M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

King Balak asks Balaam to help him

22 The Israelites travelled to Moab. They lived in tents at the side of the Jordan River. Jericho city was on the other side of the river.

² The king of Moab at that time was Balak, the son of Zippor. He had seen what the Israelites did to the Amorites. ³ The people in Moab were afraid because there were so many Israelites. All the people in Moab became very afraid of the Israelites.

⁴ So the Moabites said to the leaders of the Midianites, ‘This large group of people will destroy everything round us. They will be like a bull that eats all the grass in a field!’

So Balak, the king of Moab, ⁵ sent men to get Balaam, the son of Beor. Balaam was living near the Euphrates river at Pethor. Balak told the men to say to Balaam, ‘A large group of people has come here from Egypt. They cover all the ground, everywhere. They have put up their tents near our land. ⁶ They are more powerful than I am. Come here and put a curse on them. If you do that, maybe I will win against them. Then I can chase them away from our land. I know that you have the authority to bless people or to curse them.’

⁷ The leaders of Moab and Midian went to find Balaam. They took the money to pay for Balaam's work. When they found him, they told him what Balak had said. ⁸ Balaam said to them, ‘Stay here tonight. I will talk to the Lord. Tomorrow, I will tell you his answer.’ So the Moabite officers stayed with Balaam.

⁹ Then God came to Balaam and he asked, ‘Who are these men who are staying with you?’

¹⁰ Balaam said to God, ‘Zippor's son Balak, the king of Moab, has sent a message to me. ¹¹ He said, “A big group of people has come from Egypt and they cover all the ground. So please come and curse them for me. Then perhaps I will be able to fight them and send them away.” ’

¹² God said to Balaam, ‘Do not agree to go with them. You must not curse those people. They are special people. I have blessed them.’

¹³ The next day, Balaam said to the officers from Moab, ‘Go back to Moab. The Lord told me that I should not go with you.’ ¹⁴ So the officers went back to Moab. They told King Balak that Balaam would not come with them.

¹⁵ Then Balak sent other officers to speak to Balaam. These officers were even more important than the first group, and there were more of them. ¹⁶ They said to Balaam, ‘King Balak says, “Do not let anything stop you from coming to me. ¹⁷ I will certainly make you rich and famous. I will do for you anything that you want. So please come and curse these people for me.” ’

¹⁸ Balaam said to them, ‘No, I will only do what the Lord tells me. I can do no more than that, and no less. Even if Balak gives me his house, all his gold and all his silver, I will only do what the Lord says. ¹⁹ Stay here tonight, as the other men did. I will talk to the Lord and see if he has anything more to tell me.’

²⁰ That night, God said to Balaam, ‘These men have asked you to go with them, so go with them. But only do what I tell you.’

Balaam and his donkey

²¹ In the morning, Balaam prepared his donkey to travel. He went with the officers to Moab. ²² God was angry because Balaam went with the men. The angel of the Lord stood on the road to stop Balaam. Balaam was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. ²³ The angel of the Lord was holding a sword. When the donkey saw the angel, it tried to leave the road and go into a field. Balaam hit the donkey to make it go back to the road.

²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood on the road between two vineyards. The path was narrow there, with a wall on each side. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pushed against the wall. Balaam's foot became fixed between the donkey and the wall. So Balaam hit the donkey again.

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord moved on. He stood in a very narrow place where there was no space to turn round. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord it lay down on the ground. Balaam was still sitting on the donkey and he became very angry. He hit the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ Then the Lord caused the donkey to speak. It said, ‘What have I done to hurt you? Why have you hit me three times like that?’

²⁹ Balaam said to the donkey, ‘You have made me look silly. If I had a sword in my hand now, I would kill you.’

³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, ‘I am your own donkey that you ride every day. Do I usually do things like this to you?’ Balaam said, ‘No.’

³¹ Then the Lord let Balaam see the angel of the Lord. He could see that the angel stood there with a sword in his hand. Balaam lay down with his face down towards the ground.

³² The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘You should not have hit your donkey like that! I have come here to stop you because you refuse to obey me. ³³ Three times the donkey saw me and turned back. If it had not done that, I would have killed you. But I would not have killed your donkey.’

³⁴ Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have done a wrong thing. I did not realize that you were standing in the road to stop me. If you do not want me to continue, I will return to my home.’ ³⁵ But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ‘Go with the men. But you must say only the words that I will tell you.’ So Balaam went with Balak's officers.

³⁶ Balak heard the news that Balaam was coming. He went out to meet Balaam at the border of Moab's land. The town was beside the river Arnon. ³⁷ Balak said to Balaam, ‘You should have come the first time that I sent men to get you. Why did you not come? Did you think that I could not pay you with enough good things?’

³⁸ Balaam said to Balak, ‘Anyway, I have come to you now! But I cannot choose to say anything. I can only say the words that God tells me to speak.’

³⁹ Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath-Huzoth. ⁴⁰ When they arrived there, Balak killed bulls and sheep as a sacrifice. He sent some of the meat to Balaam and the officers who were with him. ⁴¹ The next day, Balak took Balaam to Bamoth-Baal. From there, Balaam could see some of the big group of the Israelites.

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader, Jeduthun.

Only God can save me!

David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.

A morning song^[c]

The King who brings peace

11 A descendant of Jesse will appear, like a new branch that grows from a tree stump. The roots of the tree will give new fruit!^[a]

² The Spirit of the Lord will be with him.

³ To obey the Lord will make him very happy. He will not judge people because of what he sees with his eyes. He will not judge them because of what he hears about them with his ears.

⁴ But he will judge poor people with true justice. He will decide to do what is right for all the helpless people. He will have authority everywhere in the land. The words that he speaks will bring death to wicked people. ⁵ He will wear justice like a belt round his clothes. He will always be honest and true.

⁶ When he is king, wolves will live beside lambs! Leopards will lie down with young goats! Young cows and lions will feed together, and a young child will take care of them!

⁷ Cows and bears will feed together. Even their children will lie down side by side. Lions will eat grass, as cows do.

⁸ If a baby plays near the hole where a snake lives, he will be safe. A young child may even put his hand into the hole of a dangerous snake.

⁹ Nothing will hurt or destroy anything else anywhere on my holy mountain. Instead, people will know the Lord all over the earth, as water fills the whole sea.

¹⁰ On that day, King David's descendant, the root of Jesse, will appear. He will be like a clear sign to all nations. They will come to him, so that he leads them. The place where he lives as king will be wonderful.

¹¹ And on that day, the Lord God will bring his people back once again. He will lift up his powerful hand to rescue his people who are still alive. He will bring them back from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath and from countries near the sea.

¹² The Lord will lift up a clear sign for the nations to see. He will bring together Israel's people that their enemies took away. Yes, he will bring back Judah's exiles from all over the earth. ¹³ Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah. Judah will no longer be Ephraim's enemy.^{[b] 14} But they will join together to attack the Philistines in the west. They will also attack the nations to the east of Israel. They will take their valuable things for themselves. They will win against the people of Edom and Moab. They will rule over the Ammonites.

¹⁵ The Lord will make the Sea of Egypt become dry. He will lift up his hand and he will send a strong wind to divide the Euphrates river. The river will become seven small streams. Then people can walk across it easily.

¹⁶ There will be a good road that comes from Assyria. The Lord's people who remain will travel back home on it. It will be like the road that Israel's people travelled on when they left Egypt.

Isaiah's song

Troubles for rich people

5 Now, listen to me, you rich people. Weep and cry aloud, because many troubles will soon happen to you. ² Your money no longer has any value. Insects have eaten your beautiful clothes and they have spoiled them. ³ You have stored silver and gold coins to spend for yourselves. But dirt has spoiled those coins. That dirt will show that you are guilty. It will become like fire that is burning your bodies. In the last days of this world you have stored all this money for yourselves. ⁴ But you have not paid the workers in your fields the money that you should have paid them. You have cheated them. Now they are shouting against you. The Lord of great power has heard them when they cry to him for help. ⁵ During your life here on this earth, you have had all that you wanted. You have lived like kings. You have eaten as much food as you want. So now you are like fat animals that are ready for men to kill. ⁶ You say that a righteous person is guilty. You have even killed him and he could not stop you.

Be patient until the Lord comes again

⁷ So, my Christian friends, be patient until the Lord Jesus returns. Think about how a farmer is patient. He waits for the ground to give him valuable food to eat. He waits patiently for the rain to come in the autumn and in the spring. ⁸ You also must be patient, because the Lord will return soon. Be strong as you continue to trust him.

⁹ My Christian friends, do not complain against each other. If you do, God will punish you. So be careful! He is the Judge and he is ready now to judge people.

¹⁰ Think about how God's prophets were also patient. They spoke messages on behalf of the Lord. Many troubles happened to them but they were patient. So, my Christian friends, you should copy their example. ¹¹ We know that God blessed people who were like that. They continued to trust God when trouble happened to them. You have heard about Job. He waited patiently for God to help him in his troubles. You know how the Lord helped him in the end. Because of that, we see that the Lord God is very kind and he helps us.

¹² Here is another important thing to remember, my Christian friends. When you want to make a strong promise, never use extra words. Do not say, ‘I promise by heaven,’ or ‘I promise by the earth.’ Do not use any extra words like that. When you say ‘yes,’ that should be enough. When you say ‘no,’ that should also be enough. If you say more than that, God will say that you are guilty.

Prayer

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Then they should pray to God about it. Or, is anyone feeling happy? They should praise God with songs. ¹⁴ Is anyone ill? They should ask the leaders of the church to come and to pray for them. The leaders should put some olive oil on the sick person. They should pray for him with the authority of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁵ If they pray in that way and they trust that God will answer them, the sick person will become well again. The Lord will cause him to become well. And God will forgive him if he has done any wrong things.

¹⁶ So you should tell each other about any wrong things that you have done. Then you will be able to pray for each other, so that God makes you well again. When a good person prays to God, God does powerful things. ¹⁷ For example, God's prophet Elijah was an ordinary person, as we are. He prayed to God that it would not rain. He continued to pray and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ After that time, he prayed to God to send rain again. After that, rain came down from the sky. The seeds that were in the ground began to grow and give food for people to eat.

¹⁹ My Christian friends, if anyone among you turns away from God's true message, you should help him. Try to bring him back to God. ²⁰ Understand this: if you turn a person back from their bad ways, you will save them from death. And God will forgive that person for his many sins.