M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Dan's tribe worship idols
18 At that time, Israel had no king to rule over them. The people of Dan's tribe were looking for some land where they could live. They had not yet taken the land that would be their home among Israel's tribes.[a] 2 So the men of Dan sent five soldiers from the clans of their tribe to explore the land. The leaders sent them out from Zorah and Eshtaol. They told them, ‘Go and find some land for us.’
The five men went into the hill country of Ephraim. They came to Micah's house and they stayed there for a night. 3 While they were at Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. So they went in and they asked him, ‘Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?’
4 He told them what Micah had done for him. He said, ‘He pays me to work for him as his priest.’ 5 So they said to him, ‘Please ask God if our journey will have a good result.’ 6 Micah's priest answered, ‘Yes, do not worry. The Lord will be with you on your journey.’
7 So the five men continued on their journey. They arrived at Laish. They saw that it was a safe place to live. The people of Laish were not afraid of any trouble. They lived in peace, like the Sidonians do. Their land gave them everything that they needed, so they were rich. They lived a long way from the Sidonians, and there were no other people who would help them.
8 The five men of Dan's tribe returned to Zorah and Eshtaol. Their relatives asked them, ‘What did you find?’ 9 They answered, ‘We should go now and attack them! We saw their land, and it is very good. Do not sit there and wait! Go quickly and take the land for yourselves. 10 When you attack, you will see that the people there think that they are safe. Their land is very big and it has everything that we need. God will surely give it to you.’
11 So 600 men of Dan's tribe prepared for the fight. They marched out from Zorah and Eshtaol with their weapons. 12 On their way, they made their camp at Kiriath-Jearim in Judah. That place on the west side of Kiriath-Jearim is still called Mahaneh Dan.[b] 13 From there they travelled through the hill country of Ephraim. They arrived at Micah's house.
14 The five men who had explored the land of Laish said to their relatives, ‘Do you know that in one of these houses there is an ephod, some small idols, an image and a metal idol. Think carefully and decide what to do.’ 15 So they went into Micah's house, where the young Levite was living. They said ‘hello’ to him. 16 The 600 men of Dan stood at the gate with their weapons. 17 The five men who had explored the land went inside. They took all the idols, the image and the priest's ephod. While they did that, the Levite priest was standing at the gate with the 600 soldiers.
18 When the priest saw that the five men were taking the things from the house, he asked them, ‘What are you doing?’ 19 They said to him, ‘Be quiet! Do not say a word. Come with us. You will be our advisor and our priest. That will be much better for you. You will serve a whole Israelite tribe, instead of only one man's family.’ 20 So the priest was happy. He joined the group of men from Dan's tribe. He took the ephod, the idols and the image with him.
21 They left Micah's house to continue their journey. They followed after their children, their animals and all their other things. 22 After they had travelled some way, Micah realized what had happened. He brought together his neighbours and they chased after the men of Dan. When they reached them, 23 they shouted to them. The men of Dan turned around and they said to Micah, ‘What is the problem? Why have you brought all these men?’
24 Micah replied, ‘You have taken away the gods that I made. You have also taken my priest. Now I have nothing left. You should not ask me, “What is the problem?” ’ 25 The men of Dan said to Micah, ‘Do not argue with us! If you say any more, some of our men may become very angry. They might attack you. You and your family might all die!’
26 Then the men of Dan continued on their journey. Micah realized that they were too strong for him. So he turned around and he went home.
27 The men of Dan took the idols that Micah had made, as well as his priest. Then they arrived at Laish. The people who lived there were not expecting any trouble. The soldiers of Dan attacked the people with their weapons and they killed them. They destroyed the city with fire. 28 No one came to rescue the people of Laish. The city was a long way from Sidon. They had no other friends to help them.
Laish was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites built the city again and they lived there. 29 They called the city Dan, because that was the name of their ancestor. He had been one of Israel's 12 sons. Before that, the city's name was Laish.
30 The people of Dan worshipped Micah's idol. Jonathan served as priest for the tribe of Dan. He was a descendant of Moses' son, Gershom. He and his descendants served there as priests until Israel's enemies took them away into exile. 31 They continued to worship Micah's idol in Dan all the time that God's special tent was in Shiloh.[c]
Paul speaks to the crowd in Jerusalem
22 Paul said to the crowd, ‘Please, listen to me, you Jewish leaders and all you other people who are Jews like me. I want to explain to you what has happened here.’
2 The crowd heard Paul speaking to them in their own Hebrew language. So they became really quiet.
Paul continued to speak. He said, 3 ‘I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus in the region of Cilicia. I lived here in Jerusalem when I was a boy. I studied God's Law for many years and Gamaliel was my teacher.[a] I learned very well how to obey the laws of our ancestors. I tried to obey God as carefully as all of you do today.
4 I caused great trouble to the disciples of Jesus. I even wanted to kill them. I took hold of them and I put them in prison. I did that to both men and women. 5 The most important priest and all the group of Jewish leaders can tell you that this is true. They gave me letters for the Jewish leaders in Damascus. So I travelled to Damascus to take hold of the believers in that city. I wanted to tie them up and bring them back to Jerusalem. Then the leaders here could punish them.’
Paul tells the crowd how he began to believe in Jesus
6 Paul continued to say, ‘As I was travelling, I came near to Damascus. About midday, a bright light from the sky suddenly shone round me. 7 I fell down to the ground. Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Saul, Saul, why do you fight against me?”
8 “Lord, who are you?” I asked.
He said to me, “I am Jesus from Nazareth. And you are fighting against me.” 9 The men who travelled with me saw the light. But they did not understand the voice that spoke to me.
10 I asked, “Lord, what must I do?” He said to me, “Get up now and go into Damascus. When you arrive in the city, someone will come to you. He will tell you what God wants you to do.” 11 The bright light hurt my eyes so that I could not see. So the men who were with me held my hand. They led me into Damascus.
12 In Damascus, there was a man called Ananias. He worshipped God and he obeyed our Law. All the Jews in Damascus said good things about him. 13 Ananias came to see me. He stood near to me and he said, “Brother Saul, see again!” Then immediately I could see again. I could look at him.
14 Then Ananias said to me, “The God that we worship and our ancestors worshipped has chosen you. He will tell you what he wants you to do. God has let you see his special servant, who is completely good. You have heard this servant's message to you. 15 You will tell people everywhere about the things that you have seen and heard. That is what God wants you to do. 16 So now you do not need to wait any longer. Stand up and I will baptize you. Believe in the Lord Jesus so that God will forgive you for your sins.”
17 So then I returned to Jerusalem. I went into the temple and I was praying there. I had a vision. 18 In the vision, I saw the Lord and he spoke to me. He said, “Hurry. Leave Jerusalem quickly. The people here will not believe what you say to them about me.”
19 I replied, “Lord, the people here know what I have been doing. They know that I wanted to take hold of all the people who believed in you. I went to all our Jewish meeting places to look for the believers. When I found them, I put them in prison and I hit them with sticks. 20 I myself was there when the people killed Stephen. He was your servant who told people your message. But I agreed that it was right to kill him. I even held the coats of the people while they killed him.”
21 But the Lord said to me, “Go! I will now send you a long way away. You must go to the Gentiles and tell them my message.” ’
The people in the crowd become very angry with Paul
22 The people listened carefully to Paul until he spoke about the Gentiles. Then they began to shout loudly, ‘Take him away! Kill him! It is not right that he should live any longer!’
23 While they were shouting this, they were taking off their coats. They also threw dirt from the ground up into the air.[b]
24 The leader of the soldiers said to his men, ‘Take this man into our building. Then hit him with whips. We must find out what he has done. He must tell us why the Jews are shouting so loudly against him.’[c]
25 So the soldiers tied Paul's arms and they were ready to hit him. But Paul spoke to the soldiers' officer who stood near to him. He said, ‘I am a citizen of Rome. So it is not right for you to hit me like that. No judge has agreed that I have done anything wrong.’
26 The officer heard what Paul said. So he went to the leader of the soldiers and he said, ‘That man is a citizen of Rome! Be careful what you do to him!’
27 So the soldiers' leader went to speak to Paul. He asked him, ‘Tell me. Are you really a citizen of Rome?’
Paul answered, ‘Yes, I am.’
28 The soldiers' leader said, ‘I paid a lot of money to the government so that I could become a citizen of Rome.’
Paul replied, ‘But I was already a citizen of Rome when I was born.’
29 Immediately, the men who wanted to hit Paul with whips moved away from him. The leader of the soldiers was also very afraid. He had tied chains around Paul's arms and legs. He knew that he should not have done that to a citizen of Rome.[d]
30 The soldiers' leader wanted to find the reason why the Jews had said bad things against Paul. He wanted to know what was really true. So the next day, he told his soldiers to remove the chains from Paul. He sent a message to the most important priest and to all the group of Jewish leaders. He told them to meet together with him. Then he took Paul to their meeting. He made Paul stand in front of them.
Jeremiah buys a field
32 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah had ruled Judah for ten years. At that time, King Nebuchadnezzar had ruled in Babylon for 18 years. 2 Nebuchadnezzar's army had made their camp all around Jerusalem. Jeremiah was a prisoner in the city. Guards kept him in a yard of the palace of the king of Judah.[a]
3 King Zedekiah had put Jeremiah in prison there. He did not like the messages from God that Jeremiah was speaking. He said to Jeremiah, ‘You should stop saying these things! Do not continue to say, “The Lord will put this city under the power of the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon will take the city for himself. 4 Zedekiah, king of Judah, will not escape from Babylon's army. They will take him to the king of Babylon. Zedekiah will have to stand in front of the king of Babylon and answer his questions. 5 They will take Zedekiah away to Babylon as their prisoner. He will stay there until the Lord has punished him completely. If you continue to fight against Babylon's army, you will never win.” ’ That was the Lord's message that Jeremiah had told Zedekiah.
6 While Jeremiah was in prison, the Lord said to him, 7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to visit you. He will say to you, “I want you to buy my field in Anathoth. The law says that I should offer it to you first, because you are my relative.” ’
8 This happened as the Lord had said it would happen. My cousin Hanamel came to visit me in the prison. He said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin's tribe. I offer it to you first, as my relative. So you can buy it for yourself.’
When this happened, I realized I had really heard the Lord's message. 9 So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed 17 shekels of silver to pay him for it. 10 I wrote my name on a piece of paper to show that I had bought the land. Some men watched as I did this, to agree to the sale. I closed the paper with a seal.[b] Then I gave Hanamel the silver that I had weighed. 11 I took the paper with the seal, and also a copy of it that had no seal. The agreement about the sale of land was written on those pieces of paper. 12 I gave both pieces of paper to Baruch, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. Hanamel watched me as I did this, as well as the men who had written their names on the paper. The people of Judah who were there in the guards' yard also watched me.
13 While all those people listened, I said to Baruch, 14 ‘The Lord Almighty, Israel's God says, “Take these two pieces of paper that have the agreement about the sale of land. Take the piece that has a seal on it and the piece without a seal. Put them both in a clay jar to keep them safe for a long time.” 15 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “A time will come when people in this land again buy houses, fields and vineyards.” ’
Jeremiah prays about the land that he has bought
16 After I had given Baruch the pieces of paper about the sale of land, I prayed to the Lord.
17 I said, ‘Lord God, you used your great power and strength to make the earth and the sky. Nothing is too difficult for you to do. 18 You show your faithful love to thousands of people. But you also punish people for the sins that their ancestors did in past times. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord Almighty.
19 You have wise thoughts and you do great things. You see everything that people do. You see how they live. You give everyone what they deserve. 20 You did powerful miracles in Egypt, and we still remember them today. In this way you continue to be famous in Israel and everywhere in the world. 21 You used your great power and strength to bring your people out of Egypt. You did miracles that showed your power. It caused the Egyptians to be very afraid. 22 You gave this land to the Israelites, as you had promised to their ancestors. It was a land where there was plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. 23 Your people moved in to the land and they made it their home. But they did not obey you. They did not live in the way that your law taught them. They did not do the things that you commanded them to do. Because of that, you caused them to have all this terrible trouble.
24 Babylon's army have already put heaps of earth around the city's walls. They are ready to attack us. War, famine and disease will soon kill us. Babylon's soldiers will come into the city and take it for themselves. Lord, you warned us that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already happening. 25 I know that Babylon's army will soon get power over the city. But you still told me to use my silver to buy that field. And people watched me write my name on the paper.’
The Lord replies to Jeremiah
26 Then the Lord said to Jeremiah, 27 ‘I am the Lord, the God who rules all people. Nothing is too difficult for me to do. 28 So I, the Lord, tell you this: I will certainly give this city to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. They will get power over it. 29 The soldiers from Babylon who are attacking the city will come in. They will destroy it with fire. They will burn down the houses of the people. These people have made me angry. They went up on the roofs of their houses and they burned incense to worship Baal. They also poured out drink offerings to other false gods.
30 The people of Israel and Judah have continued to do things that I see are evil. They have done those things since they were a young nation. They have always done things that make me angry. That is what the Lord says.
31 The people of this city have made me very angry from the time when they built it, even until now. Because of that, I have decided to destroy it completely. 32 The people of Israel and Judah have made me angry because of all the wicked things that they have done. Their kings, officers, priests and prophets have all done wicked things. I will destroy this city because of the wicked things that the people of Jerusalem and all of Judah have done. 33 They should have come to me for help, but instead they turned away from me. Many times I taught them what was right. But they would not listen to me when I warned them. 34 They put their disgusting idols in the temple. I chose that place to be my special home, but they have made it unclean. 35 They have built altars in Ben-Hinnom valley to worship Baal. On those altars, they light fires to burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to Molech. I never commanded them to do that. I never even thought about it. It has caused Judah's people to be guilty of sin.
36 You are right to say, “War, famine and disease will cause the king of Babylon to get power over this city.” But I, the Lord, Israel's God, tell you this: 37 I will certainly bring my people back from the foreign countries where I will send them. I will send them away as prisoners because they have made me very angry. But I will bring them back to this place so that they can live here safely. 38 They will be my people and I will be their God. 39 I will make them all want to do one thing. They will want to live in a way that always pleases me. They will do that so that they enjoy good lives and their children also enjoy good lives after them. 40 I will make a covenant with them that will continue for ever. I will promise always to do good things for them. They will want to respect me and obey me so that they never turn away from me again. That is what I will do for them. 41 I will be happy to help them with good things. I promise them faithfully that I will put them in this land again. They will grow like strong plants.’
42 The Lord says this: ‘It is true that I have brought terrible trouble to this people. But in the same way, I will give them all the good things that I have promised. 43 At this time, you are saying, “Babylon's army will take power over our land. It will become like a desert. No people or animals will live in it.” But I tell you that one day people will again buy and sell fields in this land. 44 They will pay silver to buy fields. There will be pieces of paper that show the agreement for the sale. There will be seals on those papers. People will watch and agree that the sale has happened. People will buy fields in the land that belongs to Benjamin's tribe and in the villages round Jerusalem. They will buy land in the towns of Judah, in the hill country, in the low hills in the west and in the Negev region in the south. At that time, I will bring my people back to live safely in their land. I, the Lord, promise that this will happen!’
The two paths[a]
1 If someone does not do what wicked people tell him to do,
if he does not join with sinners,
if he does not meet with those who laugh at God,
God has blessed that person!
2 He is happy when he obeys the Law of the Lord.[b]
He thinks about God's Law during the day and at night.
3 He will become like a tree that grows beside streams of water.
It gives its fruit at the right season.
Its leaves do not fall off.
Everything that person does will have a good result.
4 But wicked people are as empty as chaff.
The wind blows them away.[c]
5 So they will not go free when God judges them.
Sinners cannot join with God's people,
the people who are right with God.[d]
6 The Lord takes care of people who respect him.
But wicked people are living in a way that will take them to a bad end.
The Lord's king rules[e]
2 Why are nations making plans to turn against the Lord?
All their plans will fail!
2 Kings and rulers decide to work together,
to fight against the Lord
and the king that he has chosen.
3 They say, ‘We will not accept their authority over us!
We will get free from their power!’[f]
4 The Lord who sits on his throne in heaven laughs at them.
He says that their plans are useless.
5 Then he becomes very angry and he frightens them.
He warns them with strong words and he says,
6 ‘I have put my king on his throne in Zion.[g]
I have put him on my holy mountain.’
7 I will tell you what the Lord has promised to me, his king.
He said to me, ‘You are my son.
Yes, today I have become your father![h]
8 Ask me and see what I will do!
I will give you all the nations on the earth.
They will all belong to you.
9 You will break them with an iron sceptre,
as if they are clay pots.’
10 So, you kings, think carefully!
You who rule the nations of the world, learn this lesson:
11 Respect the Lord and serve him.
Enjoy his rule with fear!
12 Bend down low in front of his son!
If not, the Lord will be angry.
He will quickly become very angry.
You will suddenly die!
But as for those who serve the Lord as their king,
he blesses them and he takes care of them all.
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