M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
4 When all the people were safely across, the Lord said to Joshua, 2-3 “Tell the twelve men chosen for a special task, one from each tribe, each to take a stone from where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan, and to carry them out and pile them up as a monument at the place where you camp tonight.”
4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men 5 and told them, “Go out into the middle of the Jordan where the Ark is. Each of you is to carry out a stone on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes. 6 We will use them to build a monument so that in the future, when your children ask, ‘What is this monument for?’ 7 you can tell them, ‘It is to remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of God went across!’ The monument will be a permanent reminder to the people of Israel of this amazing miracle.”
8 So the men did as Joshua told them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River—one for each tribe, just as the Lord had commanded Joshua. They carried them to the place where they were camped for the night and constructed a monument there. 9 Joshua also built another monument of twelve stones in the middle of the river, at the place where the priests were standing; and it is there to this day. 10 The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all these instructions of the Lord, which had been given to Joshua by Moses, had been carried out. Meanwhile, the people had hurried across the riverbed, 11 and when everyone was over, the people watched the priests carry the Ark up out of the riverbed.
12-13 The troops of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—fully armed as Moses had instructed, and forty thousand strong—led the other tribes of the Lord’s army across to the plains of Jericho.
14 It was a tremendous day for Joshua! The Lord made him great in the eyes of all the people of Israel, and they revered him as much as they had Moses and respected him deeply all the rest of his life. 15-16 For it was Joshua who, at the Lord’s command, issued the orders to the priests carrying the Ark.
“Come up from the riverbed,” the Lord now told him to command them.
17 So Joshua issued the order. 18 And as soon as the priests came out, the water poured down again as usual and overflowed the banks of the river as before! 19 This miracle occurred on the 25th of March.[a] That day the entire nation crossed the Jordan River and camped in Gilgal at the eastern edge of the city of Jericho; 20 and there the twelve stones from the Jordan were piled up as a monument.
21 Then Joshua explained again the purpose of the stones: “In the future,” he said, “when your children ask you why these stones are here and what they mean, 22 you are to tell them that these stones are a reminder of this amazing miracle—that the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground! 23 Tell them how the Lord our God dried up the river right before our eyes and then kept it dry until we were all across! It is the same thing the Lord did forty years ago[b] at the Red Sea! 24 He did this so that all the nations of the earth will realize that Jehovah is the mighty God, and so that all of you will worship him forever.”
129 Persecuted from my earliest youth (Israel is speaking), 2 and faced with never-ending discrimination—but not destroyed! My enemies have never been able to finish me off!
3-4 Though my back is cut to ribbons with their whips, the Lord is good. For he has snapped the chains that evil men had bound me with.
5 May all who hate the Jews be brought to ignominious defeat. 6-7 May they be as grass in shallow soil, turning sere and yellow when half grown, ignored by the reaper, despised by the binder. 8 And may those passing by refuse to bless them by saying, “Jehovah’s blessings be upon you; we bless you in Jehovah’s name.”
130 O Lord, from the depths of despair I cry for your help: 2 “Hear me! Answer! Help me!”
3-4 Lord, if you keep in mind our sins, then who can ever get an answer to his prayers? But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is! 5 That is why I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised. 6 I long for him more than sentinels long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; for he is loving and kind and comes to us with armloads of salvation. 8 He himself shall ransom Israel from her slavery to sin.
131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” 2 I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.
3 O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.
64 Oh, that you would burst forth from the skies and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 The consuming fire of your glory would burn down the forests and boil the oceans dry. The nations would tremble before you; then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 So it was before when you came down, for you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations, and how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began no one has seen or heard of such a God as ours, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways.
But we are not godly; we are constant sinners and have been all our lives. Therefore your wrath is heavy on us. How can such as we be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we put on our prized robes of righteousness, we find they are but filthy rags.[a] Like autumn leaves we fade, wither, and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7 Yet no one calls upon your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.
8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay and you are the Potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9 Oh, be not so angry with us, Lord, nor forever remember our sins. Oh, look and see that we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities are destroyed; Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11 Our holy, beautiful Temple where our fathers praised you is burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12 After all of this, must you still refuse to help us, Lord? Will you stand silent and still punish us?
12 About that time, Jesus was walking one day through some grainfields with his disciples. It was on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of worship, and his disciples were hungry; so they began breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain.
2 But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Your disciples are breaking the law. They are harvesting on the Sabbath.”
3 But Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read what King David did when he and his friends were hungry? 4 He went into the Temple and they ate the special bread permitted to the priests alone. That was breaking the law too. 5 And haven’t you ever read in the law of Moses how the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6 And truly, one is here who is greater than the Temple! 7 But if you had known the meaning of this Scripture verse, ‘I want you to be merciful more than I want your offerings,’ you would not have condemned those who aren’t guilty! 8 For I, the Messiah,[a] am master even of the Sabbath.”
9 Then he went over to the synagogue 10 and noticed there a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees[b] asked Jesus, “Is it legal to work by healing on the Sabbath day?” (They were, of course, hoping he would say yes, so they could arrest him!) 11 This was his answer: “If you had just one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, would you work to rescue it that day? Of course you would.[c] 12 And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, it is right to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your arm.” And as he did, his hand became normal, just like the other one!
14 Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot Jesus’ arrest and death. 15 But he knew what they were planning and left the synagogue, with many following him. He healed all the sick among them, 16 but he cautioned them against spreading the news about his miracles. 17 This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:
18 “Look at my Servant.
See my Chosen One.
He is my Beloved, in whom my soul delights.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
And he will judge the nations.
19 He does not fight nor shout;
He does not raise his voice!
20 He does not crush the weak,
Or quench the smallest hope;
He will end all conflict with his final victory,
21 And his name shall be the hope
Of all the world.”[d]
22 Then a demon-possessed man—he was both blind and unable to talk—was brought to Jesus, and Jesus healed him so that he could both speak and see. 23 The crowd was amazed. “Maybe Jesus is the Messiah!”[e] they exclaimed.
24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “He can cast out demons because he is Satan,[f] king of devils.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “A divided kingdom ends in ruin. A city or home divided against itself cannot stand. 26 And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is fighting himself and destroying his own kingdom. 27 And if, as you claim, I am casting out demons by invoking the powers of Satan, then what power do your own people use when they cast them out? Let them answer your accusation! 28 But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29 One cannot rob Satan’s kingdom without first binding Satan.[g] Only then can his demons be cast out! 30 Anyone who isn’t helping me is harming me.
31-32 “Even blasphemy against me[h] or any other sin can be forgiven—all except one: speaking against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.
33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. A tree from a select variety produces good fruit; poor varieties don’t. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For a man’s heart determines his speech. 35 A good man’s speech reveals the rich treasures within him. An evil-hearted man is filled with venom, and his speech reveals it. 36 And I tell you this, that you must give account on Judgment Day for every idle word you speak. 37 Your words now reflect your fate then: either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.”
38 One day some of the Jewish leaders, including some Pharisees, came to Jesus asking him to show them a miracle.
39-40 But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, faithless nation would ask for further proof; and none will be given except what happened to Jonah the prophet! For as Jonah was in the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Messiah,[i] shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh shall arise against this nation at the judgment and condemn you. For when Jonah preached to them, they repented and turned to God from all their evil ways. And now one greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to believe him.[j] 42 The queen of Sheba shall rise against this nation in the judgment and condemn it; for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and now one greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to believe him.
43-45 “This evil nation is like a man possessed by a demon. For if the demon leaves, it goes into the deserts[k] for a while, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the man I came from.’ So it returns and finds the man’s heart clean but empty! Then the demon finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and all enter the man and live in him. And so he is worse off than before.”
46-47 As Jesus was speaking in a crowded house,[l] his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. When someone told him they were there, 48 he remarked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 He pointed to his disciples. “Look!” he said, “these are my mother and brothers.” 50 Then he added, “Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother!”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.