M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Moses counts the people again[a]
26 When the bad disease stopped killing people, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar, the son of Aaron. 2 He said, ‘Count all the Israelites, clan by clan. Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. Count only those men who can fight in the army.’ 3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the Israelites. Their camp was on the flat ground of Moab, beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. They said, 4 ‘Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. The Lord has told Moses that we must do that.’
These are the names of the Israelites who came out of Egypt:
5 The tribe of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son had these clans: Hanoch's family, Pallu's family, 6 Hezron's family and Carmi's family. 7 There were 43,730 men in the clans of the tribe of Reuben.
8 Pallu's descendant was Eliab. 9 Eliab's descendants were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were the men who turned against Moses and Aaron. Korah was their leader and they all turned against the Lord. 10 A hole opened in the ground. Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their families fell into the hole and they died. And fire killed 250 other men. So they became a sign to warn the other Israelites. 11 But Korah's clan did not all die at that time.
12 The tribe of Simeon had these clans: Nemuel's family, Jamin's family, Jakin's family, 13 Zerah's family and Shaul's family. 14 There were 22,200 men in the clans of the tribe of Simeon.
15 The tribe of Gad had these clans: Zephon's family, Haggi's family, Shuni's family, 16 Ozni's family, Eri's family, 17 Arod's family and Areli's family. 18 There were 40,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Gad.
19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in Canaan. 20 The tribe of Judah had these clans: Shelah's family, Perez's family, Zerah's family, 21 Hezron's family and Hamul's family. 22 There were 76,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Judah.
23 The tribe of Issachar had these clans: Tola's family, Puah's family, 24 Jashub's family and Shimron's family. 25 There were 64,300 men in the clans of the tribe of Issachar.
26 The tribe of Zebulun had these clans: Sered's family, Elon's family and Jahleel's family. 27 There were 60,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Zebulun.
28 The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.
29 The tribe of Manasseh had these clans: Makir's family and Gilead's family. Makir was Gilead's father. 30 These clans came from Gilead's descendants: Iezer's family, Helek's family, 31 Asriel's family, Shechem's family, 32 Shemida's family and Hepher's family. 33 Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters. The names of Zelophehad's daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. 34 There were 52,700 men in the clans of the tribe of Manasseh.
35 The tribe of Ephraim had these clans: Shuthelah's family, Becher's family, and Tahan's family. 36 Eran's family was a clan from the descendants of Shuthelah. 37 There were 32,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Ephraim. The clans of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were all descendants of Joseph.
38 The tribe of Benjamin had these clans: Bela's family, Ashbel's family, Ahiram's family, 39 Shupham's family and Hupham's family. 40 Ard's family and Naaman's family were clans from Bela's descendants. 41 There were 45,600 men in the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
42 The tribe of Dan had this clan: Shuham's family. 43 There were 64,400 men in Shuham's clan.
44 The tribe of Asher had these clans: Imnah's family, Ishvi's family and Beriah's family. 45 Heber's family and Malkiel's family were clans from Beriah's descendants. 46 There was also a daughter of Asher who was called Serah. 47 There were 53,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Asher.
48 The tribe of Naphtali had these clans: Jahzeel's family, Guni's family, 49 Jezer's family and Shillem's family. 50 There were 45,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Naphtali.
51 There were 601,730 men on the list of all the Israelites.
Each tribe will receive some land in Canaan
52 The Lord said to Moses, 53 ‘I will give part of the land to each tribe. You need to know the number of names that you have on your list for each tribe. 54 The big tribes will receive a big piece of land. The small tribes will receive a smaller piece of land. 55 You must use lots to decide the land that each tribe receive. 56 The larger clans must have more land than the smaller clans.’
57 The Levites included these clans: Gershon's family, Kohath's family and Merari's family. 58 It also included these clans: Libni's family, Hebron's family, Mahli's family, Mushi's family and Korah's family. Kohath was the father of Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed. She was a descendant of Levi, and she was born in Egypt. Amram and Jochebed were the parents of Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam. 60 Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire to the Lord.[b]
62 There were 23,000 male Levites who were more than one month old. Moses did not include them on the list of the other Israelite tribes. They did not receive any land as the other tribes did.
63 Those are the men that Moses and Eleazar the priest counted. They counted them on the flat ground in Moab beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. 64 None of the men that Moses and Aaron had counted in the Sinai desert were still alive. 65 The Lord had said about those men, ‘They will certainly die in the desert.’ Among all those men, only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were still alive.
David wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.
Trust God for help
69 Please rescue me, God,
because the deep water has come up to my neck.
2 I will soon sink into deep mud.
There is no safe place to put my feet.
I am now in deep water,
and the floods pour over me.
3 I have shouted so much for help
that I am tired and weak.
My mouth is so dry that it hurts.
I have looked so long for help from you, my God,
that my eyes have become weak.
4 Very many people hate me with no good reason.
They are more than the number of hairs on my head!
My enemies are too strong for me.
They want to destroy me with their lies.
They make me give back to them
things that I did not take from them!
5 You know, God, that I do foolish things.
I cannot hide my sins from you.
6 My Lord, Almighty Lord, Israel's God,
do not let anyone who trusts you
become ashamed because of me.
Do not let anyone who serves you
become ashamed because of me.
7 Because I belong to you,
people insult me.
They make me feel ashamed.
8 I have become like a stranger to my brothers.
I am like a foreigner to my family.
9 My love for your house burns inside me like a fire.
Anybody who insults you,
is also insulting me!
10 When I weep and I stop eating food,
it causes people to insult me.
11 When I wear rough clothes to show that I am sad,
people laugh at me.
12 People who sit at the city gate talk about me.[a]
People who are drunk make songs
to sing about me.
13 But as for me, Lord,
I continue to pray to you.
Please answer me at the right time.
Be kind to me, God,
because of your faithful love.
Save me, as you have promised to do.
14 Save me out of the mud
and do not let me sink down into it.
Rescue me from the people that hate me.
Save me from the deep water.
15 Do not let the floods pour over me.
Do not let the deep sea cause me to drown.
Do not let me fall into the deep hole of death.
16 Please answer me, Lord,
because your faithful love is great.
Turn to hear me,
because you are so very kind.
17 Do not turn away from me, your servant.
I am in great trouble,
so please answer me very soon.
18 Come very near to me,
and make me safe.
Rescue me from my enemies.
19 God, you know that people are insulting me.
They laugh at me
to make me feel ashamed.
You can see what all my enemies are doing.
20 When they insult me,
it makes me very upset.
I feel helpless.
I hoped that someone would be kind and help me,
but there was nobody.
I wanted someone to comfort me,
but I did not find anyone.
21 Instead, my enemies put poison in my food.
When I was thirsty,
they gave me vinegar to drink.[b]
22 Please God, cause their feasts to become a trap for them.
Let it bring trouble to them and their friends.
23 Let their eyes be in the dark
so that they cannot see.
Let their bodies become weak.
24 Yes, punish them,
because you are so angry with them!
25 Let their homes become empty,
so that nobody lives in them any more.
26 Do this, because they chase after
the people that you have already punished.
They talk about the pain
of the people that you have hurt.
27 Make a note of all their sins.
Do not ever forgive them,
so that they are righteous.
28 Remove their names from the book of living people.
Do not write their names
on the list of righteous people.
29 But I have pain in my body
and trouble in my mind.
God, rescue me and keep me safe!
30 I will sing to praise God's name!
I will thank him because he is great!
31 That will please the Lord more
than if I offer him an ox,
or a great bull with horns.[c]
32 When humble people see it,
they will be very happy.
People who want to serve God
will become strong in their lives.
33 For the Lord listens to the prayers of poor people.
He does not forget to help his people
when they are prisoners.
34 Heaven and earth should praise him!
The seas and everything that lives in them
should praise him!
35 For God will rescue Zion's people.
He will build again Judah's cities.
Then his people will live there.
The land will belong to them again.
36 Then the descendants of his servants
will have the land for themselves.
The people who love God
will live there safely.
Moab's troubles
16 We must send sheep as gifts to the ruler of our land. Send them from Sela across the desert. Send them to Mount Zion in Jerusalem.[a]
2 Moab's women are standing at the shore of Arnon river. They want to go across. They are like birds that people have chased out of their nests.
3 The Moabites say, ‘Tell us what we should do! Help us in our troubles! Give us some shade in the middle of the day! Hide the people who are escaping! Our enemies are chasing us. Do not let them find us. 4 Let us escape from Moab and come to live among you. Our enemy wants to destroy us. Please keep us safe!’
Yes, one day, the cruel enemy will have gone. He will no longer attack the land and destroy it. 5 One of David's descendants will rule as king. He will be true and honest. He will judge people in a fair way. He will quickly bring justice among his people.
6 The people of Judah say, ‘We know how proud Moab's people are. We have heard how they boast about themselves. They think that they can do anything that they want. But all their pride is empty and useless!’
7 Because of their troubles, Moab's people weep. They are all very upset. They are sad because there are no more sweet raisins from Kir-Hareseth!
8 Yes, nothing grows in Heshbon's fields. There are no grapes on Sibmah's vines. The rulers of other nations have destroyed the vineyards. The branches of those vines reached as far as Jazer, and the desert. They even grew to go across the sea.[b] 9 Because of that, I weep for the vines of Sibmah, as Jazer weeps. I pour out my tears all over you, Heshbon and Elealeh. Your people no longer sing because they are happy at harvest time. There is no more fruit on your trees or crops in your fields. 10 Nobody is happy in the fields. Nobody sings or shouts with joy in the vineyards. Nobody squeezes the grapes to make wine. I have caused all the happy noise to stop.
11 So I cry deep inside me for Moab. I cry like the sad music of a harp. I am very upset for Kir-Hareseth.
12 Moab's people go to their altars and temples to pray for help from their gods. But they will only become tired. Their prayers will be useless.
13 That is the message that the Lord has already spoken about Moab. 14 But now the Lord says, ‘In three years' time, all Moab's glory will have gone. Count every day of those years, as if you are working to receive money. After that, there will only be a few of Moab's people who are still alive. Now they are many and they are strong. But by then they will be few and weak.’
4 Christ had trouble and pain while he lived in his human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. 2 As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.
3 You have already had enough time in your life to do bad things. Those are the kinds of things that people who do not know God like to do. You did many evil things that your bodies wanted to do. You had sex in a wrong way. You often became drunk. You went to wild parties where you drank too much alcohol. You also worshipped useless idols.[a]
4 But now you no longer live in the same wicked way as those people do. They continue to enjoy those wrong things all the time. But you do not join with them. So they insult you. 5 But those people will have to explain to God what they have done. He is ready to judge every person, whether they are alive now or they have already died. 6 That is why even dead people needed to hear the good news about Christ. Their bodies had to die, as all people must die. But they heard the good news so that their spirits could live, as God wants them to live.[b]
We must use God's gifts properly
7 All things in this world will soon come to an end. So you must think clearly. Then you will be able to pray in a serious way. 8 Continue to love each other very much. That is more important than anything else. If you love people, you will forgive them for any wrong things that they have done. 9 Always be happy to have other believers as visitors in your homes.
10 God has helped each of you in a certain way. Think carefully about how to use that gift from God well. Remember that God has given many different gifts to his people so that they can help each other. 11 Has God helped you to speak well? Then speak God's messages to people. Or has God helped you to serve other people? Then let God make you strong to do that. Do everything so that people will praise God. They will say that God is great, because of Jesus Christ. He is the one who has all authority and power for ever. Everyone should praise him! Amen! This is true!
Christians must be ready to have trouble and pain
12 My friends, I know that people are causing you to have bad trouble. It is like a fire that is burning you. Do not be surprised about that. These things are happening to you, to show whether you really trust God. Do not think that something strange is happening to you. 13 Instead, be happy when you have trouble. Remember that Christ also received much trouble and pain. If you have trouble like he did, then you will be happy when he returns. At that time, everyone will see how great Christ really is. Then you will be very happy with a great joy. 14 People may insult you because you belong to Christ. But God will bless you when that happens. It shows that the Holy Spirit is with you. He is God's great Spirit.
15 Do not murder anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not do evil things. Do not try to cause trouble for other people. If you do those things, you deserve to have trouble. 16 But if you receive trouble because you are a Christian, do not be ashamed about that. Instead, you should praise God that you belong to Christ.
17 The time has come when God will start to judge people. He will first judge the people who belong to him. If he will start with his own people, what will happen to other people? They have refused to obey God's good news, so it will surely be very bad for them. 18 The Bible says:
‘When God saves righteous people, that is a difficult thing.
It will surely be much worse for people who turn away from God and who do bad things.’[c]
19 So remember this. If you receive trouble because that is what God wants, you should continue to trust him. God made you and he always does what he has promised. So you should continue to do what is good.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.