M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Command to Love God
6 These are the commands, rules and laws of the Lord your God. He told me to teach them to you. Obey them in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to own. 2 You, your children and grandchildren must respect the Lord your God. You must do this as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I give you. Then you will live a long time. 3 Listen, Israel, and carefully obey these laws. Then all will go well for you. You will become a great nation in a land where much food grows. The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised it to you.
4 Listen, people of Israel! The Lord is our God. He is the only Lord. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. 6 Always remember these commands I give you today. 7 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and walk along the road. Talk about them when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. Tie them on your forehead to remind you. 9 Write them on your doors and gates.
10 The Lord your God will bring you into the land. He promised it to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will give it to you. The land has large, growing cities you did not build. 11 The houses there are full of good things that you did not buy. They have wells you did not dig. There are vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. You will eat as much as you want. 12 But be careful! Do not forget the Lord. He brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.
13 Respect the Lord your God. Serve only him. Make your promises in his name. 14 Do not worship other gods as the people around you do. 15 The Lord your God is a jealous God. He is present with you. If you worship other gods, he will become angry with you. And he will destroy you from the earth. 16 Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God. Obey the rules and laws he has given you. 18 Do what the Lord says is good and right. Then things will go well for you. Then you may go in and take the good land the Lord promised to your ancestors. 19 He will force all your enemies out as you go in. This is what the Lord has said.
20 In the future your son will ask you, “What do the laws, commands and rules the Lord our God gave us mean?” 21 Tell him, “We were slaves to the king of Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his great power. 22 The Lord showed us great and terrible signs and miracles. He did them to Egypt, the king and his whole family. 23 The Lord brought us out of Egypt. He led us here. And he will give us the land he promised our ancestors. 24 The Lord ordered us to obey all these commands. And we must respect the Lord our God. Then we will always do well and stay alive as we are today. 25 The right thing for us to do is this: Obey all these rules in the presence of the Lord our God. He has commanded it.”
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s love.
I will tell of his loyalty from now on.
2 I will say, “Your love continues forever.
Your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with the man of my choice.
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will make your family continue forever.
Your kingdom will continue from now on.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for your miracles
and for your loyalty in the meeting of your holy ones.
6 Who in heaven is equal to the Lord?
None of the angels is like the Lord.
7 When the holy ones meet, it is God they fear.
He is more frightening than all who surround him.
8 Lord God of heaven’s armies, who is like you?
Lord, you are powerful and completely to be trusted.
9 You rule the mighty sea.
You calm the stormy waves.
10 You crushed the sea monster Rahab.
By your power you scattered your enemies.
11 The skies and the earth belong to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm has great power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is lifted up.
14 Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
Love and truth are in all you do.
15 Happy are the people who know how to praise you.
Lord, let them live in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all the time.
They praise your goodness.
17 You are their glorious strength.
In your kindness you honor our king.
18 Our king, our shield, belongs to the Lord.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once, in a vision, you spoke
to those who worship you.
You said, “I have given strength to a warrior.
I have selected a young man from my people.
20 I have found my servant David.
I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him.
21 I will steady him with my hand.
I will strengthen him with my arm.
22 No enemy will make him give forced payments.
Wicked people will not defeat him.
23 I will crush his enemies in front of him.
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 My loyalty and love will be with him.
Through me he will be strong.
25 I will give him power over the sea
and control over the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, the one who saves me.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest king on earth.
28 My love will watch over him forever.
My agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue.
His kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 “But his descendants might reject my teachings
and not follow my rules.
31 They might break my laws
and disobey my commands.
32 Then I will punish their sins with a rod
and their wrongs with a whip.
33 But I will not hold back my love from David.
I will not stop being loyal.
34 I will not break my agreement.
I will not change what I have said.
35 It is certain that I am a holy God.
So it is certain I will not lie to David.
36 His family will continue forever.
His kingdom will continue before me like the sun.
37 It will last forever, like the moon,
like a lasting witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But now, you have rejected your appointed king.
You have been angry with him.
39 You have broken the agreement with your servant.
You threw his crown to the ground.
40 You have torn down all the city walls.
You have turned his strong, walled cities into ruins.
41 Everyone who passes by steals from him.
His neighbors insult him.
42 You have given strength to his enemies.
You have made them all happy.
43 You have made his sword useless.
You did not help him stand in battle.
44 You have kept him from winning.
You threw his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut his life short.
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this go on?
Will you ignore us forever?
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Why did you create us anyway?
48 What man alive will not die?
Can he escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is your love from times past?
With loyalty you promised it to David.
50 Lord, remember how they insulted your servant.
Remember how I have suffered the insults of the nations.
51 Lord, remember how your enemies insulted you.
Remember how they insulted your appointed king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and amen.
God Will Punish His Enemies
34 All you nations, come near and listen.
Pay attention, you peoples!
The earth and all the people in it should listen.
The world and everything in it should listen.
2 The Lord is angry with all the nations.
He is angry with their armies.
He will destroy them and kill them all.
3 Their bodies will be thrown outside.
The stink will rise from the bodies,
and the blood will flow down the mountains.
4 The sun, moon and stars will dissolve.
The sky will be rolled up like a scroll.
The stars will fall
like dead leaves from a vine
or dried-up figs from a fig tree.
5 The Lord’s sword in the sky is covered with blood.
It will cut through Edom.
He will destroy these people as an offering to the Lord.
6 The Lord’s sword will be covered with blood.
It will be covered with fat.
It is the blood from lambs and goats.
It is the fat from the kidneys of male sheep.
This is because the Lord decided there will be a sacrifice in Bozrah.
He has decided there will be much killing in Edom.
7 The oxen will be killed.
And the cattle and the strong bulls will be killed.
The land will be filled with their blood.
The dirt will be covered with their fat.
8 The Lord has chosen a time for punishment.
He has chosen a year when people must pay for the wrongs they did to Jerusalem.
9 Edom’s rivers will be like hot tar.
The dirt of Edom will be like burning sulfur.
The land of Edom will be like burning tar.
10 The fires will burn night and day.
The smoke will rise from Edom forever.
Year after year that land will be empty.
No one will ever travel through that land again.
11 Birds and small animals will own that land.
Owls and ravens will live there.
God will make it an empty wasteland.
It will have nothing left in it.
12 The important men will have no one left to rule them.
The leaders will all be gone.
13 Thorns will take over the strong towers.
Wild bushes will grow in the walled cities.
Wild dogs will live there.
Owls will live in those homes.
14 Desert animals will live with the hyenas there.
And wild goats will call to their friends.
Night animals will live there.
They will find a place of rest there.
15 Owls will nest there and lay eggs.
When the eggs open, the owls will gather their young under their wings.
Hawks will gather
with their own kind.
16 Look at the Lord’s scroll. Read what is written there:
None of these will be missing.
Every one will have its mate.
God said he will gather them together.
So his Spirit will gather them together.
17 God has divided the land among them.
And he has given them each their land.
So they will own that land forever.
They will live there year after year.
John Sees Heaven
4 After this I looked, and there before me was an open door in heaven. And I heard the same voice that spoke to me before. It was the voice that sounded like a trumpet. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” 2 Then the Spirit took control of me. There before me was a throne in heaven. Someone was sitting on the throne. 3 The One who sat on the throne looked like precious stones, like jasper and carnelian. All around the throne was a rainbow the color of an emerald. 4 Around the throne there were 24 other thrones. There were 24 elders[a] sitting on the 24 thrones. The elders were dressed in white, and they had golden crowns on their heads. 5 Lightning flashes and noises of thunder came from the throne. Before the throne there were seven lamps burning. These lamps are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was something that looked like a sea of glass. It was clear like crystal.
Around the throne, on each side, there were four living things. These living things had eyes all over them, in front and in back. 7 The first living thing was like a lion. The second was like a calf. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of these four living things had six wings. The living things were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God All-Powerful.
He was, he is, and he is coming.”
9 These living things give glory and honor and thanks to the One who sits on the throne. He is the One who lives forever and ever. And every time the living things do this, 10 the 24 elders bow down before the One who sits on the throne. The elders worship him who lives forever and ever. They put their crowns down before the throne and say:
11 “Our Lord and God! You are worthy
to receive glory and honor and power.
You made all things.
Everything existed and was made
because you wanted it.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.