M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God’s Promises for Those Who Keep His Laws
26 The Lord continued, “Never make worthless idols or set up a carved statue or a sacred stone for yourselves. Never cut figures in stone to worship them in your country, because I am Yahweh your Elohim. 2 Observe my days of worship and respect my holy tent. I am Yahweh.
3 “This is what I will do if you will live by my laws and carefully obey my commands:
4 “I will give you rain at the right time. The land will produce its crops, and the trees in the field will produce their fruit. 5 Threshing[a] time will last until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until planting. You will eat all you want and live securely in your land.
6 “I will bring peace to your land. You will lie down with no one to scare you. I will remove dangerous animals, and there will be no war in your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and you will defeat them. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred of them, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them. You will defeat your enemies, 9 and I will be pleased with you. Your families will be large, and I will keep my promise[b] to you. 10 You will clear out old food supplies to make room for new ones.
11 “I will put my tent among you, and I will never look at you with disgust. 12 So I will live among you and be your Elohim, and you will be my people. 13 I am Yahweh your Elohim. I brought you out of Egypt so that you are no longer slaves of the Egyptians. I have broken their power over you and made you live as a free people.
God’s Curses for Those Who Break His Laws
14 “If you will not listen to me and obey all these commands, 15 if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commands, 16 then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them. 17 I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you.
18 “If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. 19 I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. 20 You will work hard for nothing because your land will produce no crops and the trees will produce no fruit.
21 “If you resist and don’t listen to me, I will increase the punishment for your sins seven times. 22 I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted.
23 “If this discipline does not help and you still resist, 24 then I, too, will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins. 25 I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise that you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy. 26 I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry.
27 “If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, 28 I will fiercely resist you. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. 29 You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. 30 I will destroy your worship sites, cut down your incense altars, and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will look at you with disgust. 31 I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. 32 I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted.
34 “Then the land will enjoy its time to honor the Lord while it lies deserted and you are in your enemies’ land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor the Lord. 35 All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time to honor the Lord it never celebrated while you lived there. 36 I will fill with despair those who are left in the land of their enemies. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them. 37 They will stumble over each other, but no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies. 38 They will be destroyed among the nations. The land of their enemies will devour them. 39 Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
God Will Remember His Promise
40 “But if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—the treacherous things they did to oppose me— 41 I will oppose them and bring them into the lands of their enemies. Then, if they humble their uncircumcised hearts and accept their guilt, 42 I will remember my promise to Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. I will also remember the land. 43 The land, abandoned by them, will enjoy its time to honor the Lord while it lies deserted without them. They must accept their guilt because they rejected my rules and looked at my laws with disgust. 44 Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or look at them with disgust. I will not reject or cancel my promise to them, because I am Yahweh their Elohim. 45 But for their sake, I will remember the promise to their ancestors. I brought them out of Egypt to be their Elohim while nations looked on. I am Yahweh.”
46 These are the laws, rules, and instructions that Yahweh gave to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.
Psalm 33
1 Joyfully sing to Yahweh, you righteous people.
Praising the Lord is proper for decent people.
2 Give thanks with a lyre to Yahweh.
Make music for him on a ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing a new song to him.
Play beautifully and joyfully on stringed instruments.
4 The word of Yahweh is correct,
and everything he does is trustworthy.
5 Yahweh loves righteousness and justice.
His mercy fills the earth.
6 The heavens were made by the word of Yahweh
and all the stars by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the water in the sea like a dam
and puts the oceans in his storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 He spoke, and it came into being.
He gave the order, and there it stood.
10 Yahweh blocks the plans of the nations.
He frustrates the schemes of the people of the world.
11 Yahweh’s plan stands firm forever.
His thoughts stand firm in every generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose Elohim is Yahweh.
Blessed are the people he has chosen as his own.
13 Yahweh looks down from heaven.
He sees all of Adam’s descendants.
14 From the place where he sits enthroned,
he looks down upon all who live on earth.
15 The one who formed their hearts
understands everything they do.
16 No king achieves a victory with a large army.
No warrior rescues himself by his own great strength.
17 Horses are not a guarantee for victory.
Their great strength cannot help someone escape.
18 Yahweh’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy
19 to rescue their souls from death
and keep them alive during a famine.
20 We wait for Yahweh.
He is our help and our Magen.
21 In him our hearts find joy.
In his holy name we trust.
22 Let your mercy rest on us, O Yahweh,
since we wait with hope for you.
Everything Is in the Hands of God
9 Now, I have carefully thought about all this, and I explain it in this way: Righteous people and wise people, along with their accomplishments, are in Elohim’s hands. No one knows whether there will be love or hatred. 2 Everything turns out the same way for everyone. All people will share the same destiny, whether they are righteous, wicked, or good, clean or unclean,[a] whether they offer sacrifices or don’t offer sacrifices. Good people are treated like sinners. People who take oaths are treated like those who are afraid to take oaths.
Where There’s Life, There’s Hope
3 This is the tragedy of everything that happens under the sun: Everyone shares the same destiny. Moreover, the hearts of mortals are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they are still alive. After that, they join the dead. 4 But all who are among the living have hope, because a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 The living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no more reward for the dead when the memory of them has faded. 6 Their love, their hate, and their passions have already vanished. They will never again take part in anything that happens under the sun.
Enjoy Life with Your Wife
7 Go, enjoy eating your food, and drink your wine cheerfully, because Elohim has already accepted what you’ve done. 8 Always wear clean clothes, and never go without lotion on your head. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, during all your brief, pointless life. Elohim has given you your pointless life under the sun. This is your lot in life and what you get for the hard work that you do under the sun.
Work with All Your Might
10 Whatever presents itself for you to do, do it with all your might, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or skill in the grave where you’re going.
Time and Unpredictable Events
11 I saw something else under the sun. The race isn’t won by fast runners, or the battle by heroes. Wise people don’t necessarily have food. Intelligent people don’t necessarily have riches, and skilled people don’t necessarily receive special treatment. But time and unpredictable events overtake all of them. 12 No one knows when his time will come. Like fish that are caught in a cruel net or birds caught in a snare, humans are trapped by a disaster when it suddenly strikes them.
Wisdom Is Despised
13 I also have seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it made a deep impression on me. 14 There was a small town with a few soldiers in it, and a powerful king came to attack it. He surrounded it and blockaded it. 15 A poor, wise person was found in that town. He saved the town using his wisdom. But no one remembered that poor person. 16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,” even though that poor person’s wisdom was despised, and no one listened to what he said.
17 One should pay more attention to calm words from wise people than shouting from a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.
Greeting
1 From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Yeshua Christ. I was sent to lead God’s chosen people to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to a godly life. 2 My message is based on the confidence of eternal life. God, who never lies, promised this eternal life before the world began. 3 God has revealed this in every era by spreading his word. I was entrusted with this word by the command of God our Savior.
4 To Titus, a genuine child in the faith we share.
Good will[a] and peace from God the Father and from Christ Yeshua our Savior are yours!
Guidelines for Leaders in the Church
5 I left you in Crete to do what still needed to be done—appointing spiritual leaders[b] in every city as I directed you. 6 A spiritual leader must have a good reputation. He must have only one wife and have children who are believers. His children shouldn’t be known for having wild lifestyles or being rebellious. 7 Because a bishop[c] is a supervisor appointed by God, he must have a good reputation. He must not be a stubborn or irritable person. He must not drink too much or be a violent person. He must not use shameful ways to make money. 8 Instead, he must be hospitable, love what is good, use good judgment, be fair and moral, and have self-control. 9 He must be devoted to the trustworthy message we teach. Then he can use these accurate teachings to encourage people and correct those who oppose the word.
Correct Whoever Teaches What Is Wrong
10 There are many believers, especially converts from Judaism, who are rebellious. They speak nonsense and deceive people. 11 They must be silenced because they are ruining whole families by teaching what they shouldn’t teach. This is the shameful way they make money.
12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, savage animals, and lazy gluttons.” 13 That statement is true. For this reason, sharply correct believers so that they continue to have faith that is alive and well. 14 They shouldn’t pay attention to Jewish myths or commands given by people who are always rejecting the truth. 15 Everything is clean[d] to those who are clean. But nothing is clean to corrupt unbelievers. Indeed, their minds and their consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but they deny him by what they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit to do anything good.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.