M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Og, king of Bashan

3 Then we turned and we went along the road towards Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, marched out with his whole army to attack us at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him. I have given him to you with his whole army and his land. You must do the same thing to Og as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’

³ So the Lord our God put Og, king of Bashan, under our power, as well as his whole army. We killed them all so that we left no one alive. ⁴ Then we took all of his cities. We took power over all the cities in the region of Argob where King Og of Bashan ruled. There were 60 cities. ⁵ All the cities had high walls around them, with gates that the people locked. There were also very many villages which did not have walls around them. ⁶ We destroyed them completely as a gift to the Lord. We had done the same thing to the cities of Sihon, king of Heshbon. We destroyed every city and we killed all the men, women and children. ⁷ But we kept all the animals and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves.

⁸ So, at that time, we took power over all the land that the two Amorite kings, Og and Bashan, had ruled. Their land was east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon valley to Mount Hermon. ⁹ (The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon ‘Sirion’. The Amorites call it ‘Senir’.) ¹⁰ We took all their cities in the high, flat land and cities in the whole of Gilead and in Bashan. We went as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities that belonged to the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ Og, king of Bashan, was the only descendant of the Rephaites who had still been alive. He had an iron bed that is still in the Ammonites' town, Rabbah. It was 4 metres long and 2 metres wide.

Moses gives land to three tribes

¹² When we had taken power over all that land, I gave some of it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. I gave them the land north of Aroer near the Arnon valley. I also gave them half of the hill country of Gilead and the cities there. ¹³ I gave the other part of Gilead to one half of the tribe of Manasseh. I also gave Og's kingdom, Bashan, to them.^[a] People called all the region of Argob in Bashan the land of the Rephaites.

¹⁴ Jair belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. He took power over all the region of Argob. He went as far as the borders of Geshur and Maakah. Then he gave his own name to that land. To this day, Bashan has the name ‘Jair's towns’. ¹⁵ I gave Gilead to Makir, who also belonged to the tribe of Manasseh.

¹⁶ As for the tribes of Reuben and Gad, I gave them land from Gilead to the Arnon valley. The middle of the valley was the border of their land. Their land went as far as the Jabbok valley, which is the border of the Ammonites' land. ¹⁷ The valley of the Jordan River was also a border of their land. It went from Lake Galilee as far as the Salt Sea, with Mount Pisgah to the east.^[b]

¹⁸ At that time I commanded you, ‘The Lord your God has given this land to you, for you to live in it. But all your soldiers must take their weapons and they must cross the Jordan River. You must go in front of the other Israelite tribes across the river. ¹⁹ But your wives, your children and your animals may stay here in the towns that I have given to you. I know that you have many animals. ²⁰ Your men must fight to help the other Israelites until the Lord gives them a safe place to live. He has already given you a safe place to live. Now you must help the other Israelites to take the land which the Lord your God is giving to them. That land is on the other side of the Jordan River. When they take the land for themselves, you may return here to the land that I have given to you.’

Moses will not cross the Jordan River

²¹ At that time, I commanded Joshua, ‘You have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to those two kings, Sihon and Og. He will do the same thing to the kingdoms where you are going. ²² So do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God himself will fight to help you.’

²³ At that time, I asked the Lord many times, ²⁴ ‘Almighty Lord, I am your servant. You are showing me how great and how strong you are. There is no other god in heaven or on earth that can do the great things that you do. ²⁵ Please let me go across the Jordan River! I want to see the good land over there. I want to see the beautiful hills and the mountains in Lebanon.’

²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me, because of you. He would not answer my prayer. He said, ‘You have said enough! Do not speak to me about that any more. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Mount Pisgah. Stand there and look all around, to the west, north, south and east. Look carefully at the land, because you will not go across the Jordan River. ²⁸ Now you must tell Joshua what to do. Tell him to be brave and strong. He will lead my people across the river into the land that you see. He will help them to take the land for themselves.’

²⁹ After that, we stayed in the valley near Beth-Peor.

The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.

A prayer for peace^[a]

Do not trust Egypt to help

31 It will be very bad for those people who expect that Egypt will help them. They think that Egypt's many horses and chariots will keep them safe. They trust the power of Egypt's strong soldiers who ride on horses. But those people do not trust the Holy God of Israel. They do not ask the Lord to help them.

² But the Lord is very wise. He will bring trouble to people, as he has promised. He will not change his mind. He will punish wicked people, as well as those who help them to do evil things.

³ The men in Egypt are human. They are not God. Their horses are weak animals, not powerful spirits. When the Lord lifts up his hand to punish them, the strong helpers will not be able to stand. The people who expected them to help will fall down too. They will all come to an end together.

The Lord will keep his people safe

⁴ This is what the Lord said to me:

‘The Lord Almighty will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. He will come like a strong young lion that roars when it has caught a lamb to eat. Even if a whole crowd of shepherds come to chase it away, their shouts will not make the lion afraid.^{[a] 5} The Lord Almighty will make Jerusalem safe. He will protect it like a bird that protects its nest. He will pass over the city and he will rescue it.^[b]

⁶ Israelite people, you have turned completely against the Lord. Now turn back to him! ⁷ The time will come when everyone must throw away their gold and silver idols. It was a sin for you to make them for yourselves.

⁸ The Assyrian soldiers will die in battle. But humans did not make the sword that will kill them. It is God's sword that will destroy them. The Assyrians will run away from that sword. But their strong young men will have to do hard work as slaves. ⁹ Their strongest soldiers will run away because they are afraid. The officers of their army will be afraid when they see the Lord's battle flag.’

That is what the Lord says. His fire is in Zion. Yes, his hot oven is in Jerusalem.

John's message

1 This book describes the things that God showed to Jesus Christ. He wanted Jesus to show these things to his own servants. They are events that must happen soon. Jesus sent his angel to show them to me, his servant John.

² I, John, have written about everything that God showed me. These things are a true message from God. They are the things that Jesus Christ says are true. ³ If anyone reads aloud the words of this prophecy, God will bless that person. God will also bless the people who listen to these words, if they continue to obey them. The things that are written here will soon happen.

John writes to the seven churches

⁴ I am John. I am writing to the seven churches that are in the region of Asia. I pray that God will be very kind to you. I pray that he will give you peace in your minds. God is alive now. He has always been alive. He will continue to be alive for ever.

God will help you, and the seven spirits that are in front of his throne will help you.^[a]

⁵ Jesus Christ will also help you. He always speaks a true message. He is the first person who became alive again after death.^[b] He rules the kings of the earth.

Jesus loves us and he died for us. That is how he made us free. Because of Jesus, God will not punish us for the bad things that we have done. ⁶ Jesus has brought us into his family, so that we belong to God's kingdom. He has made us priests, so that we serve his God and Father.

So we praise Jesus Christ! He will always be very great! He has power for all time. Amen. This is true!

⁸ The Lord God says, ‘I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I have all power and authority. I am alive. I have always been alive. I will continue to be alive for ever.’

Jesus appears to John

⁹ I am John. I am a believer, as you are. I am like your brother and your friend. Because we belong to Jesus' kingdom, we are having trouble and pain. So we all need to be strong and patient, as Jesus helps us. The Roman leaders punished me because I taught God's message. I told people the true message about Jesus. That is why they sent me to Patmos island.^[d]

¹⁰ On the Lord's day, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear things.^[e] I heard a voice speak behind me. The sound was as loud as a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said: ‘When you see these things, write them in a book. Then you must send the book to the seven churches in these cities:

¹² I turned round to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands with their lights. ¹³ In the middle of the lights, I saw someone like a son of man.^[f] He was wearing long clothes that reached down to his feet. He wore a gold belt around the top part of his body. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like sheep's hair. They were very white, like snow. His eyes were like fires that were burning brightly. ¹⁵ His feet shone like a metal that shines brightly in a very hot fire. When he spoke, his voice was very loud. It was like the sound of water that pours along a river very quickly. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sword with two sharp edges came out of his mouth. His face was like the sun when it shines very brightly.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead person. Then he put his right hand on me, and he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the one who is the first and also the last. ¹⁸ I am the one who always lives. I died once. But look! Now I am alive and I will be alive for ever. I have authority over death and over Hades, the place for dead people.^{[g] 19} So write down the things that you have seen. Write about what you see that is happening now. Also write about the things that will happen later.

²⁰ You saw seven stars that I held in my right hand. You saw seven lights in their gold lampstands. Now I will tell you what they mean. The seven stars show what the angels of the seven churches are like.^[h] The seven lights in their lampstands show what the seven churches themselves are like.’