M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Chosen Place of Worship
12 “Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors,(A) has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth. 2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods(B)—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.(C) 3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every[a] place.(D) 4 Don’t worship the Lord your God this way. 5 Instead, turn to the place the Lord your God chooses(E) from all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling and go there. 6 You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions,[b] your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 You will eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do,[c] because the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 “You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own sight.(F) 9 Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place(G) and the inheritance(H) the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit,(I) and he gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security, 11 then the Lord your God will choose the place to have his name dwell.(J) Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions,[d] and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord. 12 You will rejoice(K) before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your city gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.(L) 13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see. 14 You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.
Slaughtering Animals to Eat
15 “But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your city gates,(M) according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer, 16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.(N) 17 Within your city gates you may not eat the tenth of your grain, new wine, or fresh oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.[e] 18 You are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God chooses—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your city gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you do, 19 and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.
20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he has promised you,(O) and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock he has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your city gates whenever you want. 22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. 23 But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.(P) 24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water.(Q) 25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.
26 “But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the Lord chooses. 27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your other sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 “When the Lord your God annihilates the nations before you,(R) which you are entering to take possession of,(S) and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways(T) after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’ 31 You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice every detestable act, which the Lord hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 Be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.(U)
Psalm 97
The Majestic King
1 The Lord reigns! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coasts and islands be glad.(A)
2 Clouds and total darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.(B)
3 Fire goes before him
and burns up his foes on every side.(C)
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.(D)
5 The mountains melt like wax
at the presence of the Lord—
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.(E)
7 All who serve carved images,
those who boast in worthless idols, will be put to shame.(H)
All the gods[a] must worship him.(I)
8 Zion hears and is glad,
Judah’s villages[b] rejoice
because of your judgments, Lord.(J)
9 For you, Lord,
are the Most High over the whole earth;
you are exalted above all the gods.(K)
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!(L)
He protects the lives of his faithful ones;(M)
he rescues them from the power of the wicked.(N)
11 Light dawns[c][d] for the righteous,
gladness for the upright in heart.(O)
12 Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.[e](P)
Psalm 98
Praise the King
A psalm.
1 Sing a new song to the Lord,(Q)
for he has performed wonders;
his right hand and holy arm
have won him victory.(R)
2 The Lord has made his victory known;
he has revealed his righteousness
in the sight of the nations.(S)
3 He has remembered his love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth
have seen our God’s victory.(T)
God’s People Comforted
40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”(A)
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to[a] Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of hard service is over,
her iniquity(B) has been pardoned,(C)
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”(D)
3 A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;(E)
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.(F)
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.(G)
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,(H)
and all humanity[b] together will see it,(I)
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(J)
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said,[c] “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,(K)
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.(L)
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath[d] of the Lord blows on them;[e]
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,(M)
but the word of our God remains forever.”(N)
9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.(O)
Jerusalem, herald of good news,(P)
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!” (Q)
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and his power establishes his rule.(R)
His wages are with him,(S)
and his reward accompanies him.
11 He protects his flock like a shepherd;(T)
he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?(U)
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13 Who has directed[f] the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?(V)
14 Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding(W)
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;
he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.(X)
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.(Y)
18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?(Z)
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?(AA)
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.[g]
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.(AB)
21 Do you not know?(AC)
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?(AD)
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.(AE)
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth(AF)
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.(AG)
23 He reduces princes to nothing(AH)
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.(AI)
25 “To whom will you compare me,(AJ)
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created(AK) these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.(AL)
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?(AM)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,(AN)
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.(AO)
29 He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;(AP)
they will soar on wings like eagles;(AQ)
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
The Mighty Angel and the Small Scroll
10 Then I saw another mighty angel(A) coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow(B) over his head.[a] His face was like the sun, his legs[b] were like pillars of fire,(C) 2 and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land, 3 and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders raised their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said,(D) and do not write it down!”
5 Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 He swore by the one who lives forever and ever,(E) who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, “There will no longer be a delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel(F) will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God(G) will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”(H)
8 Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”(I)
10 Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.(J) 11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about[c] many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”(K)
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