M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 32
Settling in Transjordan. 1 The Reubenites and the Gadites[a] had very large herds and flocks. They saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for herds and flocks, 2 so the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the assembly saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land that the Lord has conquered before the people of Israel, are lands suitable for herds and flocks, and your servants have herds and flocks.” 5 They continued, “If we have found favor in your sight, then let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not bring us over the Jordan.”
Moses’ Response. 6 Moses said to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you rest here? 7 Why are you discouraging the people of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them out from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 When they went up into the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the people of Israel so that they did not enter into the land that the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger blazed on that day and he swore, 11 ‘None of those who are twenty years and older and who came out of Egypt will see the land that I promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, for they have not followed me wholeheartedly. 12 Only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua, the son of Nun, will see it for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 The Lord’s anger blazed against Israel and he made them wander in the desert for forty years until the entire generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. 14 Now, you brood of sinful men have risen up to take your fathers’ place, adding to the Lord’s blazing anger against Israel. 15 If you turn away from him again, he will leave you in the desert and you will have destroyed this entire people.”
16 Another Request. So they came up to him and said, “Let us build enclosures here for our herds and flocks and cities for our little ones. 17 We will still arm ourselves, going before the people of Israel, to bring them into their dwelling place. Our little ones will be sheltered from the inhabitants of the land in the fortified cities. 18 We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance. 19 We will not take an inheritance on the other side of the Jordan, for it has fallen to us to have an inheritance on this side of the Jordan, on the east.”
20 Settlement Reached. Then Moses said to them, “You are to do this: arm yourselves for the Lord’s war, 21 and have all your armed men go over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven out his enemies before him 22 and the land is subdued before the Lord. Then after this, you can return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel. This land will be your possession before the Lord. 23 But if you do not do this, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and be sure, your sin will catch up with you. 24 Build your cities for your little ones and your enclosures for your sheep, but then do what you have promised to do.”
25 The Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as our lord commands. 26 Our children and our wives, our flocks and our herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants will cross over, every one of them armed for battle, to fight, as my lord has proposed.”
28 Moses gave orders to Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders of the ancestral tribes of the people of Israel. 29 Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross over the Jordan, every man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you will give them the land of Gilead as a possession. 30 However, if they do not cross over armed, then they will have a possession among you in the land of Canaan.”
31 The Gadites and the Reubenites answered, saying, “We will do what the Lord has said to your servants. 32 We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan. The possession of our inheritance will remain on this side of the Jordan.”[b]
33 So Moses gave to the Gadites and the Reubenites and to half of the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan; he gave the land and its cities with their territory and the cities of the surrounding countryside. 34 The Gadites built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities with sheepfolds for the sheep.
37 The Reubenites built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo, Baal-meon[c] (whose names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities that they built.
39 The Machirites who were from Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, driving out the Amorites who were in it. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to Machir, the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt there. 41 Jair, the son of Manasseh, went and took its small towns and called them Havvoth-jair. 42 Then Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages. He called it Nobah after himself.
Psalm 77[a]
Lament and Consolation in Distress
1 For the director.[b] For Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.
2 [c]I cry aloud to God,
for when I cry out to God, he hears me.[d]
3 In the time of my distress I seek the Lord;
at night I stretch out my hands unceasingly,
and my soul refuses to be consoled.
4 [e]I groan as I think of God;
my spirit grows faint as I meditate on him. Selah
5 You keep my eyes from closing in sleep;
I am much too distraught to speak.
6 I reflect on the days of old
and recall the years long past.
7 At night I meditate in my heart,[f]
and as I reflect, my spirit questions:
8 [g]“Will the Lord cast us off forever
and never again show us his favor?
9 Has his kindness[h] vanished forever?
Has his promise ceased for all time?
10 Has God forgotten how to be merciful?
Has he shut up his compassion in anger?” Selah
11 [i]And I say: “This is my grief—
that the right hand[j] of the Most High has changed.”
12 I will remember the works of the Lord;
I will call to mind your wonders in the past.
13 I will reflect on all your deeds
and ponder your wondrous works.[k]
14 O God, your way is holy.[l]
What god is as great as our God?
15 You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might to the nations.
16 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.[m] Selah
17 [n]When the waters[o] beheld you, O God,
when the waters beheld you, they writhed;
the very depths trembled.
18 The clouds poured forth their water,
the skies thundered,
your arrows[p] flashed back and forth.
19 The crash of your thunder resounded in the heavens;
your flashes of lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.[q]
20 Your path led through the sea,
your way, through the mighty waters,
though none could trace your footsteps.[r]
21 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.[s]
Apocalypse of Isaiah[a]
Chapter 24
Universal Judgment: A Grateful Remnant
1 Behold how the Lord is preparing
to lay waste the earth;
he will turn it into a desert
and scatter its inhabitants,
2 with the same fate afflicting both priest and people,
slave and master,
maid and mistress,
seller and buyer,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be totally ravaged
and completely despoiled;
this has the Lord decreed.
4 The earth mourns and fades away;
the world languishes and withers;
the exalted of the earth are brought low.
5 The earth is defiled
by those who dwell in it;
for they have transgressed laws,
violated statutes,
and broken the everlasting covenant.[b]
6 Therefore, a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants pay the penalty of their guilt;
as a result, the number of its inhabitants dwindles,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine dries up
and the vine withers away
as the revelers groan in their sorrow.
8 The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the shouts of the revelers fade away;
the lyre’s joyful melodies are no longer heard.
9 The people drink wine but without any singing;
strong liquor tastes bitter to those who consume it.
10 The city is shattered and in a state of chaos;
every house has its entrance barred.[c]
11 In the streets the people cry out for wine;
no joy can be observed;
happiness seems to have been banished from the land.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gates have been smashed so badly
that they are beyond hope of repair.
13 This condition will hold true
among all the nations throughout the world;
as happens to an olive tree after it is beaten
or to the gleanings that remain
after the grape harvest.
14 The people raise their voices in joyful praise,
proclaiming from the west the majesty of the Lord,
15 “Let the Lord be glorified in the east;
in the coastlands of the sea
glorify the name of the Lord,
the God of Israel.”
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs
that praise the glory of the Righteous One.
But I said, “I am wasting away.
I am wasting away. Woe is me!
For the traitors continue to betray;
the traitors have acted with great treachery.
17 Terror and the pit and the snare
threaten all of you inhabitants of the earth.
18 Anyone who flees from the sound of terror
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven will be opened
and the foundations of the earth will shake.
19 The earth will be totally shattered,
the earth will be torn apart
the earth will be violently convulsed.
20 The earth will stagger like a drunkard
and sway like a fragile hut;
its transgressions will weigh heavily upon it,
and it will fall, never to rise again.”
21 On that day the Lord will punish
in the heavens the host of the heavens,[d]
and on the earth the kings of the earth.
22 They will be herded together,
jammed in like prisoners in a dungeon.
They will be shut up in a pit
and punished after many years.
23 Then the moon will seem to fade away
and the sun will hide in shame.
For the Lord of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and he will manifest his glory
to the elders of his people.
Chapter 2
1 My dear children,
I am writing this to you
so that you may avoid committing sin.
However, if anyone does sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is himself the sacrifice for our sins—
and not only for our sins
but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Commandment of Love[a]
3 Now we may be certain that we know him
if we obey his commandments.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,”
but does not keep his commandments,
is a liar,
and the truth is not in him.[b]
5 However, the love of God is truly perfected
in the one who obeys his word.
This is how we can be certain
that we are in union with him:
6 whoever claims to abide in him
must live just as he himself lived.
7 Beloved,
I am not writing a new commandment[c] for you,
but an old commandment
that you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word
that you have heard.
8 And yet I am writing you a new commandment,
whose truth is in him and in you,
because the darkness is passing away
and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever says, “I am in the light,”
yet hates his brother,
is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light,
and there is nothing in him
to make him stumble.
11 Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness,
and he walks about in darkness.
He does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded him.
The Concupiscences of the World[d]
12 I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have known him
who has existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you have conquered the evil one.
14 I am writing to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have known him
who has existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
15 Do not love the world
or what is in the world.
If anyone does love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything that is in the world—
the concupiscence of the flesh,
the concupiscence of the eyes,
and the pride of life—
comes not from the Father
but from the world.[e]
17 And the world with all its enticements
is passing away,
but whoever does the will of God
abides forever.
Behold the Antichrist[f]
18 Dear children,
this is the last hour.
You have heard that the Antichrist was coming,
and now many antichrists have already come.[g]
Thus, we know
that it is the final hour.
19 They went out from us,
but they never really belonged to us.
If they had belonged to us,
they would have remained with us.
By departing from us,
they made it clear
that none of them belonged to us.
20 However, you have been anointed
by the Holy One,[h]
and you all have knowledge.
21 I write to you
not because you do not know the truth
but because you do know it,
and because no lie can come from the truth.
22 Who is the liar
but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
The antichrist is
anyone who denies both the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son
does not have the Father,
but whoever acknowledges the Son
has the Father also.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning
remain in you.
If what you heard from the beginning
remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son
and in the Father
25 And this is the promise he made to us:
eternal life.
26 I write these things to you
in reference to those
who seek to lead you astray.
27 But as for you,
the anointing you received from him
remains in you,
and therefore you do not need anyone
to teach you.
This same anointing
teaches you everything
and is true and not false,
so abide in him just as he taught you.
28 And now, dear children,
abide in him,
so that when he appears
we may have confidence
and not be put to shame by him
at his coming.
Children of God
Everyone Whose Life Is Righteous Has Been Born of God[i]
29 If you know that he is righteous,
you also know that everyone whose life is righteous
is born of him.
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