M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
25 When there is an argument between two people, they must both go to the judges. Then the judges will decide which of the two people is right. They will decide the punishment for the guilty person. 2 The judge may decide that his officers should beat the guilty person as punishment. The judge will make him lie down on the ground. Then he will watch as his officers beat the guilty person. They will hit him as many times as he deserves because of his wicked act. 3 But they must not hit him more than 40 times as his punishment. If it is more than that, nobody would respect him any more.
4 Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain to prepare it for you.[a]
5 Perhaps two brothers live together in the same place. One of the brothers may die before he has any son. If that happens, his widow must not marry anyone who does not belong to the family. Instead, the other brother must marry her. That is the right thing for him to do for his dead brother. 6 The first son that the widow gives birth to will be the son of her first husband. His family's name will not disappear from Israel.
7 But the man may not want to marry his brother's widow. If so, this is what the widow must do: She must go to the leaders when they meet at the town gate. She must say, ‘My dead husband's brother refuses to do his duty for me. He does not want his brother to have any descendants so that his family's name will continue.’
8 Then the town's leaders must call the man to come to them. They must talk to him. Perhaps he will continue to say, ‘I do not want to marry her!’
9 If that happens, his brother's widow must go near him, as the leaders watch. She must pull off one of his shoes and then she must spit in his face. She must say, ‘This is what we do to a man who will not give descendants to his dead brother!’ 10 After that, people will call that man's family, ‘the family of the man who lost his shoe.’
11 Perhaps two men are fighting each other. The wife of one of them comes to help him. She tries to save him from his enemy who is attacking him. Perhaps she takes hold of the man's sex parts. 12 If she does that, you must cut off her hand as punishment. Do not be sorry for her.
13 Do not try to cheat people when you weigh or measure things. Do not carry with you two different stone weights, one light one and one heavy one. 14 Do not keep in your house two different bowls to measure things, one big one and one small one. 15 You must keep true and honest weights. You must have bowls that measure things correctly. If you do that you will live for a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. 16 The Lord your God hates anyone who cheats other people and is not honest.
The Amalekites
17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt.[b] 18 They attacked you when you were tired and weak. They killed all the people who were walking slowly at the back of your group. They were not afraid of God. 19 But the Lord your God will chase away all your enemies. He will give you a safe place to rest in the land that he is giving to you as your new home. When he does that, do not forget to destroy all the Amalekites. Make sure that nobody in the whole world will remember them any more.
God saved me from death[a]
116 I love the Lord,
because he heard me when I called to him.
2 He listened carefully to me.
When I need help, I will always pray to him,
for as long as I live.
3 The danger of death was very near to me.
I became afraid of the deep hole of death.
I was very sad and upset.
4 Then I called out to the Lord.
I said, ‘Lord, please save my life!’
5 The Lord is kind and fair.
Yes, our God is very kind.
6 The Lord takes care of weak people.
I was in danger of death,
and he saved me!
7 So now I know that I am safe again.
The Lord has been very good to me.
8 Yes, Lord, you saved me from death!
Because of that, my eyes no longer weep,
and I do not fall down to the ground.
9 Now I will serve the Lord
here in this world where people live.
10 I trusted in the Lord
even when I said, ‘I have much pain.’
11 I was confused and I said,
‘Everybody tells lies.’
12 The Lord has done many kind things to help me.
What can I give back to him?
13 I will offer a cup of wine to the Lord,
to thank him because he saved me!
I will worship him.
14 I will give to the Lord
everything that I have promised.
I will do that when all his people meet together.
15 The Lord is sad when one of his servants dies,
because their lives are valuable to him.
16 Lord, I really am your servant.
I am like a slave in your house.
You have saved me from death.
17 I will offer to you a special sacrifice to say ‘thank you’.
I will worship you as Lord.
18 I will give to the Lord
everything that I have promised.
I will do that when all his people meet together,
19 in the yard of the Lord's temple.
Yes, I will worship you in your temple in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
God will make Jerusalem safe again[a]
52 Wake up, Zion!
Be ready to show your strength!
Jerusalem, God's holy city,
Put on your beautiful clothes!
Foreign people who do not serve God
will not attack your city again.
2 Shake off the dirt, Jerusalem!
Get up and sit on your throne.
People of Zion, you are no longer prisoners,
so take the chains off your neck.
3 This is what the Lord says to you:
‘I received no money when I sold you.
And I will not pay anything to make you free again.’
4 The Almighty Lord says,
‘Long ago, my people went to live for some time in Egypt.
At a later time, Assyria's army was cruel to them.
5 But now, what is happening?
An enemy has taken my people away as slaves,
for no good reason.[b]
Their leaders boast loudly,
and they insult me all the time.
6 So I will cause my people to know my name.
When all this happens, they will know
that I am the God who speaks to them.
I tell them that I am with them.’
7 Somebody is coming across the mountains
to bring good news to us!
It is a beautiful thing to see him run towards us!
He has come to tell us that there will be peace,
because God will save our city.
He says to Zion,
‘Your God rules as king!’
8 Listen! The guards on the city's walls are shouting!
They all shout together with joy!
They can see for themselves
that the Lord is returning to Zion.
9 Jerusalem, your buildings have become heaps of stones,
but now you can all shout together with joy!
Sing aloud, because the Lord has comforted his people.
He has made Jerusalem safe again.
10 The Lord has shown all the nations how strong he is.
They can all see his holy power.
People all over the world will know
that our God has rescued his people.
11 Leave! Leave! Go out from there.[c]
Do not touch anything that is unclean.
Leave that foreign place!
The people who carry the Lord's special things
must keep themselves pure.
12 But you will not have to hurry and run away.
No, the Lord, Israel's God, will keep you safe.
He will lead you at the front,
and he will be your guard at the back.
The Lord's Servant
13 Look! My servant will do well.
He will move up to a high place
where people will honour him as great.
14 At one time, when people saw him,
they were very upset.
His body became completely spoiled,
so that he no longer seemed to be a man.
He did not seem to have a human body.
15 But now, he will cause the people in many nations
to be very surprised!
Kings will have nothing to say
when they see how great he is.
They will see something new
that nobody had told them about.
They will understand new things
that they had not heard about before.
The river and the tree that give life
22 Then the angel showed me a river. It had water that gives true life to people. The water shone like clean glass. The river of water started from the throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule. It ran from the throne 2 along the middle of the city's biggest street. I saw a tree that was growing on each side of the river. It is the tree that gives people true life. It has 12 different kinds of fruit, a new fruit every month. The tree's leaves are like medicine. They make people of every nation well again.
3 Nothing that is in the city will be under a curse. The throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule will be in the city. God's servants will worship him there. 4 They will see his face. His name will be on the front of their heads. 5 There will be no more night, so nobody will need a lamp to make light. They will not need light from the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings for ever.
The final message
6 Then the angel said to me, ‘All these words are true and everyone should believe them. The Lord God uses his prophets to speak his messages. He has sent his angel to speak to his servants. The angel will now show them what must happen soon.’
7 Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come soon.[a] God will bless everyone who obeys the words of the prophecy that is in this book.’
John finishes his book
8 I am John. I myself heard these things and I saw them. When I had heard them and I had seen them, I bent down low at the angel's feet. I wanted to worship him because he had shown these things to me. 9 But the angel said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I serve God like all God's prophets, who are believers like you. I serve God like everyone who obeys God's message that is written in this book. God is the one that you must worship!’
10 Then he said to me, ‘Do not hide the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book. The time is near when these things will happen. 11 Let everybody continue to live as they choose. Everyone who does wrong things will continue to do wrong things. Everyone who is disgusting will continue to be disgusting. Everyone who does right things will continue to do right things. Everyone who belongs to God will continue to be holy.’[b]
12 Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come quickly! I know what each person has done. I will give each one what they ought to have. I am ready to do that. 13 I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I am the first and the last. I am the beginning and the end.
14 Believers who keep themselves clean will be happy. They are like people who always wash their clothes. I will let them eat the fruit from the tree that causes people to have true life. I will let them go through the gates into the city. 15 But other people must stay outside the city:
wicked people;
people who do magic;
people who have sex in a wrong way;
people who murder other people;
people who worship idols;
everyone who likes to tell lies and deceive people.
16 I am Jesus. I have sent my angel to tell you this message. You must tell it to all the people in the churches. I am called the Root of King David. I am his descendant. I am the bright morning star.’[c]
17 God's Spirit and all God's people answer Jesus. They say, ‘Yes, come!’ God's people are like a bride for Jesus. Everyone who hears this should also say to Jesus, ‘Come!’ Anyone who is thirsty should come to Jesus. Then that person will receive from Jesus the water that gives life. Anyone who wants it may take it. They will not have to pay anything for it.
18 Now John says this. I say clearly to everyone who hears the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book: If anyone adds any more words than are already in this book, God will punish them. The terrible troubles that this book describes will happen to them. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words that are in this book, God will punish them too. He will not let them eat the fruit from his tree that gives life. God will not let them live in his holy city either. This book describes all these things.
20 It is Jesus who tells us that all these messages are true. He says, ‘Yes, I will come soon!’
Amen! We agree! Come, Lord Jesus!
21 I pray that the Lord Jesus will continue to be kind to all of you.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.