M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Keeping or Nullifying Vows
30 Moses spoke to the princes of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael saying, “This is what Adonai has commanded:
Parashat Matot
2 Whenever a man makes a vow to Adonai or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he is not to violate his word but do everything coming out of his mouth.[a]
3 “Suppose a woman in her youth vows to Adonai or obligates herself by a pledge in her father’s house. 4 If her father should hear her vow or her pledge with which she obligated herself and her father says nothing to her, all her vows and every pledge by which she has obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father should forbid it on the day of his hearing it, none of her vows or pledges by which she has obligated herself will stand. Adonai will forgive her because her father has forbidden her.
6 “Suppose she should marry, after her vow or a rash promise of her lips by which she obligated herself. 7 Now if her husband hears about it but says nothing to her on the day he hears about it, her vows will stand and her pledges by which she has obligated herself will stand. 8 But if her husband should hear about it and on the day he hears it he forbids it, he thereby nullifies her vow and her rash promise by which her lips have obligated her, and Adonai will forgive her.
9 “Any vow or obligation of a widow or a divorced woman will be binding on her. 10 If in her husband’s house she vowed or obligated herself by pledge under oath, 11 and her husband should hear it and say nothing to her, not forbidding her, all her vows and every pledge by which she has obligated herself will stand. 12 But if her husband should nullify them on the day when he hears of them, nothing from her lips, whether vow or pledge, will stand. Her husband has nullified them and Adonai will forgive her. 13 Her husband may ratify or veto any vow or sworn oath to deny herself.
14 “But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he is confirming all her vows and all her oaths that are on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her on the day of his hearing about it. 15 But if he nullifies them after hearing about it, he will bear her guilt.”
16 These are the statutes that Adonai gave to Moses relevant to relationships between a man and his wife, as well as between a father and his young daughter still living in his house.
Intercession for Restoration of Zion
Psalm 74
1 A contemplative song of Asaph.
Why have You cast us off forever, O God?
Why does Your anger smolder against the flock of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased of old,
redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance,
and Mount Zion, where You dwelt.
3 Lift Your steps toward the perpetual ruins—
an enemy has done all evil to the Sanctuary!
4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place.
They have set up their standards as signs.
5 It seemed like bringing up axes
into a thicket of trees—
6 and now all its carved work
they smash with hatchet and hammers!
7 They set Your Sanctuary on fire,
burning it to the ground.
They defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They said in their hearts: “Let us crush them totally!”
They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs.
No longer is there any prophet—
and no one among us knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary mock?
Will the enemy revile Your Name forever?
11 Why do You hold back Your hand, Your right hand?
Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them!
12 Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the land.
13 You split the sea with Your power.
You smashed the monsters’ heads in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan,
giving him as food to the desert dwellers.
15 You opened up spring and brook.
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours.
You provided moon and sun.
17 You set all the borders of earth.
You made summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy mocked, Adonai,
and how foolish people despised Your Name.
19 Do not deliver Your turtledove’s soul to the wild beast.
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted ones forever.
20 Look upon the covenant—for haunts of violence
fill the dark places of earth.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame.
But let the poor and needy praise Your Name.
22 Rise up O God, and defend Your cause.
Remember how the fool mocks You all day.
23 Do not forget the noise of Your foes,
the uproar of those rising up against You,
ascending continually.
Vision of Jerusalem’s Catastrophe
22 The burden of the Valley of Vision:
What is the matter with you now?
For you have gone up to the rooftops.
2 You were full of noise,
a boisterous city, an exultant town?
Your dead were not slain with the sword,
nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
then captured without a bow.
All who were caught were taken into exile together,
though they had fled far off.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me!
Let me weep bitterly—
don’t try to comfort me
about the ruin of the daughter of my people.”
5 For my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot has a day
of panic, trampling and confusion—
in the Valley of Vision—
of tearing down a wall,
a catastrophe on the mountain.
6 Elam took up the quiver,
with chariots of men and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 So it will come to pass that your choicest valleys will be full of chariots and horsemen posted at the gate. 8 So He will expose Judah’s defense, and in that day you will look for the armor in the Forest House. 9 Then you will see the breaches in the walls of the city of David—for they will be many—though you collect the water of the lower pool. 10 Though you counted the houses of Jerusalem, you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You even made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool—but you did not look to the Maker, or consider the One who planned it long before.
12 Now in that day, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will call for weeping and wailing,
for baldness and putting on sackcloth.
13 But instead, there is joy and gladness,
slaughtering cattle and killing sheep,
meat and drinking wine!
“Let’s eat and drink,
for tomorrow we will die!”
14 But Adonai-Tzva’ot revealed in my ears:
“Surely this sin will not be atoned for until you die,”
says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot.
15 Thus says my Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house: 16 ‘What are you doing here, and who are you to be here, that you cut out a grave for yourself, carving out a tomb on the height, chiseling a crypt for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, strong man, Adonai is about to hurl you headlong, and seize you firmly. 18 He will roll you up tightly and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be the shame of your Master’s house. 19 I will remove you from your post, and pull you down from your station.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him in your robe and fasten your sash on him. I will give your authority into his hands, so he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will set the key[a] of the house of David upon his shoulder—what he opens, no one can shut; what he shuts, and no one can open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a firm place, and he will be a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 They will hang all the glory of his father’s house on him—offspring and posterity, all the small vessels, from bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “the peg that was fastened in a firm place will give way, break away and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off.” For Adonai has spoken.
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
3 Loved ones, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you. In both I am trying to stir you up by way of a reminder to wholesome thinking— 2 to remember the words previously proclaimed by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior through your emissaries. [a] 3 First of all, understand that in the last days, scoffers will come scoffing, following after their own desires [b] 4 and saying, “Where is this promise of His coming?[c] Ever since the fathers died,[d] everything goes on just as it has from the beginning of creation.” 5 For in holding to this idea, it escapes their notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. [e] 6 Through these, the world of that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. [f] 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire—kept until the Day of Judgment and the destruction of ungodly people.[g]
8 But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. [h] 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness.[i] Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.[j] On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything done on it shall be exposed. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Live your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. In that day the heavens will be dissolved by fire, and the elements will melt in the intense heat. [k] 13 But in keeping with His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.[l]
Final Advice
14 Therefore, loved ones, while you are looking for these things, make every effort to be found in shalom, spotless and blameless before Him. 15 Bear in mind that the patience of our Lord means salvation—just as our dearly loved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these matters in all of his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist (as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures)—to their own destruction.
17 Since you already know all this, loved ones, be on your guard so that you are not led astray by the error of the lawless and lose your sure footing. 18 Instead, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.