M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Teachings about Vows
30 [a]Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel, “This is what Yahweh has commanded about vows: 2 If a man makes a vow to Yahweh that he will do something or swears an oath that he won’t do something, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said he would do.
3 “A young girl, who still lives in her father’s house, might make a vow to Yahweh that she will do something or swear an oath that she won’t do something. 4 If her father says nothing to her when he hears about it, her vow or oath must be kept. 5 But if her father objects when he hears about it, her vow or oath doesn’t have to be kept. Yahweh will free her from this vow or oath because her father objected.
6 “An unmarried woman might make a vow that she will do something or carelessly promise that she won’t do something. When she marries, 7 her husband may hear about it but say nothing to her. Then her vow or oath must be kept. 8 But if her husband objects when he hears about it, he can cancel the vow or promise she made. Yahweh will free her from this vow or promise.
9 “But a widow or a divorced woman must keep her vow or her promise.
10 “A married woman might make a vow that she will do something or swear an oath that she won’t do something. 11 Her husband may hear about it but may say nothing and not object. Then her vow or oath must be kept. 12 But if her husband cancels it when he hears about it, nothing she said in her vow or oath has to be kept. Her husband has canceled it, and Yahweh will free her from this vow or oath.
13 “A husband decides whether or not his wife has to keep any vow to do something or any oath to do without something. 14 If he says nothing to her about it day after day, this means he’s decided that she must keep her vow or oath. She must keep it because he said nothing to her when he heard about it. 15 But if he cancels it later, he will suffer the consequences.”
16 These are the laws Yahweh gave Moses for husbands and wives, and for fathers with young daughters still living at home.
Psalm 74
A maskil[a] by Asaph.
1 Why, O Elohim, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger
smolder against the sheep in your care?
2 Remember your congregation.
Long ago you made it your own.
You bought this tribe to be your possession.
This tribe is Mount Zion, where you have made your home.
3 Turn your steps toward[b] these pathetic ruins.
The enemy has destroyed everything in the holy temple.
4 Your opponents have roared inside your meeting place.
They have set up their own emblems as symbols.
5 Starting from its entrance, they hacked away
like a woodcutter in a forest.[c]
6 They smashed all its carved paneling with axes and hatchets.
7 They burned your holy place to the ground.
They dishonored the place where you live among us.
8 They said to themselves, “We will crush them.”
They burned every meeting place of El in the land.
9 We no longer see miraculous signs.
There are no prophets anymore.
No one knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O Elohim, will the enemy insult us?
Will the enemy despise you forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, especially your right hand?
Take your hands out of your pockets.
Destroy your enemies![d]
12 And yet, from long ago Elohim has been my Melek,
the one who has been victorious throughout the earth.
13 You stirred up the sea with your own strength.
You smashed the heads of sea monsters in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan[e]
and gave them to the creatures of the desert for food.
15 You opened the springs and brooks.
You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day and the night are yours.
You set the moon and the sun in their places.
17 You determined all the boundaries of the earth.
You created summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy insulted you, O Yahweh.
Remember how an entire nation of godless fools despised your name.
19 Do not hand over the soul of your dove to wild animals.
Do not forget the life of your oppressed people forever.
20 Consider your promise[f]
because every dark corner of the land is filled with violence.
21 Do not let oppressed people come back in disgrace.
Let weak and needy people praise your name.
22 Arise, O Elohim!
Fight for your own cause!
Remember how godless fools insult you all day long.
23 Do not forget the shouting of your opponents.
Do not forget the uproar made by those who attack you.
Judah Will Be Punished
22 This is the divine revelation about the valley of Vision.
What’s the matter with you?
Why do all of you go up on the roofs?
2 You are a city filled with shouting,
a town filled with noise and excitement.
Your people weren’t killed with swords.
Your dead didn’t die in battle.
3 All your leaders fled together
and were captured without their bows and arrows.
All those who were found were taken prisoner
before any of them could get far away.
4 That is why I say,
“Turn away from me
so that I can cry bitterly.
Don’t try to comfort me
because of the destruction brought on my people.”
5 Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth has chosen a special day.
It will be a day of confusion and trampling
in the valley of Vision,
a day of tearing down walls and crying for help
in the mountains.
6 Elam takes its quiver of arrows,
manned chariots, and horsemen.
Kir uncovers its shields.
7 Then your fertile valleys will be filled with chariots,
and horsemen will stand ready in front of the gate.
8 On that day Yahweh will remove the defenses of Judah.
You will look for weapons in the House of the Forest.[a]
9 You will see how many places in David’s wall are broken.
You will store water in the Lower Pool.
10 You will count the houses in Jerusalem.
You will tear down those houses in order to fortify the walls.
11 You will build a reservoir between the two walls
to hold the water of the Old Pool.
You didn’t look to Jerusalem’s maker.
You didn’t see the one who formed it long ago.
12 On that day Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth
will call for crying and for mourning,
for shaving your heads and for wearing sackcloth.
13 Instead, you will rejoice, celebrate,
slaughter cattle, and butcher sheep.
You will eat meat, drink wine, and say,
“Let’s eat and drink because tomorrow we’re going to die.”
14 Yahweh Tsebaoth revealed this to me: “Certainly, this wrong will not be forgiven even when you die,” says Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth.
Shebna’s Position Will Be Given to Eliakim
15 This is what Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
Go to Shebna, the man in charge of the palace, and say to him,
16 “What are you doing here?
What right do you have to dig a tomb for yourself?
What right do you have to cut it out in a prominent place?
What right do you have to carve out
a resting place for yourself in the rock?
17 Look, mighty man!
Yahweh will throw you out.
He will grab you.
18 He will wrap you up tightly like a turban.
He will throw you far away into another land.
There you will die.
There your splendid chariots will remain.
There you will become a disgrace to your master’s household.
19 “I will remove you from your office
and do away with your position.
20 When that day comes, I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
21 I will dress him in your linen robe
and fasten it with your belt.
I will give him your authority,
and he will be like a father to those who live in Jerusalem
and to the nation of Judah.
22 I will place the key of the house of David around his neck.
What he opens no one will shut.
What he shuts no one will open.
23 I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg,
and he will be a source of honor for his father’s household.
24 They will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s household,
descendants and offspring and all the little utensils,
from bowls to jars of every kind.”
25 Yahweh Tsebaoth declares,
“On that day the peg which I firmly fastened in place will be removed.
It will be cut off and will fall,
and everything hanging on it will be destroyed.”
Yahweh has spoken.
Be Ready for the Day of the Lord
3 Dear friends, this is the second letter I’m writing to you. In both letters I’m trying to refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and what the Lord and Savior commanded you through your apostles.
3 First, you must understand this: In the last days people who follow their own desires will appear. These disrespectful people will ridicule God’s promise 4 by saying, “What’s happened to his promise to return? Ever since our ancestors died, everything continues as it did from the beginning of the world.”
5 They are deliberately ignoring one fact: Because of God’s word, heaven and earth existed a long time ago. The earth appeared out of water and was kept alive by water. 6 Water also flooded and destroyed that world. 7 By God’s word, the present heaven and earth are designated to be burned. They are being kept until the day ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.
8 Dear friends, don’t ignore this fact: One day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord isn’t slow to do what he promised, as some people think. Rather, he is patient for your sake. He doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act.
10 The day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day heaven will pass away with a roaring sound. Everything that makes up the universe will burn and be destroyed. The earth and everything that people have done on it will be exposed.[a]
11 All these things will be destroyed in this way. So think of the kind of holy and godly lives you must live 12 as you look forward to the day of God and eagerly wait for it to come. When that day comes, heaven will be on fire and will be destroyed. Everything that makes up the universe will burn and melt. 13 But we look forward to what God has promised—a new heaven and a new earth—a place where everything that has God’s approval lives.
14 Therefore, dear friends, with this to look forward to, make every effort to have him find you at peace, without spiritual stains or blemishes. 15 Think of our Lord’s patience as an opportunity for us to be saved. This is what our dear brother Paul wrote to you about, using the wisdom God gave him. 16 He talks about this subject in all his letters. Some things in his letters are hard to understand. Ignorant people and people who aren’t sure of what they believe distort what Paul says in his letters the same way they distort the rest of the Scriptures. These people will be destroyed.
17 Dear friends, you already know these things. So be on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of people who have no principles. Then you won’t fall from your firm position. 18 But grow in the good will[b] and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua Christ. Glory belongs to him now and for that eternal day! Amen.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.