M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Cities Assigned to the Levites

35 ^(A)In the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites that from the property they receive they must give the Levites some cities to live in and pasture land around the cities. ³ These cities will belong to the Levites, and they will live there. The pasture land will be for their cattle and all their other animals. ⁴ The pasture land is to extend outward from the city walls five hundred yards in each direction, ⁵ so that there is a square area measuring one thousand yards on each side, with the city in the middle. ⁶ You are to give the Levites six cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally. In addition, give them forty-two other cities ⁷ with their pasture land, making a total of forty-eight. ⁸ The number of Levite cities in each tribe is to be determined according to the size of its territory.”

The Cities of Refuge^(B)

^9 (C)The Lord told Moses ¹⁰ to say to the people of Israel: “When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land of Canaan, ¹¹ you are to choose cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally. ¹² There you will be safe from the dead person's relative who seeks revenge. No one accused of manslaughter is to be put to death without a public trial. ¹³ Choose six cities, ¹⁴ three east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. ¹⁵ These will serve as cities of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners who are temporary or permanent residents. Anyone who kills someone accidentally can escape to one of them.

^16-18 “If, however, any of you use a weapon of iron or stone or wood to kill someone, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death. ¹⁹ The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

²⁰ “If you hate someone and kill him by pushing him down or by throwing something at him ²¹ or by striking him with your fist, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death. The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

²² “But suppose you accidentally kill someone you do not hate, whether by pushing him down or by throwing something at him. ²³ Or suppose that, without looking, you throw a stone that kills someone whom you did not intend to hurt and who was not your enemy. ²⁴ In such cases the community shall judge in your favor and not in favor of the dead person's relative who is seeking revenge. ²⁵ You are guilty only of manslaughter, and the community is to rescue you from the dead person's relative, and they are to return you to the city of refuge to which you had escaped. You must live there until the death of the man who is then High Priest. ²⁶ If you leave the city of refuge to which you have escaped ²⁷ and if the dead person's relative finds you and kills you, this act of revenge is not murder. ²⁸ Any of you guilty of manslaughter must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, but after that you may return home. ²⁹ These rules apply to you and your descendants wherever you may live.

^30 (D)“Those accused of murder may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses; the evidence of one witness is not sufficient to support an accusation of murder. ³¹ Murderers must be put to death. They cannot escape this penalty by the payment of money. ³² If they have fled to a city of refuge, do not allow them to make a payment in order to return home before the death of the High Priest. ³³ If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered. ³⁴ Do not defile the land where you are living, because I am the Lord and I live among the people of Israel.”

A Prayer for the Nation's Deliverance^[a]

27 ^(A)On that day the Lord will use his powerful and deadly sword to punish Leviathan, that wriggling, twisting dragon, and to kill the monster^[a] that lives in the sea.

² On that day the Lord will say of his pleasant vineyard, ³ “I watch over it and water it continually. I guard it night and day so that no one will harm it. ⁴ I am no longer angry with the vineyard. If there were thorns and briers to fight against, I would burn them up completely. ⁵ But if the enemies of my people want my protection, let them make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me.”

⁶ In the days to come the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, will take root like a tree, and they will blossom and bud. The earth will be covered with the fruit they produce.

⁷ Israel has not been punished by the Lord as severely as its enemies nor lost as many people. ⁸ The Lord punished his people by sending them into exile. He took them away with a cruel wind from the east.^{[b] 9} But Israel's sins will be forgiven only when the stones of pagan altars are ground up like chalk, and no more incense altars or symbols of the goddess Asherah are left.

¹⁰ The fortified city lies in ruins. It is deserted like an empty wilderness. It has become a pasture for cattle, where they can rest and graze. ¹¹ The branches of the trees are withered and broken, and women gather them for firewood. Because the people have understood nothing, God their Creator will not pity them or show them any mercy.

¹² On that day, from the Euphrates to the Egyptian border, the Lord will gather his people one by one, as threshing separates the wheat from the chaff.

¹³ When that day comes, a trumpet will be blown to call back from Assyria and Egypt all the Israelites who are in exile there. They will come and worship the Lord in Jerusalem, on his sacred hill.^[c]

Our Victory over the World

5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God; and whoever loves a father loves his child also. ² This is how we know that we love God's children: it is by loving God and obeying his commands. ^3 (A)For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us, ⁴ because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith. ⁵ Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Witness about Jesus Christ

⁶ Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth. ⁷ There are three witnesses: ⁸ the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and all three give the same testimony. ⁹ We believe human testimony; but God's testimony is much stronger, and he has given this testimony about his Son. ¹⁰ So those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart; but those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son. ^11 (B)The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Eternal Life

¹³ I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have eternal life—you that believe in the Son of God. ¹⁴ We have courage in God's presence, because we are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will. ¹⁵ He hears us whenever we ask him; and since we know this is true, we know also that he gives us what we ask from him.

¹⁶ If you see a believer commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray to God, who will give that person life. This applies to those whose sins do not lead to death. But there is sin which leads to death, and I do not say that you should pray to God about that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which does not lead to death.

¹⁸ We know that no children of God keep on sinning, for the Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot harm them.

¹⁹ We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.

²⁰ We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God—in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.

²¹ My children, keep yourselves safe from false gods!