M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The First Stage in Dividing the Land
14 This is the land that the people of Israel inherited in Canaan. The priest Eleazar, Joshua (son of Nun), and the heads of Israel’s tribes distributed it to the people. 2 The land inherited by the nine-and-a-half tribes was determined by drawing lots as Yahweh had commanded through Moses. 3 Moses had given the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan River. He did not give any land as an inheritance to Levi’s tribe, 4 because Joseph’s descendants, Manasseh and Ephraim, formed two tribes. The Levites were not given a share of the land. Joseph’s descendants gave the Levites cities to live in with pasturelands for their cattle and everything they had. 5 So the people of Israel divided the land as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Special Land for Caleb
6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb, son of Jephunneh and grandson of Kenaz, said to him, “You know what Yahweh said to Moses, the man of Elohim, at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was 40 years old when Yahweh’s servant Moses sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. I reported to him exactly what I thought. 8 But my companions discouraged the people. However, I was completely loyal to Yahweh my Elohim. 9 On that day Moses swore this oath: ‘The land your feet walked on will be a permanent inheritance for you and your descendants because you were completely loyal to Yahweh my Elohim.’
10 “So look at me. Yahweh has kept me alive as he promised. It’s been 45 years since Israel wandered in the desert when Yahweh made this promise to Moses. So now look at me today. I’m 85 years old. 11 I’m still as fit to go to war now as I was when Moses sent me out. 12 Now give me this mountain region which Yahweh spoke of that day. You heard that the people of Anak are still there and that they have large, fortified cities. If Yahweh is with me, I can force them out, as Yahweh promised.”
13 So Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 Hebron is still the inheritance of Caleb, son of Jephunneh and grandson of Kenaz, because Caleb was completely loyal to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. 15 In the past Hebron was called Kiriath Arba. Arba was the greatest man among the people of Anak. So the land had peace.
Judah’s Land
15 The lot was drawn for the families of the tribe of Judah. Their territory extends as far south as the territory of Edom and the desert of Zin. 2 The southern border starts from the south end of the Dead Sea 3 and goes south of the Akrabbim Pass. It then passes Zin and goes up south of Kadesh Barnea. From there it goes to Hezron, up to Addar, around to Karka, 4 and on to Azmon. It comes out at the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea. This is the southern border.
5 The eastern border is the Dead Sea as far north as the mouth of the Jordan River.
The northern border starts from the north end of the Dead Sea at the mouth of the Jordan 6 and goes up to Beth Hoglah. It then passes north to Beth Arabah and goes up to the Rock of Bohan, son of Reuben. 7 From the valley of Achor, the border goes up to Debir and turns north to the region that faces the Adummim Pass, south of the valley. Then the border passes the Springs of En Shemesh and ends at En Rogel. 8 It continues up the valley of Ben Hinnom to the south slope of the Jebusite city Jerusalem. It then goes to the top of the mountain that overlooks the valley of Hinnom to the west at the north end of the valley of Rephaim. 9 From the top of that mountain the border goes around to the spring of Nephtoah. From there it goes to the cities of Mount Ephron and around to Baalah (now called Kiriath Jearim). 10 From Baalah the border turns west to Mount Seir and over to the north slope of Mount Jearim (now called Chesalon). Then it goes down to Beth Shemesh and on to Timnah. 11 From there the border goes on the north side of Ekron and turns to Shikkeron, on to Mount Baalah, and comes out at Jabneel. The border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.
12 The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. These are the borders around Judah that belong to their families.
13 Joshua gave Caleb, son of Jephunneh, a share of land among the people of Judah as Yahweh had told them. It was Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron). Arba was the father of Anak. 14 Caleb forced out Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, three descendants of Anak from Hebron. 15 From there he marched against the people living in Debir. (In the past Debir was called Kiriath Sepher.)
16 Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Achsah as a wife to anyone who attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it.” 17 Then Othniel, son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz, captured it. So Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife. 18 When she came to Othniel, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”
19 She answered, “Give me a blessing. Since you’ve given me some dry land, also give me some springs.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
20 This is the land inherited by the families of the tribe of Judah.
21 On the farthest edge of the Negev, on the border of Edom, they gave the tribe of Judah 29 cities with their villages: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, 22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, 23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, 24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, 25 Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (now called Hazor), 26 Amam, Shema, Moladah, 27 Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, 28 Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, 29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem, 30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, 31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, 32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon.
33 In the foothills they gave Judah 14 cities with their villages: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, 34 Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, 35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, 36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim.
37 They also gave Judah 16 other cities with their villages: Zenan, Hadashah, Migdalgad, 38 Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, 39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, 40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish, 41 Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah.
42 An additional nine cities with their villages were given to Judah: Libnah, Ether, Ashan, 43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, 44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah.
45 Judah also received Ekron with its cities and villages. 46 This included all the cities with their villages between Ekron and the Mediterranean Sea and alongside Ashdod. 47 Added to this were Ashdod and Gaza with their cities and villages as far as the River of Egypt and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
48 In the mountains they gave Judah 11 cities with their villages: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, 49 Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (now called Debir), 50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh.
52 They also gave Judah nine other cities with their villages: Arab, Dumah, Eshan, 53 Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, 54 Humtah, Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron), and Zior.
55 They also received another ten cities with their villages: Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, 56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, 57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah.
58 Halhul, Bethzur, Gedor, 59 Maarath, Bethanoth, and Eltekon were six other cities with their villages that were given to Judah.[a]
60 The two cities of Kiriath Baal (now called Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah with their villages were given to Judah.
61 In the desert Judah was given six cities with their villages: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, 62 Nibshan, Ir Hamelah, and En Gedi.
63 However, Judah was not able to force out the people of Jebus who lived in Jerusalem. So they still live with Judah in Jerusalem today.
Psalm 146
1 Hallelujah!
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
2 I want to praise Yahweh throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
3 Do not trust influential people,
mortals who cannot help you.
4 When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans come to an end.
5 Blessed are those who receive help from the El of Jacob.
Their hope rests on Yahweh their Elohim,
6 who made heaven, earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
Yahweh remains faithful forever.
7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
He gives food to those who are hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free.
8 Yahweh gives sight to blind people.
Yahweh straightens the backs of those who are bent over.
Yahweh loves righteous people.
9 Yahweh protects foreigners.
Yahweh gives relief to orphans and widows.
But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
10 Yahweh rules as king forever.
Zion, your Elohim rules throughout every generation.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 147
1 Hallelujah!
It is good to sing psalms to our Elohim.
It is pleasant to sing his praise beautifully.
2 Yahweh is the builder of Jerusalem.
He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.
3 He is the Rophe of the brokenhearted.
He is the one who bandages their wounds.
4 He determines the number of stars.
He gives each one a name.
5 Our Adonay is great, and his power is great.
There is no limit to his understanding.
6 Yahweh gives relief to those who are oppressed.
He brings wicked people down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh a song of thanksgiving.
Make music to our Elohim with a lyre.
8 He covers the sky with clouds.
He provides rain for the ground.
He makes grass grow on the mountains.
9 He is the one who gives food to animals
and to young ravens when they call out.
10 He finds no joy in strong horses,
nor is he pleased by brave soldiers.
11 Yahweh is pleased with those who fear him,
with those who wait with hope for his mercy.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem!
Praise your Elohim, Zion!
13 He makes the bars across your gates strong.
He blesses the children within you.
14 He is the one who brings peace to your borders
and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.
15 He is the one who sends his promise throughout the earth.
His word travels with great speed.
16 He is the one who sends snow like wool
and scatters frost like ashes.
17 He is the one who throws his hailstones like breadcrumbs.
Who can withstand his chilling blast?
18 He sends out his word and melts his hailstones.
He makes wind blow and water flow.
19 He speaks his word to Jacob,
his laws and judicial decisions to Israel.
20 He has done nothing like this for any other nation.
The other nations do not know the decisions he has handed down.
Hallelujah!
Judah Trusts the Wrong Things
7 Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Stand at the gate of Yahweh’s house, and announce from there this message: ‘Listen to the word of Yahweh, all you people of Judah who go through these gates to worship Yahweh. 3 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says: Change the way you live and act, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust the words of this saying, “This is Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple!” It’s a lie.
5 “‘Suppose you really change the way you live and act and you really treat each other fairly. 6 Suppose you do not oppress foreigners, orphans, and widows, or kill anyone in this place. And suppose you do not follow other gods that lead you to your own destruction. 7 Then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave permanently to your ancestors long ago.
8 “‘You are trusting the words of a saying. It’s a lie that cannot help you. 9 You steal, murder, commit adultery, lie when you take oaths, burn incense as an offering to Baal, and run after other gods that you do not know. 10 Then you stand in my presence in the house that is called by my name. You think that you’re safe to do all these disgusting things. 11 The house that is called by my name has become a gathering place for thieves. I have seen what you are doing,’” declares Yahweh.
12 “‘But go to my place that was at Shiloh, where I first made a dwelling place for my name. See what I did to Shiloh because of the evil done by my people Israel. 13 You have done the same things the people did at Shiloh,’” declares Yahweh. “‘Although I spoke to you again and again, you did not listen. When I called you, you did not answer. 14 So what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that is called by my name. This is the place I gave to you and to your ancestors, the place where you feel so safe. 15 I will force you out of my sight as I forced out all your relatives, all of Ephraim’s descendants.’
16 “Jeremiah, don’t pray for these people. Don’t cry or pray for them. Don’t plead with me, because I will not listen to you. 17 Don’t you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 Children gather wood, fathers light fires, and women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. They pour out wine offerings to other gods in order to make me furious. 19 They aren’t really provoking me,” declares Yahweh. “But they are harming themselves to their own shame.
20 “This is what Adonay Yahweh says: My anger and fury will be poured out on this place, on humans and animals, and on trees and crops. My anger and fury will burn and not be put out.
21 “This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the meat. 22 When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I did not tell them anything about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But I did tell them this, ‘Obey me, and I will be your Elohim, and you will be my people. Live the way I told you to live so that things will go well for you.’ 24 But they didn’t obey me or pay attention to me. They followed their own plans and their stubborn, evil ways. They went backward and not forward. 25 From the time that your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. 26 But you didn’t obey me or pay attention to me. You became impossible to deal with, and you were worse than your ancestors.
27 “Jeremiah, you will say all these things to them, but they will not obey you. You will call to them, but they will not respond to you. 28 You will say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey Yahweh their Elohim. They did not accept discipline. Truth has disappeared and vanished from their lips.’
29 “Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the bare hills, because in his anger Yahweh has rejected and abandoned the people of this generation. 30 The people of Judah have done what I consider evil,” declares Yahweh. “They set up their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name. They have made it unclean.[a] 31 They have built worship sites at Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom in order to burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices. I did not ask for this. It never entered my mind.
32 “That is why the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when that place will no longer be known as Topheth or the valley of Ben Hinnom. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley. They will bury people at Topheth because no other place will be left. 33 The dead bodies of these people will become food for birds and animals, and no one will be there to frighten them away. 34 In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will banish the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms, because the land will be a wasteland.”
The King Comes to Jerusalem(A)
21 When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two disciples ahead of him. 2 He said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you. You will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them, and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them. That person will send them at once.”
4 This happened so that what the prophet had said came true:
5 “Tell the people of Zion,
‘Your king is coming to you.
He’s gentle,
riding on a donkey,
on a colt, a young pack animal.’”
6 The disciples did as Yeshua had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them for Yeshua to sit on. 8 Most of the people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowd that went ahead of him and that followed him was shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Yeshua came into Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar. People were asking, “Who is this?”
11 The crowd answered, “This is the prophet Yeshua from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus Throws Out the Moneychangers(B)
12 Yeshua went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. 13 He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”
14 Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them.
15 When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were irritated. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Yeshua replied, “Yes, I do. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise’?”
17 He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree(C)
18 In the morning, as Yeshua returned to the city, he became hungry. 19 When he saw a fig tree by the road, he went up to the tree and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to the tree, “May fruit never grow on you again!” At once the fig tree dried up.
20 The disciples were surprised to see this. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”
21 Yeshua answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to the fig tree. You could also say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 Have faith that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Jesus’ Authority Challenged(D)
23 Then Yeshua went into the temple courtyard and began to teach. The chief priests and the leaders of the people came to him. They asked, “What gives you the right to do these things? Who told you that you could do this?”
24 Yeshua answered them, “I, too, have a question for you. If you answer it for me, I’ll tell you why I have the right to do these things. 25 Did John’s right to baptize come from heaven or from humans?”
They discussed this among themselves. They said, “If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘from humans,’ we’re afraid of what the crowd might do. All those people think of John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Yeshua, “We don’t know.”
Yeshua told them, “Then I won’t tell you why I have the right to do these things.
A Story about Two Sons
28 “What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go to work in the vineyard today.’
29 “His son replied, ‘I don’t want to!’ But later he changed his mind and went.
30 “The father went to the other son and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will, sir,’ but he didn’t go.
31 “Which of the two sons did what the father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Yeshua said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 John came to you and showed you the way that God wants you to live, but you didn’t believe him. The tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. But even after you had seen that, you didn’t change your minds and believe him.
A Story about a Vineyard(E)
33 “Listen to another illustration. A landowner planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.
34 “When the grapes were getting ripe, he sent his servants to the workers to collect his share of the produce. 35 The workers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned a third to death. 36 So the landowner sent more servants. But the workers treated them the same way.
37 “Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 “When the workers saw his son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those workers?”
41 They answered, “He will destroy those evil people. Then he will lease the vineyard to other workers who will give him his share of the produce when it is ready.”
42 Yeshua asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
The Lord is responsible for this,
and it is amazing for us to see’?
43 That is why I can guarantee that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce what God wants. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken. If the stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person.”[a]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his illustrations, they knew that he was talking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.