M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
16 1-4 The Southern Boundary of the Tribes of Joseph (Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh): This boundary extended from the Jordan River at Jericho through the wilderness and the hill country to Bethel. It then went from Bethel to Luz, then on to Ataroth, in the territory of the Archites; and west to the border of the Japhletites as far as Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer and on over to the Mediterranean.
5-6 The Land Given to the Tribe of Ephraim: The eastern boundary began at Ataroth-addar. From there it ran to Upper Beth-horon, then on to the Mediterranean Sea. The northern boundary began at the Sea, ran east past Michmethath, then continued on past Taanath-shiloh and Janoah. 7 From Janoah it turned southward to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho, and ended at the Jordan River. 8 The western half of the northern boundary[a] went from Tappuah and followed along Kanah Brook to the Mediterranean Sea. 9 Ephraim was also given some of the cities in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. 10 The Canaanites living in Gezer were never driven out, so they still live as slaves among the people of Ephraim.
17 The Land Given to the Half-Tribe of Manasseh (Joseph’s oldest son): The clan of Machir (Manasseh’s oldest son who was the father of Gilead) had already been given the land of Gilead and Bashan on the east side of the Jordan River,[b] for they were great warriors. 2 So now, land on the west side of the Jordan[c] was given to the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher.
3 However, Hepher’s son Zelophehad (grandson of Gilead, great-grandson of Machir, and great-great-grandson of Manasseh) had no sons. He had only five daughters whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 These women came to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua and the Israeli leaders and reminded them, “The Lord told Moses that we were to receive as much property as the men of our tribe.”[d]
5-6 So, as the Lord had commanded through Moses, these five women were given an inheritance along with their five great-uncles, and the total inheritance came to ten sections of land (in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan across the Jordan River).
7 The northern boundary of the tribe of Manasseh extended southward from the border of Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem. On the south the boundary went from Michmethath to the spring of Tappuah. 8 (The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the city of Tappuah, on the border of Manasseh’s land, belonged to the tribe of Ephraim.) 9 From the spring of Tappuah the border of Manasseh followed the north bank of Kanah Brook to the Mediterranean Sea. (Several cities south of the brook belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, though they were located in Manasseh’s territory.) 10 The land south of the brook and as far west as the Mediterranean Sea was assigned to Ephraim, and the land north of the brook and east of the sea went to Manasseh. Manasseh’s northern boundary was the territory of Asher, and the eastern boundary was the territory of Issachar.
11 The half-tribe of Manasseh was also given the following cities, which were situated in the areas assigned to Issachar and Asher: Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, En-dor, Taanach, Megiddo (where there are the three cliffs), with their respective villages. 12 But since the descendants of Manasseh could not drive out the people who lived in those cities, the Canaanites remained. 13 Later on, however, when the Israelis became strong enough, they forced the Canaanites to work as slaves.
14 Then the two tribes of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land when the Lord has given us such large populations?”
15 “If the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you,” Joshua replied, “and if you are able to do it, you may clear out the forest land where the Perizzites and Rephaim live.”
16-18 “Fine,” said the tribes of Joseph, “for the Canaanites in the lowlands around Beth-shean and the valley of Jezreel have iron chariots and are too strong for us.”
“Then you shall have the mountain forests,” Joshua replied, “and since you are such a large, strong tribe you will surely be able to clear it all and live there. And I’m sure you can drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.”
148 Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise him from the skies! 2 Praise him, all his angels, all the armies of heaven. 3 Praise him, sun and moon and all you twinkling stars. 4 Praise him, skies above. Praise him, vapors high above the clouds.
5 Let everything he has made give praise to him. For he issued his command, and they came into being; 6 he established them forever and forever. His orders will never be revoked.
7 And praise him down here on earth, you creatures of the ocean depths. 8 Let fire and hail, snow, rain, wind, and weather all obey. 9 Let the mountains and hills, the fruit trees and cedars, 10 the wild animals and cattle, the snakes and birds, 11 the kings and all the people with their rulers and their judges, 12 young men and maidens, old men and children— 13 all praise the Lord together. For he alone is worthy. His glory is far greater than all of earth and heaven. 14 He has made his people strong, honoring his godly ones—the people of Israel, the people closest to him.
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!
8 Then, says the Lord, the enemy shall break open the graves of the kings of Judah and of the princes, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and people, 2 and dig out their bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun and moon and stars—the gods of my people!—whom they have loved and worshiped. Their bones shall not be gathered up again nor buried but shall be scattered like dung upon the ground. 3 And those of this evil nation who are still left alive shall long to die rather than live where I will scatter them, says the Lord Almighty.
4-5 Once again give them this message from the Lord: When a person falls, he jumps up again; when he is on the wrong road and discovers his mistake, he goes back to the fork where he made the wrong turn. But these people keep on along their evil path, even though I warn them. 6 I listen to their conversation and what do I hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”? No, all are rushing pell-mell down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing to the battle! 7 The stork knows the time of her migration, as does the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow. They all return at God’s appointed time each year; but not my people! They don’t accept the laws of God.
8 How can you say, “We understand his laws,” when your teachers have twisted them up to mean a thing I never said? 9 These wise teachers of yours will be shamed by exile for this sin, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they then so wise? 10 I will give their wives and their farms to others; for all of them, great and small, prophet and priest, have one purpose in mind—to get what isn’t theirs. 11 They give useless medicine for my people’s grievous wounds, for they assure them all is well when that isn’t so at all! 12 Are they ashamed because they worship idols? No, not in the least; they don’t even know how to blush! That is why I will see to it that they lie among the fallen. I will visit them with death. 13 Their figs and grapes will disappear, their fruit trees will die, and all the good things I prepared for them will soon be gone.
14 Then the people will say, “Why should we wait here to die? Come, let us go to the walled cities and perish there. For the Lord our God has decreed our doom and given us a cup of poison to drink because of all our sins. 15 We expected peace, but no peace came; we looked for health, but there was only terror.”
16 The noise of war resounds from the northern border.[a] The whole land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for the enemy is coming and is devouring the land and everything in it—the cities and people alike. 17 For I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes that you cannot charm. No matter what you do, they will bite you and you shall die.
18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19 Listen to the weeping of my people all across the land.
“Where is the Lord?” they ask. “Has God deserted us?”
“Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and strange evil rites?” the Lord replies.
20 “The harvest is finished; the summer is over, and we are not saved.”
21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief. 22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t he help?
22 1-2 Jesus told several other stories to show what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
“For instance,” he said, “it can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding dinner for his son. 3 Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent messengers to notify everyone that it was time to come. But all refused! 4 So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘Everything is ready and the roast is in the oven. Hurry!’
5 “But the guests he had invited merely laughed and went on about their business, one to his farm, another to his store; 6 others beat up his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them.
7 “Then the angry king sent out his army and destroyed the murderers and burned their city. 8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’
10 “So the servants did, and brought in all they could find, good and bad alike; and the banquet hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the wedding robe provided for him.[a]
12 “‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how does it happen that you are here without a wedding robe?’ And the man had no reply.
13 “Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
15 Then the Pharisees met together to try to think of some way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could arrest him. 16 They decided to send some of their men along with the Herodians[b] to ask him this question: “Sir, we know you are very honest and teach the truth regardless of the consequences, without fear or favor. 17 Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?”
18 But Jesus saw what they were after. “You hypocrites!” he exclaimed. “Who are you trying to fool with your trick questions? 19 Here, show me a coin.” And they handed him a penny.
20 “Whose picture is stamped on it?” he asked them. “And whose name is this beneath the picture?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.”
22 His reply surprised and baffled them, and they went away.
23 But that same day some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection after death, came to him and asked, 24 “Sir, Moses said that if a man died without children, his brother should marry the widow and their children would get all the dead man’s property. 25 Well, we had among us a family of seven brothers. The first of these men married and then died, without children, so his widow became the second brother’s wife. 26 This brother also died without children, and the wife was passed to the next brother, and so on until she had been the wife of each of them. 27 And then she also died. 28 So whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For she was the wife of all seven of them!”
29 But Jesus said, “Your error is caused by your ignorance of the Scriptures and of God’s power! 30 For in the resurrection there is no marriage; everyone is as the angels in heaven. 31 But now, as to whether there is a resurrection of the dead—don’t you ever read the Scriptures? Don’t you realize that God was speaking directly to you when he said, 32
33 The crowds were profoundly impressed by his answers— 34-35 but not the Pharisees! When they heard that he had routed the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, a lawyer, spoke up: 36 “Sir, which is the most important command in the laws of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ 38-39 This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them. Keep only these and you will find that you are obeying all the others.”
41 Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, he asked them a question: 42 “What about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, call him ‘Lord’?” Jesus asked. “For David said,
44 ‘God said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.’
45 Since David called him ‘Lord,’ how can he be merely his son?”
46 They had no answer. And after that no one dared ask him any more questions.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.