M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
21 If one is found slain in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has killed him,
2 Then your elders and judges shall come forth and measure the distance to the cities around him who is slain.
3 And the city which is nearest to the slain man, the elders of that city shall take a heifer which has never been worked, never pulled in the yoke,
4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
5 And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name [and presence] of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be settled.
6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 And they shall testify, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
8 Forgive, O Lord, Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not allow the shedding of innocent blood to be charged to Your people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be forgiven them.
9 So shall you purge the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
10 When you go forth to battle against your enemies and the Lord your God has given them into your hands and you carry them away captive,
11 And you see among the captives a beautiful woman and desire her, that you may have her as your wife,
12 Then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails [in purification from heathenism]
13 And put off her prisoner’s garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.
14 And if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go absolutely free. You shall not sell her at all for money; you shall not deal with her as a slave or a servant, because you have humbled her.
15 If a man has two wives, one loved and the other disliked, and they both have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the son of the one who is disliked,
16 Then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he shall not put the firstborn of his loved wife in place of the [actual] firstborn of the disliked wife—her firstborn being older.
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the disliked as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he was the first issue of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or his mother and though they chasten him will not listen to them,
19 Then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,
20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.(A)
21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall cleanse out the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and [reverently] fear.
22 And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death and [afterward] you hang him on a tree,(B)
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God. Thus you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.(C)
Psalm 108
A song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!
2 Awake, harp and lyre; I myself will wake very early—I will waken the dawn!
3 I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great and high as the heavens! Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!(A)
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.
6 That Your beloved [followers] may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us! [or me]!
7 God has promised in His holiness [regarding the establishment of David’s dynasty]: I will rejoice, I will distribute [Canaan among My people], dividing Shechem and [the western region and allotting the eastern region which contains] the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My stronghold and the defense of My head; Judah is My scepter and lawgiver.(B)
9 Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom [My slave] My shoe I cast [to be cleaned]; over Philistia I shout [in triumph].
10 Who will bring me [David] into the strong, fortified city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not cast us off, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?
12 Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man.
13 Through and with God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.(C)
Psalm 109
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 O God of my praise! Keep not silence,
2 For the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues.
3 They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I resort to prayer.
5 And they have rewarded and laid upon me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him [as a judge], and let [a malicious] accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When [the wicked] is judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer [for leniency] be turned into a sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office and charge.(D)
9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continual vagabonds [as was Cain] and beg; let them seek their bread and be driven far from their ruined homes.(E)
11 Let the creditor and extortioner seize all that he has; and let strangers (barbarians and foreigners) plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend or continue mercy and kindness to him, neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their names be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth!—
16 Because the man did not [earnestly] remember to show mercy, but pursued and persecuted the poor and needy man, and the broken in heart [he was ready] to slay.
17 Yes, he loved cursing, and it came [back] upon him; he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment, and it seeped into his inward [life] like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him as the raiment with which he covers himself and as the girdle with which he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my life.
21 But You deal with me and act for me, O God the Lord, for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy and loving-kindness are good, O deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded and stricken within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it lengthens and declines; I toss up and down and am shaken off as the locust.
24 My knees are weak and totter from fasting; and my body is gaunt and has no fatness.
25 I have become also a reproach and a taunt to others; when they see me, they shake their heads.(F)
26 Help me, O Lord my God; O save me according to Your mercy and loving-kindness!—
27 That they may know that this is Your hand, that You, Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but do You bless. When adversaries arise, let them be put to shame, but let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame and dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace and confusion as with a robe.
30 I will give great praise and thanks to the Lord with my mouth; yes, and I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He will stand at the right hand of the poor and needy, to save him from those who condemn his life.
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and who come forth from the seed of Judah, you who swear allegiance by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel—but not in truth and sincerity, nor in righteousness (rightness and moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation)—
2 For they call themselves [citizens] of the holy city and depend on the God of Israel—the Lord of hosts is His name.
3 I have declared from the beginning the former things [which happened in times past to Israel]; they went forth from My mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass [says the Lord].
4 Because I knew that you were obstinate, and your neck was an iron sinew and your brow was brass,
5 Therefore I have declared things to come to you from of old; before they came to pass I announced them to you, so that you could not say, My idol has done them, and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.
6 You have heard [these things foretold], now you see this fulfillment. And will you not bear witness to it? I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things [kept in reserve] which you have not known.
7 They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word], and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them!
8 Yes, you have never heard, yes, you have never known; yes, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I, the Lord, knew that you, O house of Israel, dealt very treacherously; you were called a transgressor and a rebel [in revolt] from your birth.
9 For My name’s sake I defer My anger, and for the sake of My praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried and chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it [I refrain and do not utterly destroy you]; for why should I permit My name to be polluted and profaned [which it would be if the Lord completely destroyed His chosen people]? And I will not give My glory to another [by permitting the worshipers of idols to triumph over you].
12 Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called [ones]: I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last.(A)
13 Yes, My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together [to execute My decrees].
14 Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them [the gods and Chaldean astrologers] has foretold these things? The Lord has loved him [Cyrus of Persia]; he will do His pleasure and purpose on Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have foretold it; yes, I have called him [Cyrus]; I have brought him, and [the Lord] shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come near to me and listen to this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it happened, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent His Spirit in and with me.
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go.
18 Oh, that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a flowing river, and your righteousness [the holiness and purity of the nation] like the [abundant] waves of the sea.
19 Your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like the offspring of the sea; their name would not be cut off or destroyed from before Me.(B)
20 Go forth out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing declare, tell this, cause it to go forth even to the end of the earth; say, The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!
21 And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
18 Then I saw another angel descending from heaven, possessing great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his radiance and splendor.
2 And he shouted with a mighty voice, She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen! She has become a resort and dwelling place for demons, a dungeon haunted by every loathsome spirit, an abode for every filthy and detestable bird.
3 For all nations have drunk the wine of her passionate unchastity, and the rulers and leaders of the earth have joined with her in committing fornication (idolatry), and the businessmen of the earth have become rich with the wealth of her excessive luxury and wantonness.(A)
4 I then heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues.(B)
5 For her iniquities (her crimes and transgressions) are piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and [her] crimes [and calls them up for settlement].(C)
6 Repay to her what she herself has paid [to others] and double [her doom] in accordance with what she has done. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed [for others].(D)
7 To the degree that she glorified herself and reveled in her wantonness [living deliciously and luxuriously], to that measure impose on her torment and anguish and tears and mourning. Since in her heart she boasts, I am not a widow; as a queen [on a throne] I sit, and I shall never see suffering or experience sorrow—(E)
8 So shall her plagues (afflictions, calamities) come thick upon her in a single day, pestilence and anguish and sorrow and famine; and she shall be utterly consumed (burned up with fire), for mighty is the Lord God Who judges her.
9 And the rulers and leaders of the earth who joined her in her immorality (idolatry) and luxuriated with her will weep and beat their breasts and lament over her when they see the smoke of her conflagration.(F)
10 They will stand a long way off, in terror of her torment, and they will cry, Woe and alas, the great city, the mighty city, Babylon! In one single hour how your doom (judgment) has overtaken you!
11 And earth’s businessmen will weep and grieve over her because no one buys their freight (cargo) any more.(G)
12 Their merchandise is of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet [stuffs]; all kinds of scented wood, all sorts of articles of ivory, all varieties of objects of costly woods, bronze, iron, and marble;(H)
13 Of cinnamon, spices, incense, ointment and perfume, and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, fine flour and wheat; of cattle and sheep, horses and conveyances; and of slaves (the bodies) and souls of men!
14 The ripe fruits and delicacies for which your soul longed have gone from you, and all your luxuries and dainties, your elegance and splendor are lost to you, never again to be recovered or experienced!
15 The dealers who handled these articles, who grew wealthy through their business with her, will stand a long way off, in terror of her doom and torment, weeping and grieving aloud, and saying,
16 Alas, alas for the great city that was robed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, bedecked and glittering with gold, with precious stones, and with pearls!(I)
17 Because in one [single] hour all the vast wealth has been destroyed (wiped out). And all ship captains and pilots, navigators and all who live by seafaring, the crews and all who ply their trade on the sea, stood a long way off,(J)
18 And exclaimed as they watched the smoke of her burning, What city could be compared to the great city!
19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and grieved, exclaiming, Woe and alas, for the great city, where all who had ships on the sea grew rich [through her extravagance] from her great wealth! In one single hour she has been destroyed and has become a desert!(K)
20 Rejoice (celebrate) over her, O heaven! O saints (people of God) and apostles and prophets, because God has executed vengeance for you upon her!(L)
21 Then a single powerful angel took up a boulder like a great millstone and flung it into the sea, crying, With such violence shall Babylon the great city be hurled down to destruction and shall never again be found.(M)
22 And the sound of harpists and minstrels and flute players and trumpeters shall never again be heard in you, and no skilled artisan of any craft shall ever again be found in you, and the sound of the millstone shall never again be heard in you.(N)
23 And never again shall the light of a lamp shine in you, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall never be heard in you again; for your businessmen were the great and prominent men of the earth, and by your magic spells and poisonous charm all nations were led astray (seduced and deluded).
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all those who have been slain (slaughtered) on earth.(O)
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