M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Lord Commands Israel to Leave Mount Horeb
1 These are the words Moses spoke to all the Israelites. At that time, they were in the desert east of the Jordan River. It’s in the Arabah Valley across from Suph. The people were between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It takes 11 days to go from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea if you travel on the Mount Seir road.
3 It was the 40th year since the Israelites had left Egypt. On the first day of the 11th month, Moses spoke to them. He told them everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. 4 They had already won the battle over Sihon. Sihon was the king of the Amorites. He had ruled in Heshbon. Israel had also won the battle over Og at Edrei. Og was the king of Bashan. He had ruled in Ashtaroth.
5 The people were east of the Jordan River in the territory of Moab. There Moses began to explain the law. Here is what he said.
6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Mount Horeb. He said, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Take your tents down. Go into the hill country of the Amorites. Go to all the people who are their neighbors. Go to the people who live in the Arabah Valley. Travel to the mountains and the western hills. Go to the people in the Negev Desert and along the coast. Travel to the land of Canaan and to Lebanon. Go as far as the great Euphrates River. 8 I have given you all this land. Go in and take it as your own. The Lord promised he would give the land to your fathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He also said he would give it to their children after them.”
Some Officials Are Chosen to Help Moses
9 At that time I spoke to you. I said, “You are too heavy a load for me to carry alone. 10 The Lord your God has caused there to be many of you. Today you are as many as the stars in the sky. 11 The Lord is the God of your people. May he cause there to be a thousand times more of you. May he bless you, just as he promised he would. 12 But I can’t handle your problems and troubles all by myself. I can’t settle your arguments. 13 So choose some wise men from each of your tribes. They must understand how to give good advice. The people must have respect for them. I will appoint those men to have authority over you.”
14 You answered me, “Your suggestion is good.”
15 So I chose the leading men of your tribes who were wise and respected. I appointed them to have authority over you. I made them commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. I appointed them to be officials over the tribes. 16 Here is what I commanded your judges at that time. I said, “Listen to your people’s cases when they argue with one another. Judge them fairly. It doesn’t matter whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and an outsider living among you. 17 When you judge them, treat everyone the same. Listen to those who are important and those who are not. Don’t be afraid of anyone. God is the highest judge. Bring me any case that is too hard for you. I’ll listen to it.” 18 At that time I told you everything you should do.
Twelve Men Check Out the Land of Canaan
19 The Lord our God commanded us to start out from Mount Horeb. So we did. We went toward the hill country of the Amorites. We traveled all through the huge and terrible desert you saw. Finally, we reached Kadesh Barnea. 20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites. The Lord our God is giving it to us. 21 The Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take it. Do what the Lord says. He’s the God of your people. Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope.”
22 Then all of you came to me. You said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us. They can check out the land for us and bring back a report. They can suggest to us which way to go. They can tell us about the towns we’ll come to.”
23 That seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of you. I picked one man from each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country. There they came to the Valley of Eshkol. They checked it out. 25 They got some of the fruit of that land. Then they brought it down to us and gave us their report. They said, “The Lord our God is giving us a good land.”
Israel Refuses to Obey the Lord
26 But you wouldn’t go up. You refused to obey the command of the Lord your God. 27 You spoke against him in your tents. You said, “The Lord hates us. That’s why he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites. He wanted to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? The men who checked out the land have made us afraid. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large. They have walls that reach up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ ”
29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will fight for you. With your own eyes you saw how he fought for you in Egypt. 31 You also saw how the Lord your God brought you through the desert. He carried you everywhere you went, just as a father carries his son. And now you have arrived here.”
32 In spite of that, you didn’t trust in the Lord your God. 33 He went ahead of you on your journey. He was in the fire at night and in the cloud during the day. He found places for you to camp. He showed you the way you should go.
34 The Lord heard what you said. So he became angry. He made a promise. He said, 35 “I promised to give this good land to your people of long ago. But no one alive today will see it. 36 Only Caleb will see the land. He is the son of Jephunneh. I will give him and his children after him the land he walked on. He followed me with his whole heart.”
37 Because of you, the Lord became angry with me also. He said, “You will not enter the land either. 38 But Joshua, the son of Nun, is your helper. Joshua will enter the land. Help him to be brave. Give him hope. He will lead Israel to take the land as their own. 39 You said your little ones would be taken prisoner. But they will enter the land. They do not yet know right from wrong. But I will give them the land. They will take it as their own. 40 As for you, turn around. Start out toward the desert. Go along the road that leads to the Red Sea.”
41 Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight. We’ll do just as the Lord our God has commanded us.” So all of you got your swords and put them on. You thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.
42 But the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight. I will not be with you. Your enemies will win the battle over you.’ ”
43 So I told you what the Lord said. But you wouldn’t listen. You refused to obey his command. You were so filled with pride that you marched up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites who lived in those hills came out and attacked you. Like large numbers of bees they chased you. They beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 You came back and wept in front of the Lord. But he didn’t pay any attention to your weeping. He wouldn’t listen to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh for many years. You spent a long time in that area.
For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of Asaph.
81 Sing joyfully to God! He gives us strength.
Give a loud shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Let the music begin. Play the tambourines.
Play sweet music on harps and lyres.
3 Blow the ram’s horn on the day of the New Moon feast.
Blow it again when the moon is full and the Feast of Booths begins.
4 This is an order given to Israel.
It is a law of the God of Jacob.
5 He gave it as a covenant law for the people of Joseph.
It was given when God went out to punish Egypt.
There I heard a voice I didn’t recognize.
6 The voice said, “I removed the load from your shoulders.
I set your hands free from carrying heavy baskets.
7 You called out when you were in trouble, and I saved you.
I answered you out of a thundercloud.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 “My people, listen and I will warn you.
Israel, I wish you would listen to me!
9 Don’t have anything to do with the gods of other nations.
Don’t bow down and worship any god other than me.
10 I am the Lord your God.
I brought you up out of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
11 “But my people wouldn’t listen to me.
Israel wouldn’t obey me.
12 So I let them go their own stubborn way.
I let them follow their own sinful plans.
13 “I wish my people would listen to me!
I wish Israel would live as I want them to live!
14 Then I would quickly bring their enemies under control.
I would use my power against their attackers.
15 Those who hate me would bow down to me in fear.
They would be punished forever.
16 But you would be fed with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with the sweetest honey.”
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God takes his place at the head of a large gathering of leaders.
He announces his decisions among them.
2 He says, “How long will you stand up for those who aren’t fair to others?
How long will you show mercy to sinful people?
3 Stand up for the weak and for children whose fathers have died.
Protect the rights of people who are poor or treated badly.
4 Save those who are weak and needy.
Save them from the power of sinful people.
5 “You leaders don’t know anything.
You don’t understand anything.
You are in the dark about what is right.
Law and order have been destroyed all over the world.
6 “I said, ‘You leaders are like gods.
You are all children of the Most High God.’
7 But you will die, like mere human beings.
You will die like every other leader.”
8 God, rise up. Judge the earth.
All the nations belong to you.
The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem
29 Jerusalem, how terrible it will be for you!
Ariel, you are the city where David made his home.
The years will come and go.
Keep on celebrating your regular feasts.
2 The Lord says, “Ariel, I will surround you.
Jerusalem, I will get ready to attack you.
Your people will mourn.
They will sing songs of sadness.
I will make you like the front of an altar
covered with blood.
3 I will be like an army camped against you on all sides.
I will surround you with towers in order to attack you.
I will build my ramps all around you and set up my ladders.
4 You will be brought down to the grave.
You will speak from deep down inside the ground.
Your words will be barely heard out of the dust.
Your voice will sound like the voice of a ghost
coming from under the ground.
Your words will sound like a whisper out of the dust.”
5 Jerusalem, all your enemies will become like fine dust.
Their terrifying armies will become like straw
that the wind blows away.
All of a sudden, in an instant,
6 the Lord who rules over all will come.
He will come with thunder, earthquakes and a lot of noise.
He’ll bring windstorms and rainstorms with him.
He’ll send a blazing fire that will burn up everything.
7 Armies from all the nations will fight against Ariel.
They will attack it and its fort.
They’ll surround it completely.
But suddenly those armies will disappear like a dream.
They will vanish like a vision in the night.
8 It will be as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but wakes up still hungry.
It will be as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but wakes up weak and still thirsty.
In the same way, the armies from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion will disappear.
9 People of Jerusalem, be shocked and amazed.
Make yourselves blind so you can’t see anything.
Get drunk, but not from wine.
Be unsteady on your feet, but not because of beer.
10 The Lord has made you fall into a deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets.
He has covered the heads of your seers so they can’t see.
11 For you, this whole vision is like words that are sealed up in a scroll. Suppose you give it to someone who can read. And suppose you say, “Please read this for us.” Then they’ll answer, “I can’t. It’s sealed up.” 12 Or suppose you give the scroll to someone who can’t read. And suppose you say, “Please read this for us.” Then they’ll answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says,
“These people worship me only with their words.
They honor me by what they say.
But their hearts are far away from me.
Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me.
They teach nothing but human rules that they have been taught.
14 So once more I will shock these people
with many wonderful acts.
I will destroy the wisdom of those who think they are so wise.
I will do away with the cleverness of those who think they are so smart.”
15 How terrible it will be for people who try hard
to hide their plans from the Lord!
They do their work in darkness.
They think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 They turn everything upside down.
How silly they are to think that potters are like the clay they work with!
Can what is made say to the one who made it,
“You didn’t make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You don’t know anything”?
17 In a very short time, Lebanon will be turned into rich farm lands.
The rich farm lands will seem like a forest.
18 At that time those who can’t hear will hear what is read from the scroll.
Those who are blind will come out of gloom and darkness.
They will be able to see.
19 Those who aren’t proud will once again find their joy in the Lord.
And those who are in need will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.
20 Those who don’t show any pity will vanish.
Those who make fun of others will disappear.
All those who look for ways to do what is evil will be cut off.
21 Without any proof, they claim that a person is guilty.
In court they try to trap
the one who speaks up for others.
By using dishonest witnesses they keep people who aren’t guilty
from being treated fairly.
22 Long ago the Lord saved Abraham from trouble. Now he says to Jacob’s people,
“You will not be ashamed anymore.
Your faces will no longer grow pale with fear.
23 You will see your children living among you.
I myself will give you those children.
Then you will honor my name.
You will recognize how holy I am.
I am the Holy One of Jacob.
You will have great respect for me.
I am the God of Israel.
24 I will give understanding to you
who find yourselves going astray.
You who are always speaking against others
will accept what I teach you.”
1 I, the elder, am writing this letter.
I am sending it to you, my dear friend Gaius. I love you because of the truth.
2 Dear friend, I know that your spiritual life is going well. I pray that you also may enjoy good health. And I pray that everything else may go well with you. 3 Some believers came to me and told me that you are faithful to the truth. They told me that you continue to live by it. This news gave me great joy. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living by the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters. You are faithful even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please help them by sending them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 They started on their journey to serve Jesus Christ. They didn’t receive any help from those who aren’t believers. 8 So we should welcome people like them. We should work together with them for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church. But Diotrephes will not welcome us. He loves to be the first in everything. 10 So when I come, I will point out what he is doing. He is saying evil things that aren’t true about us. Even this doesn’t satisfy him. So he refuses to welcome other believers. He also keeps others from welcoming them. In fact, he throws them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, don’t be like those who do evil. Be like those who do good. Anyone who does what is good belongs to God. Anyone who does what is evil hasn’t really seen or known God. 12 Everyone says good things about Demetrius. He lives in keeping with the truth. We also say good things about him. And you know that what we say is true.
13 I have a lot to write to you. But I don’t want to write with pen and ink. 14 I hope I can see you soon. Then we can talk face to face.
15 May you have peace.
The friends here send their greetings. Greet each one of the friends there.
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