M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Seventh-Year Celebration
15 At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. 2 This is what you will do: If you’ve made a loan, don’t collect payment on the debt your neighbor still owes you. Don’t demand that your neighbor or relative pay you, because the time for suspending payments on debts has been proclaimed in Yahweh’s honor. 3 You may demand that a foreigner pay, but don’t collect payment on the debt another Israelite still owes you. 4 In any case, there shouldn’t be any poor people among you, because Yahweh your Elohim will certainly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own possession. 5 He will bless you only if you listen carefully to Yahweh your Elohim and faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you today. 6 Yahweh your Elohim will bless you, as he promised. You will make loans to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any of them. You will rule many nations, but no nation will ever rule you.
7 This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. 8 Be generous to these poor people, and freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hard-hearted and tight-fisted with them.[a]
9 When the seventh year—the year when payments on debts are canceled—is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to Yahweh about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. 10 Be sure to give to them without any hesitation. When you do this, Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in everything you work for and set out to do. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. That’s why I command you to be generous to other Israelites who are poor and needy.
12 Whenever Hebrew men or women are sold to you as slaves, they will be your slaves for six years. In the seventh year you must let them go free. 13 But when you let them go, don’t send them away empty-handed. 14 Generously give them provisions—sheep from your flocks, grain from your threshing floor,[b] and wine from your winepress. Be as generous to them as Yahweh your Elohim has been to you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and Yahweh your Elohim freed you. That’s why I’m giving you this command today.
16 But suppose a male slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is happy with you. 17 Then take an awl and pierce it through his ear lobe into a door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same to a female slave if she doesn’t want to leave.
18 If you have to let your slave go free, it won’t be a hardship for you. It would have cost you twice as much to hire someone to do the same work for those six years. Besides, Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in everything you do.
Setting Aside Firstborn Males for God
19 You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to Yahweh your Elohim. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep. 20 Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim in the place Yahweh will choose. 21 But if an animal is lame or blind or has any other serious defect—never sacrifice it to Yahweh your Elohim. 22 Eat it in your city. Clean and unclean[c] people may eat them together as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. 23 But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.
Psalm 102
A prayer by someone who is suffering, when he is weary and pours out his troubles in Yahweh’s presence.
1 O Yahweh, hear my prayer,
and let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble.
Turn your ear toward me.
Answer me quickly when I call.
3 My days disappear like smoke.
My bones burn like hot coals.
4 My heart is beaten down and withered like grass
because I have forgotten about eating.
5 I am nothing but skin and bones
because of my loud groans.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl living in the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a rooftop.
8 All day long my enemies insult me.
Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes like bread
and my tears are mixed with my drink
10 because of your hostility and anger,
because you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a shadow that is getting longer,
and I wither away like grass.
12 But you, O Yahweh, remain forever.
You are remembered throughout every generation.
13 You will rise and have compassion on Zion,
because it is time to grant a favor to it.
Indeed, the appointed time has come.
14 Your servants value Zion’s stones,
and they pity its rubble.
15 The nations will fear Yahweh’s name.
All the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 When Yahweh builds Zion,
he will appear in his glory.
17 He will turn his attention to the prayers
of those who have been abandoned.
He will not despise their prayers.
18 This will be written down for a future generation
so that a people yet to be created may praise Yah:
19 “Yahweh looked down from his holy place high above.
From heaven he looked at the earth.
20 He heard the groans of the prisoners
and set free those who were condemned to death.
21 Yahweh’s name is announced in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when nations and kingdoms gather
to worship Yahweh.”
23 He has weakened my strength along the way.
He has reduced the number of my days.
24 I said, “My El, don’t take me now in the middle of my life.
Your years continue on throughout every generation.
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth.
Even the heavens are the works of your hands.
26 They will come to an end, but you will still go on.
They will all wear out like clothing.
You will change them like clothes,
and they will be thrown away.
27 But you remain the same, and your life will never end.
28 The children of your servants will go on living here.
Their descendants will be secure in your presence.”
The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Righteousness to the World
42 Here is my Ebed, whom I support.
Here is my chosen one, with whom I am pleased.
I have put my Ruach on him.
He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry out or raise his voice.
He will not make his voice heard in the streets.
3 He will not break off a damaged cattail.
He will not even put out a smoking wick.
He will faithfully bring about justice.
4 He will not be discouraged or crushed
until he has set up justice on the earth.
The coastlands will wait for his teachings.
5 Yahweh El created the heavens and stretched them out.
He shaped the earth and all that comes from it.
He gave life to the people who are on it
and breath to those who walk on it.
This is what Yahweh El says:
6 I, Yahweh, have called you to do what is right.
I will take hold of your hand.
I will protect you.
I will appoint you as my promise[a] to the people,
as my light to the nations.
7 You will give sight to the blind,
bring prisoners out of prisons,
and bring those who live in darkness
out of dungeons.
8 I am Yahweh; that is my name.
I will not give my glory to anyone else
or the praise I deserve to idols.
9 What I said in the past has come true.
I will reveal new things before they happen.
A Song about the Lord, the Warrior
10 Sing a new song to Yahweh.
Sing his praise from the ends of the earth,
you people who sail on the seas
and all the creatures that live in them,
you coastlands and all who live on them.
11 Let those who live in the desert and its cities raise their voices.
Let those who live in the settlements of Kedar praise him.
Let those who live in Sela sing for joy.
Let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to Yahweh
and announce his praise on the coastlands.
13 Yahweh marches out like a warrior.
He prepares himself for battle like a soldier.
He shouts, gives the battle cry, and overpowers his enemies.
14 I have been silent for a long time.
I kept quiet and held myself back.
But like a woman in childbirth I will cry out.
I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste to mountains and hills.
I will dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands.
I will dry up ponds.
16 I will lead the blind on unfamiliar roads.
I will lead them on unfamiliar paths.
I will turn darkness into light in front of them.
I will make rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do for them,
and I will never abandon them.
17 Then those who trust idols
and those who say to statues,
“You are our gods”
will be turned away and put to shame.
The Lord Will Bring Israel Home
18 Listen, you deaf people.
Look, you blind people, so that you can see.
19 Who is blind except my servant
or deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one who has my trust
or blind like the servant of Yahweh?
20 You have seen much, but you do not observe anything.
Your ears are open, but you hear nothing.
21 Yahweh is pleased because he does what is right.
He praises the greatness of his teachings and makes them glorious.
22 But these people are robbed and looted.
They are all trapped in pits and hidden in prisons.
They have become prey with no one to rescue them.
They have become loot with no one to say, “Give it back.”
23 Who among you will listen to this?
Is there anyone who will pay attention and listen in the future?
24 Who gave Jacob away as loot
and handed Israel over to robbers?
Wasn’t it Yahweh, against whom we have sinned?
They didn’t want to live his way.
They didn’t obey his teachings.
25 So he poured out his burning anger and the horrors of war on them.
It engulfed them in flames, but they did not understand.
It burned them, but they did not take it to heart.
Two Signs
12 A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: There was a woman who was dressed in the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant. She cried out from labor pains and the agony of giving birth.
3 Another sign appeared in the sky: a huge fiery red serpent with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to earth. The serpent stood in front of the woman who was going to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. Her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where God had prepared a place for her so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels had to fight a war with the serpent. The serpent and its angels fought. 8 But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The huge serpent was thrown down. That ancient snake, named Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to earth. Its angels were thrown down with it.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, power, kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah have come.
The one accusing our brothers and sisters,
the one accusing them day and night in the presence of our God,
has been thrown out.
11 They won the victory over him because of the blood of the lamb
and the word of their testimony.
They didn’t love their life so much that they refused to give it up.
12 Be glad for this reason, heavens and those who live in them.
How horrible it is for the earth and the sea
because the Devil has come down to them with fierce anger,
knowing that he has little time left.”
13 When the serpent saw that it had been thrown down to earth, it persecuted the woman who had given birth to the boy. 14 The woman was given the two wings of the large eagle in order to fly away from the snake to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time. 15 The snake’s mouth poured out a river of water behind the woman in order to sweep her away. 16 The earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river which had poured out of the serpent’s mouth. 17 The serpent became angry with the woman. So it went away to fight with her other children, the ones who keep God’s commands and hold on to the testimony of Yeshua.
18 The serpent stood on the sandy shore of the sea.[a]
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.