M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Shares for Priests and Levites
18 The priests are from the tribe of Levi, and that tribe will not receive a share of the land with the Israelites. They will eat the offerings made to the Lord by fire, which is their share. 2 They will not inherit any of the land like their brothers, but they will inherit the Lord himself, as he has promised them.
3 When you offer a bull or sheep as a sacrifice, you must share with the priests, giving them the shoulder, the cheeks, and the inner organs. 4 Give them the first of your grain, new wine, and oil, as well as the first wool you cut from your sheep. 5 The Lord your God has chosen the priests and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and serve the Lord always.
6 If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he lives and comes to the place the Lord will choose, because he wants to serve the Lord there, 7 he may serve the Lord his God. He will be like his fellow Levites who serve there before the Lord. 8 They all will have an equal share of the food. That is separate from what he has received from the sale of family possessions.
Do Not Follow Other Nations
9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, don’t learn to do the hateful things the other nations do. 10 Don’t let anyone among you offer a son or daughter as a sacrifice in the fire. Don’t let anyone use magic or witchcraft, or try to explain the meaning of signs. 11 Don’t let anyone try to control others with magic, and don’t let them be mediums or try to talk with the spirits of dead people. 12 The Lord hates anyone who does these things. Because the other nations do these things, the Lord your God will force them out of the land ahead of you. 13 But you must be innocent in the presence of the Lord your God.
The Lord’s Special Prophet
14 The nations you will force out listen to people who use magic and witchcraft, but the Lord your God will not let you do those things. 15 The Lord your God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people. Listen to him. 16 This is what you asked the Lord your God to do when you were gathered at Mount Sinai. You said, “Don’t make us listen to the voice of the Lord our God again, and don’t make us look at this terrible fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 So the Lord said to me, “What they have said is good. 18 So I will give them a prophet like you, who is one of their own people. I will tell him what to say, and he will tell them everything I command. 19 This prophet will speak for me; anyone who does not listen when he speaks will answer to me. 20 But if a prophet says something I did not tell him to say as though he were speaking for me, or if a prophet speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must be killed.”
21 You might be thinking, “How can we know if a message is not from the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet says in the name of the Lord does not happen, it is not the Lord’s message. That prophet was speaking his own ideas. Don’t be afraid of him.
God’s Love for Israel
105 Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him.
Tell the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him; sing praises to him.
Tell about all his miracles.
3 Be glad that you are his;
let those who seek the Lord be happy.
4 Depend on the Lord and his strength;
always go to him for help.
5 Remember the miracles he has done;
remember his wonders and his decisions.
6 You are descendants of his servant Abraham,
the children of Jacob, his chosen people.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His laws are for all the world.
8 He will keep his agreement forever;
he will keep his promises always.
9 He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham
and the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He made it a law for the people of Jacob;
he made it an agreement with Israel to last forever.
11 The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan,
and it will belong to you.”
12 Then God’s people were few in number.
They were strangers in the land.
13 They went from one nation to another,
from one kingdom to another.
14 But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them;
he warned kings not to harm them.
15 He said, “Don’t touch my chosen people,
and don’t harm my prophets.”
16 God ordered a time of hunger in the land,
and he destroyed all the food.
17 Then he sent a man ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They put chains around his feet
and an iron ring around his neck.
19 Then the time he had spoken of came,
and the Lord’s words proved that Joseph was right.
20 The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and freed him;
the ruler of the people set him free.
21 He made him the master of his house;
Joseph was in charge of his riches.
22 He could order the princes as he wished.
He taught the older men to be wise.
23 Then his father Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob[a] lived in Egypt.[b]
24 The Lord made his people grow in number,
and he made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He caused the Egyptians to hate his people
and to make plans against his servants.
26 Then he sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They did many signs among the Egyptians
and worked wonders in Egypt.
28 The Lord sent darkness and made the land dark,
but the Egyptians turned against what he said.
29 So he changed their water into blood
and made their fish die.
30 Then their country was filled with frogs,
even in the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 The Lord spoke and flies came,
and gnats were everywhere in the country.
32 He made hail fall like rain
and sent lightning through their land.
33 He struck down their grapevines and fig trees,
and he destroyed every tree in the country.
34 He spoke and grasshoppers came;
the locusts were too many to count.
35 They ate all the plants in the land
and everything the earth produced.
36 The Lord also killed all the firstborn sons in the land,
the oldest son of each family.
37 Then he brought his people out,
and they carried with them silver and gold.
Not one of his people stumbled.
38 The Egyptians were glad when they left,
because the Egyptians were afraid of them.
39 The Lord covered them with a cloud
and lit up the night with fire.
40 When they asked, he brought them quail
and filled them with bread from heaven.
41 God split the rock, and water flowed out;
it ran like a river through the desert.
42 He remembered his holy promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 So God brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 He gave them lands of other nations,
so they received what others had worked for.
45 This was so they would keep his orders
and obey his teachings.
Praise the Lord!
God Chooses Cyrus to Free Israel
45 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his appointed king:
“I hold your right hand
and will help you defeat nations
and take away other kings’ power.
I will open doors for you
so city gates will not stop you.
2 I will go before you
and make the mountains flat.
I will break down the bronze gates of the cities
and cut through their iron bars.
3 I will give you the wealth that is stored away
and the hidden riches
so you will know I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
4 I do these things for my servants, the people of Jacob,
and for my chosen people, the Israelites.
Cyrus, I call you by name,
and I give you a title of honor even though you don’t know me.
5 I am the Lord. There is no other God;
I am the only God.
I will make you strong,
even though you don’t know me,
6 so that everyone will know
there is no other God.
From the east to the west they will know
I alone am the Lord.
7 I made the light and the darkness.
I bring peace, and I cause troubles.
I, the Lord, do all these things.
8 “Sky above, make victory fall like rain;
clouds, pour down victory.
Let the earth receive it,
and let salvation grow,
and let victory grow with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “How terrible it will be for those who argue with the God who made them.
They are like a piece of broken pottery among many pieces.
The clay does not ask the potter,
‘What are you doing?’
The thing that is made doesn’t say to its maker,
‘You have no hands.’
10 How terrible it will be for the child who says to his father,
‘Why are you giving me life?’
How terrible it will be for the child who says to his mother,
‘Why are you giving birth to me?’”
11 This is what the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker, says:
“You ask me about what will happen.
You question me about my children.
You give me orders about what I have made.
12 I made the earth
and all the people living on it.
With my own hands I stretched out the skies,
and I commanded all the armies in the sky.
13 I will bring Cyrus to do good things,
and I will make his work easy.
He will rebuild my city
and set my people free
without any payment or reward.
The Lord All-Powerful says this.”
14 The Lord says,
“The goods made in Egypt and Cush
and the tall people of Seba
will come to you
and will become yours.
The Sabeans will walk behind you,
coming along in chains.
They will bow down before you
and pray to you, saying,
‘God is with you,
and there is no other God.’”
15 God and Savior of Israel,
you are a God that people cannot see.
16 All the people who make idols will be put to great shame;
they will go off together in disgrace.
17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord,
and that salvation will continue forever.
Never again will Israel be put to shame.
18 The Lord created the heavens.
He is the God who formed the earth and made it.
He did not want it to be empty,
but he wanted life on the earth.
This is what the Lord says:
“I am the Lord. There is no other God.
19 I did not speak in secret
or hide my words in some dark place.
I did not tell the family of Jacob
to look for me in empty places.
I am the Lord, and I speak the truth;
I say what is right.
20 “You people who have escaped from other nations,
gather together and come before me;
come near together.
People who carry idols of wood don’t know what they are doing.
They pray to a god who cannot save them.
21 Tell these people to come to me.
Let them talk about these things together.
Who told you long ago that this would happen?
Who told about it long ago?
I, the Lord, said these things.
There is no other God besides me.
I am the only good God. I am the Savior.
There is no other God.
22 “All people everywhere,
follow me and be saved.
I am God. There is no other God.
23 I will make a promise by my own power,
and my promise is true;
what I say will not be changed.
I promise that everyone will bow before me
and will promise to follow me.
24 People will say about me, ‘Goodness and power
come only from the Lord.’”
Everyone who has been angry with him
will come to him and be ashamed.
25 But with the Lord’s help, the people of Israel
will be found to be good,
and they will praise him.
The Last Troubles
15 Then I saw another wonder in heaven that was great and amazing. There were seven angels bringing seven disasters. These are the last disasters, because after them, God’s anger is finished.
2 I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. All of those who had won the victory over the beast and his idol and over the number of his name were standing by the sea of glass. They had harps that God had given them. 3 They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“You do great and wonderful things, Psalm 111:2
Lord God Almighty. Amos 3:13
Everything the Lord does is right and true, Psalm 145:17
King of the nations.[a]
4 Everyone will respect you, Lord, Jeremiah 10:7
and will honor you.
Only you are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship you, Psalm 86:9–10
because the right things you have done
are now made known.” Deuteronomy 32:4
5 After this I saw that the temple (the Tent of the Agreement) in heaven was opened. 6 And the seven angels bringing the seven disasters came out of the temple. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden bands tied around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory and the power of God, and no one could enter the temple until the seven disasters of the seven angels were finished.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.