M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Harvest Offerings
26 “After you have occupied the land that the Lord your God is giving you and have settled there, 2 (A)each of you must place in a basket the first part of each crop that you harvest and you must take it with you to the one place of worship. 3 Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ‘I now acknowledge to the Lord my God that I have entered the land that he promised our ancestors to give us.’
4 “The priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then, in the Lord's presence you will recite these words: ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean, who took his family to Egypt to live. They were few in number when they went there, but they became a large and powerful nation. 6 The Egyptians treated us harshly and forced us to work as slaves. 7 Then we cried out for help to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He heard us and saw our suffering, hardship, and misery. 8 By his great power and strength he rescued us from Egypt. He worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen. 9 He brought us here and gave us this rich and fertile land. 10 So now I bring to the Lord the first part of the harvest that he has given me.’
“Then set the basket down in the Lord's presence and worship there. 11 Be grateful for the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family; and let the Levites and the foreigners who live among you join in the celebration.
12 (B)“Every third year give the tithe—a tenth of your crops—to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, so that in every community they will have all they need to eat. When you have done this, 13 say to the Lord, ‘None of the sacred tithe is left in my house; I have given it to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, as you commanded me to do. I have not disobeyed or forgotten any of your commands concerning the tithe. 14 I have not eaten any of it when I was mourning; I have not taken any of it out of my house when I was ritually unclean; and I have not given any of it as an offering for the dead.[a] I have obeyed you, O Lord; I have done everything you commanded concerning the tithe. 15 Look down from your holy place in heaven and bless your people Israel; bless also the rich and fertile land that you have given us, as you promised our ancestors.’
The Lord's Own People
16 “Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all his laws; so obey them faithfully with all your heart. 17 Today you have acknowledged the Lord as your God; you have promised to obey him, to keep all his laws, and to do all that he commands. 18 (C)Today the Lord has accepted you as his own people, as he promised you; and he commands you to obey all his laws. 19 He will make you greater than any other nation that he has created, and you will bring praise and honor to his name.[b] You will be his own people, as he promised.”
In Praise of the Lord
117 (A)Praise the Lord, all nations!
Praise him, all peoples!
2 His love for us is strong,
and his faithfulness is eternal.
Praise the Lord!
A Prayer of Thanks for Victory
118 (B)Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.
2 Let the people of Israel say,
“His love is eternal.”
3 Let the priests of God say,
“His love is eternal.”
4 Let all who worship him say,
“His love is eternal.”
5 In my distress I called to the Lord;
he answered me and set me free.
6 (C)The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid;
what can anyone do to me?
7 It is the Lord who helps me,
and I will see my enemies defeated.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to depend on people.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to depend on human leaders.
10 Many enemies were around me;
but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!
11 They were around me on every side;
but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they burned out as quickly as a brush fire;
by the power of the Lord I destroyed them.
13 I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated,
but the Lord helped me.
14 (D)The Lord makes me powerful and strong;
he has saved me.
15 Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God's people:
“The Lord's mighty power has done it!
16 His power has brought us victory—
his mighty power in battle!”
17 I will not die; instead, I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 He has punished me severely,
but he has not let me die.
19 Open to me the gates of the Temple;
I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
only the righteous can come in.
21 I praise you, Lord, because you heard me,
because you have given me victory.
22 (E)The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
turned out to be the most important of all.
23 This was done by the Lord;
what a wonderful sight it is!
24 This is the day of the Lord's victory;
let us be happy, let us celebrate!
25 (F)Save us, Lord, save us!
Give us success, O Lord!
26 (G)May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God; he has been good to us.
With branches in your hands, start the festival
and march around the altar.
28 You are my God, and I give you thanks;
I will proclaim your greatness.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.
53 (A)The people reply,
“Who would have believed what we now report?
Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this?
2 It was the will of the Lord that his servant
grow like a plant taking root in dry ground.
He had no dignity or beauty
to make us take notice of him.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing that would draw us to him.
3 We despised him and rejected him;
he endured suffering and pain.
No one would even look at him—
we ignored him as if he were nothing.
4 (B)“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
the pain that we should have borne.
All the while we thought that his suffering
was punishment sent by God.
5 (C)But because of our sins he was wounded,
beaten because of the evil we did.
We are healed by the punishment he suffered,
made whole by the blows he received.
6 (D)All of us were like sheep that were lost,
each of us going his own way.
But the Lord made the punishment fall on him,
the punishment all of us deserved.
7 (E)“He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly;
he never said a word.
Like a lamb about to be slaughtered,
like a sheep about to be sheared,
he never said a word.
8 He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die,
and no one cared about his fate.
He was put to death for the sins of our people.
9 (F)He was placed in a grave with those who are evil,
he was buried with the rich,
even though he had never committed a crime
or ever told a lie.”
10 The Lord says,
“It was my will that he should suffer;
his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness.
And so he will see his descendants;
he will live a long life,
and through him my purpose will succeed.
11 After a life of suffering, he will again have joy;
he will know that he did not suffer in vain.
My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased,
will bear the punishment of many
and for his sake I will forgive them.
12 (G)And so I will give him a place of honor,
a place among the great and powerful.
He willingly gave his life
and shared the fate of evil men.
He took the place of many sinners
and prayed that they might be forgiven.”[a]
The Ancestors of Jesus Christ(A)
1 This is the list of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, who was a descendant of Abraham.
2-6 From Abraham to King David, the following ancestors are listed: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers; then Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.
7-11 From David to the time when the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon, the following ancestors are listed: David, Solomon (his mother was the woman who had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.
12-16 From the time after the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus, the following ancestors are listed: Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was called the Messiah.
17 So then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and fourteen from David to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen from then to the birth of the Messiah.
The Birth of Jesus Christ(B)
18 (C)This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. 20 While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. 21 (D)She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus—because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 Now all this happened in order to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, 23 (E)“A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel” (which means, “God is with us”).
24 So when Joseph woke up, he married Mary, as the angel of the Lord had told him to. 25 (F)But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus.
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.