M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The destruction of the city—and the curse Joshua pronounces—are pretty harsh things. Today, of course, there are rules of war, and the international community would punish this kind of military action. But that wasn’t the situation in Canaan. The Israelites are invaders in the land, badly outnumbered, and their victory and decisive actions send a message to all the other cities and towns: there’s something different—and very dangerous—about these invaders. Moreover, it is essential to purify the land of polytheistic worship before Israel settles in the land with their worship of the Lord.
7 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in one thing: they did not allow everything from Jericho to be destroyed, as God had ordered. Achan (the son of Carmi, grandson of Zabdi, and great-grandson of Zerah of the tribe of Judah) had carried some things away from Jericho, so the Eternal was angry at the Israelites.
2 After Jericho fell, Joshua sent some men to Ai, a town near Beth-aven and east of Bethel, to spy out that region of the land. 3 They returned to Joshua with a report.
Spies: You don’t need to send all the people since there are so few defenders in Ai. An army of 2,000 to 3,000 men should be plenty.
4 So Joshua sent about 3,000 soldiers to Ai; but they were easily repulsed by the defenders, 5 who killed 36 of them and pursued them from the gate even to the descent toward Shebarim. When the Israelites heard their soldiers had been defeated, their courage melted away like water. 6 Then Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their robes and fell to the dirt in front of the covenant chest of the Eternal, putting dust on their heads and remaining there until evening.
Joshua: 7 Why, Eternal One, our Lord? Why have you brought us across the Jordan if only to let the Amorites destroy us? It would have been better for us to settle on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Lord, how am I going to explain that our fighting men have had to run for their lives? 9 The people of Canaan, all the inhabitants of this land, will hear that we have been defeated. They’ll surround us and destroy us as a people forever, and then how will the world remember Your great name?
Eternal One: 10 Get up. What are you doing in the dirt? 11 There’s a simple explanation: Israel has sinned. They have lied and have violated the covenant I gave them by stealing some of the property that should have been destroyed along with the rest of Jericho and by hiding it among their own belongings.
12 That is why the Israelites can no longer resist their enemies. They run from their foes because they are under a curse and doomed to destruction. I will not be with you or fight for you unless these things devoted to destruction are truly destroyed. 13 Get up, and tell the people to purify themselves for tomorrow. Tell them that the Eternal One, the God of Israel says, “There are items among you that were supposed to be destroyed as I commanded. You will not be able to resist your enemies unless you remove the banned items from among you.”
14 Then in the morning, the people will pass before you tribe by tribe, and by drawing lots you will know which tribe I pick. Then that tribe will come clan by clan, and the chosen clan will come family by family, until at last they come before you one by one and I show you who is guilty. 15 With the person selected by lot, you will burn him and all his belongings, including his family and his livestock, with fire as a punishment for breaking the covenant with the Eternal and for bringing dishonor upon Israel.
There’s always an explanation in the Book of Joshua when the people of Israel are defeated in their battles for the promised land, and that explanation is not that God has been unfaithful. It’s the other way around: God tells the people of Israel to do something, and they don’t. God allows their defeats so that they can see the error of their ways. He corrects His people and punishes them so that they may learn to do better.
16 So Joshua arose early, and the Israelites passed before him, tribe by tribe. First the tribe of Judah was chosen by lot. 17 From the clans of Judah, the clan of the Zerahites was chosen, and from that clan, the family of Zabdi. 18 From that family, the Lord indicated that Achan (the son of Carmi, grandson of Zabdi, and great-grandson of Zerah from the tribe of Judah) had taken the banned items.
Joshua (to Achan): 19 My son, I urge you now to show honor and thanksgiving to the Eternal One, the God of Israel, and confess. Tell me what you have done, and tell the truth.
Achan: 20 It’s true. I am the one who broke the commandment of the Eternal God of Israel. 21 Among the spoils of the city, I found a beautiful Babylonian robe, 5 pounds of silver, and 20 ounces of gold. When I saw them, I wanted them and I took them. They are buried now in the ground inside my tent with the silver at the very bottom of the hole.
22 Joshua sent men to Achan’s tent, and there they found the valuables with the silver at the bottom just as he had described. 23 They carried them back from the tent to Joshua, displayed them in front of the Israelites, and offered them to the Eternal. 24 Then Joshua and all Israel led Achan, the son of Zerah, with the robe and silver and gold he had taken, with all his sons and daughters, with all his cattle and livestock, and with his tent and everything he possessed, to the valley of Achor.
Joshua: 25 Why did you bring such trouble upon us? Well, now the Eternal is bringing trouble on you.
The people stoned Achan and his family and burned them and all their belongings. 26 Afterward they erected a pile of stones over Achan that still stands today. When all of this was done, the Eternal put away His anger; so to this day that place is called the valley of Achor, which means “trouble.”
Psalm 137
Psalm 137 is a lament written either during or shortly after the exile. It provides a vivid image of what life in exile must have been like.
1 By the rivers of Babylon,
we sat and wept
when we thought of Zion, our home, so far away.
2 On the branches of the willow trees,
we hung our harps and hid our hearts from the enemy.
3 And the men that surrounded us
made demands that we clap our hands and sing—
Songs of joy from days gone by,
songs from Zion, our home.
Such cruel men taunted us—haunted our memories.
4 How could we sing a song about the Eternal
in a land so foreign, while still tormented, brokenhearted, homesick?
Please don’t make us sing this song.
5-6 O Jerusalem, even still, don’t escape my memory.
I treasure you and your songs, even as I hide my harp from the enemy.
And if I can’t remember,
may I never sing a song again—
may my hands never play well again—
For what use would it be if I don’t remember Jerusalem
as my source of joy?
7 Remember, Eternal One, how the Edomites, our brothers, the descendants of Esau,
stood by and watched as Jerusalem fell.
Gloating, they said, “Destroy it;
tear it down to the ground,” when Jerusalem was being demolished.
8 O daughter of Babylon, you are destined for destruction!
Happy are those who pay you back for how you treated us
so you will no longer walk so proud.
9 Happy are those who dash your children against the rocks
so you will know how it feels.
Psalm 138
A song of David.
1 To You, Lord, I give my whole heart, a heart filled with praise, for I am grateful;
before the gods, my heart sings praises to You and You alone.
2 I bow before You, looking to Your holy temple,
and praise Your name, for Your unfailing love and Your truth;
for You have placed Your name and Your word over all things and all times.
3 On the day I needed You, I called, and You responded
and infused my soul with strength.
4 May all the kings of the earth praise You, O Eternal One,
because they have heard the words You have spoken.
5 They will marvel at the Eternal’s ways, and they will sing,
for great is the glory of the Eternal.
6 Although He is greatest of all, He is attentive to the needy
and keeps His distance from the proud and pompous.
7 Whenever I walk into trouble,
You are there to bring me out.
You hold out Your hand
to protect me against the wrath of my enemies,
and hold me safely in Your right hand.
8 The Eternal will finish what He started in me.
Your faithful love, O Eternal One, lasts forever;
do not give up on what Your hands have made.
1 1-2 This is an account of the words and deeds of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who lived in the village of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The word of the Eternal came to him in a series of messages that started coming to the prophet in the 13th year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah. 3 These disturbing and awesome messages continued throughout the reign of Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, king of Judah, until Jerusalem was captured in the 5th month of the 11th year of Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons, who was also king of Judah.
4 And now the fateful day when the Eternal One first spoke to me:
5 Eternal One: Before I even formed you in your mother’s womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you drew your first breath, I had already chosen you
to be My prophet to speak My word to the nations.
6 Jeremiah: Ah, Eternal Lord!
I’m too young and inexperienced to speak for You.
7 Eternal One: Don’t use your youth as an excuse;
you can and will go wherever I send you.
You can and will say whatever I tell you to say.
8 You have no reason to fear the people you speak to,
for I am with you and will defend you.
9 Then the Eternal reached out and touched my mouth, and He gave me His divine message.
Eternal One: Look, I have placed My words in you.
You will know what to say now, for you will be My voice.
10 This very day I appointed you to speak with My authority over nations and kingdoms.
Your word—My word—will have the power to uproot and stamp out;
it will destroy and upend.
And then your word—My word—will rebuild and plant anew.
Nations and empires will now hear Jeremiah’s voice as God’s in these days of painful change. To confirm that Jeremiah has indeed been called to speak for God, two simple visions are given to him, each with an explanation. Both speak of coming judgment and remind the young prophet of his difficult assignment.
11 The word of the Eternal came to me.
Eternal One: What do you see, Jeremiah?
Jeremiah: I see the branch of an almond tree.
Eternal One: 12 That’s right. From this know that I am watching over My word until it is accomplished.
Words are the tools of a prophet. The word of God comes asking the prophet what he sees. He responds that he sees something rather ordinary: an almond tree. God uses this ordinary sight to give him an extraordinary message. There is a play on words here between the Hebrew words for “almond” and “watching,” which sound alike in that language. Jeremiah sees an almond, which is shaped like a person’s eye, and God says He is watching. This playful and clever use of words gets Jeremiah’s attention; it stirs his prophetic imagination so that he will similarly use poetry, wordplay, and object lessons to get the attention of his listeners. Just as the almond tree is usually the first sign of spring, soon the first signs of God’s approaching judgment will appear.
13 Then the word of the Eternal came to me a second time.
Eternal One: What do you see this time?
Jeremiah: I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north, ready to spill out toward the south.
Eternal One: 14 That is because an evil out of the north will indeed begin spilling onto the people of this land. 15 Watch now, as I summon the clans and kingdoms of the north to march against Judah, rule with power at the very gates of Jerusalem, press in on every side, and vanquish all the cities of Judah. 16 I will declare My sentence for their wicked crimes. My own people have abandoned Me, burning incense to other gods and bowing down to handmade idols.
17 Now stand with courage, and tell the people exactly what I command. Don’t break down in front of them, or I will break you Myself. 18 Remember, Jeremiah, this very day I have made you as a fortress, a column as strong as iron, a wall of bronze able to withstand the attacks of the entire nation of Judah—from her kings and leaders to the priests and people. 19 Eventually, they will all give you trouble, but you will be safe. They will fight you, but they will not win. Remember, I am with you. I promise I will always deliver you.
15 Some Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to ask Jesus a question.
Scribes and Pharisees: 2 The law of Moses has always held that one must ritually wash his hands before eating. Why don’t Your disciples observe this tradition?
3 Jesus turned the Pharisees’ question back on them.
Jesus: Why do you violate God’s command because of your tradition? 4 God said, “Honor your father and mother.[a] Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.”[b] 5-6 But you say that one need no longer honor his parents so long as he says to them, “What you might have gained from me, I now give to the glory of God.” Haven’t you let your tradition trump the word of God? 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah must have had you in mind when he prophesied,
8 People honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are nowhere near Me.
9 Because they elevate mere human ritual to the status of law,
their worship of Me is a meaningless sham.[c]
10 (to the multitude) Hear and understand this: 11 What you put into your mouth cannot make you clean or unclean; it is what comes out of your mouth that can make you unclean.
12 Later the disciples came to Him.
Disciples: Do You realize the Pharisees were shocked by what You said?
Jesus: 13 Every plant planted by someone other than My heavenly Father will be plucked up by the roots. 14 So let them be. They are blind guides. What happens when one blind person leads another? Both of them fall into a ditch.
Peter: 15 Explain that riddle to us.
Jesus: 16 Do you still not see? 17 Don’t you understand that whatever you take in through your mouth makes its way to your stomach and eventually out of the bowels of your body? 18 But the things that come out of your mouth—your curses, your fears, your denunciations—these come from your heart, and it is the stirrings of your heart that can make you unclean. 19 For your heart harbors evil thoughts—fantasies of murder, adultery, and whoring; fantasies of stealing, lying, and slandering. 20 These make you unclean—not eating with a hand you’ve not ritually purified with a splash of water and a prayer.
21 Jesus left that place and withdrew to Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman—a non-Jew—came to Him.
Canaanite Woman (wailing): Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is possessed by a demon. Have mercy, Lord!
23 Jesus said nothing. And the woman continued to wail. His disciples came to Him.
Disciples: Do something—she keeps crying after us!
Jesus: 24 I was sent here only to gather up the lost sheep of Israel.
25 The woman came up to Jesus and knelt before Him.
Canaanite Woman: Lord, help me!
Jesus: 26 It is not right to waste the children’s bread by feeding dogs.
Canaanite Woman: 27 But, Lord, even dogs eat the crumbs that fall by the table as their master is eating.
28 Jesus—whose ancestors included Ruth and Rahab—spoke with kindness and insight.
Jesus: Woman, you have great faith. And your request is done.
And her daughter was healed, right then and from then on.
29 Jesus left and went to the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountaintop and sat down. 30 Crowds thronged to Him there, bringing the lame, the maimed, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many other sick and broken people. They laid them at His feet, and He healed them. 31 The people saw the mute speaking, the lame walking, the maimed made whole, the crippled dancing, and the blind seeing; and the people were amazed, and they praised the God of Israel.
Jesus (to His disciples): 32 We must take pity on these people for they have touched My heart; they have been with Me for three days, and they don’t have any food. I don’t want to send them home this hungry—they might collapse on the way!
Disciples: 33 We’ll never find enough food for all these people, out here in the middle of nowhere!
Jesus: 34 How much bread do you have?
Disciples: Seven rounds of flatbread and a few small fish.
35 He told the crowd to sit down. 36 He took the bread and the fish, He gave thanks, and then He broke the bread and divided the fish. He gave the bread and fish to the disciples, the disciples distributed them to the people, 37 and everyone ate and was satisfied. When everyone had eaten, the disciples picked up seven baskets of crusts and broken pieces and crumbs.
38 There were 4,000 men there, not to mention all the women and children. 39 Then Jesus sent the crowd away. He got into the boat and went to Magadan.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.