M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rewards for Obeying God
26 “‘Don’t make idols for yourselves. Don’t set up statues or memorials. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to. This is because I am the Lord your God.
2 “‘Remember my Sabbaths, and respect my Holy Place. I am the Lord.
3 “‘Remember my laws and commands, and obey them. 4 If you do these things, I will give you rains at the right season. The land will produce crops. And the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest. And your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat. You will live safely in your land. 6 I will give peace to your country. You will lie down in peace. No one will make you afraid. I will keep harmful animals out of your country. And armies will not pass through your country.
7 “‘You will chase your enemies and defeat them. You will kill them with your sword. 8 Five of you will chase 100 men. And 100 of you will chase 10,000 men. You will defeat your enemies and kill them with your sword.
9 “‘Then I will show kindness to you. I will let you have many children. I will keep my agreement with you. 10 You will have enough crops to last for more than a year. You will harvest the new crops. And you will have to throw out the old crops to make room for the new ones. 11 Also I will place my Holy Tent among you. I will not turn away from you. 12 I will walk with you and be your God. And you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God. You were slaves in Egypt. You were bent low from the heavy weights you carried as slaves. But I broke the heavy weights that were on your shoulders. I let you walk proudly again.
Punishment for Not Obeying God
14 “‘But you must obey me. You must obey all my commands. 15 If you refuse to obey all my laws and commands, you have broken our agreement. 16 If you do that, I will cause terrible things to happen to you. I will cause you to have disease and fever. They will destroy your eyes and kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed. And your enemy will eat your crops. 17 I will be against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These enemies hate you. And they will rule over you. You will run away even when no one is chasing you.
18 “‘If you still do not obey me, I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 And I will also break the great cities that make you proud. The skies will not give rain. The earth will not produce crops. 20 You will work hard, but it will not help. Your land will not grow any crops. Your trees will not give their fruit.
21 “‘If you still turn against me and refuse to obey me, I will beat you seven times harder. The more you sin, the more you will be punished. 22 I will send wild animals to attack you. They will take your children away from you. They will destroy your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.
23 “‘If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against me, 24 I will also turn against you. I will punish you seven more times for your sins. 25 You broke my agreement, and I will punish you. I will bring armies against you. You will go into your cities for safety. But I will cause diseases to spread among you. Then your enemy will defeat you. 26 There will be very little bread to eat. Ten women will be able to cook all your bread in one oven. They will measure each piece of bread. You will eat, but you will still be hungry.
27 “‘If you still refuse to listen to me, and if you still turn against me, 28 I will really show my anger. I will punish you seven more times for your sins. 29 You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. 30 I will destroy your places where false gods are worshiped. I will cut down your incense altars. I will pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols. I will hate you. 31 I will destroy your cities. I will make your holy places empty. I will not smell the pleasing smell of your offerings. 32 I will make the land empty. Your enemies who come to live in it will be shocked at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations. I will pull out my sword and destroy you. Your land will become empty. Your cities will become waste. 34 You will be taken to your enemy’s country. So your land will finally get its rest. It will enjoy its time of rest all the time it lies empty. 35 During the time the land is empty, it will rest. It will have the rest you should have given it while you lived in it.
36 “‘Those who are left alive will lose their courage in the land of their enemies. They will be frightened of everything. They will be frightened by even the sound of a leaf being blown by the wind. They will run as if someone were chasing them with a sword. They will fall even when no one is chasing them. 37 They will run as if someone were chasing them with a sword. They will fall over each other, even though no one is chasing them. You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies. 38 You will die among other nations. You will disappear in your enemies’ countries. 39 So those who are left alive will rot away in their enemies’ countries. They will rot away because of their sins and their ancestors’ sins.
There Is Always Hope
40 “‘But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors. Maybe they will admit they turned against me and sinned against me. 41 That made me turn against them. So I sent them into the land of their enemies. These disobedient people might be sorry for what they did. They might accept punishment for their sin. 42 If they do, I will remember my agreement with Jacob. I will remember my agreement with Isaac and Abraham. And I will remember the land. 43 The land will be empty. It will enjoy its time of rest. Then those who are left alive will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they hated my laws. And they refused to obey my rules. 44 They truly sinned. But if they come to me for help, I will not turn away from them. I will listen to them even in the land of their enemies. I will not completely destroy them. I will not break my agreement with them. This is because I am the Lord their God. 45 For their good I will remember the agreement with their ancestors. I brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. I did it so I could become their God. The other nations saw these things. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the laws, rules and teachings the Lord gave the people of Israel. He gave these laws to the Israelites through Moses. This was at Mount Sinai.
Praise God Who Creates and Saves
33 Sing to the Lord, you who do what is right.
Honest people should praise him.
2 Praise the Lord on the harp.
Make music for him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing a new song to him.
Play well and joyfully.
4 God’s word is true.
Everything he does is right.
5 He loves what is right and fair.
The Lord’s love fills the earth.
6 The sky was made at the Lord’s command.
By the breath from his mouth, he made all the stars.
7 He gathered the water in the sea into a heap.
He made the great ocean stay in its place.
8 All the earth should worship the Lord.
The whole world should fear him.
9 He spoke, and it happened.
He commanded, and it appeared.
10 The Lord upsets the plans of nations.
He ruins all their plans.
11 But the Lord’s plans will stand forever.
His ideas will last from now on.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Happy are the people he chose for his very own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
everyone who lives on earth.
15 He made their hearts.
He understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his great army.
No warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 Horses can’t bring victory.
They can’t save by their strength.
18 But the Lord looks after those who fear him.
He watches over those who put their hope in his love.
19 He saves them from death.
He spares their lives in times of hunger.
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 We rejoice in him.
We trust his holy name.
22 Lord, show your love to us
as we put our hope in you.
Is Death Fair?
9 I thought about something else and tried hard to understand it. I saw that God takes care of both good people and wise people and what they do. But no one knows if he will see good or bad times.
2 Both good and bad things happen to everyone.
They happen to those who are fair and to those who are wicked.
They happen to those who are good and to those who are evil.
They happen to those who sacrifice and to those who do not.
The same things happen to a good person
as happen to a sinner.
The same things happen to a person who makes promises to God
as to one who does not.
3 This is something unfair that happens here on earth. The same things happen to everyone. So men’s minds are full of evil and foolish thoughts while they live. After that, they join the dead. 4 But anyone still alive has hope. Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
5 The living know they will die.
But the dead no longer think about such things.
Dead people have no more reward.
People forget them.
6 After a person is dead,
he can no longer show love or hate or jealousy.
And he will never again share
in the things that happen here on earth.
Enjoy Life While You Can
7 So go eat your food and enjoy it.
Drink your wine and be happy.
It is all right with God
if you do this.
8 Put on nice clothes
and make yourself look good.
9 Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy all the days of this short life God has given you here on earth. It is all you have. So enjoy the work you have to do here on earth. 10 Whatever work you do, do your best. This is because you are going to the grave. There is no working, no planning, no knowledge and no wisdom there.
Time and Chance
11 I also realized something else here on earth that is senseless:
The fast runner does not always win the race.
The strong army does not always win the battle.
The wise man does not always have food.
The smart man does not always become wealthy.
And the man with special skills does not always receive praise.
Bad things happen to everyone.
12 A person never knows what will happen to him next.
He is like a fish caught in a cruel net.
He is like a bird caught in a trap.
In the same way, a person is trapped by bad things
that suddenly happen to him.
Wisdom Does Not Always Win
13 I also saw something wise happen here on earth. And it was very impressive to me. 14 There was a small town with only a few people in it. A great king fought against it and put his armies all around it. 15 Now there was a wise man in the town. He was poor, but he used his wisdom to save his town. But later on, everyone forgot about him. 16 I still think wisdom is better than strength. But those people forgot about the poor man’s wisdom. And they stopped listening to what he said.
17 The quiet words of a wise man are better
than the shouts of a foolish ruler.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war.
But one sinner can destroy much good.
Paul Instructs Titus
1 From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was sent to help the faith of God’s chosen people. I was sent to help them to know the truth. And that truth shows people how to serve God. 2 That faith and that knowledge come from our hope for life forever. God promised that life to us before time began, and God does not lie. 3 At the right time God let the world know about that life through preaching. He trusted me with that work, and I preached because God our Savior commanded me to.
4 To Titus. You are like a true son to me in the faith we share.
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete so that you could finish doing the things that still needed to be done. I left you there also so that you could choose men to be elders in every town. 6 To be an elder, a man must not be guilty of doing wrong. He must have only one wife. His children must be believers. They must not be known as children who are wild and who do not obey. 7 An overseer has the job of taking care of God’s work. So he must not be guilty of doing wrong. He must not be a man who is proud and selfish or who becomes angry quickly. He must not drink too much wine. He must not be a person who likes to fight. And he must not be a person who always tries to get rich by cheating people. 8 An overseer must be ready to help others by accepting them into his home. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must live right. He must be holy. And he must be able to control himself. 9 An overseer must faithfully follow the truth just as we teach it. He must be able to help people by using true and right teaching. And he must be able to show those who are against the true teaching that they are wrong.
10 There are many people who refuse to obey—people who talk about worthless things and lead others into the wrong way. I am talking mostly about those who insist on circumcision to be saved. 11 These people must be stopped from talking. They are destroying whole families by teaching things that they should not teach. They teach them only to cheat people and make money. 12 Even one of their own prophets from Crete said, “Cretan people are always liars. They are evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat.” 13 The words that prophet said are true. So tell those people that they are wrong. You must be strict with them. Then they will become strong in the faith 14 and stop accepting Jewish stories. And they will stop following the commands of others who do not accept the truth. 15 To those who are pure, all things are pure. But to those who are full of sin and do not believe, nothing is pure. The thinking of those people has become evil and their knowledge of what is right has been ruined. 16 They say they know God, but the evil things they do show that they do not accept God. They are terrible people, they refuse to obey, and they are useless for doing anything good.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.