M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel Told Never to Forget God

8 Be careful to obey every command I give you today. Then you will live, and your population will increase. You will enter and take possession of the land that Yahweh promised to your ancestors with an oath.

² Remember that for 40 years Yahweh your Elohim led you on your journey in the desert. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey his commands. ³ So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that Yahweh speaks. ⁴ Your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t swell these past 40 years. ⁵ Learn this lesson by heart: Yahweh your Elohim was disciplining you as parents discipline their children. ⁶ Obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim. Follow his directions, and fear him.

⁷ Yahweh your Elohim is bringing you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that don’t dry up. There are springs and underground streams flowing through the valleys and hills. ⁸ The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. ⁹ The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore, and you will be able to mine copper ore in the hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten all you want, thank Yahweh your Elohim for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ Be careful that you don’t forget Yahweh your Elohim. Don’t fail to obey his commands, rules, and laws that I’m giving you today. ¹² You will eat all you want. You will build nice houses and live in them. ¹³ Your herds and flocks, silver and gold, and everything else you have will increase. ¹⁴ When this happens, be careful that you don’t become arrogant and forget Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹⁵ He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous desert—a thirsty and arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He was the one who made water come out of solid rock for you. ¹⁶ He was the one who fed you in the desert with manna, which your ancestors had never seen. He did this in order to humble you and test you. But he also did this so that things would go well for you in the end. ¹⁷ You may say to yourselves, “I became wealthy because of my own ability and strength.” ¹⁸ But remember Yahweh your Elohim is the one who makes you wealthy. He’s confirming the promise^[a] which he swore to your ancestors. It’s still in effect today.

¹⁹ I warn you today that if you forget Yahweh your Elohim and follow other gods, and if you serve them and bow down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰ Yahweh is going to destroy other nations as you enter the land. You will be destroyed like them if you don’t obey Yahweh your Elohim.

Psalm 91

The Lord Rescues Judah from the Assyrians^(A)

36 In Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman’s Field.

³ Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander. ⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident? ⁵ You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom, then, do you trust for support in your rebellion against me? ⁶ Look! When you trust Egypt, you’re trusting a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) is like for everyone who trusts him. ⁷ Suppose you tell me, “We’re trusting Yahweh our Elohim.” He’s the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “Worship at this altar.”’

⁸ “Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them. ⁹ How can you defeat my master’s lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?

¹⁰ “Have I come to destroy this country without Yahweh on my side? Yahweh said to me, ‘Attack this country, and destroy it.’”

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, “Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening.”

¹² But the field commander asked, “Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Didn’t he send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?”

¹³ Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴ This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He can’t rescue you. ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah get you to trust Yahweh by saying, ‘Yahweh will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.’ ¹⁶ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out, and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern. ¹⁷ Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It’s a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying to you, ‘Yahweh will rescue us.’ Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my control? ²⁰ Did the gods of these countries rescue them from my control? Could Yahweh then rescue Jerusalem from my control?”

²¹ They were silent and didn’t say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.

²² Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.

The Lamb Opens the First Six Seals

6 I watched as the lamb opened the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Go!” ² Then I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow. He was given a crown and rode off as a warrior to win battles.

³ When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Go!” ⁴ A second horse went out. It was fiery red. Its rider was given the power to take peace away from the earth and to make people slaughter one another. So he was given a large sword.

⁵ When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Go!” I looked, and there was a black horse, and its rider held a scale. ⁶ I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay or three quarts of barley for a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine.”

⁷ When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Go!” ⁸ I looked, and there was a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. Hell followed him. They were given power over one-fourth of the earth to kill people using wars, famines, plagues, and the wild animals on the earth.

⁹ When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of God’s word and the testimony they had given about him. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice, “Holy and true Master, how long before you judge and take revenge on those living on earth who shed our blood?” ¹¹ Each of the souls was given a white robe. They were told to rest a little longer until all their coworkers, the other Christians, would be killed as they had been killed.

¹² I watched as the lamb opened the sixth seal. A powerful earthquake struck. The sun turned as black as sackcloth made of hair. The full moon turned as red as blood. ¹³ The stars fell from the sky to the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when it is shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved from its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people hid themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the lamb, ¹⁷ because the frightening day of their anger has come, and who is able to endure it?”