M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David’s Song of Deliverance(A)
22 David sang this song to Yahweh when Yahweh rescued him from all his enemies, especially from Saul. 2 He said,
Yahweh is my rock and my Metsuda and my Savior,
3 my Elohim, my rock in whom I take refuge, my Magen,
the strength of my salvation, my stronghold,
my refuge, and my Savior who saved me from violence.
4 Yahweh should be praised.
I called on him, and I was saved from my enemies.
5 The waves of death had surrounded me.
The torrents of destruction had overwhelmed me.
6 The ropes of the grave had surrounded me.
The clutches of death had confronted me.
7 I called on Yahweh in my distress.
I called to my Elohim for help.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help reached his ears.
8 Then the earth shook and quaked.
Even the foundations of the heavens trembled.
They shook violently because he was angry.
9 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and a raging fire came out of his mouth.
Glowing coals flared up from it.
10 He spread apart the heavens
and came down with a dark cloud under his feet.
11 He rode on one of the angels[a] as he flew,
and he soared on the wings of the wind.
12 He surrounded himself with darkness.
He made the dark rain clouds his covering.
13 Out of the brightness in front of him, he made lightning.
14 Yahweh thundered from heaven.
The Elyon made his voice heard.
15 He shot arrows and scattered them.
He flashed streaks of lightning and threw them into confusion.
16 Then the ocean floor could be seen.
The foundations of the earth were laid bare
at Yahweh’s stern warning,
at the blast of the breath from his nostrils.
17 He reached down from high above and took hold of me.
He pulled me out of the raging water.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
because they were too strong for me.
19 On the day when I faced disaster, they confronted me,
but Yahweh became my defense.
20 He brought me out to a wide-open place.
He rescued me because he was pleased with me.
21 Yahweh rewarded me
because of my righteousness,
because my hands are clean.
He paid me back
22 because I have kept the ways of Yahweh
and I have not wickedly turned away from my Elohim,
23 because all his judgments are in front of me
and I have not turned away from his laws.
24 I was innocent as far as he was concerned.
I have kept myself from guilt.
25 Yahweh paid me back
because of my righteousness,
because he can see that I am clean.
26 In dealing with faithful people you are faithful,
with innocent warriors you are innocent,
27 with pure people you are pure.
In dealing with devious people you are clever.
28 You save humble people,
but your eyes bring down arrogant people.
29 O Yahweh, you are my lamp.
Yahweh turns my darkness into light.
30 With you I can attack a line of soldiers.
With my Elohim I can break through barricades.
31 Elohim’s way is perfect!
The promise of Yahweh has proven to be true.
He is a Magen to all those who take refuge in him.
32 Who is Elohim but Yahweh?
Who is a rock other than our Elohim?
33 El arms me with strength.[b]
His perfect way sets me free.
34 He makes my feet like those of a deer
and gives me sure footing on high places.
35 He trains my hands for battle
so that my arms can bend an archer’s bow of bronze.
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation.
Your help makes me great.
37 You make a wide path for me to walk on
so that my feet do not slip.
38 I chased my enemies and destroyed them.
I did not return until I had ended their lives.
39 I ended their lives by shattering them.
They were unable to get up.
They fell under my feet.
40 You armed me with strength for battle.
You made my opponents bow at my feet.
41 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and I destroyed those who hated me.
42 They looked, but there was no one to save them.
They looked to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.
43 I beat them into a powder as fine as the dust on the ground.
I crushed them and stomped on them like the dirt on the streets.
44 You rescued me from my conflicts with my people.
You kept me as the leader of nations.
A people I did not know will serve me.
45 Foreigners will cringe in front of me.
As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.
46 Foreigners will lose heart,
although they are armed[c] in their fortifications.
47 Yahweh lives!
Thanks be to my rock!
May Elohim, the rock of my salvation, be glorified.
48 El gives me vengeance!
He brings people under my authority.
49 He frees me from my enemies.
You lift me up above my opponents.
You rescue me from violent people.
50 That is why I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the nations
and make music to praise your name.
51 He gives great victories to his king.
He shows mercy to his anointed,
to David, and to his descendant[d] forever.
Paul Was Accepted as an Apostle by the Leaders in Jerusalem
2 Then 14 years later I went to Jerusalem again with Barnabas. I also took Titus along. 2 I went in response to a revelation from God. I showed them the way I spread the Good News among people who are not Jewish. I did this in a private meeting with those recognized as important people to see whether all my efforts had been wasted.
3 Titus was with me, and although he is Greek, no one forced him to be circumcised.
4 False Christians were brought in. They slipped in as spies to learn about the freedom Christ Yeshua gives us. They hoped to find a way to control us. 5 But we did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the Good News would always be yours.
6 Those who were recognized as important people didn’t add a single thing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God doesn’t play favorites.) 7 In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with telling the Good News to people who are not circumcised as Peter had been entrusted to tell it to those who are circumcised. 8 The one who made Peter an apostle to Jewish people also made me an apostle to people who are not Jewish. 9 James, Cephas, and John (who were recognized as the most important people) acknowledged that God had given me this special gift.[a] So they shook hands with Barnabas and me, agreeing to be our partners. It was understood that we would work among the people who are not Jewish and they would work among Jewish people. 10 The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do.
Paul Shows How Cephas Was Wrong
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I had to openly oppose him because he was completely wrong. 12 He ate with people who were not Jewish until some men James had sent from Jerusalem arrived. Then Cephas drew back and would not associate with people who were not Jewish. He was afraid of those who insisted that circumcision was necessary. 13 The other Jewish Christians also joined him in this hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was swept along with them.
14 But I saw that they were not properly following the truth of the Good News. So I told Cephas in front of everyone, “You’re Jewish, but you live like a person who is not Jewish. So how can you insist that people who are not Jewish must live like Jews?”
15 We are Jewish by birth, not sinners from other nations. 16 Yet, we know that people don’t receive God’s approval by any effort to follow the laws in the Scriptures, but only by believing in Yeshua Christ. So we also believed in Yeshua Christ in order to receive God’s approval by faith in Christ and not by our own efforts. People won’t receive God’s approval by their own efforts.
17 If we, the same people who are searching for God’s approval in Christ, are still sinners, does that mean that Christ encourages us to sin? That’s unthinkable! 18 If I rebuild something that I’ve torn down, I admit that I was wrong to tear it down. 19 When I tried to obey the laws in the Scriptures, those laws killed me. As a result, I live in a relationship with God. I have been crucified with Christ. 20 I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live I live by believing in God’s Son, who loved me and took the punishment for my sins. 21 I don’t reject God’s kindness.[b] If we receive God’s approval by obeying the laws in the Scriptures, then Christ’s death was pointless.
Judgment on Egypt
29 On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year, Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 2 “Son of man, turn to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 Tell him, ‘This is what Adonay Yahweh says:
I’m against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
You are like a monster crocodile lying in the Nile River.
You say, “The Nile River is mine. I made it for myself.”
4 “‘I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish in the Nile River stick to your scales.
I will pull you out of your river
with all the fish in the Nile sticking to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish from the Nile.
You will fall in an open field.
No one will pick you up or bury you.
I will feed you to wild animals and birds.
6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am Yahweh.
Egypt, you have become like a broken walking stick
to the nation of Israel.
7 When Israel grabbed you, you splintered and tore up their shoulders.
When they leaned on you, you broke, and they wrenched their backs.
8 “‘This is what Adonay Yahweh says: I am going to attack you with a sword. I will kill people and animals. 9 Egypt will become a wasteland and a pile of rubble. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. You said, “The Nile River is mine. I made it.” 10 That is why I’m against you and the Nile River. I will turn Egypt into a pile of rubble. It will become a wasteland, from Migdol to Syene, all the way to the border of Sudan. 11 No human or animal will walk through it, and no one will live there for 40 years. 12 I will make Egypt the most desolate country in the world. For 40 years Egypt’s cities will lie in ruins. They will be ruined more than any other city. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and force them into other countries.
13 “‘This is what Adonay Yahweh says: After 40 years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they have been scattered. 14 I will bring back the Egyptian captives and return them to Pathros,[a] the land they came from. There they will be a weak kingdom. 15 They will be the weakest kingdom, and they will never rule the nations again. I will make them so weak that they will never rule the nations again. 16 The nation of Israel will never trust Egypt again. The people of Israel will remember how wrong they were whenever they turned to Egypt for help. Then they will know that I am Adonay Yahweh.’”
17 On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army fight hard against Tyre. Every soldier’s head was worn bald, and every soldier’s shoulder was rubbed raw. Yet, he and his army got no reward for their hard-fought battle against Tyre. 19 This is what Adonay Yahweh says: I’m going to give Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, take its prized possessions, and loot it. That will be the pay for his army. 20 I have given him Egypt as pay for what he has done. Nebuchadnezzar and his army worked for me, declares Adonay Yahweh.
21 “On that day I will make the people of Israel strong again, and I will give you, Ezekiel, something to say among them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”
Psalm 78
A maskil by Asaph.
1 Open your ears to my teachings, my people.
Turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to illustrate points.
I will explain what has been hidden long ago,
3 things that we have heard and known about,
things that our parents have told us.
4 We will not hide them from our children.
We will tell the next generation
about Yahweh’s power and great deeds
and the miraculous things he has done.
5 He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.
He gave his teachings to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children
6 so that the next generation would know them.
Children yet to be born would learn them.
They will grow up and tell their children
7 to trust Elohim, to remember what he has done,
and to obey his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Their hearts were not loyal.
Their spirits were not faithful to El.
9 The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows and arrows,
turned and ran on the day of battle.
10 They had not been faithful to Elohim’s promise.[a]
They refused to follow his teachings.
11 They forgot what he had done—
the miracles that he had shown them.
12 In front of their ancestors he performed miracles
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through it.
He made the waters stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them by a cloud during the day
and by a fiery light throughout the night.
15 He split rocks in the desert.
He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.
16 He made streams come out of a rock.
He made the water flow like rivers.
17 They continued to sin against him,
to rebel in the desert against Elyon.
18 They deliberately tested Elohim by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against Elohim by saying,
“Can El prepare a banquet in the desert?
20 True, he did strike a rock,
and water did gush out,
and the streams did overflow.
But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”
21 When Yahweh heard this, he became furious.
His fire burned against Jacob
and his anger flared up at Israel
22 because they did not believe Elohim
or trust him to save them.
23 In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna down on them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
25 Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,
and Elohim sent them plenty of food.
26 He made the east wind blow in the heavens
and guided the south wind with his might.
27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like the sand on the seashore.
28 He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,
all around his dwelling place.
29 They ate more than enough.
He gave them what they wanted,
30 but they still wanted more.
While the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of Elohim flared up against them.
He killed their strongest men
and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they continued to sin,
and they no longer believed in his miracles.
33 He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.
He brought their years to an end in terror.
34 When he killed some of them, the rest searched for him.
They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for El.
35 They remembered that Elohim was their rock,
that El Elyon was their Go’el.
36 They flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his promise.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.