M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the area beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab on the other.
2 (It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)
3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel everything that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and he had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.[a] 5 In the area east of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses took on the task of explaining clearly this law[b] as follows. This is what he said:
6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb. He said, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 Turn in the other direction, start traveling, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the people living in the Arabah,[c] in the hill country,[d] in the Shephelah,[e] and in the Negev,[f] and in the coastland by the sea (the land of the Canaanites) and the Lebanon range, up to the Great River (the River Euphrates). 8 Look now, I have given you the land that is ahead of you. Go and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promising to give it to them and to their descendants after them.”
9 So I said to you at that time, “I am not able to carry you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has increased your number, and here you are today, as numerous as the stars in the heavens. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are now, and may he bless you, just as he promised you. 12 But how can I manage by myself to carry the burden that you have become and the load that you are—especially your disputes? 13 Provide for yourselves, tribe by tribe, men who are wise and perceptive and with known ability, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”
14 Then you answered me, “What you propose to do is good.” 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, men who were wise and of known ability, and I appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and commanders of fifties and commanders of tens, as well as officers for your tribes.
16 I gave these orders to your judges at that time: “Listen to disputes among your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother Israelite, as well as with the alien who resides with him. 17 Do not show partiality in judgment. Provide a hearing for the small and the great alike. Do not be motivated by fear of any person, because judgment belongs to God. Any case that is too difficult for you, bring it before me and I will hear it.” 18 So I gave you orders at that time about everything that you should do.
19 Then we journeyed from Horeb, and we walked through that whole vast and terrifying wilderness that you saw on the road to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us to do. When we came to Kadesh Barnea, 20 I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look now, the Lord your God has given you the land ahead of you. Go up, take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you. Do not be afraid and do not be overwhelmed.”
22 Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send out some of our men so that they can scout the land for us and bring us a report about the route that we should take and the cities that we will reach.”
23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected from you twelve men, one man from each tribe. 24 They set out and went up to the hill country and came to the area of the Valley of Eshcol and spied on it. 25 They took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it back to us and brought us a report that said, “The land that the Lord our God is giving us is good.”
26 Still you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the order of the Lord your God. 27 You complained in your tents and said, “Because the Lord hates us, he brought us out of the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us. 28 Where are we going? Our brothers have made our hearts melt by saying, ‘People there are stronger and taller than we are! There are large cities with fortified walls up to the skies! Also, we have seen the descendants of Anak there!’”
29 So I said to you, “Do not be overwhelmed and do not be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight for you, exactly as he did for you in Egypt, right before your very eyes, 31 and just as he did in the wilderness, where you saw that the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son, on the entire way that you walked until you came to this place.” 32 Yet even with this, you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 who went ahead of you on the journey to search out a place for you to camp. He showed you the way that you should travel, by fire during the night and by a cloud during the day.
34 When the Lord heard the tone of your words, he was angry, and he swore an oath: 35 “Not one of these people from this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give the land on which he walked to him and his children, because he has fully followed the Lord.” 37 The Lord was angry with me too because of you. He said, “You also will not enter there. 38 Joshua son of Nun, who is standing before you, will enter there. Strengthen him, because he will lead Israel to possess it. 39 Your toddlers, who you said would become plunder of war, and your children, who today do not yet know good and evil, will enter there. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. 40 But you, turn around and travel into the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”[g]
41 Then you answered me, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us to do.” So each man among you strapped on his weapons of war, and you thought it would be easy to go up to the hill country.
42 But the Lord instructed me: “Say to them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be among you to keep you from being struck down by your enemies.’” 43 So I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You rebelled against the command of the Lord and acted presumptuously by going up to the hill country anyway. 44 Then the Amorites living in the hill country went out to meet you. They pursued you like bees, and they struck you down in Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and you cried out before the Lord, but the Lord did not pay attention to the noise you made. He did not listen to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days—those well-known days that you stayed there.
Psalm 81
If Only
Heading
For the choir director. According to gittith.[a] By Asaph.
Invitation to Worship
1 Sing a loud song to God, our strength.
Shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, and play the hand drum.
Play the sweet-sounding lyre along with the harp.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the new moon
and at the full moon for our festival day.
4 Yes, this is an order for Israel,
a regulation from the God of Jacob.
5 God established it as a testimony for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
There I heard a language I did not know.[b]
A Warning From the Lord
6 The Lord says:
I relieved Israel’s shoulders from the burden.
His hands were set free from carrying buckets.
7 In distress you called and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder. Interlude
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
If only you would listen to me, Israel!
9 There shall be no foreign god among you!
You shall not bow down to a strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not listen to my voice,
and Israel was not willing to obey me.
12 So I sent them off in the stubbornness of their hearts.
They walked according to their own plans.
13 If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,
14 I would subdue their enemies quickly.
I would turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cower before him,
and their time of punishment would last forever.
16 But he would feed Israel with the best wheat.
With honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
Psalm 82
Woe to Corrupt Rulers
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.
Judgment on Corrupt Rulers
1 God is standing in the assembly of God.
In the midst of the gods[c] he renders judgment.
God’s Verdict
2 How long will you judge unjustly Interlude
and show favoritism to the wicked?
3 Judge in favor of the weak and the fatherless.
Acquit the oppressed and the poor.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy.
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know. They do not understand.
They walk around in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I myself said, “You are ‘gods,’
and you are all ‘sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like men.
You will fall like any other ruler.”
Prayer
8 Rise up, O God. Judge the earth,
for you will take possession of all the nations.
Woe to the City of David
29
Woe to Ariel![a] Ariel, the city where David made his camp.
Add one year to another.
Let your cycle of festivals roll on.
2 But then I will bring distress to Ariel,
and there will be mourning and lamentation.
Then she will become an altar hearth[b] to me.
3 I will encamp against you on all sides,
and I will lay siege against you with towers.[c]
I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will be brought so low
that you will speak from the ground.
You will murmur from the dust.
Your voice will be like a ghost from a pit in the ground,
and your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 But your many foes will become like fine dust,
and the ruthless hordes like blowing chaff.
This will take place suddenly, in an instant.
6 You will be visited by the Lord of Armies
with thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
with a strong wind and a storm,
and with the flames of a devouring fire.
7 The hordes of nations that fight against Ariel,
all who fight against her and her stronghold,
all who besiege her—
all of them will be like a dream,
like a vision in the night.
8 They will be like a hungry man who dreams and sees himself eating,
but then he wakes up, and his hunger is not satisfied.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams and sees himself drinking,
but then he wakes up and, sure enough, he is weak with thirst.
That is how it will be with the hordes of nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be stunned! Be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine.
They stagger, but not from beer.[d]
10 For the Lord has poured out a spirit of deep sleep over you.
He has closed your eyes—the prophets.
He has covered your heads—the seers.
11 For you this whole vision has become like the words of a sealed scroll. If you give it to someone who can read, and you say, “Read this, please,” he will say, “I can’t. It is sealed.” 12 And if you give it to someone who cannot read, and you say, “Read this, please,” he will say, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord says:
These people approach me with their words,
and they honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is nothing but commandments taught by men.[e]
14 So watch how I will continue to amaze these people
with amazing, extraordinary things.
The wisdom of the wise will perish,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.
Hope for the Future
15 Woe to those who try to hide their plans from the Lord.
Their deeds are done in darkness,
and they think that no one sees them
or knows what they are doing.
16 You turn things upside down!
Should the potter be treated like clay?
Should the thing that was made say to its maker,
“You didn’t make me”?
Should the creation say to the creator,
“You know nothing”?
17 Isn’t it true that in a very short time
Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,
and the fertile field will seem like a forest?
18 On that day, the deaf will hear the words from a book,
and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The humble will rejoice in the Lord once again,
and the poor will delight in the Holy One of Israel.
20 But the ruthless will come to nothing.
Those who mock will be no more,
and all those who plan evil will be cut off—
21 all those who slander others with a word,
all those who argue cases at the city gate,
all those who use false testimony to deprive the innocent of justice.
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham,
says about the house of Jacob:
Jacob will not be ashamed anymore.
His face will not grow pale.
23 But when his children see what I do among them,
they will honor my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are confused will come to understand,
and those who complain will gladly receive instruction.
Greeting
The Elder,
To dear Gaius, whom I love in the truth:
Joy at Gaius’ Faithfulness and Cooperation in the Truth
2 Dear friend, I pray that you are doing well in every way and have good health, just as your soul is doing well. 3 Indeed, I was overjoyed when brothers[a] came and testified to your truthfulness because you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than when I hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are being faithful in what you are doing for the brothers even though they are strangers. 6 They have testified before the church about your love. You will do well to send them off in a manner worthy of God. 7 They went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore, we have an obligation to support such men, so that we may be coworkers for the truth.
A Warning About Diotrephes
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, does not welcome us. 10 For this reason, if I do come, I will call attention to what he is doing. He is disparaging us with wicked words, and he is not content with that. He also refuses to welcome the brothers. He even hinders and puts out of the church those who wish to welcome them.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does what is good is from God. The one who does what is evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius has been endorsed by everyone, even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Final Greeting
13 I had many things to write you, but I do not want to do it with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face.
15 Peace to you. Your friends here send their greetings to you. Greet our friends there by name.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.