M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Place for Worship
12 These are the commands and laws you must carefully obey in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Obey them as long as you live in the land. 2 When you inherit the lands of these nations, you must completely destroy all the places where they serve their gods, on high mountains and hills and under every green tree. 3 Tear down their altars, smash their holy stone pillars, and burn their Asherah idols in the fire. Cut down their idols and destroy their names from those places.
4 Don’t worship the Lord your God that way, 5 but look for the place the Lord your God will choose—a place among your tribes where he is to be worshiped. Go there, 6 and bring to that place your burnt offerings and sacrifices; bring a tenth of what you gain and your special gifts; bring what you have promised and the special gifts you want to give the Lord, and bring the first animals born to your herds and flocks.
7 There you will be together with the Lord your God. There you and your families will eat, and you will enjoy all the good things for which you have worked, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 Do not worship the way we have been doing today, each person doing what he thinks is right. 9 You have not yet come to a resting place, to the land the Lord your God will give you as your own. 10 But soon you will cross the Jordan River to live in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, where he will give you rest from all your enemies and you will live in safety. 11 Then the Lord your God will choose a place where he is to be worshiped. To that place you must bring everything I tell you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your offerings of a tenth of what you gain, your special gifts, and all your best things you promised to the Lord. 12 There rejoice before the Lord your God. Everyone should rejoice: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no land of their own. 13 Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you please. 14 Offer them only in the place the Lord will choose. He will choose a place in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I am commanding you.
15 But you may kill your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were a deer or a gazelle; this is the blessing the Lord your God is giving you. Anyone, clean or unclean, may eat this meat, 16 but do not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water. 17 Do not eat in your own towns what belongs to the Lord: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the first animals born to your herds or flocks; whatever you have promised to give; the special gifts you want to give to the Lord, or any other gifts. 18 Eat these things when you are together with the Lord your God, in the place the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped. Everyone must do this: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns. Rejoice in the Lord your God’s presence about the things you have worked for. 19 Be careful not to forget the Levites as long as you live in the land.
20 When the Lord your God enlarges your country as he has promised, and you want some meat so you say, “I want some meat,” you may eat as much meat as you want. 21 If the Lord your God chooses a place where he is to be worshiped that is too far away from you, you may kill animals from your herds and flocks, which the Lord has given to you. I have commanded that you may do this. You may eat as much of them as you want in your own towns, 22 as you would eat gazelle or deer meat. Both clean and unclean people may eat this meat, 23 but be sure you don’t eat the blood, because the life is in the blood. Don’t eat the life with the meat. 24 Don’t eat the blood, but pour it out on the ground like water. 25 If you don’t eat it, things will go well for you and your children, because you will be doing what the Lord says is right.
26 Take your holy things and the things you have promised to give, and go to the place the Lord will choose. 27 Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices should be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all the rules I am giving you so that things will always go well for you and your children, and you will be doing what the Lord your God says is good and right.
29 You will enter the land and take it away from the nations that the Lord your God will destroy ahead of you. When you force them out and live in their land, 30 they will be destroyed for you, but be careful not to be trapped by asking about their gods. Don’t say, “How do these nations worship? I will do the same.” 31 Don’t worship the Lord your God that way, because the Lord hates the evil ways they worship their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods!
32 Be sure to do everything I have commanded you. Do not add anything to it, and do not take anything away from it.
A Hymn About the Lord’s Power
97 The Lord is king. Let the earth rejoice;
faraway lands should be glad.
2 Thick, dark clouds surround him.
His kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
3 A fire goes before him
and burns up his enemies all around.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
when the people see it, they tremble.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens tell about his goodness,
and all the people see his glory.
7 Those who worship idols should be ashamed;
they brag about their gods.
All the gods should worship the Lord.
8 When Jerusalem hears this, she is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice.
They are happy because of your judgments, Lord.
9 You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
you are supreme over all gods.
10 People who love the Lord hate evil.
The Lord watches over those who follow him
and frees them from the power of the wicked.
11 Light shines on those who do right;
joy belongs to those who are honest.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who do right.
Praise his holy name.
The Lord of Power and Justice
A psalm.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song,
because he has done miracles.
By his right hand and holy arm
he has won the victory.
2 The Lord has made known his power to save;
he has shown the other nations his victory for his people.
3 He has remembered his love
and his loyalty to the people of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
God’s power to save.
4 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;
burst into songs and make music.
5 Make music to the Lord with harps,
with harps and the sound of singing.
6 Blow the trumpets and the sheep’s horns;
shout for joy to the Lord the King.
7 Let the sea and everything in it shout;
let the world and everyone in it sing.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the mountains sing together for joy.
9 Let them sing before the Lord,
because he is coming to judge the world.
He will judge the world fairly;
he will judge the peoples with fairness.
Israel’s Punishment Will End
40 Your God says,
“Comfort, comfort my people.
2 Speak kindly to the people of Jerusalem
and tell them
that their time of service is finished,
that they have paid for their sins,
that the Lord has punished Jerusalem
twice for every sin they did.”
3 This is the voice of one who calls out:
“Prepare in the desert
the way for the Lord.
Make a straight road in the dry lands
for our God.
4 Every valley should be raised up,
and every mountain and hill should be made flat.
The rough ground should be made level,
and the rugged ground should be made smooth.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be shown,
and all people together will see it.
The Lord himself said these things.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
Then I said, “What shall I cry out?”
“Say all people are like the grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass dies and the flowers fall
when the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are like grass.
8 The grass dies and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God will live forever.”
9 Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.
Go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.
Shout out loud the good news.
Shout it out and don’t be afraid.
Say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God.”
10 Look, the Lord God is coming with power
to rule all the people.
Look, he will bring reward for his people;
he will have their payment with him.
11 He takes care of his people like a shepherd.
He gathers them like lambs in his arms
and carries them close to him.
He gently leads the mothers of the lambs.
God Is Supreme
12 Who has measured the oceans in the palm of his hand?
Who has used his hand to measure the sky?
Who has used a bowl to measure all the dust of the earth
and scales to weigh the mountains and hills?
13 Who has known the mind of the Lord
or been able to give him advice?
14 Whom did he ask for help?
Who taught him the right way?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way to understanding?
15 The nations are like one small drop in a bucket;
they are no more than the dust on his measuring scales.
To him the islands are no more than fine dust on his scales.
16 All the trees in Lebanon are not enough for the altar fires,
and all the animals in Lebanon are not enough for burnt offerings.
17 Compared to the Lord all the nations are worth nothing;
to him they are less than nothing.
18 Can you compare God to anything?
Can you compare him to an image of anything?
19 An idol is formed by a craftsman,
and a goldsmith covers it with gold
and makes silver chains for it.
20 A poor person cannot buy those expensive statues,
so he finds a tree that will not rot.
Then he finds a skilled craftsman
to make it into an idol that will not fall over.
21 Surely you know. Surely you have heard.
Surely from the beginning someone told you.
Surely you understand how the earth was created.
22 God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth,
and compared to him, people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the skies like a piece of cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to sit under.
23 He makes rulers unimportant
and the judges of this world worth nothing.
24 They are like plants that are placed in the ground,
like seeds that are planted.
As soon as they begin to grow strong,
he blows on them and they die,
and the wind blows them away like chaff.
25 God, the Holy One, says, “Can you compare me to anyone?
Is anyone equal to me?”
26 Look up to the skies.
Who created all these stars?
He leads out the army of heaven one by one
and calls all the stars by name.
Because he is strong and powerful,
not one of them is missing.
27 People of Jacob, why do you complain?
People of Israel, why do you say,
“The Lord does not see what happens to me;
he does not care if I am treated fairly”?
28 Surely you know.
Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever,
who created all the world.
He does not become tired or need to rest.
No one can understand how great his wisdom is.
29 He gives strength to those who are tired
and more power to those who are weak.
30 Even children become tired and need to rest,
and young people trip and fall.
31 But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again.
They will rise up as an eagle in the sky;
they will run and not need rest;
they will walk and not become tired.
The Angel and the Small Scroll
10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven dressed in a cloud with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 2 The angel was holding a small scroll open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 Then he shouted loudly like the roaring of a lion. And when he shouted, the voices of seven thunders spoke. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I started to write. But I heard a voice from heaven say, “Keep hidden what the seven thunders said, and do not write them down.”
5 Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, 6 and he made a promise by the power of the One who lives forever and ever. He is the One who made the skies and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it. The angel promised, “There will be no more waiting! 7 In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, God’s secret will be finished. This secret is the Good News God told to his servants, the prophets.”
8 Then I heard the same voice from heaven again, saying to me: “Go and take the open scroll that is in the hand of the angel that is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. And he said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will be sour in your stomach, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it tasted sweet as honey, but after I ate it, it was sour in my stomach. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.