M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules for war
20 Do not be afraid when you go out to fight a war against your enemies. You may see that their armies have more horses, chariots and soldiers than you have. Do not be afraid of them! Remember that the Lord your God is with you. He rescued you from Egypt. 2 As you prepare to fight a battle, the priest must come to speak to your soldiers. 3 He must say, ‘Israelites, listen to me! Today you will fight against your enemies. Do not be afraid. Be brave! Do not shake with fear because your enemy is so strong. 4 The Lord your God is going into battle with you. He will fight for you against your enemies. He will cause you to win.’
5 Then the officers must say to the soldiers, ‘Has any of you built a new house but he has not yet asked God to bless it? If so, he may go home. If he does not, he may die in the battle. Then someone else will ask God to bless his home. 6 Has anyone planted a field with grapes but he has not yet picked any fruit? He also may go home. If he does not, he may die in the battle. Then someone else will enjoy the fruit. 7 Has anyone promised to marry a woman? If he has not married her yet, he may go home too. If not, he may die in the battle. Then another man will marry her.’
8 Then the officers must also say to the soldiers, ‘Is any of you afraid? Does anyone not feel brave? He may go home. Then he will not cause other men to be afraid like him.’
9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they must choose other officers to lead the groups of soldiers.
10 Before you start to attack a city, you must offer peace to the people who live there. Tell them what they must do to stop you attacking them. 11 If they agree, they will open the city's gates to let you go in. Then all the people in the city will become your slaves, to do hard work for you. 12 But they may refuse to agree. They may start to fight against you. If they do that, you must put your soldiers all around the city. 13 The Lord your God will give the city to you. Then you must kill all the men there. 14 But you can take for yourselves the women, the children, the animals and other valuable things in the city. You can take all these things from your enemies that God gives to you. 15 You must do this to all the cities that are far away from you. But it is different for the cities that belong to the nations of Canaan where you will live.
16 You will take for yourselves the cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as your home. In those cities, you must kill everything that is alive, people and animals. 17 You must completely destroy all the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this to the people of those nations.[a] 18 If not, they would teach you all the evil things that they do to worship their gods. They would cause you to do bad things against the Lord your God.
19 Perhaps you are preparing to attack a city. Your soldiers may have their camp around the city for a long time. If so, you must not cut down the fruit trees. Then you can eat the fruit from them. These trees are not people, like your enemies! So do not attack them! 20 But you can cut down the other trees that do not provide any food. You can use the wood to make things that will help you to attack the city. You can do this until you go into the city and you take it for yourselves.
God takes care of his people[a]
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His faithful love for his people continues for ever.
2 Everyone that the Lord has rescued
should tell others.
Tell them how he has rescued you
from the enemy's power.
3 He brought his people from foreign countries.
He brought them together from the east and the west,
from the north, and from the south.[b]
4 Some of them travelled through the wilderness
on a road that went nowhere.
They did not find any city to live in.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They were very weak and nearly dead.
6 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
7 He led them along a straight road,
to arrive at a city where they could live.
8 So God's people should thank the Lord
because of his faithful love.
They should thank him for the great things
that he does for people.
9 He gives drink to people who are thirsty.
He gives plenty of good things to hungry people.
10 Some people sat in a completely dark place.
Iron chains held them as prisoners,
and they were very sad.
11 They had refused to obey God's commands.
They did not accept the teaching of the Most High God.
12 Because of that, God caused them to become weak
from very hard work.
When they fell down,
nobody would help them to stand up.
13 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
14 He took them out of the completely dark place.
He broke away the chains that held them.
15 So they should thank the Lord
because of his faithful love.
They should thank him for the great things
that he does for people.
16 He broke bronze gates into pieces
and he cut through iron bars.[c]
17 Some people became fools
and they turned against God.
They had trouble and pain
because of their sins.
18 They did not want to eat any food,
so they nearly died.
19 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
20 He sent his word to them
and he made them well again.
He rescued them from the deep hole of death.
21 So they should thank the Lord
because of his faithful love.
They should thank him for the great things
that he does for people.
22 They should offer sacrifices to thank God.
They should sing aloud
to tell about what he has done.
23 Some people were traders
who travelled far across the sea in ships.
24 They saw the great things that the Lord did,
even in the middle of the deep seas.
25 He would command a storm to come,
so that the wind caused big waves to rise up.
26 The waves threw the ships up high in the air,
then dropped them deep down.
The danger made the sailors afraid,
and they thought that they would die.
27 Like drunk people, they could not stand or walk properly.
They did not know what to do!
28 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
29 He caused the storm to stop,
so that the waves became quiet.
30 The sailors were happy when it became quiet.
God led them safely to the port,
where they wanted to go.
31 So they should thank the Lord
because of his faithful love.
They should thank him for the great things
that he does for people.
32 They should praise the Lord
when they meet together.
They should praise him
at the meeting of their leaders.
33-34 In places where people are wicked,
God makes the streams and rivers become dry,
so that the land becomes a desert.
He makes good land
become a salty wilderness.
35 But for his people, he changes deserts
to become pools of water.
He makes springs of water in dry land.
36 He lets hungry people live there safely.
They can build a city for themselves.
37 They plant crops in their fields,
and they plant vines to grow grapes.
They have plenty of food to eat.
38 He blesses them,
so that they have many children.
Their animals also grow in number.
39 But they may become weak and few in number,
because of cruel enemies who give them trouble.
40 Then God causes the enemy's leaders to become ashamed.
He makes them travel on roads that go nowhere.
41 But for people who are poor and weak,
he rescues them from their trouble.
He gives them many children,
so that they have big families.
42 Good people see what God has done,
and it makes them happy.
Wicked people have nothing to say!
43 Wise people should think about these things.
They should understand the Lord's faithful love for his people.
God's message to Babylon
47 ‘Babylon, get down on the ground, and sit in the dirt!
Come down off your throne, young lady!
In the past, nobody has touched you,
but people will no longer say that you are so pretty.
2 Use heavy stones to make grain into flour.
Take the veil off your face.
Lift up your skirt.
Walk through streams of water with bare legs.
3 Stand there with your body completely bare!
Everybody will see your great shame.
I will punish you for your sins,
and nobody will escape.’
4 This is what the Lord Almighty says. He is our Redeemer, Israel's Holy God.
5 ‘You city of the Babylonians, sit there quietly!
Go and hide in a dark place.
People will no longer call you the queen of all kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my own people.
They belonged to me as my special people,
but I punished them like ordinary people.
I gave you the power to hurt them,
and you were not kind to them.
You were very cruel to old people.
7 You boasted,
“I will rule other nations as queen for ever!”
But you did not think about what you were doing.
You did not think about what would happen in the end.
8 So listen to me, Babylon!
You love to enjoy expensive things.
You think that you are strong and safe.
You say to yourself, “Here I am!
There is nobody as good as I am.
I will never be alone as a widow.
I will never lose my children.”
9 But both of those things will happen to you!
They will happen suddenly, in only one day.
You will lose your children
and you will become a widow.
All these troubles will come to hurt you.
You can use all your powerful magic
but you will not stop this trouble!
10 You thought that your evil deeds would keep you safe.
You said, “Nobody sees me!”
You think that you are very wise
and that you know everything.
But your wisdom has deceived you.
You say, “Here I am!
There is nobody as good as I am.”
11 But trouble will suddenly come to you.
Your magic words will not stop it.
Trouble will come and destroy you.
You cannot pay anyone to take it away.
It will suddenly hit you,
before you even recognize it.
12 So continue with your magic, if you want to.
Say your magic words.
You have always used that magic,
since you were young.
Perhaps your magic will help you.
Perhaps you will frighten your enemies!
13 You receive a lot of advice,
and it has made you become tired.
Let your advisors come and stand there.
They study the sky and the stars to decide what will happen.
They say what will happen each month.
So let them come and help you!
See if they can rescue you from the trouble that is coming!
14 But they are as useless as straw
that quickly burns in a fire.
They cannot save themselves,
because the fire is too hot!
This is not a nice fire to sit beside and enjoy the heat.
15 You have worked with those magicians since you were young,
but you will have no help from them now.
They have gone their own separate ways.
There is nobody left who can save you.’
The great prostitute
17 One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to me. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I will show you how God will punish the great prostitute.[a] She sits at a place where there are many rivers.[b] 2 It is like the kings who rule on the earth have had sex with that bad woman. She has led the people who live on the earth to do bad things. They have become drunk from the strong wine that she has given to them.’[c]
3 Again, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a wilderness. There I saw a woman who was sitting on a wild animal that was bright red. All over this wild animal, names were written that insulted God. The animal had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was wearing clothes that were made from expensive cloth. She also wore bright things that made her look beautiful. She shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand. The cup was full of the bad and disgusting things that she had caused people to do. 5 A name was written on the front of her head. Only God knows what it means. It was:
Powerful Babylon.
Mother of all prostitutes.
Mother of all the disgusting things on the earth.
6 I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised. 7 Then the angel asked me, ‘Why are you surprised? I will explain the secret of the woman to you. I will tell you the secret of the wild animal that she rides. The wild animal that you saw has seven heads and ten horns. 8 This animal was once alive, but it is not alive now. Soon it will come up out of the deep hole again but then God will destroy it completely.[d] All these things will surprise many people who live on the earth. Those are the people whose names are not written in God's book of life from the beginning of the world. They will be surprised to see the animal that was alive at one time. It is not alive now, but it will soon appear again.
9 If you are wise, think carefully about this. The animal's seven heads are a picture of seven hills in the place where the woman sits.[e] 10 They are also a picture of seven kings. Five of these kings have already stopped ruling. Another king is ruling now. The last king has not yet come. When he does come, he must rule only for a short time. 11 The wild animal is a picture of an eighth king. He was alive once, but he is not alive now. He belongs to the group of seven kings, but God will destroy him completely.
12 The ten horns that you saw are a picture of ten more kings.[f] They have not yet begun to rule anywhere. But they will receive authority to rule as kings for one hour. They will rule people together with the wild animal. 13 They all have the same purpose. They will give their power to the wild animal. They will give him authority to rule people. 14 Together they will fight a war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will win against them. He is the Lord above all lords. He is the King who rules over all kings. And God's people will be with him. They are the people that the Lamb has chosen to belong to him. They are the people who have continued to trust him.’
15 Then the angel said to me, ‘You saw the many rivers where the prostitute sits. Those rivers are a picture of people from many nations. They are crowds of people from different countries who speak many different languages. 16 The wild animal and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. Those rulers will destroy her. They will remove all her clothes. They will eat the meat on her body. Then they will burn her with fire.[g] 17 They will decide to do that because God has given them those thoughts. So, they will do what he wants. They will give to the wild animal their authority to rule as king. The animal will continue to rule until everything happens that God has said will happen. 18 The bad woman that you saw is a picture of the great city. That city has power over all the kings who rule on the earth.’
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