M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules about murder
21 In the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, you may find someone's dead body lying in a field. Someone has killed him but you do not know who the murderer is. 2 Your leaders and your judges must then go to the field. They must measure how far the place is from the nearest towns. 3 Then the leaders from the town that is nearest to the body must take a young cow that has never done work on a farm. 4 They must lead the cow down to a valley where no one has ploughed the ground or planted seed. There must be a stream of water in the valley. There they must break the cow's neck.
5 The Levite priests must go there too. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to ask him to bless his people. They also decide as judges what is right. 6 After the leaders of the town have broken the cow's neck, they must wash their hands over it.[a]
7 Then they will say, ‘We did not kill this person. We did not see who killed him. 8 Please Lord, accept this animal from your people, Israel, that you have rescued. Do not say that we are guilty of this murder. This person did not deserve to die like this.’
When they do that, the Lord will accept their gift and he will forgive you. 9 In this way, you will not be guilty of the murder. You will remove this evil act from among you. You must do what the Lord says is right.
Marriage
10 When you go to fight a battle against your enemies, the Lord your God will give you power over them. You will take some of them as prisoners. 11 You may see among them a beautiful woman that you want to take as your wife. 12 Then you must bring her into your home. She must cut the hair off her head. She must cut her fingernails.[b] 13 She must change the clothes that she was wearing when you found her. Let her live in your house and weep for her parents for a whole month. Then you may have sex with her. You will be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 Later, you may not be pleased with her. If so, you must let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or make her become a slave. You must not do that, because you have made her have sex with you, as your wife.
Firstborn sons
15 A man may have two wives, but he may love only one of them. Each wife may give birth to a son. The firstborn son may be the son of the wife that he does not love. 16 But when the man shares his things with his children, he must promise this: After his death, the firstborn son will receive what he should have. The man may not choose to give the double share of his things to the son of the wife that he loves. 17 He must recognize that his firstborn son is the son of the wife that he does not love. This son was the first son born to that man. So he must receive the double share of his father's things. That is what God's Law says must happen.[c]
A son who turns against his parents
18 Perhaps a man has a son who refuses to obey his parents. They punish him to teach him what is right, but he refuses to listen to them. 19 If so, his parents must take their son to the leaders at the city gate. 20 They must say to the leaders, ‘This is our son. He refuses to obey us. He does not do what we tell him. He only wants to do what will please himself. He drinks too much and he becomes drunk.’
21 Then all the men of the city must throw stones at the son until he is dead. In this way, you must remove all evil things like that from among you. Then all Israel's people will hear about what has happened. They will be afraid.
22 A person may do an evil thing so that you punish him with death. If you have hung his dead body on a tree, 23 you must not leave it there during the night. Be careful to bury it on the same day that he died. If someone's body is hanging on a tree, it shows that God has cursed him. So do not leave it there. The Lord your God is giving the land to you so that it belongs to you. So do not let evil things spoil your land.
This psalm is a song that David wrote.
A prayer for help[a]
108 God, I have decided to trust you always.
I will sing songs to praise you,
with all that I am.
2 I will pick up my harp and my lyre.
I will make music as the sun rises!
3 Lord, I will thank you in front of all the people.
I will sing to praise you,
so that all nations hear.
4 Your faithful love is great.
It is higher than the skies.
Your truth reaches beyond the clouds.
5 God, show how great you are,
high above the sky!
Let everybody on the earth see your glory.
6 Use your power to rescue us!
Answer our prayers!
Then the people that you love will be safe.
7 God has spoken from his holy place![b]
He has promised:
‘I will show my power!
I will make Shechem into separate pieces.
I will measure Succoth Valley.
8 Gilead belongs to me,
and so does Manasseh.
Ephraim is like my helmet for war.
Judah has the authority of my royal sceptre.[c]
9 But Moab is the place where I wash my hands.
Edom is my servant.
I can throw my shoes at him!
I will shout aloud,
because I have won against the Philistines.’[d]
10 Who will lead me into the strong city?
Who will take me to fight and win against Edom?[e]
11 God, have you really turned against us?
Will you not lead our armies into battle?
12 Help us to fight against our enemies,
because help from men is useless!
13 With God's help, we will win!
He will beat down our enemies for us.
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
A prayer for help in trouble[f]
109 You are the God that I praise.
Let me hear you speak!
2 Wicked people are saying bad things against me.
They are telling lies about me.
3 They are all round me,
and they say cruel things.
I have done nothing against them,
but they still attack me.
4 I have loved them,
but they still accuse me.
I will continue to pray for them.[g]
5 I have been kind to them,
but they do bad things to me in return.
I have loved them,
but they hate me in return.
6 Find an evil man to judge my enemy!
Put somebody at his right side to accuse him!
7 When they judge him,
show that he is guilty.
Show that even his prayers are a sin.
8 Make his life very short!
Let somebody else do the job which he did.
9 May he soon die,
so that his children have no father,
and his wife has no husband.
10 Cause his children to have no home,
so that they go from place to place,
and ask people to give them food.
11 May the people who lent money to my enemy,
take away everything that belonged to him.
Let strangers take everything
that he worked hard to get for himself.
12 Do not let anyone be kind to him.
Do not let anyone help his children,
even when they have no father.
13 Remove all the descendants in his family.
When his children die,
may nobody remember his family any more!
14 Lord, please remember his ancestors sins.
Please do not forgive his mother's sins.
15 Lord, never forget his family's sins.
May nobody on earth remember his family's name.
16 My enemy was never kind to anyone.
He was cruel to poor, weak, and helpless people.
He even caused them to die,
17 He loved to curse people.
Now may those curses happen to him!
He never asked God to bless other people,
so nobody will ask God to bless him!
18 He always cursed others,
as he always put on clothes.
So those curses have become like his food and drink.
May they go deep inside him,
like olive oil that goes into his bones.
19 Then curses will truly be his clothes.
They will be like the belt that he wears every day.
20 Yes, Lord, please punish all my enemies like that,
because they say evil things to accuse me!
21 You, Almighty Lord, must help me!
Show that your name is great.
Rescue me,
because your faithful love is good.
22 I am weak and helpless.
My heart beats fast inside me.
23 I will soon be gone,
like a shadow that disappears in the evening.
I am like an insect
that the wind blows away.
24 I am so hungry that my knees shake.
I am so thin that my bones show.
25 My enemies laugh at me!
When they see me,
they shake their heads at me.
26 Lord my God, please help me!
Please rescue me,
because of your faithful love.
27 Lord, cause my enemies to know
that you are the one who has rescued me.
28 They may curse me,
but you will bless me.
When they attack me,
they will become ashamed.
But I will be very happy,
as your servant.
29 Shame will come on my enemies.
It will cover them like a coat.
30 I will thank the Lord with a loud voice!
I will praise him,
in front of a big crowd of people.
31 He stands beside poor people,
and he is ready to help them.
When cruel people accuse a weak person,
the Lord saves that person's life.
So I will praise the Lord.
The Lord warns his people
48 Listen to this, family of Jacob. You are called ‘Israel’, and you are Judah's descendants.[a] You use the name of the Lord when you make promises. You pray to Israel's God. But you do not do those things honestly and fairly. 2 Your people are proud to say that they live in the holy city. They trust in Israel's God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 The Lord says to his people,
‘I already spoke about things that would happen at a future time.
A long time ago I told you what would happen.
Then I suddenly did my work,
and I caused those things to happen!
4 I did it because I know what you are like.
You refuse to obey me.
You do not want to change the way that you live.
Your neck is like iron and it will not bend!
Your head is as hard as bronze!
5 So I told you about these things a long time ago.
Before they happened, I told you about them.
Then you could not say, “My idol did them.
Yes, my wooden image and my idol made of metal
decided that these things would happen.”
6 You heard what I said would happen,
and now you have seen it happen.
Agree that what I say is true!
Now I will tell you about new things that will happen.
They are secret things that you do not yet know about.
7 They are not things that started long ago.
I am causing them to happen now.
You did not hear about them before today.
So you cannot say, “Yes, I already knew about them.”
8 You have not heard about them before.
You know nothing about them.
From long ago you refused to listen to me.
I know that you are never honest.
Since you first became a nation,
you have refused to obey me.
9 Because of who I am,
I will keep my anger until later.
I will not destroy you now,
so that people will praise my name.
10 Listen! I have made you pure.
But I have not done it in the way that people make silver pure.
Instead, I have sent pain and trouble to you.
That is how I make you pure.
11 I do these things to show who I am.
That is why I do it!
I will not let people insult my good name.
I will not let anyone else share my glory.
12 So listen to me, descendants of Jacob!
I called you to belong to me, you Israelite people.
I am the only One.
I am the first, and I am also the last.
13 I created the earth with my own hand.
With my right hand, I hung up the sky like a curtain.
When I call to the stars,
they all appear in their places.
14 All of you, come together and listen to me.
Not one of your idols has said
what will happen now.
I, the Lord, have chosen a friend to attack Babylon.
He will do what I want.
He will have the power to punish the Babylonians.
15 Yes, that is what I have commanded.
I have called him to do this work.
I have shown him what he must do,
and he will do it!
16 Come near to me! Listen to my message!
From the beginning, I have not spoken secretly.
When these things happen, I will already be there.’
Now the Almighty Lord has sent me, with the power of his Spirit.[b]
17 The Lord is your Redeemer, Israel's Holy God. He says,
‘I am the Lord your God.
I teach you what will be good for you.
I lead you along a good path in life.
18 You should have obeyed my commands.
Then you would have had peace in your lives,
like a river that runs quietly.
You would have been safe and well,
like the strong waves in the sea.
19 You would have had many descendants,
as much as the sand on the shore of the sea.
I would not need to destroy them.
Their family name would continue for ever.’
20 Now leave Babylon as free people!
No longer serve the Babylonians!
Shout the news with joy!
Tell everyone about it, all over the world.
Tell them that the Lord has redeemed his people,
his servants, the Israelites.
21 When he led them through the desert,
they did not become thirsty.
He broke open a rock for them,
so that water poured out.
They could drink as much as they needed.
22 But the Lord says, ‘Wicked people will have no peace in their lives.’
The end of Babylon
18 After these things happened, I saw another angel. He was coming down from heaven. He had great authority. He was beautiful and he shone brightly. He gave light to the whole world. 2 He shouted with a very loud voice:
‘God has destroyed the great city of Babylon!
She has become a place where demons live.
She is a home for every disgusting spirit.
She is a home for every unclean bird.
She is a home for every unclean and disgusting animal.
3 She has been like a prostitute who makes men become drunk.
Then she leads them to have sex in a wrong way.
She has caused people from every nation to turn away from God.
It is like all the kings of the earth have had sex with that bad woman.
All the traders of the earth have become rich,
because she has bought things from them to enjoy a wicked life.’
4 Then I heard another voice which spoke from heaven. It said:
‘My people, leave the city! Come out!
Do not do the bad things that the people of that city have done.
Then you will not receive the terrible troubles that God sends to them.
5 They have done very many bad things.
Their sins have reached as high as heaven.
God has remembered to punish them.
6 Yes, punish the people of that city.
Do to them the same things that they have done to others.
Punish them with twice the bad things that they themselves have done.
She caused people to drink pain from her cup.
Now make her drink twice as much pain for herself!
7 She liked to receive honour.
She bought expensive things to enjoy a wicked life.
So now give her the trouble and pain that she deserves.
She has said to herself, “I rule people like a queen.
I do not live like a widow.
I will never need to be sad.”
8 Because she speaks like that,
she will receive many troubles in one single day.
Her people will become very ill.
They will be very sad.
They will have no food to eat.
Fire will destroy the city,
The Lord God is powerful.
So he will punish her with these troubles.’
9 When all that happens, the kings on the earth will be very sad. They enjoyed the bad things that people did in that city. They had many expensive things so that they were happy. Now they will see the smoke from the fire that burns the city. As a result, they will cry and they will weep. 10 They will stand a long way from the city because they are afraid. They do not want to suffer in the same way. They will say,
‘Terrible trouble has come to you, Babylon!
Great city! Powerful city! It is very bad for you!
In one single hour God has destroyed you!’
11 The traders of this world will also be very sad. They will weep because nobody will buy their things any more. 12 They sold many expensive things like these:
Things made from gold and silver.
Valuable stones and pearls.
Good linen and other kinds of expensive cloth that is red or purple.
Things made from wood that has a nice smell.
Many different things that are made from ivory.
Many kinds of things that people had made from expensive wood, from different metals and from stone.
13 Different kinds of spice and incense, like myrrh and frankincense.
Wine, olive oil, expensive flour and wheat.
Cows and sheep.
Horses and chariots.
Human slaves.
14 The people who sold these things will say to the city, ‘You have now lost all the good things that you wanted so much. You have lost all those expensive things that made you beautiful. You will never have them again.’
15 The traders had become rich because of the city. But now they will stand a long way from the city because they are afraid. They do not want to suffer in the same way themselves. They will weep and they will be very sad. 16 They will say,
‘Bad trouble has come to you, Babylon!
Great city! It is very bad for you!
You wore beautiful clothes that were made from good linen.
You wore bright things that made you look beautiful.
You shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls.
17 But in one single hour God has destroyed all those valuable things.’
All the sailors and the people who travel on ships will also be sad. They include every ship's captain, and everyone who works on ships on the sea. They will stand a long way from the city. 18 They will see the smoke from the fire that burns the city. Then they will shout, ‘There is no other city like this great city!’ 19 They will throw dirt from the ground on their heads because they are so sad. They will weep and they will shout,
‘Bad trouble has come to you, Babylon!
Great city! It is very bad for you!
Everyone who had ships on the sea became rich because of you.
You used your money to buy their expensive things.
But in one single hour God has destroyed that city.’
20 Yes, you who live in heaven, be happy!
Be happy because God has punished Babylon!
God's people and his apostles and his prophets, be happy!
God has punished the city because of what she did to you.
21 Then a powerful angel picked up a very big, heavy stone. He threw it into the sea. He said,
‘God will throw you down, Babylon!
You are a great city, but God will throw you down like this stone.
Nobody will ever see you again!
22 Nobody will ever hear music in the city again.
Nobody will sing there.
Nobody will make music with harps, or with flutes, or with trumpets.
There will never be workers who make things in the city.
Nobody will ever hear the sound of people who make flour again.
23 No light from people's lamps will ever shine in the city again.
Nobody will ever hear the happy voices of a man and a woman when they marry.
Your traders were the most powerful people on the earth.
You used your magic to deceive people from all nations.
24 Your people killed God's people and his prophets.
Their blood lies on the ground in the city.
The blood of everyone on earth that people have killed is also there.
This shows that you are guilty of their murder.’[a]
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