M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Other rules
22 You may see your neighbour's cow or sheep that has become lost. If so, do not look the other way. You must catch the animal. You must take it back to your neighbour. 2 Perhaps the man does not live near you. Perhaps you do not know who the animal belongs to. If so, take the animal to your own home and keep it safe there. When the man comes to look for his animal, give it to him. 3 You must do the same thing if you find someone's donkey or clothes or anything else. You must not refuse to help.
4 Perhaps your neighbour's donkey or his cow has fallen on the road. If you see it lying there, do not look the other way. You must help the man to lift the animal so that it can stand.
5 A woman must not wear the same clothes that men wear. A man must not wear clothes that make him look like a woman. The Lord your God hates people who do this.
6 You may find a bird's nest beside the road. It may be in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is sitting on eggs or on young birds, you must not take the mother away from them. 7 You may take the young birds for yourself. But you must let the mother bird go free. If you do that, everything will be well with you. You will have a long life.
8 If you build a new house, you must make a wall around the edge of the flat roof. Then if someone falls off the roof and dies, you will not be guilty for his death.
9 You must not plant any other crops between the vines in your vineyard. If you do that, none of the food or the grapes will belong to you.
10 You must not tie an ox and a donkey together to pull a plough.
11 You must not mix wool and linen together to make your clothes.
12 You must fix tassels on the four corners of your coat.
Rules for marriage
13 Perhaps a man will marry a woman, and he has sex with her. Later he decides he no longer wants her to be his wife. 14 He may then tell lies against her to say that she is bad. He may say, ‘I married this woman, and I had sex with her. Then I discovered that she had already had sex before I married her.’
15 If that happens, the woman's parents must bring the cloth that she slept on with her husband. They must take it to the leaders of the town to show them. 16 The woman's father must say to the leaders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But now he does not like her. 17 He accuses her that she is bad. He says, “I discovered that your daughter had sex before I married her.” But look at her cloth. This shows that she had never had sex before.’ Then her parents must hold the cloth in front of the leaders of the town. 18 The leaders must then take hold of the man. They must punish him. 19 They must make the man pay 100 pieces of silver to the young woman's father. The man has told lies. He has accused a pure Israelite girl to say that she is bad. After that, she will continue to be his wife. He may never send her away as long as he lives.
20 But perhaps the husband has spoken the truth. Perhaps his new wife cannot show that she had not had sex before. 21 If so, the leaders must take her to the entrance of her father's house. The men of the town must throw stones at her there, until she dies. She has done a very bad thing that brings shame on Israel. She has had sex like a prostitute while she lived in her father's house. You must remove evil acts like this from among you.
22 You may discover a man who is having sex with another man's wife. If so, you must punish both the man and the woman with death. In this way, you will remove such evil acts from Israel.
23 Perhaps a man may meet a young woman in a town. She has already promised to marry another man, but the man has sex with her. 24 If so, you must take both of them to the gate of that town. You must throw stones at both of them there, until they die. The young woman is guilty because she did not shout aloud for help. They were in the town, so someone would have heard her. The man is guilty because he had sex with the future wife of another man. In this way, you will remove evil acts from among you.
25 But perhaps a man may meet a young woman in a field in the country. She has already promised to marry another man. But the man is stronger than her and he has sex with her. If that happens, only the man must die. 26 Do not punish the young woman. She does not deserve to die. The man's act is like a man who attacks and murders another person. 27 The man met the young woman in a field. When she shouted for help, nobody heard her because it happened in the country. There was no one there to rescue her.
28 Perhaps a man may meet a girl who has not had sex with anyone before. She has not yet promised to marry anyone. The man may be too strong and he has sex with her. 29 If that happens, the man must pay 50 pieces of silver to the girl's father. He must also marry the girl because he has had sex with her. He may never send her away as long as he lives.
30 A man must not marry a woman who was his father's wife. That would bring shame on his father.
David wrote this psalm.
The Lord's great King[a]
110 The Lord God said to my Lord,[b]
‘Sit at my right side[c] until I win against your enemies.
Then you will be able to put your feet on them.’
2 The Lord will give you great authority,
as you rule from Zion.[d]
You will rule over all your enemies
that are round you.
3 When you go to fight your enemies,
your people will be happy to fight beside you.
As the sun rises on the day of battle,
your young men will be there,
on the hills round Zion.[e]
4 The Lord has made a strong promise.
He will not change it.
He has promised, ‘You will be a priest for ever,
in the same way that Melchizedek was my priest.’[f]
5 The Lord is standing at your right side.
When he becomes angry,
he will knock down kings!
6 He will punish the nations,
so that dead bodies cover the ground.
He will destroy kings everywhere on the earth.
7 He will drink from a stream at the side of the road.
With new strength, he will lift up his head.
The Lord does great things[g]
111 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
I will thank the Lord with all that I am,
when we, his people, meet together.
2 The Lord does great things!
People who enjoy them,
think carefully about them.
3 Everything that he does
shows that he is a very great king!
He will always do what is completely right.
4 The Lord causes us to remember his miracles.
He is kind and he forgives people.
5 He gives food to the people who serve him.
He always remembers the covenant
that he made with his people.
6 He said that he would use his great power
to help his people.
He has given to them
the lands where other nations lived.
7 He is always honest and fair
in the things that he does.
His rules help people to live well.
8 They will continue to be right for all time.
People should trust those rules and obey them.
9 He rescued his people
so that they became free.
He made his covenant with them
so that it would continue for ever.
His name is holy,
and people should respect him with fear.
10 If you want to live in a wise way,
respect and obey the Lord.[h]
Everyone who lives in the way that he teaches
will understand what is right.
People should praise the Lord for ever!
The Lord's Servant
49 Listen to me, you islands.
Listen carefully, you people who live far away.
The Lord called me to serve him
before I was born.
Before my mother gave birth,
he used my name to speak to me.
2 The message that he gave me to speak
was like a sharp sword.
He kept me safe in his hand.
He made me like a sharp arrow
that he keeps safe and ready to use.
3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel.
Because of you, I will cause people to know that I am great.’
4 I said, ‘My work has been useless.
I have worked hard with no results.’
But the Lord will do what is right for me.
He will give me what I deserve for my work.
5 The Lord chose me to be his servant, even before I was born. He chose me to bring Jacob's descendants back to himself. He chose me to bring Israel's people together to serve him. As a result, the Lord will honour me. He is the one who makes me strong. The Lord, my God, says,
6 ‘As my servant, I have a greater job for you to do.
It will not only be to make Jacob's tribes strong again.
It will not only be to bring back Israel's people that I have kept safe.
It will also be your job
to bring light to the other nations.
You will show people all over the world
that I have the power to save them.’
7 The Lord is Israel's Redeemer, their Holy God. Nations refuse to accept his servant. Their people hate him and their rulers have made him their slave. The Lord says to his servant,
‘Kings will see you and they will rise up to respect you.
Princes will bend down low in front of you.
They will see that the Lord is faithful.
He is Israel's Holy God,
who has chosen you to serve him.’
8 This is what the Lord says:
‘I will answer your prayers
at the time that I have chosen to help you.
Yes, I will come to save you on that day.
I will keep you safe,
so that I can make a covenant with people through you.
You will make the land safe again.
People will return to live there,
in places that had become empty.
9 You will say to the prisoners,
“Come out!”
You will say to people who are in dark prisons,
“Come outside!”
Then they will be free to find food for themselves.
They will eat along the road and on the tops of the hills.
10 They will not be hungry or thirsty.
The strong heat of the sun will not hurt them.
The one who loves them will be their guide.
He will lead them to drink from springs of water.
11 I will make all my mountains become roads.
I will build good roads for my people to travel on.
12 Look! People will return to the land
from places that are far away.
Yes, some of them will come from the north and from the west.
And some will come from the land of Sinim.’[a]
13 Shout with joy, everything in the sky!
Be happy, everything on the earth!
Sing loudly, you mountains!
Be happy, because the Lord comforts his people.
He will be kind to his people who have trouble and pain.
14 But Zion's people said,
‘The Lord has left us alone.
The Lord God has forgotten about us.’
15 The Lord replies,
‘Can a mother forget the baby
who drinks milk at her breast?
Can she refuse to be kind to the child
that she has given birth to?
Perhaps those mothers might forget their children.
But I would not ever forget you, Zion.[b]
16 Look! I have written your name on my own hand.
I always see the walls of your city in my mind.
17 Your children will hurry back to you,
to build you again.
The enemies who destroyed you will go away.
18 Look all round you!
See all your people as they return together.’
The Lord says, ‘I tell you clearly, as the God who lives,
you will be happy with your people.
They will make you beautiful again,
like a bride with her beautiful jewels.
19 Enemies have destroyed your land.
Its towns have become heaps of stones.
But soon your land will be too small for all your people to live in.
The enemies who destroyed you will be far away from you.
20 The children who were born in a foreign land
will return to you.
You will hear them say,
“This place is too small for us.
Find more room for us to live in.”
21 Then you will think, “Who gave me all these children?
Who is their father?
I was alone, with no husband.
They killed my children
or they took them away to a foreign land.
I could no longer give birth.
So where did all these children come from?” ’
22 The Almighty Lord says,
‘Look! I will lift up my hand,
to call the nations.
I will raise up a flag
as a sign to those people.
Then they will bring back your sons and your daughters.
They will carry them in their arms and on their shoulders.
23 The kings of those nations will take care of your children.
The kings' daughters will feed them.
The rulers will bend down low in front of you,
so that their faces touch the ground.
They will taste the dirt by your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
I will not disappoint people who wait for me to help them.
24 Can anyone rob a brave soldier?
Can anyone rescue prisoners from a cruel ruler?’
25 But the Lord says,
‘Yes! One day the brave soldier's prisoners will be free.
One day the cruel ruler will lose the valuable things that he has taken for himself.
I myself will fight against your enemies.
I will rescue your children.
26 I will cause your cruel enemies to destroy themselves.
There will be so much blood that it will seem like wine.
They will seem like people who have become drunk.
Then people everywhere will recognize that I am the Lord.
They will know that I am your Saviour and your Redeemer,
and I am the Mighty One of Jacob.’
The people in heaven praise God
19 After these things, I heard a sound like the voices of a great crowd of people in heaven. They were shouting,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
He has saved us!
He is very powerful!
We say that he is great!
2 Everything that he decides is right and fair.
He has punished that great prostitute.
She led people on the earth to do wicked things.
She murdered God's servants with her own hands.
But now God has punished her as she deserves.’[a]
3 Then the crowd of people in heaven shouted again,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
The smoke from the fire that burns that city will go up for ever.’
4 The 24 leaders and the four beings that are alive then threw themselves down on the ground. They worshipped God, who was sitting on the throne. They said, ‘It is true! Praise the Lord God!’
5 Then a voice spoke from the throne. It said,
‘All of you who are God's servants,
praise our God!
All of you who respect God's power, worship him!
Important people and ordinary people should worship him!’
6 Then I heard a sound like the noise of a very big crowd that was shouting. The sound was like the noise of water that pours quickly along a river. It was like the noise of loud thunder. The crowd of people shouted,
‘Praise the Lord our God!
He rules with all power and authority!
7 We must shout with joy because we are so happy!
We will say that God is great!
The time has come for the Lamb's wedding party.
His bride has prepared herself.
8 God has given her linen clothes to wear that are bright and clean.’
These special linen clothes show the good things that God's holy people have done.[b]
9 Then the angel said to me, ‘Write down this message: “There will be a special meal at the Lamb's wedding party. God has truly blessed those people that he has asked to come to that meal.” ’ The angel also said to me, ‘This is a true message from God.’
10 Then I bent down low at the angel's feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I am a servant, like all believers who show clearly that they trust in Jesus. God is the one that you should worship! When God gave a message to his prophets, it was Jesus that they spoke about.’
The great king on a white horse
11 I saw that heaven was now open. I saw a white horse there! The name of the man who was riding the horse was this: ‘A faithful, honest person’. He is always right when he judges people and when he goes to punish them in war. 12 His eyes burn like bright flames of fire. Many crowns are on his head. He has a name that is written on him, but nobody knows that name except himself. 13 He wears a long shirt with a lot of blood on it. His name is: ‘The Word of God’.
14 Heaven's armies were following him. They were also riding on white horses. They were wearing linen clothes that were white and clean. 15 A sharp sword was coming out of his mouth.[c] He will use this sword to attack the people of all the nations of the world. Then he will rule them with strong authority. He will punish them like someone who stamps on grapes in a winepress. That will show God's great anger against them. He is the Almighty God.[d] 16 The man who rides on the white horse has a name that is written on his shirt. It is also written high on his leg. His name is: ‘The King who rules over all other kings. The Lord who rules over all lords’.[e]
17 Then I saw an angel who was standing in the sun. He shouted loudly to all the birds that were flying high in the sky, ‘Come here! Come together to eat the big meal that God has prepared. 18 Eat the meat from the dead bodies of God's enemies! Come and eat the meat of kings, the meat of army captains and the meat of powerful men. Eat the meat of dead horses and the soldiers who ride them. Eat the meat of all kinds of people: slaves and free people, important people and ordinary people.’
19 Then I saw the wild animal and the kings of the earth and their armies. They had come together to fight a war. They were ready to fight a battle against the man who rode on the white horse and his army. 20 But the rider and his army caught the wild animal. They also caught the false prophet who had done miracles to help the wild animal. He used those miracles to deceive the people who had the wild animal's mark on them. Those people worshipped his image. Now the rider and his army threw the wild animal and the false prophet into the lake of fire. They were still alive when they threw them into the lake that burns with sulphur.
21 The rider of the white horse then killed all his other enemies. He killed them with the sword that came out of his mouth. So then all the birds ate the meat from the dead bodies until they were completely full.
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