M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules about Vows
30 Moses gave the following instructions to the leaders of the tribes of Israel. 2 (A)When a man makes a vow to give something to the Lord or takes an oath to abstain from something, he must not break his promise, but must do everything that he said he would.
3 When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to give something to the Lord or promises to abstain from something, 4 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her father raises an objection when he hears about it. 5 But if her father forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her father refused to let her keep it.
6 If an unmarried woman makes a vow, whether deliberately or carelessly, or promises to abstain from something, and then marries, 7 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it. 8 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her.
9 A widow or a divorced woman must keep every vow she makes and every promise to abstain from something.
10 If a married woman makes a vow or promises to abstain from something, 11 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it. 12 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her husband prevented her from keeping her vow. 13 Her husband has the right to affirm or to annul any vow or promise that she has made. 14 But if, by the day after he hears of the vow, he has raised no objection, she must do everything that she has vowed or promised. He has affirmed the vow by not objecting on the day he heard of it. 15 But if he later annuls the vow, he must suffer the consequences for the failure to fulfill the vow.
16 These are the rules that the Lord gave Moses concerning vows made by an unmarried woman living in her father's house or by a married woman.
A Prayer for National Deliverance[a]
74 Why have you abandoned us like this, O God?
Will you be angry with your own people forever?
2 Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago,
whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe.
Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.
3 Walk over these total ruins;
our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.
4 Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple;
they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.
5 They looked like woodsmen
cutting down trees with their axes.[b]
6 They smashed all the wooden panels
with their axes and sledge hammers.
7 They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire;
they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.
8 They wanted to crush us completely;
they burned down every holy place in the land.
9 All our sacred symbols are gone;
there are no prophets left,
and no one knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you?
Will they insult your name forever?
11 Why have you refused to help us?
Why do you keep your hands behind you?[c]
12 But you have been our king from the beginning, O God;
you have saved us many times.
13 (A)With your mighty strength you divided the sea
and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;
14 (B)you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan[d]
and fed his body to desert animals.[e]
15 You made springs and fountains flow;
you dried up large rivers.
16 You created the day and the night;
you set the sun and the moon in their places;
17 you set the limits of the earth;
you made summer and winter.
18 But remember, O Lord, that your enemies laugh at you,
that they are godless and despise you.
19 Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies;
don't forget your persecuted people!
20 Remember the covenant you made with us.
There is violence in every dark corner of the land.
21 Don't let the oppressed be put to shame;
let those poor and needy people praise you.
22 Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause!
Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.
23 Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies,
the continuous noise made by your foes.
A Message about Jerusalem
22 This is a message about the Valley of Vision.
What is happening? Why are all the people of the city celebrating on the roofs of the houses? 2 The whole city is in an uproar, filled with noise and excitement.
Your people who died in this war did not die fighting. 3 All your leaders ran away and were captured before they shot a single arrow. 4 Now leave me alone to weep bitterly over all those of my people who have died. Don't try to comfort me. 5 This is a time of panic, defeat, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the Sovereign Lord Almighty has sent it on us. The walls of our city have been battered down, and cries for help have echoed among the hills.
6 The soldiers from the land of Elam came riding on horseback, armed with bows and arrows. Soldiers from the land of Kir had their shields ready. 7 The fertile valleys of Judah were filled with chariots; soldiers on horseback stood in front of Jerusalem's gates. 8 All of Judah's defenses crumbled.
When that happened, you brought weapons out of the arsenal. 9-10 You found the places where the walls of Jerusalem needed repair. You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls. In order to store water, 11 you built a reservoir inside the city to hold the water flowing down from the old pool. But you paid no attention to God, who planned all this long ago and who caused it to happen.
12 The Sovereign Lord Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth. 13 (A)Instead, you laughed and celebrated. You killed sheep and cattle to eat, and you drank wine. You said, “We might as well eat and drink! Tomorrow we'll be dead.”
14 The Sovereign Lord Almighty himself spoke to me and said, “This evil will never be forgiven them as long as they live. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
A Warning to Shebna
15 The Sovereign Lord Almighty told me to go to Shebna, the manager of the royal household, and say to him, 16 “Who do you think you are? What right do you have to carve a tomb for yourself out of the rocky hillside? 17 You may be important, but the Lord will pick you up and throw you away. 18 He will pick you up like a ball and throw you into a much larger country. You will die there beside the chariots you were so proud of. You are a disgrace to your master's household. 19 The Lord will remove you from office and bring you down from your high position.”
20 The Lord said to Shebna, “When that happens, I will send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will put your official robe and belt on him and give him all the authority you have had. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22 (B)I will give him complete authority under the king, the descendant of David. He will have the keys of office; what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open. 23 I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honor to his whole family.
24 “But all his relatives and dependents will become a burden to him. They will hang on him like pots and bowls hanging from a peg! 25 When that happens, the peg that was firmly fastened will pull loose and fall. And that will be the end of everything that was hanging on it.” The Lord has spoken.
The Promise of the Lord's Coming
3 My dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written you. In both letters I have tried to arouse pure thoughts in your minds by reminding you of these things. 2 I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles. 3 (A)First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you 4 and will ask, “He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!” 5 (B)They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 (C)and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed. 7 But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.
8 (D)But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. 9 The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.
10 (E)But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish.[a] 11 Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God, 12 as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon—the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat. 13 (F)But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home.
14 And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him. 15 Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear friend Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him. 16 This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely, as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring on their own destruction.
17 But you, my friends, already know this. Be on your guard, then, so that you will not be led away by the errors of lawless people and fall from your safe position. 18 But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.