the land in secret.” So the men went and spied out Ai. ³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Do not have all the people go there. Only about 2,000 or 3,000 men need to go to Ai. Do not make the whole army fight, for the people of Ai are few.” ⁴ So about 3,000 men of Israel went, but they ran away from the men of Ai. ⁵ The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and ran after them from the gate as far as Shebarim. And they killed more on the way down. So the hearts of the people became weak. They became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes. They fell with their faces on the ground in front of the special box of the agreement until evening. And they put dust on their heads. ⁷ Joshua said, “O Lord God, why did You ever bring this nation over the Jordan, only to give us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been willing to live on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what can I say? Israel has turned their backs in front of those who fight against them. ⁹ The Canaanites and all the people living in the land will hear of it. They will gather around us and destroy our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned. They have gone against My agreement which I told them to keep. They have even taken some of the things that were to be destroyed. They have stolen and lied. And they have put them among their own things. ¹² That is why the people of Israel cannot stand in front of those who fight against them. They turn their backs in front of those who hate them because they are being punished. I will not be with you any more unless you destroy the things among you that should be destroyed. ¹³ Get up! Set apart the people and say, ‘Make yourselves holy for tomorrow. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things among you which should be destroyed, O Israel. You cannot stand in front of those who fight against you until you take away the things among you which should be destroyed.” ¹⁴ In the morning you must come near by your family groups. Then the family group which the Lord takes must come near by families. The family which the Lord takes must come near by tents. And the tent which the Lord takes must come near man by man. ¹⁵ Then the one who is taken with the things which should have been destroyed must be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him because he has sinned against the agreement of the Lord. He has done an act of shame in Israel.’”

¹⁶ So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought Israel near by family groups. The family group of Judah was taken. ¹⁷ He brought the family group of Judah near. And he took the family of the Zerahites. He brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man. Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸ Then he brought those of Zabdi’s tent near man by man. And Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the family of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹ Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give honor and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. Tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” ²⁰ Achan answered Joshua, saying, “It is true. I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did. ²¹ I saw among what was left of the city a beautiful coat from Shinar. I saw 200 pieces of silver, and a large piece of gold as heavy as fifty pieces of silver. I had a desire for them and took them. See, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under it.”

²² So Joshua sent men to the tent. There they found it, with the silver under it. ²³ They took these things from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. ²⁴ Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the coat, the large piece of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, sheep, tent and all that belonged to him. They brought them to the valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why have you brought trouble upon us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” Then all Israel threw stones at them. After that they burned them with fire. ²⁶ They put many stones over him that stand to this day. Then the Lord was no longer angry. The name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Israel in a Strange Land

137 We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when we remembered Zion. ² There upon the trees we put our harps. ³ For those who held us there made us sing. And those who made it hard for us asked for joy. They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

⁴ How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget what it is able to do. ⁶ May my tongue hold to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not honor Jerusalem above my highest joy.

⁷ O Lord, remember what the sons of Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Knock it down,” they said, “Knock it down to the ground.” ⁸ O daughter of Babylon, you who will be destroyed, how honored will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! ⁹ How honored will be the one who catches your children and throws them against the rock!

A Song of Praise

138 I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. ² I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. ³ You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.

⁴ O Lord, all the kings of the earth will give thanks to You when they have heard the words of Your mouth. ⁵ And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For the shining beauty of the Lord is great. ⁶ For even if the Lord is honored, He thinks about those who have no pride. But He knows the proud from far away. ⁷ Even if I walk into trouble, You will keep my life safe. You will put out Your hand against the anger of those who hate me. And Your right hand will save me. ⁸ The Lord will finish the work He started for me. O Lord, Your loving-kindness lasts forever. Do not turn away from the works of Your hands.

The Call of Jeremiah

1 These are the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the religious leaders at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. ² The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his rule. ³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem were taken away.

⁴ Now the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁵ “Before I started to put you together in your mother, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart as holy. I chose you to speak to the nations for Me.” ⁶ Then I said, “O, Lord God! I do not know how to speak. I am only a boy.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy.’ You must go everywhere I send you. And you must say whatever I tell you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them. For I am with you to take you out of trouble,” says the Lord. ⁹ Then the Lord put out His hand and touched my mouth, and said to me, “See, I have put My words in your mouth. ¹⁰ I have chosen you this day to be over the nations and the kings, to dig up and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

¹¹ And the Word of the Lord came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching to see that My Word is completed.”

¹³ The Word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, with its face turned away from the north.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north trouble will come upon all the people of the land. ¹⁵ For, see, I am calling all the families of the nations of the north,” says the Lord. “And they will come. Then every one will set up his throne at the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls around it, and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And I will tell how they are to be punished for all their sin. For they have turned away from Me and have given gifts to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷ Now get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I tell you. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make trouble for you in front of them. ¹⁸ Today I have made you as a strong city ready for war, as a pillar of iron and as walls of brass against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, the rulers, its religious leaders, and the people of the land. ¹⁹ And they will fight against you. But they will not have power over you, for I am with you to take you out of trouble,” says the Lord.

Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Leaders ^(A)

15 Some of the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers from Jerusalem came to Jesus. They asked, ² “Why do Your followers not obey the teaching that was given to them by our fathers? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ Jesus said to them, “Why do you break the Law of God by trying to keep their teaching? ⁴ For God said, ‘Show respect to your father and mother.’ ^(B) And, ‘He who curses his father or mother will be put to death.’ ^{(C) 5} But you say that if a man says to his parents that anything he has, that might have been of help to them, is already given to God, ⁶ he does not have to show respect by helping his father and mother. You are putting aside the Word of God to keep their teaching. ⁷ You who pretend to be someone you are not, Isaiah told about you. He said, ⁸ ’These people show respect to Me with their mouth, but their heart is far from Me. ⁹ Their worship of Me is worth nothing. They teach what men have made up.’” ^(D)

¹⁰ Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, “Listen and understand this! ¹¹ It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes his mind and heart sinful. It is what comes out of a man’s mouth that makes him sinful.”

¹² His followers came to Him. They said, “Did You know the proud religious law-keepers were ashamed and turned away because of You when they heard this?” ¹³ He said, “Every plant that My Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. If one blind man leads another blind man, they will both fall into a hole.”

¹⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Tell us this picture-story so we can understand it.” ¹⁶ Jesus said, “Do you not understand yet? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But whatever comes from the mouth has come out of the heart. These things make the man unclean inside. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come bad thoughts, killing other people, sex sins of a married person, sex sins of a person not married, stealing, lying, speaking against God. ²⁰ These are the things that make the man unclean inside. It does not make a man sinful to eat with hands that have not been washed.”

Jesus Puts a Demon Out of a Girl ^(E)

²¹ Jesus went from there to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A woman came from the land of Canaan. She cried out to Jesus and said, “Take pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter has a demon and is much troubled.” ²³ But Jesus did not speak a word to her. His followers kept asking, saying, “Send her away for she keeps calling us.” ²⁴ He said, “I was sent only to the Jewish people who are lost.” ²⁵ Then she came and got down before Jesus and worshiped Him. She said, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ But He said, “It is not right to take children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces that fall from the table of their owners.” ²⁸ Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have much faith. You will have what you asked for.” Her daughter was healed at that very time.

Jesus Heals All Who Come to Him

²⁹ Jesus went from there and came to the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up the mountain and sat down. ³⁰ Many people came to Him. They brought with them those who were not able to walk. They brought those who were not able to see. They brought those who were not able to hear or speak and many others. Then they put them at the feet of Jesus and He healed them. ³¹ All the people wondered. They saw how those who could not speak were now talking. They saw how those who could not walk were now walking. They saw how those who could not see were now seeing, and they gave thanks to the God of the Jews.

The Feeding of the Four Thousand ^(F)

³² Then Jesus called His followers to Him. He said, “I pity these people because they have been with Me three days and they have no food. I do not want to send them home without food. They might get too weak as they go.” ³³ The followers said to Jesus, “Where can we get enough bread to feed them all in this desert?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?” They said, “Seven loaves and a few small fish.” ³⁵ He told the people to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He broke them and gave them to His followers. The followers gave them to the people. ³⁷ They all ate and were filled. They picked up seven baskets full of pieces of bread and fish after the people finished eating. ³⁸ Four thousand men ate. Women and children ate also. ³⁹ After this Jesus sent the people away. Then He got into a boat and came to a place called Magadan.