M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
11 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph,
2 And to the kings who were in the north in the hill country and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth and in the lowland and in the heights of Dor on the west;
3 To the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below [Mount] Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
4 And they went out with all their hosts, much people, like the sand on the seashore in number, with very many horses and chariots.
5 And all these kings met and came and encamped together at the Waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
6 But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow by this time I will give them up all slain to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
7 So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the Waters of Merom and fell upon them.
8 And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them [toward] populous Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpah; they smote them until none remained.
9 And Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor and smote its king with the sword; for Hazor previously was the head of all those kingdoms.
11 They smote all the people in it with the sword, utterly destroying them; none were left alive, and he burned Hazor with fire.
12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings and all the kings and smote them with the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.(A)
13 But Israel burned none of the cities that stood [fortified] on their mounds—except Hazor only, which Joshua burned.
14 And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock the Israelites took for their booty; but every man they smote with the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none who breathed.
15 As the Lord had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.
16 So Joshua took all that land: the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah [plain], the hill country of Israel and its lowland,
17 From Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and slew them.
18 Joshua had waged war a long time [at least five years] with all those kings.
19 Not a city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites, the people of Gibeon; all the others they took in battle.
20 For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that [Israel] might [a]destroy them utterly, and that without favor and mercy, as the Lord commanded Moses.
21 Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim [large in stature] from the hill country: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and the hill country of Israel. Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod [of Philistia] did some remain.
23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotments by tribes. And the land had rest from war.
Psalm 144
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight—
2 My Steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield and He in Whom I trust and take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.
3 Lord, what is man that You take notice of him? Or [the] son of man that You take account of him?(A)
4 Man is like vanity and a breath; his days are as a shadow that passes away.
5 Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning and scatter [my enemies]; send out Your arrows and embarrass and frustrate them.
7 Stretch forth Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hands of hostile aliens (tribes around us)
8 Whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.
9 I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a harp, an instrument of ten strings, will I offer praises to You.
10 You are He Who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David His servant from the hurtful sword [of evil].
11 Rescue me and deliver me out of the power of [hostile] alien [tribes] whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.
12 When our sons shall be as plants grown large in their youth and our daughters as sculptured corner pillars hewn like those of a palace;
13 When our garners are full, affording all manner of store, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our pastures;
14 When our oxen are well loaded; when there is no invasion [of hostile armies] and no going forth [against besiegers—when there is no murder or manslaughter] and no outcry in our streets;
15 Happy and blessed are the people who are in such a case; yes, happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, to be envied) are the people whose God is the Lord!
5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and take notice! Seek in her broad squares to see if you can find a man [as Abraham sought in Sodom], one who does justice, who seeks truth, sincerity, and faithfulness; and I will pardon [Jerusalem—for one uncompromisingly righteous person].(A)
2 And though they say, As the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look on the truth? [They have meant to please You outwardly, but You look on their hearts.] You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to take correction or instruction. They have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to repent and return to You.
4 Then I said, Surely these are only the poor; they are [sinfully] foolish and have no understanding, for they know not the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they must know the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God. But [I found the very reverse to be true] these had all alike broken the yoke [of God’s law] and had burst the bonds [of obedience to Him].
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard or panther shall lie in wait against their cities. Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their backslidings and total desertion of faith are increased and have become great and mighty.
7 Why should I and how can I pass over this and forgive you for it? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full and bound them to Me by oath, they committed [spiritual] adultery, assembling themselves in troops at the houses of [idol] harlots.
8 They were like fed stallions roaming at large; each one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
10 Go up within [Jerusalem’s] walls and destroy [her vines], but do not make a full and complete end. Trim away the tendrils [of her vines], for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very faithlessly and treacherously against Me, says the Lord.
12 They have lied about and denied the Lord by saying, It is not He [Who speaks through His prophets]! Evil shall not come upon us; nor shall we see war or famine.
13 And [say they] the prophets will become wind [what they prophesy will not come to pass], and the word [of God] is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them [as they threatened would be done to us].
14 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: Because you [the people] have spoken this word, behold, I will make My words fire in your mouth [Jeremiah] and this people wood, and it will devour them.
15 Behold, I am bringing a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is a mighty and enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is [filled with deadly missiles] like an open sepulcher [filled with dead bodies; the foes] are all mighty men (heroes).
17 They shall consume your harvest and your food; they shall consume your sons and your daughters; they shall consume your flocks and your herds; they shall consume your vines and your fig trees. They shall break down and impoverish your fortified cities in which you trust, with the sword [they shall destroy them].
18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full and complete end of you.
19 And when your people say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? then you shall answer them, As you have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers (gods) in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah:
21 Hear now this, O foolish people without understanding or heart, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not:(B)
22 Do you not fear and reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? I placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass and by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail [against the feeble grains of sand which God has ordained by nature to be sufficient for His purpose]; though [the billows] roar, yet they cannot pass over that [barrier]. [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshiped?]
23 But these people have hearts that draw back from God and wills that rebel against Him; they have revolted and quit His service and have gone away [into idolatry].
24 Nor do they say in their hearts, Let us now reverently fear and worship the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the autumn and the spring rain in its season, Who reserves and keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned these blessings away, and your sins have kept good [harvests] from you.
26 For among My people are found wicked men; they watch like fowlers who lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit and treachery; therefore they have become great and grown rich,
28 They have grown fat and sleek. Yes, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge and plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
30 An appalling and horrible thing [bringing desolation and destruction] has come to pass in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands and by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes?
19 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the part of Judea that is beyond the Jordan;
2 And great throngs accompanied Him, and He cured them there.
3 And Pharisees came to Him and put Him to the test by asking, Is it lawful and right to dismiss and repudiate and divorce one’s wife for any and [a]every cause?
4 He replied, Have you never read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?(A)
6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (separate).
7 They said to Him, Why then did Moses command [us] to give a certificate of divorce and thus to dismiss and repudiate a wife?(B)
8 He said to them, Because of the hardness (stubbornness and perversity) of your hearts Moses permitted you to dismiss and repudiate and divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been [b]so [ordained].
9 I say to you: whoever dismisses (repudiates, divorces) his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery, [c]and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
10 The disciples said to Him, If the case of a man with his wife is like this, it is neither profitable nor advisable to marry.
11 But He said to them, Not all men can accept this saying, but it is for those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given.
12 For there are eunuchs who have been born incapable of marriage; and there are eunuchs who have been made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves incapable of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let him who is able to accept this accept it.
13 Then little children were brought to Jesus, that He might put His hands on them and pray; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14 But He said, Leave the children alone! Allow the little ones to come to Me, and do not forbid or restrain or hinder them, for of such [as these] is the kingdom of heaven composed.
15 And He put His hands upon them, and then went on His way.
16 And behold, there came a man up to Him, saying, Teacher, what excellent and perfectly and essentially good deed must I do to possess eternal life?(C)
17 And He said to him, Why do you ask Me about the perfectly and essentially good? There is only One Who is good [perfectly and essentially]—God. If you would enter into the Life, you must continually keep the commandments.
18 He said to Him, What [d]sort of commandments? [Or, which ones?] And Jesus answered, You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,(D)
19 Honor your father and your mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.(E)
20 The young man said, I have observed all these from my youth; what still do I lack?
21 Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, [e]have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, [f]be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me].
22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad (grieved and in much distress), for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus said to His disciples, Truly I say to you, it will be difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven.
25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly puzzled (astonished, bewildered), saying, Who then can be saved [[g]from eternal death]?
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.(F)
27 Then Peter answered Him, saying, Behold, we have left [our] all and have become [h]Your disciples [sided with Your party and followed You]. What then shall we receive?
28 Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new age [the [i]Messianic rebirth of the world], when the Son of Man shall sit down on the throne of His glory, you who have [become My disciples, sided with My party and] followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And anyone and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name’s sake will receive [j]many [even a hundred] times more and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who [now] are first will be last [then], and many who [now] are last will be first [then].
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