M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 31
Campaign Against the Midianites. 1 The Lord said to Moses:[a] 2 Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you will be gathered to your people. 3 So Moses told the people, “Arm some men among you for the campaign, to attack Midian and to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 4 From each of the tribes of Israel you will send a thousand men to the campaign.” 5 From the contingents of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war. 6 Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm. 7 They waged war against the Midianites, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8 Besides those slain in battle, they killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian;[b] and they also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword. 9 But the Israelites took captive the women of the Midianites with their children, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as loot, 10 while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments. 11 Then they took all the plunder, with the people and animals they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and plunder, 12 to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Treatment of the Captives. 13 When Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the leaders of the community, went outside the camp to meet them, 14 Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. 15 “So you have spared all the women!” he exclaimed. 16 “These are the very ones who on Balaam’s advice were behind the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to the Lord in the affair at Peor,(A) so that plague struck the Lord’s community. 17 [c]Now kill, therefore, every male among the children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man. 18 But you may spare for yourselves all the girls who have not had sexual relations.
Purification After Combat. 19 “Moreover, remain outside the camp for seven days; every one of you who has killed anyone or touched someone killed will purify yourselves on the third and on the seventh day—both you and your captives. 20 You will also purify every garment, every article of leather, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”
21 Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had taken part in the battle: “This is the prescribed ritual which the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead— 23 whatever can stand fire—you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with water of purification.[d] But whatever cannot stand fire you must put into the water. 24 On the seventh day you will wash your garments, and then you will again be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”
Division of the Spoils. 25 The Lord said to Moses: 26 With the help of Eleazar the priest and of the heads of the ancestral houses of the community, inventory all the spoils captured, human being and beast alike; 27 then divide the spoils[e] between the warriors who went on the campaign and the whole community. 28 You will levy a tax for the Lord on the soldiers who went on the campaign: one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, donkeys, and sheep. 29 From their half you will take it and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. 30 From the Israelites’ half you will take one captive from every fifty human beings, oxen, donkeys, and sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle. 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did this, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Amount of the Plunder. 32 This plunder, what was left of the loot which the troops had taken, amounted to six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 seventy-two thousand oxen, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand women who had not had sexual relations.
36 The half-share that fell to those who had gone out on the campaign was in number: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 37 of which six hundred and seventy-five fell as tax to the Lord; 38 thirty-six thousand oxen, of which seventy-two fell as tax to the Lord; 39 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which sixty-one fell as tax to the Lord; 40 and sixteen thousand persons, of whom thirty-two persons fell as tax to the Lord. 41 Moses gave the taxes contributed to the Lord to Eleazar the priest, exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses had taken from the men who had fought— 43 the community’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 44 thirty-six thousand oxen, 45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons. 47 From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one captive from every fifty, from human being and beast alike, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Gifts of the Officers. 48 Then those who were officers over the contingents of the army, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came up to Moses 49 and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing. 50 [f]So, we have brought as an offering to the Lord articles of gold that each of us has picked up—anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, or pendants—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all fashioned pieces. 52 The gold that was given as a contribution to the Lord—from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds—amounted in all to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. 53 What the common soldiers had looted each one kept for himself.[g] 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and put it in the tent of meeting as a reminder on behalf of the Israelites before the Lord.
Psalm 75[a]
God the Judge of the World
1 For the leader. Do not destroy! A psalm of Asaph; a song.
I
2 We thank you, God, we give thanks;
we call upon your name,
we declare your wonderful deeds.
[You said:][b]
3 “I will choose the time;
I will judge fairly.
4 Though the earth and all its inhabitants quake,
I make steady its pillars.”(A)
Selah
II
5 So I say to the boastful: “Do not boast!”(B)
to the wicked: “Do not raise your horns![c]
6 Do not raise your horns against heaven!
Do not speak with a stiff neck!”(C)
7 For judgment comes not from east or from west,
not from the wilderness or the mountains,(D)
8 But from God who decides,
who brings some low and raises others high.(E)
9 Yes, a cup[d] is in the Lord’s hand,
foaming wine, fully spiced.
When God pours it out,
they will drain it even to the dregs;
all the wicked of the earth will drink.(F)
10 But I will rejoice forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
11 (G)[Who has said:]
“I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”
Psalm 76[e]
God Defends Zion
1 For the leader; a psalm with stringed instruments. A song of Asaph.
I
2 Renowned in Judah is God,(H)
whose name is great in Israel.
3 On Salem[f] is God’s tent, his shelter on Zion.
4 There the flashing arrows were shattered,
shield, sword, and weapons of war.(I)
Selah
II
5 Terrible and awesome are you,
stronger than the ancient mountains.[g]
6 Despoiled are the stouthearted;
they sank into sleep;
the hands of all the men of valor have failed.(J)
7 At your roar, O God of Jacob,
chariot and steed lay still.
8 You, terrible are you;
who can stand before you and your great anger?(K)
9 From the heavens you pronounced sentence;
the earth was terrified and reduced to silence,
10 When you arose, O God, for judgment
to save the afflicted of the land.
Selah
11 Surely the wrath of man will give you thanks;
the remnant of your furor will keep your feast.
III
12 Make and keep vows to the Lord your God.(L)
May all around him bring gifts to the one to be feared,
13 Who checks the spirit of princes,
who is fearful to the kings of earth.
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon
1 [a]Oracle on Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
for your port is destroyed;
From the land of the Kittim[b]
the news reaches them.(A)
2 Silence! you who dwell on the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
Whose messengers crossed the sea
3 over the deep waters,
Whose revenue was the grain of Shihor,[c] the harvest of the Nile,
you who were the merchant among the nations.(B)
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress on the sea,
for the sea[d] has spoken,
“I have not been in labor, nor given birth,
nor raised young men,
nor reared young women.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt
they shall be in anguish at the report about Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish,[e]
wail, you who dwell on the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city,
whose origin is from old,
Whose feet have taken her
to dwell in distant lands?
8 Who has planned such a thing
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the earth’s honored men?
9 The Lord of hosts has planned it,
to disgrace the height of all beauty,
to degrade all the honored of the earth.(C)
10 Cross to your own land,
ship of Tarshish;
the harbor is no more.
11 His hand he stretches out over the sea,
he shakes kingdoms;
The Lord commanded the destruction
of Canaan’s strongholds:[f](D)
12 Crushed, you shall exult no more,
virgin daughter Sidon.
Arise, pass over to the Kittim,
even there you shall find no rest.(E)
13 [g]Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria founded it for ships,
raised its towers,
Only to tear down its palaces,
and turn it into a ruin.(F)
14 Lament, ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is destroyed.
15 On that day, Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years,[h] the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, the song about the prostitute will be Tyre’s song:
16 Take a harp, go about the city,
forgotten prostitute;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord shall visit Tyre. She shall return to her hire and serve as prostitute[i] with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth.(G) 18 But her merchandise and her hire shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be stored up or laid away; instead, her merchandise shall belong to those who dwell before the Lord, to eat their fill and clothe themselves in choice attire.
I. Prologue
Chapter 1
The Word of Life[a]
1 What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life—(A)
2 for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—(B)
3 what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.(C)
4 We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.(D)
II. God As Light
God Is Light. 5 Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light,[b] and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.(E) 7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.(F) 8 If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves,[c] and the truth is not in us.(G) 9 If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.(H) 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.(I)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.