M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The altar on Mount Ebal
27 Moses and the leaders of Israel said to the people, ‘Obey all these commands that I am giving you today. 2 You will soon go across the Jordan River and go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. When you are there, you must put up some large stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with thick white paint. 3 Then write on them all these laws and teaching. You must do that when you go across the river into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. He promised your ancestors that he would give it to you. 4 After you go across the Jordan River, you must put these stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with white paint. Do as I am telling you today.
5 Then you must build an altar there to worship the Lord your God. Do not use iron tools to cut the stones for the altar. 6 Use whole stones that you find to build it. Then offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on the altar. 7 You must also offer friendship offerings there. Eat them with joy as you meet with the Lord your God. 8 Write all the words of this law on the stones that you will put there. Be sure to write them very clearly.’
The messages from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
9 Then Moses and the Levite priests said to all the Israelites, ‘Be quiet and listen carefully! Today, you have become the people who belong to the Lord your God. 10 Obey him. Obey his commands and his rules that I am giving you today.’
11 On the same day, Moses commanded the people, 12 ‘After you have gone across the Jordan River, these tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. They will bless the people. 13 These tribes must stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. They will speak aloud God's curses.’
Curses
14 The Levites will shout this with a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15 ‘God will curse anyone who makes any image of a god and who worships it secretly. The Lord hates all idols that people make with metal or with wood.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
16 ‘God will curse anyone who does not respect his parents.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
17 ‘God will curse anyone who moves the stones at the edge of his neighbour's land.’[a] Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
18 ‘God will curse anyone who leads a blind person along the wrong path.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
19 ‘God will curse anyone who stops foreigners, widows or children who have no family from receiving justice.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
20 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his father's wife. That would bring shame on his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
21 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with any animal.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
22 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his sister, whether she is his father's daughter or his mother's daughter.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
23 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his wife's mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
24 ‘God will curse anyone who murders anyone secretly.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
25 ‘God will curse anyone who receives a bribe to kill someone who has done nothing wrong.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
26 ‘God will curse anyone who refuses to obey all the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
Blessings
28 Today I am giving you the commands of the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey all of them completely. If you do that, he will make you greater than any other nation of people in the world.
2 If you obey the Lord your God, he will bless you in very many ways.
3 God will bless you in your cities and in your fields.
4 God will bless your children and the crops that you grow. Your cows and your sheep will have many babies.
5 God will bless you with lots of grain to make bread.
6 God will bless you in your homes and when you go outside.
7 When your enemies attack you, the Lord will knock them down. They will come from one direction to attack you, but they will run away from you in seven different directions!
8 The Lord will bless you with lots of food to store. He will bless all the work that you do. He will bless you very much in the land that he is giving to you.
9 The Lord will continue to help you as his special people, as he has promised to do. But you must obey his commands. You must live in a way that pleases him. 10 If you do that, everyone in the world will see that you belong to the Lord. They will respect you with fear. 11 The Lord will give you many children. Your animals will have many babies. Your fields will give you a lot of food. The Lord will do this in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give you.
12 The Lord will send rain from the clouds where he stores it. He will cause the rain to fall at the time when the land needs it. He will bless all the work that you do. You will lend money to the people of many nations. But you will not need anyone to lend money to you. 13 The Lord will make you the leaders of other people. You will not have to follow at the back. You will become more powerful, not weaker. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God. I am telling you today, you must be very careful to do that. 14 You must continue to obey all the commands that I am giving you today. Do not turn away from them to do anything else. Do not try to worship other gods.
Curses
15 But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God, all these curses will happen to you. So be careful to obey all his commands and rules that I am giving you today. If you do not obey the Lord, these curses will happen to you:
16 God will curse you in your cities and in your fields.
17 God will curse you so that you have no grain to make bread.
18 God will curse your children and the crops that you grow. Your cows and your sheep will not give birth to healthy babies.
19 God will curse you in your homes and when you go outside.
The Word of God
ALEPH[a]
119 God has blessed people who always do what is right.
They obey the Lord's Law.
2 They agree to live by his rules.[b]
They love to pray to him.
God has blessed people like that.
3 Also, they do nothing that is wrong.
They live in a way that please the Lord.
4 You, Lord, have told us to obey your teaching carefully.
5 I want to be able to obey your laws all the time.
6 When I remember all your commands,
I will not be ashamed.
7 When I learn your good rules,
I will do what is right and I will thank you.
8 Yes, I will obey your laws.
Please do not turn away from me!
BETH
9 How can a young man live a clean life?
He must be careful to obey your message.
10 I bring all my thoughts to you.
Do not let me forget to obey your commands.
11 I always keep your message in my mind,
so that I do not do anything bad against you.
12 Lord, everyone should praise you!
Please teach me your laws.
13 You have taught us your rules.
I want to speak them aloud for others to hear.
14 Your rules give me a happy life.
When I obey them, it is better than being rich!
15 I want to think carefully about your teaching.
You have shown me the best way to live.
16 Your laws make me very happy.
I will not forget what you have taught me.
GIMEL
17 Please be kind to me, your servant.
Then I will live and I will obey your message.
18 Open my eyes wide!
Then I will see great things in your Law.
19 I live like a stranger here on the earth.
Please do not hide your commands from me.
20 I really want to obey your rules all the time.
I want that more than anything else.
21 You warn people who are proud.
If they turn away from your commands,
you will surely punish them.
22 I obey your rules.
So do not let people insult me,
so that I become ashamed.
23 Rulers may think of ways to hurt me.
But I will think carefully about your rules.
24 Yes, your laws make me really happy.
They show me the right way to live.
The Lord takes care of his people
54 ‘Sing with joy,
you woman who could not give birth to any children.
You have never known the pain of a child's birth,
but now shout loudly with joy.
Be happy, because the woman who is alone
will have many children.
She will have more children than the woman who has a husband.’[a]
That is what the Lord says.
2 Make your tent bigger!
You need more room to live in.
Yes, do it!
Make the tent's ropes longer!
Make the pegs that hold it stronger!
3 The borders of your land will be wider in all directions.
Your descendants will take land from other nations.
They will live in the cities that had become empty.
4 Do not be afraid.
You will not be ashamed again.
Do not be frightened of shame.
Nobody will make you ashamed.
You will forget the shame
which you had when you were young.
You will forget that you were ashamed to be alone,
like a widow.
5 Now your Maker is your husband.
His name is the Lord Almighty.
Israel's Holy God is your Redeemer.
He is called, ‘The God who rules the whole earth’.
6 ‘The Lord will now call you to come back to him.
You have been like a wife who was very upset,
because her husband has left her.
You have been like a wife who married when she was young,
and her husband sent her away.’
That is what your God says.
7 ‘For a short time I went away from you.
But now I will bring you back to myself,
because I feel very sorry for you.
8 For a moment I became very angry with you,
and I turned away from you.
But now I will be kind to you,
because my love for you continues for ever.’
That is what the Lord, your Redeemer, says.
9 ‘This is like what I did in Noah's time.[b]
At that time, I promised that a flood of water would never again destroy the earth.
Now, at this time, I have promised that I will not be angry with you again.
I will not speak against you again.
10 The mountains may shake to pieces,
and the hills may disappear.
But I will never take my love away from you.
My covenant that brings peace between us will never finish.’
That is what the Lord who is very kind to you says.
11 ‘My city, enemies attacked you,
like a strong storm.
Nobody was there to help you.
Look! Now I will use beautiful jewels to build you again.
I will build your foundation with blue sapphires.
12 I will build your strong towers with rubies.
I will build your gates with valuable jewels,
and I will build your walls with beautiful stones.[c]
13 I, the Lord, will teach your children,
and peace will fill their lives.
14 You will have a strong foundation of righteousness.
Your cruel enemies will be far away.
You will have nothing to be afraid of.
No trouble will come near to frighten you.
15 If anyone comes to attack you,
I will not have sent them.
You will win against anyone who tries to attack you.
16 Look! I myself created the worker
who knows how to use iron to make things.
He makes his fire very hot,
and he makes weapons from the iron.
He makes weapons that are strong to fight with.
I also created the armies
who use their weapons to destroy people.
17 But nobody can make a weapon that will beat you,
when your enemies attack you.
If people accuse you of bad things,
you will show that they are wrong.
That is what the Lord will do
as a gift for his servants.
Yes, I will show that they are right.’
That is what the Lord says.
Some men come to visit Jesus
2 Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem, in Judea. King Herod ruled Judea at that time.[a] After Jesus was born, some wise men came to Jerusalem from a country in the east. 2 When they arrived there, they asked people, ‘Where is the baby who has been born as the king of the Jews? We saw his special star when it first appeared in the sky. So now we have come here to worship him.’
3 When King Herod heard what the men said, he was very upset. All the people in Jerusalem were afraid too. 4 Then Herod asked all the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law to meet with him. He asked them, ‘Where will God's Messiah be born?’ 5 They replied, ‘The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem in Judea. This is what the prophet wrote about it:
6 “People who live in Bethlehem,
your town is a very important town in Judea.
A person born in your town will become a leader of my people Israel.
He will lead my people like a shepherd leads his sheep.” ’
7 Then Herod secretly told the wise men to come to meet with him. They told him the time that the star had appeared. 8 Herod sent the men to Bethlehem. He said to them, ‘Go and look everywhere for this child. When you find him, come back here and tell me where he is. Then I can also go and worship him.’
9-10 After the men had heard the king, they left to go to Bethlehem. They could see the same star that they had seen before. They were very happy when they saw the star. It moved along in front of them. Then it stopped above the place where the child was staying. 11 The men went into the house and they saw the child. He was with Mary, his mother. They went down on their knees in front of the child and they worshipped him. Then they opened their bags. They took out valuable gifts and they gave them to the child. The gifts were gold, incense called frankincense, and also myrrh.[b] 12 After that, God said to them in a dream, ‘Do not go back to see Herod again.’ So the men followed a different road to return to their own country.
Mary, Joseph and Jesus go to Egypt
13 After the men had gone away, Joseph had a dream. In the dream, he saw one of the Lord God's angels. The angel said to him, ‘Herod will look for the child, so that his soldiers can kill him. You must get up and take the child and his mother with you. Go immediately to Egypt. I will tell you when you can return again. You must remain there until then.’
14 So Joseph got up and he took the child and his mother with him. They started on the journey to Egypt that night. 15 They all remained in Egypt until Herod died. This happened so that the words of the prophet would become true. The Lord God had said by his prophet, ‘I have called my son to come out of Egypt.’[c]
Herod's soldiers kill the baby boys in Bethlehem
16 When the wise men did not return to Herod, he was very angry. He knew that they had deceived him. So he sent his men to Bethlehem. He said to them, ‘Kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem. Kill the boys who live near there too. Kill all the boys who are two years old or younger than that.’ The wise men had told Herod how long ago they had first seen the special star. So he decided to kill the baby boys of that age. 17 In this way, these words that God's prophet Jeremiah spoke long ago became true:[d]
18 ‘People heard a sad noise in Ramah.
Someone is weeping with a loud voice.
It is Rachel and she is weeping for her children.
Nobody can help her to stop weeping,
because her children are dead.’
Joseph, Mary and Jesus return to Israel
19 After Herod died, Joseph had a dream in Egypt. In the dream he saw one of the Lord God's angels. 20 The angel said to Joseph, ‘Get up. The people who wanted to kill the child are dead. Take the child and his mother. You can now return with them to Israel.’
21 So Joseph got up. He took the child and his mother and they travelled to Israel. 22 But then Joseph heard that Herod's son, Archelaus, was now king of Judea instead of his father. So Joseph was afraid to go to Judea. In another dream God showed Joseph that he should go to Galilee instead. 23 So Joseph went there and he lived in a town called Nazareth. Long ago God's prophets had said about God's Messiah, ‘He will be called a person from Nazareth.’ Now this had become true.
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