M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Joshua gives land to the other tribes
18 All the Israelite people met together at Shiloh.[a] There they put up the Tent of Meeting. They now ruled the whole land. 2 But there were still seven tribes that Joshua had not yet given a part of the land for themselves.
3 Joshua said to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you the land. How much longer will you wait before you take it? 4 Choose three men from each tribe. I will send them to look at the whole land, to see what it is like. They must describe each part and then bring a report back to me. 5 You must make it into seven parts. Judah's tribe will keep the land in the south. Joseph's two tribes will keep their land in the north.[b] Divide the rest of the land into seven parts. 6 See what the land is like and describe each of the seven parts. Bring your report to me. Then I will use lots to choose which tribe should receive each part of the land. The Lord our God will decide this. 7 The Levites will not have any land of their own. Their gift from the Lord is to serve him. Gad, Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh already have their land on the east side of the Jordan River. The Lord's servant, Moses, gave it to them.’
8 Before the men left, Joshua said to them, ‘Go and look carefully at the land. Describe what you see. Then bring your report back to me here in Shiloh. I will use lots so that the Lord decides how to share the land between you.’
9 So the men left and they travelled through the land. They described the land and each town and they wrote it in a book. They wrote about each of the seven parts of the land. Then they went back to Joshua at Shiloh, where the Israelites had put up their tents.
10 There at Shiloh, Joshua used lots to see how the Lord wanted to divide the land. He told each of the seven Israelite tribes which part of the land they would receive.
Land for Benjamin's tribe
11 The first part of the land was for Benjamin's tribe, clan by clan. Their land was between the land that Joshua had already given to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 The north border of their land began at the Jordan River, and it went up the hills to the north of Jericho. From there it went west into the hills, to the desert of Beth Aven. 13 Then their border continued to the south of Luz (that is Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar. That is on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.
14 From that hill, their west border went south to Kiriath Baal (that is Kiriath-Jearim). This town belonged to the people of Judah. That was the west border of Benjamin's land.
15 The south border went from the edge of Kiriath-Jearim to the springs of water at Nephtoah. 16 Then it went to the edge of the hill country, near Ben Hinnom valley. This was north of the Valley of the Rephaites. It continued down the Hinnom valley, south of the Jebusite city and then went on to En Rogel. 17 Then it went north to En Shemesh. It continued to Geliloth, opposite the valley of Adummim. Then it went to the great stone of Bohan, Reuben's son. 18 It continued to the north of Beth Arabah down into the Jordan Valley. 19 Then it went north of Ben Hoglah, to the north end of the Salt Sea, where the Jordan River ends. That was the south border of Benjamin's land.
20 The east border of their land was the Jordan River.
Those are the borders of the land that Joshua gave to the families of Benjamin's tribe.
21 These are the cities that Joshua gave to the tribe of Benjamin:
Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar, Ammoni, Ophni and Geba.
There were 12 towns and their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath.
There were 14 towns and their villages.
Joshua gave these cities to Benjamin's tribe, for each clan to live in.
Land for Simeon's tribe
19 The second part of the land was for Simeon's tribe, clan by clan. Their land was in the middle of Judah's land. 2 It included these towns:
Beersheba (also called Sheba), Moladah, 3 Hazar-Shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar-Susah, 6 Beth Lebaoth and Sharuhen.
There were 13 towns and their villages.
7 He also gave them Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan.
There were four towns and their villages. 8 This included all the villages near them as far as Baalath Beer (also called Ramah, in the Negev).
That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Simeon's tribe. 9 Because Judah had received more land than they needed, Joshua took some of their land for Simeon. So Simeon's tribe lived inside the land that Joshua had given to Judah.[c]
Land for Zebulun's tribe
10 The next part of the land was for Zebulun's tribe, clan by clan. The border of their land went as far as Sarid. 11 Then it went west to Maralah, it touched Dabbesheth, and it went to the valley near Jokneam. 12 From Sarid their border went east to the land of Kisloth Tabor. Then it went to Daberath and it continued up to Japhia. 13 From there, it went east to Gath Hepher and Eth Kazin. It went on to Rimmon, and turned to go to Neah. 14 The border went north to Hannathon and stopped at the valley of Iphtah El. 15 Their land included these towns: Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem.
There were 12 towns and their villages.
16 That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Zebulun's tribe, as well as the towns and their villages.
Land for Issachar's tribe
17 The next part of the land was for Issachar's tribe, clan by clan. 18 Their land included Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem, 19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah and Beth Pazzez. 22 The border of their land touched Tabor, Shahazumah and Beth Shemesh. It ended at the Jordan River.
There were 16 towns and their villages.
23 That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Issachar's tribe, as well as the towns and their villages.
Land for Asher's tribe
24 The next part of the land was for Asher's tribe, clan by clan. 25 Their land included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Acshaph, 26 Allammelech, Amad and Mishal. The west border of their land touched Carmel and Shihor Libnath. 27 Then it went east towards Beth Dagon, to touch Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah El. Then their border went north to Beth Emek and Neiel. It continued to Cabul in the north. 28 It went to Abdon, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon. 29 Then the border turned towards Ramah, and it went as far as the strong city of Tyre. Then it turned to Hosah and it ended at the Mediterranean Sea. Their towns included Hebel, Aczib, 30 Ummah, Aphek and Rehob. They received 22 towns and their villages.
31 That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Asher's tribe, as well as the towns and their villages.
Land for Naphtali's tribe
32 The sixth part of the land was for Naphtali's tribe, clan by clan.
33 The border of their land went from Heleph and the big oak tree in Zaanannim. It went to Adami Nekeb and Jabneel, and it continued to Lakkum. It ended at the Jordan River. 34 The border turned west to Aznoth Tabor and it continued to Hukkok. It touched Zebulun's land on its south side, Asher's land on its west side and the Jordan River on its east side. 35 Their land included these strong cities: Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath and Kinnereth, 36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37 Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, 38 Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath and Beth Shemesh. They received 19 towns and their villages.
39 That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Naphtali's tribe, as well as the towns and their villages.
Land for Dan's tribe
40 The seventh part of the land was for Dan's tribe, clan by clan. 41 Their land included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath-Rimmon, 46 Me Jarkon and Rakkon. They also received land in front of Joppa.
47 (But later, the people of Dan failed to take their land and keep it. So they went to attack Leshem. They took the town and they killed its people. Then they lived there themselves. They called the city Dan, after their ancestor.)
48 That was the land that Joshua gave to the families of Dan's tribe, as well as the towns and their villages.
Land for Joshua
49 When all the tribes had received their part of the land, the Israelites gave to Joshua, son of Nun, some land for himself. 50 This is what the Lord had told them to do. Joshua asked to have Timnah Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So they gave it to him. He built up the town and he lived in it.
51 That is the list of all the pieces of land that each tribe received. Eleazar the priest, Joshua, son of Nun, and the Israelite leaders used lots to decide which part of the land was for each tribe. They did this in Shiloh, in front of the Tent of Meeting. The Lord was there with them. In that way, they finished giving each tribe a part of the land.
The 4th Hallelujah Psalm
149 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to worship the Lord.
When his own people meet together,
they should praise him.
2 People of Israel, be very happy,
because God made you.
People of Zion, be very happy,
because God is your king.
3 Yes, dance to praise the name of the Lord.
Take your harps and tambourines
and make music to praise him with your songs.
4 When the Lord's people serve him,
it makes him happy.
He is happy to help humble people,
so that people respect them.
5 The people who belong to God should be very happy,
because he has made them great.
They should always sing with joy,
even when they lie on their beds at night.
6 They should shout aloud to praise God,
while they hold sharp swords in their hands.
7 That is how they must fight against other nations,
to punish them for their sins.
8 They must tie up the foreign kings with chains,
and put the rulers in prison.
9 They must do that to punish their enemies
in the way that is right.
That is how God will cause his people to become great.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The 5th Hallelujah Psalm[a]
150 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him high in the sky,
where he shows his great strength.
2 Praise God for the great things that he has done.
Praise him because he is great and powerful.
3 Praise him with music!
Yes! Use trumpets, harps and lyres
to praise God![b]
4 Dance and hit drums to praise him!
Make music with harps and flutes
to praise him!
5 Make music with big cymbals and small cymbals
to praise him!
6 Everything that is alive should praise the Lord.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
9 ‘My head should be like a pool of water.
My eyes should be like a river of tears.
Then I would never stop crying
for my dear people who have died in war.
2 I would like to live in a hut in the desert.
Then I could leave my people.
I could forget about them.
They have all turned away from God.
They have not been faithful to him.
They are a crowd of people that nobody can trust.’
The Lord answers Jeremiah
3 The Lord says,
‘The tongues of these people speak lies,
like the bows of soldiers shoot arrows.
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have used lies to do that.
They do more and more evil things,
and they do not respect me.
4 Be careful of your friends.
Do not even trust your brothers!
They will always try to cheat you.
All your friends will speak lies about you.
5 They deceive each other,
and they never tell the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies.
They love to do bad things
and they cannot stop themselves.
6 They hurt and they deceive each other.
They do that more and more.
They refuse to respect me.’
That is what the Lord says.
7 So the Lord Almighty says this:
‘Listen! I will test my people,
like a man uses fire to make metal become pure.
I must punish them like this because they are so wicked.
There is nothing else that I can do!
8 Their tongues are like arrows that have poison.
They hurt people with their lies.
They speak kind words to their neighbours,
but they are looking for a way to cheat them.
9 I must certainly punish them for what they have done.
I will pay back this wicked nation for their sins.’
That is what the Lord says.
Jeremiah is sad
10 ‘I will weep for the mountains.
I will cry for the fields in the wilderness.
There is no grass for the animals to eat.
Nobody travels through those places.
There is no sound of cows and sheep.
The birds and the wild animals have all disappeared.’
11 The Lord replied,
‘I will make Jerusalem a heap of stones.
Only wild animals will live there.
I will destroy the towns of Judah
so that nobody can live in them.’
12 I said,
‘Nobody is wise enough to understand this. The Lord has not told anyone, so that he can explain it to others. Why has our land become like a desert so that nobody travels through it? Does anyone know the answer?’
13 The Lord answered, ‘It is because my people have not accepted the laws that I gave to them. They have not obeyed me. They have not lived in the way that I told them to live. 14 Instead, they have done whatever they wanted to do. They have served the gods of Baal, as their ancestors taught them to do.’ 15 So the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: ‘I will punish my people with trouble and pain. I will give them food that is bitter. They will drink water that is poison. 16 I will send them away as prisoners. They will live among foreign nations that they had never heard about. Their ancestors had not heard about them either. I will send enemies to chase after them until I have destroyed them.’
17 The Lord Almighty said this:
‘Think about what is happening!
Call the women who weep at funerals.
Bring those women who know what to do.’
18 ‘Yes, tell them to come quickly
to sing funeral songs for us.[a]
Then tears will pour from our eyes,
and we will not stop weeping.
19 Listen to the people who are crying in Jerusalem!
They say,
“A terrible thing has happened to us!
We are very ashamed!
Our enemies have destroyed our houses.
Now we have to leave our land.” ’
20 ‘Now hear the Lord's message, you women.
Listen to what he says to you.
Teach your daughters how to weep.
Teach each other this funeral song:
21 “Death has come to visit us!
It has come into our strong houses.
Death has taken away our children
who play in the streets.
It has taken away our young men
who meet together in the streets.”
22 The Lord says this:
Dead bodies of people will lie everywhere on the ground.
They will lie there like dung
that a farmer puts on his fields.
They will lie there like crops at harvest time
that nobody has picked up.’
23 The Lord says,
‘Wise people should not be proud of their wisdom.
Powerful people should not be proud of their power.
And rich people should not be proud that they are rich.
24 If they want to be proud about something,
they should be proud that they know me.
They should boast that they understand who I am.
I am the Lord.
I am faithful in my love for my people.
I always do what is right and fair.
It makes me happy when people live in that way too.’
25 The Lord says, ‘Be careful! Very soon I will punish all people who do not respect me. Those people may be circumcised, but if they do not respect me, I will punish them. 26 Those people include the Egyptians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the people of Judah. I will also punish the people who live in the desert and who cut their hair short. Those people are not circumcised to give honour to me. The Israelites are the same. Their bodies are circumcised, but they do not want to obey my covenant with them.’
Jesus talks about dangerous teachers
23 After that, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 2 He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees have authority to explain the Law of Moses. 3 So you must obey everything that they teach you. But you should not do the same things that they do. They tell you what the Law of Moses teaches. But then they themselves do not obey it. 4 The rules that they give you are difficult to obey. Their rules are like heavy luggage, which they make you carry. But they themselves will not help you to carry that luggage. They will not agree to use even one finger to help you.[a]
5 The Pharisees do things only so that people will see them. They wear little boxes with words from the Bible in them, but they make them really big. They also make the tassels on their clothes very long.[b] 6 They like to sit in the important places at special meals. They also choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting places. 7 They like people to praise them in the market place. They want people to call them “Teacher.”
8 You all belong to God's family. You have only one Teacher. So nobody should call another person, “Teacher”.[c] 9 Also, do not call any other person in the world, “Father”. You have only one Father, and he is in heaven.[d] 10 And do not call each other “Leader”. You have only one Leader. He is the Messiah that God has chosen. 11 The person among you who is most important will be your servant. 12 Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
Jesus speaks against the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees
13 Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees. ‘It will be very bad for you,’ he said. ‘You are hypocrites! You have stopped people who wanted to go into the kingdom of heaven. It is like you have shut the door so that they cannot go in. Then you yourselves do not even go in.
14 [It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.][e]
15 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You travel far across land and sea. You do this to make one person believe what you believe. Then, when he does believe your ideas, he becomes worse than you are. He shows that he belongs to hell even more than you do.
16 It will be very bad for you, teachers. You cannot see what is true, but you show people which way to go.[f] You say to people, “You may make a promise by the name of the temple. Then it is not a serious promise. You do not have to do it. But you may also make a promise by the gold things in the temple. Then it is a serious promise, and you must do it.” 17 This shows that you are fools. You do not understand what is true. Think about which of these is more important. Is it the gold things in the temple? Or is it the temple itself? It is the temple that makes the gold things special. 18 You also say to people, “You may make a promise by the altar in the temple. Then it is not a serious promise. You do not have to do it. But you may also make a promise by the gifts on that altar. Then it is a serious promise and you must do it.” 19 You are people who cannot understand what is true. Think about which of these things is more important. Is it the gifts on the altar? Or is it the altar itself? It is the altar that makes the gifts special. 20 Remember this: Somebody may make a promise by the name of the altar. Then he is making a promise by God's name. The altar as well as all the gifts on it are special to God. 21 Also, somebody may make a promise by the name of the temple. Then he is making a promise in the name of God, who lives there. 22 Or somebody may make a promise by heaven. Then he is making a promise by the place where God sits and rules. So he is making a promise by the name of God himself.[g]
23 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not obey the more important parts of God's Law. You do not help people in a good way. You are not kind to them. You do not always do what God says is right. You should have done these important things as well as the other small things. 24 You are like blind people, but you show other people which way to go. You carefully take a small fly out of your water so that you do not drink it. But then you drink the large animal that is swimming in it![h]
25 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You always clean the outside of your cups and plates very carefully. You only clean the outside part that people can see. But on the inside, everything is still dirty. Inside you, your minds are full of bad thoughts. You want to have more things for yourself. You hurt other people to get what you want. 26 Pharisees, you do not see what is true! You must first clean the inside of the cup. Then the outside that people can see will also be clean.
27 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You are like a grave that has nice white paint on the outside and it looks beautiful. But on the inside it is full of bones and disgusting things. 28 You are the same as that. Other people look at you. They think that you are good and you obey God. But on the inside you are hypocrites. Your minds are full of many bad thoughts.
29 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You build up the places where people have buried God's prophets. You make the places where they have buried good people to be beautiful. 30 You say, “Our ancestors killed God's prophets long ago. If we had lived at that time, we would not have helped our ancestors to do that.” 31 So you are speaking against yourselves. You show that you are the sons of those people who killed God's prophets. 32 Now you must finish the work that your ancestors began to do!
33 You are like a family of dangerous snakes! You will not be able to run away. God will surely punish you, and he will send you to hell. 34 So listen to this. God says, “I will send prophets to you. I will also send to you people who know many things. And I will send people to teach you what is true. But you will kill some of these people. You will kill some of them on a cross. In the places where you meet to pray, you will hit some of them with whips. They will run from one town to another town, but you will follow them.” 35 Because of all this, God will punish you for all the good people that you and your ancestors have killed. Long ago, Abel was the first of those good people. You also killed Zechariah, the son of Berekiah. He died in the yard of the temple near the altar.[i] 36 Yes, I tell you this: God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed God's prophets. They have thrown stones to kill other people that God has sent to you. Many times, I have wanted to bring all of your people near to me. A female bird covers her babies with her body to make them safe. But you would not let me keep you from danger like that. 38 So listen! Your place will now become like a wilderness where nobody lives. 39 And I tell you this. You will not see me again until the day when you say, “May the Lord God bless the man who comes with his authority!” ’[j]
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