M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 21
Absolution of Untraced Murder.[a] 1 If the corpse of someone who has been slain is found lying in the open, in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed the person, 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distances to the cities that are in the neighborhood of the corpse. 3 (A)When it is established which city is nearest the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been put to work or worn a yoke; 4 the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with an everflowing stream at a place that has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. 5 The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and every case of dispute or assault shall be for them to decide. 6 Then all the elders of that city nearest the corpse shall wash their hands[b] over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, 7 and shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood,[c] and our eyes did not see the deed. 8 Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not let the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.” Thus they shall be absolved from the guilt of bloodshed, 9 and you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.(B)
Marriage with a Female Captive. 10 (C)When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your power, so that you take captives, 11 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as a wife, 12 and so you take her home to your house, she must shave her head,[d] cut her nails, 13 lay aside her captive’s garb, and stay in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month. After that, you may come to her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; you must not sell her for money. Do not enslave her, since you have violated her.(D)
Rights of the Firstborn. 15 (E)If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and if both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife: 16 when he comes to bequeath his property to his sons he may not consider as his firstborn the son of the wife he loves, in preference to the son of the wife he does not love, the firstborn. 17 On the contrary, he shall recognize as his firstborn the son of the unloved wife, giving him a double share of whatever he happens to own, since he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the firstborn.(F)
The Stubborn and Rebellious Son. 18 (G)If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not listen to them even though they discipline him,(H) 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate[e] of his home city, 20 where they shall say to the elders of the city, “This son of ours is a stubborn and rebellious fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.”(I) 21 Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.(J)
Corpse of a Criminal. 22 (K)If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and you hang him on a tree,[f] 23 his corpse shall not remain on the tree overnight.(L) You must bury it the same day; anyone who is hanged is a curse of God.[g] You shall not defile the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage.
Psalm 108[a]
Prayer for Victory
1 A song; a psalm of David.
I
2 My heart is steadfast, God;(A)
my heart is steadfast.
Let me sing and chant praise.
3 Awake, lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn.(B)
4 I will praise you among the peoples, Lord;
I will chant your praise among the nations.(C)
5 For your mercy is greater than the heavens;
your faithfulness, to the skies.(D)
II
6 Appear on high over the heavens, God;
your glory above all the earth.
7 Help with your right hand and answer us
that your loved ones may escape.
8 God speaks in his holiness:[b](E)
“I will exult, I will apportion Shechem;
the valley of Succoth I will measure out.
9 Gilead is mine, mine is Manasseh;
Ephraim is the helmet for my head,
Judah, my scepter.
10 Moab is my washbowl;
upon Edom I cast my sandal;(F)
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
11 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
12 Was it not you who rejected us, God?
Do you no longer march with our armies?(G)
13 Give us aid against the foe;
worthless is human help.
14 We will triumph with the help of God,
who will trample down our foes.
Psalm 109[c]
Prayer of a Person Falsely Accused
1 For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2 O God, whom I praise, do not be silent,(H)
for wicked and treacherous mouths attack me.
They speak against me with lying tongues;
3 with hateful words they surround me,
attacking me without cause.
4 In return for my love they slander me,
even though I prayed for them.
5 They repay me evil for good,
hatred for my love.(I)
II
6 Appoint an evil one over him,
an accuser[d] to stand at his right hand,
7 That he may be judged and found guilty,
that his plea may be in vain.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his office.(J)
9 May his children be fatherless,
his wife, a widow.(K)
10 May his children wander and beg,
driven from their hovels.
11 May the usurer snare all he owns,
strangers plunder all he earns.
12 May no one treat him with mercy
or pity his fatherless children.
13 May his posterity be destroyed,(L)
their name rooted out in the next generation.
14 May his fathers’ guilt be mentioned to the Lord;
his mother’s sin not rooted out.(M)
15 May their guilt be always before the Lord,(N)
till their memory is banished from the earth,(O)
16 For he did not remember to show mercy,
but hounded the wretched poor
and brought death to the brokenhearted.
17 He loved cursing; may it come upon him;
he hated blessing; may none come to him.
18 May cursing clothe him like a robe;
may it enter his belly like water,
his bones like oil.
19 May it be near as the clothes he wears,
as the belt always around him.
20 [e]May this be the reward for my accusers from the Lord,
for those speaking evil against me.
III
21 But you, Lord, are my Lord,
deal kindly with me for your name’s sake;
in your great mercy rescue me.
22 For I am poor and needy;
my heart is pierced within me.
23 Like a lengthening shadow I am gone,
I am shaken off like the locust.
24 My knees totter from fasting;(P)
my flesh has wasted away.
25 I have become a mockery to them;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Lord, my God;
save me in your mercy.
27 Make them know this is your hand,
that you, Lord, have done this.
28 Though they curse, may you bless;
arise, shame them, that your servant may rejoice.
29 Clothe my accusers with disgrace;
make them wear their shame like a mantle.
30 I will give fervent thanks to the Lord;
before a crowd I will praise him.(Q)
31 For he stands at the right hand of the poor
to save him from those who pass judgment on him.
Chapter 48
Exhortations to the Exiles
1 Hear this, house of Jacob
called by the name Israel,
sprung from the stock of Judah,
You who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel
without sincerity, without justice,
2 Though you are named after the holy city
and rely on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of hosts.
3 Things of the past I declared long ago,
they went forth from my mouth, I announced them;
then suddenly I took action and they came to be.
4 Because I know that you are stubborn
and that your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead bronze,
5 I declared them to you of old;
before they took place I informed you,
That you might not say, “My idol did them,
my statue, my molten image commanded them.”
6 Now that you have heard, look at all this;
must you not admit it?(A)
From now on I announce new things to you,
hidden events you never knew.
7 Now, not from of old, they are created,
before today you did not hear of them,
so that you cannot claim, “I have known them.”
8 You never heard, you never knew,
they never reached your ears beforehand.
Yes, I know you are utterly treacherous,
a rebel you were named from the womb.(B)
9 For the sake of my name I restrain my anger,
for the sake of my renown I hold it back from you,
lest I destroy you.
10 See, I refined you, but not like silver;
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.(C)
11 For my sake, for my own sake, I do this;
why should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
12 Listen to me, Jacob,
Israel, whom I called!
I, it is I who am the first,
and am I the last.(D)
13 Yes, my hand laid the foundations of the earth;
my right hand spread out the heavens.
When I summon them,
they stand forth at once.(E)
14 All of you assemble and listen:
Who among you declared these things?
The one the Lord loves[a] shall do his will
against Babylon and the offspring of Chaldea.
15 I myself have spoken, I have summoned him,
I have brought him, and his way succeeds!
16 Come near to me and hear this!
From the beginning I did not speak in secret;
At the time it happens, I am there:
“Now the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit.”[b]
17 Thus says the Lord, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord, your God,
teaching you how to prevail,
leading you on the way you should go.
18 If only you would attend to my commandments,
your peace would be like a river,
your vindication like the waves of the sea,
19 Your descendants like the sand,
the offspring of your loins like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea!
With shouts of joy declare this, announce it;
Make it known to the ends of the earth,
Say: “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 They did not thirst
when he led them through dry lands;
Water from the rock he set flowing for them;
he cleft the rock, and waters welled forth.”(F)
22 There is no peace[c] for the wicked,
says the Lord.
Chapter 18
The Fall of Babylon.[a] 1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth became illumined by his splendor.(A) 2 [b]He cried out in a mighty voice:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.(B)
She has become a haunt for demons.
She is a cage for every unclean spirit,
a cage for every unclean bird,
[a cage for every unclean] and disgusting [beast].
3 For all the nations have drunk[c]
the wine of her licentious passion.
The kings of the earth had intercourse with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her drive for luxury.”(C)
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“Depart from her,[d] my people,
so as not to take part in her sins
and receive a share in her plagues,(D)
5 for her sins are piled up to the sky,
and God remembers her crimes.(E)
6 Pay her back as she has paid others.
Pay her back double for her deeds.
Into her cup pour double what she poured.(F)
7 To the measure of her boasting and wantonness
repay her in torment and grief;
for she said to herself,
‘I sit enthroned as queen;
I am no widow,
and I will never know grief.’(G)
8 Therefore, her plagues will come in one day,
pestilence, grief, and famine;
she will be consumed by fire.
For mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
9 The kings of the earth who had intercourse with her in their wantonness will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her pyre. 10 They will keep their distance for fear of the torment inflicted on her, and they will say:
“Alas, alas, great city,
Babylon, mighty city.
In one hour your judgment has come.”
11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her, because there will be no more markets[e] for their cargo: 12 their cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant wood of every kind, all articles of ivory and all articles of the most expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 cinnamon, spice,[f] incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human beings.
14 “The fruit you craved
has left you.
All your luxury and splendor are gone,
never again will one find them.”(H)
15 The merchants who deal in these goods, who grew rich from her, will keep their distance for fear of the torment inflicted on her. Weeping and mourning, 16 they cry out:
“Alas, alas, great city,
wearing fine linen, purple and scarlet,
adorned [in] gold, precious stones, and pearls.(I)
17 In one hour this great wealth has been ruined.”
Every captain of a ship, every traveler at sea, sailors, and seafaring merchants stood at a distance 18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her pyre, “What city could compare with the great city?” 19 (J)They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning:
“Alas, alas, great city,
in which all who had ships at sea
grew rich from her wealth.
In one hour she has been ruined.
20 Rejoice over her, heaven,
you holy ones, apostles, and prophets.
For God has judged your case against her.”(K)
21 A mighty angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone and threw it into the sea and said:
“With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down,
and will never be found again.(L)
22 No melodies of harpists and musicians,
flutists and trumpeters,
will ever be heard in you again.
No craftsmen in any trade
will ever be found in you again.
No sound of the millstone
will ever be heard in you again.(M)
23 No light from a lamp
will ever be seen in you again.
No voices of bride and groom
will ever be heard in you again.
Because your merchants were the great ones of the world,
all nations were led astray by your magic potion.(N)
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and holy ones
and all who have been slain on the earth.”(O)
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.