M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Agreement in Moab
29 The Lord commanded Moses to make an agreement with the Israelites in Moab in addition to the agreement he had made with them at Mount Sinai. These are the words of that agreement.
2 Moses called all the Israelites together and said to them:
You have seen everything the Lord did before your own eyes to the king of Egypt and to the king’s leaders and to the whole country. 3 With your own eyes you saw the great troubles, signs, and miracles. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands; you don’t really understand what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears. 5 I led you through the desert for forty years, and during that time neither your clothes nor sandals wore out. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or beer. This was so you would understand that I am the Lord your God.
7 When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight us, but we defeated them. 8 We captured their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh to be their own.
9 You must carefully obey everything in this agreement so that you will succeed in everything you do. 10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God—your leaders and important men, your elders, officers, and all the other men of Israel, 11 your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you, who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God, an agreement the Lord your God is making with you today. 13 This will make you today his own people. He will be your God, as he told you and as he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 But I am not just making this agreement and its promises with you 15 who are standing here before the Lord your God today, but also with those who are not here today.
16 You know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries when we came here. 17 You saw their hateful idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 Make sure no man, woman, family group, or tribe among you leaves the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. They would be to you like a plant that grows bitter, poisonous fruit.
19 These are the kind of people who hear these curses but bless themselves, thinking, “We will be safe even though we continue doing what we want to do.” Those people may destroy all of your land, both wet and dry. 20 The Lord will not forgive them. His anger will be like a burning fire against those people, and all the curses written in this book will come on them. The Lord will destroy any memory of them on the earth. 21 He will separate them from all the tribes of Israel for punishment. All the curses of the Agreement that are written in this Book of the Teachings will happen to them.
22 Your children who will come after you, as well as foreigners from faraway lands, will see the disasters that come to this land and the diseases the Lord will send on it. They will say, 23 “The land is nothing but burning cinders and salt. Nothing is planted, nothing grows, and nothing blooms. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed because he was very angry.” 24 All the other nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to the land? Why is he so angry?”
25 And the answer will be, “It is because the people broke the Agreement of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods and bowed down to gods they did not even know. The Lord did not allow that, 27 so he became very angry at the land and brought all the curses on it that are written in this book. 28 Since the Lord became angry and furious with them, he took them out of their land and put them in another land where they are today.”
29 There are some things the Lord our God has kept secret, but there are some things he has let us know. These things belong to us and our children forever so that we will do everything in these teachings.
49 Remember your promise to me, your servant;
it gives me hope.
50 When I suffer, this comforts me:
Your promise gives me life.
51 Proud people always make fun of me,
but I do not reject your teachings.
52 I remember your laws from long ago,
and they comfort me, Lord.
53 I become angry with wicked people
who do not keep your teachings.
54 I sing about your demands
wherever I live.
55 Lord, I remember you at night,
and I will obey your teachings.
56 This is what I do:
I follow your orders.
57 Lord, you are my share in life;
I have promised to obey your words.
58 I prayed to you with all my heart.
Have mercy on me as you have promised.
59 I thought about my life,
and I decided to follow your rules.
60 I hurried and did not wait
to obey your commands.
61 Wicked people have tied me up,
but I have not forgotten your teachings.
62 In the middle of the night, I get up to thank you
because your laws are right.
63 I am a friend to everyone who fears you,
to anyone who obeys your orders.
64 Lord, your love fills the earth.
Teach me your demands.
65 You have done good things for your servant,
as you have promised, Lord.
66 Teach me wisdom and knowledge
because I trust your commands.
67 Before I suffered, I did wrong,
but now I obey your word.
68 You are good, and you do what is good.
Teach me your demands.
69 Proud people have made up lies about me,
but I will follow your orders with all my heart.
70 Those people have no feelings,
but I love your teachings.
71 It was good for me to suffer
so I would learn your demands.
72 Your teachings are worth more to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
All Nations Will Obey the Lord
56 This is what the Lord says:
“Give justice to all people,
and do what is right,
because my salvation will come to you soon.
Soon everyone will know that I do what is right.
2 The person who obeys the law about the Sabbath
will be blessed,
and the person who does no evil
will be blessed.”
3 Foreigners who have joined the Lord should not say,
“The Lord will not accept me with his people.”
The eunuch should not say,
“Because I cannot have children, the Lord will not accept me.”
4 This is what the Lord says:
“The eunuchs should obey the law about the Sabbath
and do what I want
and keep my agreement.
5 If they do, I will make their names remembered
within my Temple and its walls.
It will be better for them than children.
I will give them a name that will last forever,
that will never be forgotten.
6 Foreigners will join the Lord
to worship him and love him,
to serve him,
to obey the law about the Sabbath,
and to keep my agreement.
7 I will bring these people to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
The offerings and sacrifices
they place on my altar will please me,
because my Temple will be called
a house for prayer for people from all nations.”
8 The Lord God says—
he who gathers the Israelites that were forced to leave their country:
“I will bring together other people
to join those who are already gathered.”
Israel’s Leaders Are Evil
9 All you animals of the field,
all you animals of the forest, come to eat.
10 The leaders who are to guard the people are blind;
they don’t know what they are doing.
All of them are like quiet dogs
that don’t know how to bark.
They lie down and dream
and love to sleep.
11 They are like hungry dogs
that are never satisfied.
They are like shepherds
who don’t know what they are doing.
They all have gone their own way;
all they want to do is satisfy themselves.
12 They say, “Come, let’s drink some wine;
let’s drink all the beer we want.
And tomorrow we will do this again,
or, maybe we will have an even better time.”
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 Jesus fasted for forty days and nights. After this, he was very hungry. 3 The devil came to Jesus to tempt him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘A person lives not on bread alone, but by everything God says.’”[a]
5 Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and put him on a high place of the Temple. 6 The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, jump down, because it is written in the Scriptures:
‘He has put his angels in charge of you.
They will catch you in their hands
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Psalm 91:11–12
7 Jesus answered him, “It also says in the Scriptures, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”[b]
8 Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. 9 The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.”
10 Jesus said to the devil, “Go away from me, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”[c]
11 So the devil left Jesus, and angels came and took care of him.
Jesus Begins Work in Galilee
12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went back to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee, in the area near Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 Jesus did this to bring about what the prophet Isaiah had said:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali
along the sea,
beyond the Jordan River.
This is Galilee where the non-Jewish people live.
16 These people who live in darkness
will see a great light.
They live in a place covered with the shadows of death,
but a light will shine on them.” Isaiah 9:1–2
Jesus Chooses Some Followers
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Change your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
18 As Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. 19 Jesus said, “Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20 So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.
21 As Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus told them to come with him. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.
Jesus Teaches and Heals People
23 Jesus went everywhere in Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Good News about the kingdom of heaven, and healing all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. 24 The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought all the sick to him. They were suffering from different kinds of diseases. Some were in great pain, some had demons, some were epileptics,[d] and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed all of them. 25 Many people from Galilee, the Ten Towns,[e] Jerusalem, Judea, and the land across the Jordan River followed him.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.