M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Animals for sacrifice
17 When you offer an animal as a sacrifice to the Lord your God, it must be perfect. Do not bring any sheep or bull that has something wrong with it. The Lord hates any gift like that.
Justice
2 The Lord your God will give you towns to live in. You may hear that a man or a woman who lives in one of your towns has done a bad thing. He has done a sin that is against the covenant of the Lord your God. 3 He may have started to worship false gods that I have commanded you not to worship. Perhaps he worships the sun, the moon or the stars. 4 If you hear news like that, you must check the report carefully. If it is true that a wicked thing like that has happened in Israel, 5 you must punish that person. Take the man or woman who has done that wicked thing to the gate of the town. Then you must throw stones at that person to kill them. 6 But two or three people must agree about what the person has done. You must never kill anyone because of the words of only one person. 7 The people who saw the wicked act must throw the first stones to kill the person. Then everyone else must also throw stones. In that way, you must remove evil acts from among you.
8 It may be difficult for the judges in your towns to decide what is true. This may happen when one person has attacked or killed another person. It may happen when people cannot agree about some land. It may be anything that people in your towns are arguing about. If you do not know who is right, you must take those people to the place that the Lord your God will choose. 9 You must go to the Levite priests and to the judge who has authority at that time. Ask them to decide what is right and true. 10 When they decide, you must do what they tell you to do. 11 Accept their teaching. Agree with what they have decided is right. Obey their words completely. Do not try to do anything that is different. 12 Someone might be too proud to obey the priest who has authority as the Lord's servant. He may not agree with what the judge says is right. You must punish any proud person like that with death. In that way you will remove evil things from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear what has happened. They will be afraid. They will no longer be too proud to obey the judge.
Rules for a king
14 You are going into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. You will take it for yourselves to be your home. Then you may say, ‘The other nations around us have kings. We must also have a king to rule us.’ 15 If that happens, you must only accept a king that the Lord your God chooses. Choose a king from among your own people. Do not choose anyone who is not an Israelite.
16 A king must not get a lot of horses for himself. He must not send his people back to Egypt to buy more horses. The Lord has said to you, ‘Never return to Egypt for any reason!’
17 A king must not marry many wives. They may turn his thoughts away from the Lord. He must not store a lot of silver and gold for himself.
18 When anyone starts to rule as king, he must copy this Law of God on a scroll. The scroll will be a copy of the one that belongs to the Levite priests. 19 He must keep this scroll with him all the time. He must continue to read it every day of his life. If he does that, he will learn to respect the Lord his God. He will learn to obey all the rules and commands of this Law. 20 If he does that, he will not become proud. He will not think that he is better than other Israelites. He will continue to obey the Lord's commands. Then he and his descendants will rule Israel as kings for many years.
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
44 ‘Israelites, Jacob's descendants, listen to me!
I have chosen you to be my servant.’
2 The Lord created you. Before you were born, he was already taking care of you. He will continue to help you. He says to you,
‘Do not be afraid, my servant, Jacob.
I call you “Jeshurun”,
and I have chosen you to belong to me.
3 I will pour water onto land that is thirsty.
I will pour streams of water on the dry ground.
I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
and I will bless them.
4 They will grow up like fresh grass in a field.
They will grow like willow trees beside a river.
5 Someone will say, “I belong to the Lord.”
Another person will call himself by the name “Jacob”.
Someone else will write on his hand, “I am the Lord's”,
and he will call himself “Israel”.’
6 The Lord is Israel's King and Redeemer. He is the Lord Almighty. He says,
‘I am the first and I am the last.
There is no God, except me.
7 Is there anyone like me? If there is, he should say so!
He must tell me why he thinks he is so great.
Long ago I made my people become a nation.
Let him say what he has done since then!
Let him tell us what will happen in future years!
8 My people, do not shake with fear.
Long ago I told you about things that would happen.
You can tell people the truth about me.
You know that I am the only true God.
There is no other Rock to keep you safe.[a]
There surely is no other God except me.’
9 All the people who make idols are fools.
The images which make them so happy are useless.
Those who worship idols cannot see the truth.
They do not understand what they are doing,
and they will be ashamed.
10 Only a fool makes an idol and thinks that it is his god.
An image cannot help him.
11 Those who work with him will all be ashamed.
Those workers with special skills are only human.
They should come together,
and they should stand in front of me.
That will make them very frightened.
They will realize how foolish they are!
12 This is how they make their idols:
A man who works with iron takes his tool. He makes the metal hot in the fire. Then he uses hammers to hit it with his strong arms. He hits it so that it has the right shape. But then he becomes hungry. He is too weak to work any more. He does not drink any water and so he feels tired.
13 A carpenter measures a piece of wood. Then he draws a shape for the image. He uses his tools to cut the wood. He carefully makes it have the right shape. He makes the image have the shape of a human. It looks like a beautiful person. Now it is ready to go in its special room.
14 He may cut down cedar trees to make something. He may cut down a cypress tree, or an oak tree. He takes these trees from the forest. Or he may plant his own pine tree, so that the rain helps it to grow well. 15 He uses some of the wood to burn. He makes himself warm beside the fire. He may light a fire and then he may bake bread on it. Then he uses some of the wood to make a god that he will worship! Yes, he makes an idol, and he bends down in front of it. 16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire. He uses it to cook his meat, and he eats plenty of food. He makes himself warm and he says, ‘Good! Now I am warm as I look at the fire.’ 17 He uses the rest of the wood to make an idol to be his god. He bends down in front of it and he worships it. He prays to it and he says, ‘Save me, because you are my god!’
18 People like that are stupid. They do not understand anything. They cannot see the truth, as if they are blind. Their minds cannot think properly. 19 None of them think carefully about what they are doing. They do not say to themselves, ‘I burned half of the wood in the fire. I even baked bread and I cooked meat on it. It gave me food to eat. Then I used the rest of the wood to make a useless idol! I took a piece of wood and I worshipped it! Why did I do that?’
20 Someone like that is stupid enough to eat ashes. His mind has deceived him. He cannot save himself from his lies. He will not say to himself, ‘This thing that I hold in my right hand is completely false!’
The Lord takes care of his people
21 The Lord says:
‘Jacob's descendants, remember these things,
because you, Israel, are my servant.
I created you to be my servant.
Israel, I will not forget you.
22 I have removed the guilt of your sins,
like the wind blows away a cloud.
When you turned against me,
I have quickly forgiven you.
Return to me now,
because I have rescued you.’
23 Sing aloud with joy, you heavens above us,
because the Lord has done it!
Shout as loudly as you can,
places deep below the earth.
You mountains, sing with joy,
and you forests and trees as well!
Be happy, because the Lord has redeemed his people.
He has rescued the Israelites, Jacob's descendants,
to show how great he is.
24 The Lord is your Redeemer. He took care of you before you were born. He says,
‘I am the Lord. I made everything.
I alone hung up the sky like a curtain.
I made the whole earth by myself.
25 I show that the false prophets speak useless messages.
I show that those who use magic to say what will happen are fools.
I cause the ideas of wise people to become useless.
People think that their advice is foolish.
26 But I do the things that my servants say will happen.
I show that my prophets' messages are true.
I say about Jerusalem, “People will live there again.”
I say about the towns in Judah, “I will cause people to build them again,
so that they are no longer heaps of stones.”
27 I say to the deep sea, “Become dry!”
and its streams become dry.
28 I say about King Cyrus,
“He is my shepherd.[b]
He will do what I want him to do.”
He will give a command about Jerusalem.
He will say, “Build the city again!”
He will say about the temple,
“Build its foundation.” ’
The Lamb and the 144,000 people
14 Then I looked again and I saw the Lamb. He was standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. There were 144,000 people there with him. The Lamb's name and his Father's name were written on the front of those people's heads.
2 Then I heard a loud sound which came from heaven. The noise was like water that pours along a river very fast. It was like the loud noise of thunder. The sound was like people who were making music with harps. 3 The 144,000 people were singing a new song that they had learned. They sang it in front of the throne. They sang in front of the four beings that are alive and in front of the leaders. Only these 144,000 people could learn the new song. They are the people that God had saved from among the people who lived on the earth.
4 These 144,000 people have kept themselves pure. They have not had sex with women in a wrong way. They follow the Lamb everywhere that he goes. God has saved them from among the people of the world and he has paid for their sins. They are the first people to become a gift to God and to the Lamb. 5 They have not spoken any lies. They have done nothing wrong.[a]
The three angels with messages
6 Then I saw another angel who was flying high in the sky above me. He brought God's message of good news that is always true. He came to tell this news to everyone who lives on the earth. He would tell it to people from every nation, from every tribe and from every language. 7 He said in a loud voice, ‘Respect God and give him honour! Now it is time for him to judge people. He made the sky and the earth and the sea. He also made the springs of water. So worship him!’
8 A second angel followed the first one. He said, ‘God has destroyed Babylon! It is no longer a great city! It has caused people everywhere to do the same bad things as it enjoys. She is like a prostitute who makes men become drunk and have sex in a wrong way. She has caused them to turn away from God.’[b]
9 A third angel followed the other two angels. He said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the wild animal and its idol, God will punish them. If anyone receives that animal's mark on their head or on their hand, God will punish them. 10 God will be very angry with all those people. They will be like people who must drink God's strong wine. When they drink wine from the cup of God's anger, they will have terrible pain. Fire and sulphur will burn them. God's angels and the Lamb will watch while God punishes them. 11 The smoke will rise for ever while they burn. They will have no rest during the day or during the night. This will happen to everyone who worships the wild animal and its image. It will happen to everyone who receives the mark which shows its name.’
12 This means that God's people must go on being patient and strong. They must continue to obey God's rules. They must continue to trust Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice that spoke from heaven. It said, ‘Write this: From this time, people who continue to believe in the Lord and then they die will be very happy.’ God's Spirit says, ‘Yes, they will rest from their work. God will not forget the good things that they have done.’
The earth's harvest
14 Then I looked, and I saw a white cloud in front of me. I saw someone who was like a son of man.[c] He was sitting on the cloud. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp knife in his hand.[d] 15 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He shouted with a loud voice to the person who was sitting on the cloud. He told him, ‘Use your sharp knife and start to work. It is time to bring in the harvest. Cut down the plants and bring them in. The harvest on the earth is now ready.’
16 Then the person who sat on the cloud moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut down the earth's plants and he brought in the harvest.[e]
17 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He also had a sharp knife in his hand. 18 Again, another angel came from the altar where people offered gifts to God. This angel had authority for the fire on the altar.[f] He shouted with a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife. He told him, ‘Use your knife and cut the grapes off the earth's vine. The grapes are ready now to make wine.’
19 So the angel moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut off the grapes which grew in the earth's vineyard. He threw the grapes into the winepress where God stamps on the grapes because he is very angry. 20 The winepress was outside the city. When God stamped on the grapes, the juice that came out of the winepress was blood.[g] The river of blood was very deep. It rose as high as horses' necks and it went as far as 300 kilometres.
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