M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as he had done each time before [superstitiously] to meet with omens and signs in the natural world, but he set his face toward the wilderness or desert.

² And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in their tents according to their tribes. And the Spirit of God came upon him

³ And he took up his [figurative] discourse and said: Balaam son of Beor, the man whose eye is opened [at last, to see clearly the purposes and will of God],

⁴ He [Balaam] who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, but having his eyes open and uncovered, he says:

⁵ How attractive and considerable are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel!

⁶ As valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as [rare spice] of lignaloes which the Lord has planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.^(A)

⁷ [Israel] shall pour water out of his own buckets [have his own sources of rich blessing and plenty], and his offspring shall dwell by many waters, and his king shall be higher than ^[a]Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

⁸ God brought [Israel] forth out of Egypt; [Israel] has strength like the wild ox; he shall eat up the nations, his enemies, crushing their bones and piercing them through with his arrows.

⁹ He couched, he lay down as a lion; and as a lioness, who shall rouse him? Blessed [of God] is he who blesses you [who prays for and contributes to your welfare] and cursed [of God] is he who curses you [who in word, thought, or deed would bring harm upon you].^(B)

¹⁰ Then Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have done nothing but bless them these three times.

¹¹ Therefore now go back where you belong and do it in a hurry! I had intended to promote you to great honor, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor.

¹² Balaam said to Balak, Did I not say to your messengers whom you sent to me,

¹³ If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the command of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will, but what the Lord says, that will I speak?

¹⁴ And now, behold, I am going to my people; come, I will tell you what this people [Israel] will do to your people [Moab] in the latter days.

¹⁵ And he took up his [figurative] discourse, and said: Balaam son of Beor speaks, the man whose eye is opened speaks,

¹⁶ He speaks, who heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling down, but having his eyes open and uncovered:

¹⁷ I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but He is not near. A ^[b]star (Star) shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter (Scepter) shall rise out of Israel and shall crush all the corners of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth [Moab’s sons of tumult].^(C)

¹⁸ And Edom shall be [taken as] a possession, [Mount] Seir also shall be dispossessed, who were Israel’s enemies, while Israel does valiantly.

¹⁹ Out of Jacob shall one (One) come having dominion and shall destroy the remnant from the city.

²⁰ [Balaam] looked at Amalek and took up his [prophetic] utterance, and said: Amalek is the foremost of the [neighboring] nations, but in his latter end he shall ^[c]come to destruction.

²¹ And he looked at the Kenites and took up his [prophetic] utterance, and said: Strong is your dwelling place, and you set your nest in the rock.

²² Nevertheless the Kenites shall be wasted. How long shall Asshur (Assyria) take you away captive?

²³ And he took up his [prophetic] speech, and said: Alas, who shall live when God does this and establishes [Assyria]?

²⁴ But ships shall come from Kittim [Cyprus and the greater part of the Mediterranean’s east coast] and shall afflict Assyria and Eber [the Hebrews, certain Arabs, and descendants of Nahor], and he [the victor] also shall come to destruction.

²⁵ And Balaam rose up, returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.

Psalm 66

To the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

¹ Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth;

² Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!

³ Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You [with feigned and reluctant obedience].

⁴ All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ Come and see the works of God; see how [to save His people He smites their foes; He is] terrible in His doings toward the children of men.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.

⁷ He rules by His might forever, His eyes observe and keep watch over the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,

⁹ Who put and kept us among the living, and has not allowed our feet to slip.

¹⁰ For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified.

¹¹ You brought us into the net (the prison fortress, the dungeon); You laid a heavy burden upon our loins.

¹² You caused men to ride over our heads [when we were prostrate]; we went through fire and through water, but You brought us out into a broad, moist place [to abundance and refreshment and the open air].

¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt offerings [of entire consecration]; I will pay You my vows,

¹⁴ Which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in distress.

¹⁵ I will offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs, with rams consumed in sweet-smelling smoke; I will offer bullocks and he-goats. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who reverently and worshipfully fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me!

¹⁷ I cried aloud to Him; He was extolled and high praise was under my tongue.

¹⁸ If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me;^(A)

¹⁹ But certainly God has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰ Blessed be God, Who has not rejected my prayer nor removed His mercy and loving-kindness from being [as it always is] with me.

Psalm 67

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song.

¹ God be merciful and gracious to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us and among us—Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!—

² That Your way may be known upon earth, Your saving power (Your deliverances and Your salvation) among all nations.

³ Let the peoples praise You [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You.

⁴ O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You will judge the peoples fairly and guide, lead, or drive the nations upon earth. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ Let the peoples praise You [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You!

⁶ The earth has yielded its harvest [in evidence of God’s approval]; God, even our own God, will bless us.

⁷ God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall reverently fear Him.

14 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob [the captive Jews in Babylon] and will again choose Israel and set them in their own land; and foreigners [who are proselytes] will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob (Israel).^(A)

² And the peoples [of Babylonia] shall ^[a]take them and bring them to their own country [of Judea] and help restore them. And the house of Israel will possess [the foreigners who prefer to stay with] them in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive [not by physical but by moral might] those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.^(B)

³ When the Lord has given you rest from your sorrow and pain and from your trouble and unrest and from the hard service with which you were made to serve,

⁴ You shall take up this [taunting] parable against the king of Babylon and say, How the oppressor has stilled [the restless insolence]! The golden and exacting city has ceased!

⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the [tyrant] rulers,

⁶ Who smote the peoples in anger with incessant blows and trod down the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution—[until] he who smote is persecuted and no one hinders any more.

⁷ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing.

⁸ Yes, the fir trees and cypresses rejoice at you [O kings of Babylon], even the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.

⁹ Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead) below is stirred up to meet you at your coming [O tyrant Babylonian rulers]; it stirs up the shades of the dead to greet you—even all the chief ones of the earth; it raises from their thrones [in astonishment at your humbled condition] all the kings of the nations.

¹⁰ All of them will [tauntingly] say to you, Have you also become weak as we are? Have you become like us?

¹¹ Your pomp and magnificence are brought down to Sheol (the underworld), along with the sound of your harps; the maggots [which prey upon dead bodies] are spread out under you and worms cover you [O Babylonian rulers].

¹² How have you fallen from heaven, O ^[b]light-bringer and daystar, son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who weakened and laid low the nations [O blasphemous, satanic king of Babylon!]

¹³ And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north.

¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.

¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (Hades), to the innermost recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

¹⁶ Those who see you will gaze at you and consider you, saying, Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?—

¹⁷ Who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who would not permit his prisoners to return home?

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them lie sleeping in glorious array, each one in his own sepulcher.

¹⁹ But you are cast away from your tomb like a loathed growth or premature birth or an abominable branch [of the family] and like the raiment of the slain; and you are clothed with the slain, those thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown], like a dead body trodden underfoot.

²⁰ You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and have slain your people. May the descendants of evildoers nevermore be named!

²¹ Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons because of the guilt and iniquity of their fathers, so that they may not rise, possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.

²² And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son, says the Lord.

²³ I will also make it a possession of the hedgehog and porcupine, and of ^[c]marshes and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.

²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought and planned, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand—

²⁵ That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains I will tread him underfoot. Then shall the [Assyrian’s] ^[d]yoke depart from [the people of Judah], and his burden depart from their shoulders.

²⁶ This is the [Lord’s] purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is [His omnipotent] hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who can annul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz [of Judah] died there came this mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up):

²⁹ Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod [of Judah] that smote you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth an adder [King Hezekiah of Judah], and its [the serpent’s] offspring will be a fiery, flying serpent.^(C)

³⁰ And the firstborn of the poor and the poorest of the poor [of Judah] shall feed on My meadows, and the needy will lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant shall be slain.

³¹ Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! Melt away, O Philistia, all of you! For there is coming a smoke out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks and none stands aloof [in Hezekiah’s battalions].

³² What then shall one answer the messengers of the [Philistine] nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and in her shall the poor and afflicted of His people trust and find refuge.

2 So be done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretense, hypocrisy) and grudges (envy, jealousy) and slander and evil speaking of every kind.

² Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,

³ Since you have [already] tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord.^(A)

⁴ Come to Him [then, to that] Living Stone which men ^[a]tried and threw away, but which is chosen [and] precious in God’s sight.^(B)

⁵ [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶ For thus it stands in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen (^[b]honored), precious chief Cornerstone, and he who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] shall never be ^[c]disappointed or put to shame.^(C)

⁷ To you then who believe (who adhere to, trust in, and rely on Him) is the preciousness; but for those who disbelieve [it is true], The [very] Stone which the builders rejected has become the main Cornerstone,^(D)

⁸ And, A Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God’s] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own ^[d]purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.^(E)

¹⁰ Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy.^(F)

¹¹ Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul.

¹² Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [^[e]when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock].

¹³ Be submissive to every human institution and authority for the sake of the Lord, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

¹⁴ Or to governors as sent by him to bring vengeance (punishment, justice) to those who do wrong and to encourage those who do good service.

¹⁵ For it is God’s will and intention that by doing right [your good and honest lives] should silence (muzzle, gag) the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish persons.

¹⁶ [Live] as free people, [yet] without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but [live at all times] as servants of God.

¹⁷ Show respect for all men [treat them honorably]. Love the brotherhood (the Christian fraternity of which Christ is the Head). Reverence God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸ [You who are] household servants, be submissive to your masters with all [proper] respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate and reasonable, but also to those who are surly (overbearing, unjust, and crooked).

¹⁹ For one is regarded favorably (is approved, acceptable, and thankworthy) if, as in the sight of God, he endures the pain of unjust suffering.

²⁰ [After all] what ^[f]kind of glory [is there in it] if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God.

²¹ For even to this were you called [it is inseparable from your vocation]. For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you [His personal] example, so that you should follow in His footsteps.

²² He was guilty of no sin, neither was deceit (guile) ever found on His lips.^(G)

²³ When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but he trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly.

²⁴ He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree ^[g][as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

²⁵ For you were going astray like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian (^[h]the Bishop) of your souls.^(H)