M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16
1 (A)They brought in the ark of God and set it within the tent which David had pitched for it.(B) Then they sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings to God. 2 When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and communion offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord, 3 and distributed to every Israelite, to every man and every woman, a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a raisin cake.
David’s Directives for the Levites. 4 He then appointed certain Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate, thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel.(C) 5 Asaph was their chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. These were to play on harps and lyres, while Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to be the regular trumpeters before the ark of the covenant of God.
7 On that same day, David appointed Asaph and his brothers to sing for the first time these praises of the Lord:
8 [a]Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;(D)
make known among the peoples his deeds.
9 Sing praise, play music;
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
10 Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord!
11 Rely on the mighty Lord;
constantly seek his face.
12 Recall the wondrous deeds he has done,
his signs, and his words of judgment,
13 You sons of Israel, his servants,
offspring of Jacob, the chosen ones!
14 The Lord is our God;
who rules the whole earth.
15 He remembers forever his covenant
the pact imposed for a thousand generations—
16 Which was made with Abraham,
confirmed by oath to Isaac,
17 And ratified as binding for Jacob,
an everlasting covenant for Israel:
18 “To you will I give the land of Canaan,
your own allotted heritage.”
19 When they were few in number,
a handful, and strangers there,
20 Wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another,
21 He let no one oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
22 “Do not touch my anointed,
to my prophets do no harm.”
23 (E)Sing to the Lord, all the earth,
announce his salvation, day after day.
24 Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
25 For great is the Lord and highly to be praised;
to be feared above all gods.
26 For the gods of the nations all do nothing,
but the Lord made the heavens.
27 Splendor and majesty go before him;
power and rejoicing are in his holy place.
28 Give to the Lord, you families of nations,
give to the Lord glory and might;
29 Give to the Lord the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and come before him;
bow down to the Lord, splendid in holiness.
30 Tremble before him, all the earth;
the world will surely stand fast, never to be moved.
31 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let them say among the nations: The Lord is king.
32 Let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
33 Then let all the trees of the forest exult
before the Lord, who comes,
who comes to rule the earth.
34 (F)Give thanks to the Lord, who is good,
whose love endures forever;
35 And say, “Save us, O God, our savior,
gather us and deliver us from among the nations,
That we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in praising you.”
36 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Let all the people say, Amen! Hallelujah.
37 Then David left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly according to the daily ritual; 38 he also left there Obed-edom and sixty-eight of his brothers, including Obed-edom, son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, to be gatekeepers.(G)
39 But the priest Zadok and his priestly brothers he left before the tabernacle of the Lord on the high place at Gibeon,(H) 40 to make burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar for burnt offerings regularly, morning and evening, and to do all that is written in the law of the Lord which he commanded Israel.(I) 41 With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the others who were chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord, “whose love endures forever,”(J) 42 with trumpets and cymbals for accompaniment, and instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun kept the gate.(K)
43 Then all the people departed, each to their own homes, and David returned to bless his household.(L)
Chapter 3
Power of the Tongue.[a] 1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, 2 for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also.(A) 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. 4 It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes. 5 In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions.
Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. 6 The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.(B) 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers. 11 Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh.(C)
True Wisdom.[b] 13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom.(D) 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 Wisdom of this kind does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.(E) 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.(F)
Edom’s Fall Decreed
1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a message from the Lord,
and a herald has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up, so we may go to war against it!”(A)
2 Now I make you least among the nations;
you are utterly contemptible.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you—
you who dwell in mountain crevices,
in your lofty home,[a]
Who say in your heart,
“Who will bring me down to earth?”
4 Though you soar like the eagle,
and your nest is set among the stars,
From there I will bring you down—
oracle of the Lord.
5 If thieves came to you, robbers by night
—how you have been destroyed!—
would they not steal merely till they had enough?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave some gleanings?[b](B)
6 [c]How Esau has been searched out,
his treasures hunted down!
7 To the border they have driven you—
all your allies;
Your partners have deceived you,
they have overpowered you;
Those who eat your bread[d]
will replace you with foreigners,
who have no understanding.
Edom’s Betrayal of Judah
8 On that day—oracle of the Lord—will I not
make the wise disappear from Edom,
and understanding from Mount Esau?(C)
9 Teman,[e] your warriors will be terror-stricken,
so that everyone on Mount Esau will be cut down.
10 Because of violence to your brother[f] Jacob,
disgrace will cover you,
you will be done away with forever!(D)
11 On the day you stood by,
the day strangers carried off his possessions,
And foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you too were like one of them.[g](E)
12 [h]Do not gloat over the day of your brother,
the day of his disaster;
Do not exult over the people of Judah
on the day of their ruin;
Do not speak haughtily
on the day of distress!
13 Do not enter the gate of my people
on the day of their calamity;
Do not gloat—especially you—over his misfortune
on the day of his calamity;
Do not lay hands upon his possessions
on the day of his calamity!
14 Do not stand at the crossroads
to cut down his survivors;
Do not hand over his fugitives
on the day of distress!
Edom’s Fall and Judah’s Restoration
15 Near is the day of the Lord(F)
against all the nations!
As you have done, so will it be done to you,
your conduct will come back upon your own head;
16 As you drank[i] upon my holy mountain,
so will all the nations drink continually.
Yes, they will drink and swallow,
and will become as though they had not been.
17 But on Mount Zion there will be some who escape;[j]
the mountain will be holy,
And the house of Jacob will take possession
of those who dispossessed them.(G)
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble.
They will set it ablaze and devour it;
none will survive of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
19 They will take possession of the Negeb,[k] Mount Esau, the Shephelah, and Philistia, possess the countryside of Ephraim, the countryside of Samaria, Benjamin, and Gilead.(H) 20 The exiles of this Israelite army will possess the Canaanite land as far as Zarephath,[l] and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negeb. 21 And deliverers[m] will ascend Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingship shall be the Lord’s.
Chapter 5
The Call of Simon the Fisherman.[a](A) 1 (B)While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 (C)After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9 For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, 10 and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”(D) 11 When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything[b] and followed him.(E)
The Cleansing of a Leper.(F) 12 Now there was a man full of leprosy[c] in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. 14 Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;[d] that will be proof for them.”(G) 15 The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, 16 but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.(H)
The Healing of a Paralytic.(I) 17 [e]One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees[f] and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. 18 And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. 19 But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles[g] into the middle in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”[h] 21 Then the scribes[i] and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?”(J) 22 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts?(K) 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 [j](L)But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 25 He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26 Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
The Call of Levi.(M) 27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything behind,[k] he got up and followed him. 29 (N)Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
The Question About Fasting.(O) 33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” 34 [l]Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests[m] fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36 [n]And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. 37 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38 Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. 39 [And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”[o]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.