M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

14 Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the Israelite clans gave different parts of the land to each tribe of Israel. This tells about the land that each tribe received. ² The leaders used lots to decide which parts of the land God had chosen for each of the 9½ tribes. This is what the Lord had told Moses to do. ³ Moses had already given land east of the Jordan River to the other 2½ tribes. But he had not given any land to the Levites. ⁴ The descendants of Joseph had now become two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.^[a] The leaders gave the Levites towns to live in, with enough land near them to feed their animals. ⁵ The leaders of the Israelites gave a part of the land to each tribe, as the Lord had told Moses to do.

Joshua gives Hebron to Caleb

⁶ Some of the men of Judah's tribe came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb spoke to Joshua. He was the son of Jephunneh, a Kenizzite man. Caleb said, ‘You know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me, at Kadesh-Barnea. ⁷ I was 40 years old when Moses sent me from there to explore the land of Canaan. I brought back to him a true report. I was sure that we could take the land. ⁸ The other men who went with me made the people afraid. But I continued to trust the Lord my God. ⁹ So Moses made a promise to me on that day. He said, “The land that your feet have walked on will always belong to you and to your children. That is because you have trusted the Lord your God.”^[b]

¹⁰ The Lord has kept me alive for 45 years since Moses said this. During that time, the Israelites were travelling in the desert. Now I am 85 years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong as I was on the day that Moses sent me out. I can fight as well now as I could then. ¹² So please give to me this hill country that the Lord promised to me. You heard that the Anakites were living there then, in large, strong cities. But the Lord will help me to chase them out, as he has promised to do.’

¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb, Jephunneh's son. Joshua gave Hebron to him as his part of the land. ¹⁴ So since that day, Hebron has belonged to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite. He continued to trust the Lord, Israel's God. So Joshua gave him the land that he wanted. ¹⁵ (Before that, Hebron had been called ‘Kiriath Arba’. Arba was a famous Anakite.)

After that, there were no more battles in Canaan.

Land for Judah's tribe

15 This is the land that Joshua gave to the tribe of Judah, clan by clan. Their land went south along the border of Edom, as far as the wilderness of Zin in the Negev.

² The south border of Judah's land was from the south end of the Salt Sea. ³ It went across the south side of the Scorpion Hill, to Zin. From the south it went up to Kadesh-Barnea, as far as Hebron. Their border continued past Addar, and it turned towards Karka. ⁴ Then it went to Azmon and it continued to the Stream of Egypt. It finished at the sea. That was the south border of Judah's land.

⁵ Judah's east border went from the Salt Sea as far as the end of the Jordan River.

Their north border started from the end of the Jordan at the Salt Sea. ⁶ From there it went to Beth Hoglah. Then it went north of Beth Arabah to the stone of Bohan. (Bohan was a son of Reuben.) ⁷ The border went from the valley of Achor to Debir.^[c] Then it went north to Gilgal. Gilgal is opposite the Adummim hill, on the south side of the valley. Then it reached the springs of En Shemesh to En Rogel. ⁸ From there it went through the valley of Hinnom to the south side of a hill beside the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. Judah's border then continued to the top of the hill on the west side of the Hinnom valley. This was at the north end of the valley of the Rephaites. ⁹ From there it went to the springs of Nephtoah and onto the cities near Mount Ephron. It went towards Baalah (also called Kiriath-Jearim). ¹⁰ It went round Baalah towards the hills of Edom. It went north of Jearim mountain (also called Kesalon) down to Beth Shemesh, and it continued on past Timnah. ¹¹ Then it went out to the hills north of Ekron, and on towards Shikkeron. It went past Baalah mountain, as far as Jabneel. Judah's north border ended at the sea.

¹² The west border of Judah's land was the Mediterranean Sea.

Those were the borders of the land which Judah's tribe and its clans received.

Caleb takes the cities of Hebron and Debir^[d]

¹³ The Lord had told Joshua to give Kiriath Arba to Caleb, Jephunneh's son. That was the part of Judah's land that Caleb received. Arba was the father of Anak. Kiriath Arba was now called Hebron. ¹⁴ Caleb chased out the three sons of Anak from Hebron. Their names were Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. ¹⁵ From there he went to attack the people of Debir. (Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher). ¹⁶ Caleb said, ‘If a brave man attacks and takes Kiriath Sepher, he can marry my daughter, Acsah.’ ¹⁷ Othniel attacked the city and he took it. He was the son of Caleb's brother, Kenaz. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel, to be his wife.

¹⁸ After this, Acsah told Othniel that they should ask her father to give them some land. She went to see her father, Caleb. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’

¹⁹ She said, ‘Please be kind and give me a special gift. You have given me some land in the Negev desert. Now please give me a place with springs so that I have water for the land.’ So Caleb gave her some land with springs, on high land and on low land.

Judah's towns

²⁰ This is the land that Joshua gave to the clans of Judah's tribe.

²¹ These towns were in the south of Judah's land, near the border of Edom:

Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²² Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³ Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴ Ziph, Telem, and Bealoth. ²⁵ Also Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶ Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷ Hazar-Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet. ²⁸ Also Hazar-Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹ Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰ Eltolad, Kesil, Hormah, ³¹ Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³² Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain and Rimmon.

That is 29 towns with their villages.

³³ These towns were in the low hills in the west:

Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴ Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵ Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh and Azekah. ³⁶ Also he gave them Shaaraim, Adithaim and Gederah, (or Gederothaim).

There were 14 towns and villages.

³⁷ He gave them Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, ³⁸ Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, ³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰ Cabbon, Lahmas, and Kitlish. ⁴¹ Also he gave them Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah and Makkedah.

There were 16 towns and their villages.

⁴² He also gave them Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³ Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴ Keilah, Aczib and Mareshah.

There were nine towns with their villages.

⁴⁵ He also gave them Ekron with the houses and villages that belonged to it. ⁴⁶ And he gave them all those towns west of Ekron, near to Ashdod with their villages. ⁴⁷ And he gave them Ashdod and Gaza with their houses and villages. They had the land as far as the Stream of Egypt, and to the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸ These towns were in the hill country:

Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹ Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰ and Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹ Goshen, Holon and Giloh.

There were 11 towns and their villages.

⁵² He also gave them Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³ Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴ Humtah, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) and Zior.

There were nine towns and their villages.

⁵⁵ Also Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶ Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷ Kain, Gibeah and Timnah.

There were ten towns and their villages.

⁵⁸ And he gave them Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹ Maarath, Beth Anoth and Eltekon.

There were six towns and their villages.

⁶⁰ And Kiriath Baal, (that is, Kiriath-Jearim) and Rabbah.

There were two towns and their villages.

⁶¹ These towns were in the desert:

Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶² Nibshan, Salt city, and En Gedi.

There were six towns and their villages.

⁶³ But the men of Judah's tribe could not chase the Jebusites out of Jerusalem. As a result, the Jebusites still live there, together with the people of Judah.

The 1st Hallelujah Psalm^[a]

The 2nd Hallelujah Psalm

Jeremiah speaks in the Temple

7 The Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ² ‘Stand at the gate of the Lord's temple and speak this message. Say, “Listen to the Lord's message, all you people of Judah. You come through this gate to worship the Lord. ³ This is what the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says: Change the way that you live. Do things that are right. If you change, I will let you continue to live here. ⁴ People may say, ‘We are safe here! This is the temple of the Lord. It is the temple of the Lord!’ But the people who say that are deceiving you. Do not trust them. ⁵ You must change the way that you have been living. You must do what is right. Be fair to each other. ⁶ Do not be cruel to foreigners who are living among you. Do not be cruel to widows, or to children who have no family. You must stop murdering people. You must stop worshipping other gods. If you live like that, it will destroy you. ⁷ If you change how you live, I will let you live in this place. It is the land that I gave to your ancestors, to be their home for ever.

⁸ But look at how you live now! You believe in lies that cannot save you. ⁹ You rob people. You murder people. You have sex with someone else's wife or husband. You tell lies in court when you have promised to tell the truth. You offer sacrifices to the false god, Baal. You serve other gods that you never knew before. ¹⁰ You do that and then you come to meet me here, in my own house! You say, ‘We are safe!’ ¹¹ This is my temple! It is not a place where robbers can hide and be safe. Listen to me! I have seen the things that you have done.” That is what the Lord says.

¹² “Go to Shiloh, and see what I did there. It was the first place that I chose where people would worship me. But I destroyed it because of the wicked things that my people, the Israelites, did. ¹³ You have done the same wicked things. I have warned you many times, but you have not listened to me. I called out to you, but you refused to answer.” That is what the Lord says.

¹⁴ “So now I will destroy this temple that I chose to be my home. I gave this temple to you and to your ancestors. You think that it will keep you safe. But I will destroy it, as I destroyed Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will send you far away from me. I already did that to the other Israelites, the people of Ephraim's tribe.” ^[a]

¹⁶ Jeremiah, you must not pray for this people. Do not ask me to help them. If you ask me to save them, I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ You can see what they are doing in Jerusalem and in all the towns of Judah. ¹⁸ The children fetch wood and their fathers use it to light a fire. The women prepare flour to cook cakes. Then they offer them to the “Queen of Heaven”. And they offer gifts of drink to other false gods. They do that to make me angry. ¹⁹ But they are not hurting me. They are hurting themselves, and they will be ashamed.’ That is what the Lord says.

²⁰ The Lord God says, ‘Because I am so angry, I will punish this land very much. It will be like a fire that nobody can stop. My punishment will destroy people, animals, trees and crops.’

²¹ The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this to Judah's people: ‘You should eat the meat from your burnt offerings, as well as your other sacrifices. You are not offering them to me!^{[b] 22} Remember this: I brought your ancestors safely out of Egypt. Then I gave them my commands. Those commands were not only about burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ I also told them, “Obey me. Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. You must live in the way that I have commanded you. If you do that, you will enjoy your lives.” ²⁴ But your ancestors refused to obey me. They did anything that their wicked thoughts made them want to do. They refused to return to me. Instead, they went further away. ²⁵ Since the time that your ancestors left Egypt, I have sent my servants, the prophets to speak to you. I have continued to do that many times, even until now. ²⁶ But my people did not listen to me. They have refused to obey me. They have continued to do evil things, even worse than their ancestors did.’

²⁷ The Lord said to me, ‘Jeremiah, you must speak my message to them. But they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ So you must tell them, “The people of this nation have not obeyed the Lord their God. When I warned them, they have not agreed to change. Nobody does what is right. Nobody even speaks about what is true. ²⁹ Now show that you are upset. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Go to the tops of the hills and sing sad songs about death. Realize that today's people have made the Lord very angry. So he has decided to turn away from them and leave them.” ’

The valley of death

³⁰ The Lord says, ‘The people of Judah have done things that I see are evil. They have put their disgusting idols in my temple. That is the place that I chose to be my special home, and they have made it unclean. ³¹ They have built altars in Topheth, in Ben-Hinnom Valley. On those altars, they light fires to burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do that. I never even thought about it. ³² So listen to me! The time will soon come when people no longer call those places Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley. Instead, they will call it Death Valley. They will bury lots of dead people there. There will be no space left to bury any more people! ³³ Then the bodies of dead people will lie on the ground. Birds and animals will come and eat them. There will be nobody to chase them away. ³⁴ Jerusalem and all of Judah will become like a desert where nobody lives. There will be no noise of happy people. There will be no happy songs or marriage parties. The whole land will be quiet.’

Jesus goes into Jerusalem

21 Jesus and his 12 disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They came to the village called Bethphage.^[a] They were on the Mount of Olives.^[b] Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further.

² He said to them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will immediately see a donkey tied there with her young donkey. Undo the ropes and bring both the donkeys here to me. ³ Someone may ask you, “What are you doing?” Then say, “The Master needs them. He will send them back to you soon.” ’

⁴ A prophet had spoken a message from God about this long ago. Now it became true.

⁵ ‘Say to the people in Jerusalem,

⁶ So the two disciples went to the village. They did everything that Jesus had told them to do. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the young donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on the backs of the donkeys. Then Jesus got up and sat on one of them. ⁸ Many people in the crowd put their coats down on the road. Other people cut branches down from trees. They put these branches down on the road.^[d]

⁹ Many crowds of people went in front of Jesus and other people followed him. All of them were shouting,

¹⁰ When Jesus went into Jerusalem, everybody in the city had trouble in their minds. They were asking each other, ‘Who is this man?’

¹¹ The people in the crowd replied, ‘This is God's prophet, Jesus. He comes from Nazareth in Galilee.’

Jesus visits the temple

¹² Jesus then went into the yard of the temple.^[f] People were buying and selling things there. Jesus made them all leave that place. He pushed over the tables of the men who changed coins.^[g] He also pushed over the seats of the men who sold birds.

¹³ Jesus spoke to them all. He said, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people come together to pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’^[h]

¹⁴ Blind people went to meet Jesus in the yard of the temple. People who could not walk very well also went there. Jesus caused them all to become well. ¹⁵ The leaders of the priests and teachers of God's Law saw all the powerful things that Jesus did. They also saw children in the yard of the temple who were shouting, ‘Welcome! We pray that God will be good to you, Son of David!’ All these things caused the important Jews to become very angry.

¹⁶ They asked Jesus, ‘Can you hear what these children are saying?’

Jesus replied, ‘Yes, I can hear them. I am sure that you have read this in the Bible:

¹⁷ Then Jesus left everyone and he went out of Jerusalem. He stayed that night in Bethany, a village near the city.^[j]

Jesus causes a fruit tree to die

¹⁸ On the next day, early in the morning, Jesus left Bethany to return to Jerusalem. On the way there, he was hungry. ¹⁹ He saw a fig tree near to the road. He went to see if it had fruit on it. But there were only leaves on the tree, and no fruit. Jesus said to the tree, ‘No fruit will ever grow on you again!’ Then, immediately, the tree became dry and it died.

²⁰ The disciples saw it happen and they were very surprised. And they asked Jesus, ‘How did the tree die so quickly?’

²¹ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: You must believe in God. You must not have other ideas in your mind. If you believe in God, then you could also do the same thing to this fig tree. You could even say to this mountain, “Move away and throw yourself into the sea!” Then it would really happen. ²² So when you pray to ask God for something, believe in him. Then God will give you whatever you ask for.’

²³ Then Jesus returned to the yard of the temple. While he was teaching the people there, the leaders of the priests and important Jews went to him. They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Tell us. Who gave you the authority to do them?’

²⁴ Jesus replied, ‘I also will ask you one question. If you tell me the answer, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ²⁵ John baptized people. Did God give him the authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it?’ Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other about Jesus' question. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” ²⁶ But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority. All the people think that John was a prophet from God. We are afraid that the crowd might attack us.’

²⁷ So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’

Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’

Jesus tells a story about two sons

²⁸ Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, ‘Tell me what you think about this story. A man had two sons. He went to the older son and said, “Son, go and work in my field today.”

²⁹ The older son replied, “I do not want to go and work there today.” But after he had said that, he did go and work in the field.

³⁰ The man went to his other son and he said the same thing to him. The second son replied, “Yes, father, I will go.” But then he did not go to work in the field.

³¹ Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’

The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you. ³² John the Baptist came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him. But the men who take taxes did believe him. Prostitutes also believed him. Even after you saw this, you did not believe him. You did not change the way that you live.’

Jesus tells a story about a farmer

³³ Then Jesus said again to the Jewish leaders, ‘Listen to another story that I will tell you. There was a man who had his own farm. He planted vines in a garden to grow grapes there. He built a wall around the garden. He dug a hole in the ground for a winepress to make wine. He also built a tall building to watch over the garden.^[k]

The man then found some farmers to work in the garden for him. Then he went away to another country. ³⁴ When it was nearly time for the harvest, the master sent his servants to speak to the farmers. He wanted them to give him the fruit that was his. ³⁵ But the farmers took hold of the servants. They hit one of them with sticks. They killed another one. They threw stones at another servant and killed him. ³⁶ So the master sent other servants to go to the farmers. He sent more servants than the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to those servants too. ³⁷ After that, the master sent his own son to the farmers. He thought, “The farmers will surely respect my son.”

³⁸ The farmers saw the master's son coming. They said to each other, “This is the master's own son. The garden will belong to him when his father dies. So we should kill the son and then the garden will be ours.” ³⁹ Then the farmers took hold of the son. They threw him out of the garden and they killed him.’

⁴⁰ Jesus then said, ‘One day, the master will return to his garden. What do you think he will do then to those farmers?’

⁴¹ The Jewish leaders said to Jesus, ‘The master will completely destroy those bad people. Then he will give the garden to other farmers to take care of it. Those new farmers will give the master the fruit that he should have at the time of harvest.’

⁴² Jesus said to them, ‘I am sure that you have read this in the Bible:

⁴³ I tell you this: Because you do not believe in me, God will take his kingdom away from you. He will give it to people who show that they obey him.

⁴⁴ When a person falls onto that stone, it will break his body into pieces. When that stone falls on top of someone, it will destroy him completely.’^[n]

⁴⁵ The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees heard what Jesus said in his stories. They knew that he was speaking against them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to take hold of him and put him in prison. But they did not try to do it because they were afraid of the people. The people thought that Jesus was a prophet from God.