M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

14 Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of all the tribes of Israel decided what land to give to the people. ² The Lord had commanded Moses long ago how he wanted the people to choose their land. The people of the nine and a half tribes threw lots to decide which land they would get. ³ Moses had already given the two and a half tribes their land east of the Jordan River. The tribe of Levi did not receive any land like the other tribes. ⁴ The descendants of Joseph had divided into two tribes—Manasseh and Ephraim. Each of these tribes received some land; the tribe of Levi was not given any land. They were given only some towns scattered throughout the other tribes and some fields around those towns for their animals. ⁵ The Lord had told Moses how to divide the land among the tribes of Israel. The Israelites divided the land the way the Lord had commanded.

Caleb Gets His Land

⁶ One day some people from the tribe of Judah went to Joshua at Gilgal. One of them was Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. Caleb said to Joshua, “You remember what the Lord said at Kadesh Barnea. The Lord was speaking to Moses, his servant.^[a] The Lord was talking about you and me. ⁷ Moses, the Lord’s servant, sent me to look at the land where we were going. I was 40 years old at that time. When I came back, I told Moses what I thought about the land. ⁸ The other men who went with me told the people things that made them afraid. But I really believed that the Lord would allow us to take that land. ⁹ So that day Moses made a promise to me. He said, ‘The land where you went will become your land. Your children will own that land forever. I will give you that land because you really believed in the Lord, my God.’

¹⁰ “Now the Lord has kept me alive for 45 more years—as he said he would. During that time we all wandered in the desert. Now, here I am, 85 years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. I am as ready to fight as I was then. ¹² So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me that day long ago. At that time you heard that the strong Anakites lived there and the cities were very big and well protected. But now, maybe the Lord will be with me, and I will take that land just as the Lord said.”

¹³ Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh. Joshua gave him the city of Hebron as his own. ¹⁴ And that city still belongs to the family of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. That land still belongs to his people because he trusted and obeyed the Lord, God of Israel. ¹⁵ In the past that city was called Kiriath Arba. It was named for the greatest man among the Anakites—a man named Arba.

After this there was peace in the land.

Land for Judah

15 The land that was given to Judah was divided among the families of that tribe. That land went to the border of Edom and south all the way to the desert of Zin at the edge of Teman. ² The southern border of Judah’s land started at the south end of the Dead Sea. ³ The border went south to Scorpion Pass and continued on to Zin. Then the border continued south to Kadesh Barnea. It continued past Hezron to Addar. From Addar the border turned and continued to Karka. ⁴ The border continued to Azmon, the brook of Egypt, and then to the Mediterranean Sea. All that land was on their southern border.

⁵ Their eastern border was the shore of the Dead Sea to the area where the Jordan River flowed into the sea.

Their northern border started at the area where the Jordan River flowed into the Dead Sea. ⁶ Then the northern border went to Beth Hoglah and continued north of Beth Arabah. The border continued to the stone of Bohan. (Bohan was the son of Reuben.) ⁷ Then the northern border went through the Valley of Achor to Debir. There the border turned to the north and went to Gilgal. Gilgal is across from the road that goes through the mountain of Adummim. It is on the south side of the brook. The border continued along the waters of En Shemesh. The border stopped at En Rogel. ⁸ Then the border went through the Valley of Ben Hinnom beside the southern side of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). There the border went to the top of the hill on the west side of Hinnom Valley. This was at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. ⁹ From there the border went to the spring of water of Nephtoah. Then the border went to the cities near Mount Ephron. There the border turned and went to Baalah. (Baalah is also called Kiriath Jearim.) ¹⁰ At Baalah the border turned west and went to the hill country of Seir. The border continued along the north side of Mount Jearim (Kesalon) and continued down to Beth Shemesh. From there the border went past Timnah. ¹¹ Then the border went to the hill north of Ekron. From there the border turned to Shikkeron and went past Mount Baalah. The border continued on to Jabneel and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. ¹² The Mediterranean Sea was the western border. So the land of Judah was inside these four borders. The families of Judah lived in this area.

¹³ The Lord had commanded Joshua to give Caleb son of Jephunneh part of the land in Judah. So Joshua gave Caleb the land God had commanded. Joshua gave him the town of Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹⁴ Caleb forced the three Anakite families living in Hebron to leave there. Those families were Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. They were from the family of Anak. ¹⁵ Then Caleb fought against the people living in Debir. (In the past, Debir was also called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹⁶ Caleb said, “I will give my daughter in marriage to the man who attacks and conquers Kiriath Sepher.”

¹⁷ Othniel was the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz. Othniel defeated that city, so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁸ Acsah went to live with Othniel. Othniel told Acsah^[b] to ask her father Caleb for some more land. Acsah went to her father. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁹ Acsah answered, “Give me a blessing.^[c] You gave me dry desert land in the Negev. Please give me some land with water on it.” So Caleb gave her what she wanted. He gave her the upper and lower pools of water in that land.

²⁰ The tribe of Judah got the land that God promised them. Each family group got part of the land.

²¹ The tribe of Judah got all the towns in the southern part of the Negev. These towns were near the border of Edom. Here is a list of the towns:

³³ The tribe of Judah also got these towns in the western foothills:

³⁷ The tribe of Judah was also given these towns:

⁴² The people of Judah also got these towns:

⁴⁸ The people of Judah were also given these towns in the hill country:

⁵² The people of Judah were also given these towns:

⁵⁵ The people of Judah were also given these towns:

⁵⁸ The people of Judah were also given these towns:

⁶¹ The people of Judah were also given these towns in the desert:

⁶³ The army of Judah was not able to force out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So today there are still Jebusites living among the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon

7 This is the Lord’s message to Jeremiah: ² “Jeremiah, stand at the gate of the Lord’s house. Teach this message at the gate:

“‘Hear the message from the Lord, all you people of the nation of Judah. All you who come through these gates to worship the Lord, hear this message. ³ The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Change your lives and do good things. If you do this, I will let you live in this place.^{[a] 4} Don’t trust the lies that some people say. They say, “This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!^[b]” ⁵ If you change your lives and do good things, I will let you live in this place. You must be fair to each other. ⁶ You must be fair to strangers. You must help widows and orphans. Don’t kill innocent people! And don’t follow other gods, because they will only ruin your lives. ⁷ If you obey me, I will let you live in this place. I gave this land to your ancestors for them to keep forever.

⁸ “‘But you are trusting lies that are worthless. ⁹ Will you steal and murder? Will you commit adultery? Will you falsely accuse other people? Will you worship the false god Baal and follow other gods that you have not known? ¹⁰ If you commit these sins, do you think that you can stand before me in this house that is called by my name? Do you think you can stand before me and say, “We are safe,” just so you can do all these terrible things? ¹¹ This Temple is called by my name. Is this Temple nothing more to you than a hideout for robbers? I have been watching you.’” This message is from the Lord.

¹² “‘You people of Judah, go now to the town of Shiloh. Go to the place where I first made a house for my name. The people of Israel also did evil things. Go and see what I did to that place because of the evil they did.^{[c] 13} You people of Israel were doing all these evil things. This message is from the Lord! I spoke to you again and again, but you refused to listen to me. I called to you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ So I will destroy the house called by my name in Jerusalem. I will destroy that Temple as I destroyed Shiloh. And that house in Jerusalem that is called by my name is the Temple you trust in. I gave that place to you and to your ancestors. ¹⁵ I will throw you away from me just as I threw away all your brothers from Ephraim.’

¹⁶ “As for you, Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people of Judah. Don’t beg for them or pray for them. Don’t beg me to help them. I will not listen to your prayer for them. ¹⁷ I know you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah. You can see what they are doing in the streets of the city of Jerusalem. ¹⁸ This is what the people of Judah are doing: The children gather wood. The fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough and then make cakes of bread to offer to the Queen of Heaven. The people of Judah pour out drink offerings to worship other gods. They do this to make me angry. ¹⁹ But I am not the one they are really hurting.” This message is from the Lord. “They are only hurting themselves. They are bringing shame on themselves.”

²⁰ So this is what the Lord God says: “I will show my anger against this place. I will punish people and animals. I will punish the trees in the field and the crops that grow in the ground. My anger will be like a hot fire—no one will be able to stop it.”

Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

²¹ This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Go and offer as many burnt offerings and sacrifices as you want. Eat the meat of those sacrifices yourselves. ²² I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. I spoke to them, but I did not give them any commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ I only gave them this command: ‘Obey me and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do all that I command, and good things will happen to you.’

²⁴ “But your ancestors did not listen to me. They did not pay attention to me. They were stubborn and did what they wanted to do. They did not become good. They became even more evil—they went backward, not forward. ²⁵ From the day that your ancestors left Egypt to this day, I have sent my servants to you. My servants are the prophets. I sent them to you again and again. ²⁶ But your ancestors did not listen to me. They did not pay attention to me. They were very stubborn and did evil even worse than their fathers did.

²⁷ “Jeremiah, you will tell these things to the people of Judah. But they will not listen to you. You call to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸ So you must tell them these things: ‘This is the nation that did not obey the Lord its God. These people did not listen to God’s teachings. They don’t know the true teachings.’

The Valley of Slaughter

²⁹ “Jeremiah, cut off your hair and throw it away.^[d] Go up to the bare hilltop and cry, because the Lord has rejected this generation of people. He has turned his back on these people. And in anger he will punish them. ³⁰ Do this because I have seen the people of Judah doing evil things.” This message is from the Lord. “They have set up their idols, and I hate those idols. They have set up idols in the Temple that is called by my name. They have made my house ‘dirty’! ³¹ The people of Judah built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom where they killed their own sons and daughters and burned them as sacrifices. This is something I never commanded. Something like this never even entered my mind! ³² So I warn you. The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom anymore. No, they will call it the Valley of Slaughter. They will give it this name because they will bury the dead people in Topheth until there is no more room to bury anyone else. ³³ Then the bodies of the dead people will become food for the birds of the sky. Wild animals will eat the bodies of those people. There will be no one left alive to chase the birds or animals away. ³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and happiness in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. There will be no more sounds of the bride and bridegroom in Judah or Jerusalem. The land will become an empty desert.”

Jesus Enters Jerusalem Like a King^(A)

21 Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem. But first they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers into town. ² He said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a donkey with her colt. Untie them both, and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, tell them, ‘The Master needs them. He will send them back soon.’”

⁴ This showed the full meaning of what the prophet said:

⁶ The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. ⁷ They brought the mother donkey and the young donkey to him. They covered the donkeys with their coats, and Jesus sat on them. ⁸ On the way to Jerusalem, many people spread their coats on the road for Jesus. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Some of the people were walking ahead of Jesus. Others were walking behind him. They all shouted,

¹⁰ Then Jesus went into Jerusalem. All the people in the city were confused. They asked, “Who is this man?”

¹¹ The crowds following Jesus answered, “This is Jesus. He is the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Goes to the Temple^(D)

¹² Jesus went into the Temple area. He threw out all those who were selling and buying things there. He turned over the tables that belonged to those who were exchanging different kinds of money. And he turned over the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹³ Jesus said to them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer.’^[c] But you are changing it into a ‘hiding place for thieves.’^[d]”

¹⁴ Some blind people and some who were crippled came to Jesus in the Temple area. Jesus healed them. ¹⁵ The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he was doing. And they saw the children praising him in the Temple area. The children were shouting, “Praise to the Son of David.” All this made the priests and the teachers of the law angry.

¹⁶ They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

He answered, “Yes. The Scriptures say, ‘You have taught children and babies to give praise.’^[e] Have you not read that Scripture?”

¹⁷ Then Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

Jesus Shows the Power of Faith^(E)

¹⁸ Early the next morning, Jesus was going back to the city. He was very hungry. ¹⁹ He saw a fig tree beside the road and went to get a fig from it. But there were no figs on the tree. There were only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again produce fruit!” The tree immediately dried up and died.

²⁰ When the followers saw this, they were very surprised. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up and die so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “The truth is, if you have faith and no doubts, you will be able to do the same as I did to this tree. And you will be able to do more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, mountain, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²² If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”

Jewish Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority^(F)

²³ Jesus went into the Temple area. While Jesus was teaching there, the leading priests and the older leaders of the people came to him. They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things you are doing? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ²⁵ Tell me: When John baptized people, did his authority come from God, or was it only from other people?”

The priests and the Jewish leaders talked about Jesus’ question. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe John?’ ²⁶ But we can’t say John’s baptism was from someone else. We are afraid of the people, because they all believe John was a prophet.”

²⁷ So they told Jesus, “We don’t know the answer.”

Jesus said, “Then I will not tell you who gave me the authority to do these things.

Jesus Uses a Story About Two Sons

²⁸ “Tell me what you think about this: There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹ “The son answered, ‘I will not go.’ But later he decided he should go, and he went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ He answered, ‘Yes, sir, I will go and work.’ But he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two sons obeyed his father?”

The Jewish leaders answered, “The first son.”

Jesus said to them, “The truth is, you are worse than the tax collectors and the prostitutes. In fact, they will enter God’s kingdom before you enter. ³² John came showing you the right way to live, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John. You saw that happening, but you would not change. You still refused to believe him.

God Sends His Son^(G)

³³ “Listen to this story: There was a man who owned a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a winepress. Then he built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers and then left on a trip. ³⁴ Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes.

³⁵ “But the farmers grabbed the servants and beat one. They killed another one and then stoned to death a third servant. ³⁶ So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. He sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they did the first time. ³⁷ So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. He said, ‘The farmers will respect my son.’

³⁸ “But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ ³⁹ So the farmers took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰ “So what will the owner of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?”

⁴¹ The Jewish priests and leaders said, “He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the land to other farmers, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Surely you have read this in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “So I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you. It will be given to people who do what God wants in his kingdom. ⁴⁴ Whoever falls on this stone will be broken. And it will crush anyone it falls on.”^[f]

⁴⁵ When the leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew that Jesus was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid to do anything, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.