M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16
The Tribe of Ephraim.[a] 1 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph ran from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, and ran up into the hill country of Bethel. 2 It went from Bethel (that is, Luz) over to the boundary of the Arkites in Ataroth. 3 It then descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites up to the territory of lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, ending at the sea. 4 Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance.
5 This is the territory of the Ephraimites, divided according to its clans. The boundary of the inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to upper Beth-horon 6 and it continued on to the sea. From Micmethath in the north it curved eastward to Taanath-shiloh, passing by it to the east of Janoah. 7 It went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, arriving at Jericho and then ending at the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the boundary reached eastward to the Kanah River and from there it went to the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites, divided according to its clans. 9 It included all of the cities that were set aside for the Ephraimites in the inheritance of the Manassehites, the cities and their dependent towns. 10 They did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer. The Canaanites live among the Ephraimites up to the present and they serve them doing forced labor.
Chapter 17
The Tribe of Manasseh. 1 This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh, who was the firstborn of Joseph, that is, of Machir, who was the firstborn of Manasseh, and he was also the father of the Gileadites because he had received Gilead and Bashan since he was a mighty warrior. 2 This was the allotment for the rest of the Manassehites, the clans of the descendants of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the other male descendants of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, according to their clans.
3 [b]Now Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They went to Eleazar, the priest, to Joshua, the son of Nun, and the elders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” He therefore gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father, just as the Lord had commanded.
5 Manasseh’s portion consisted of ten parcels of land besides Gilead and Bashan, which were on the east side of the Jordan, 6 for the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with the sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh. 7 The territory of the Manassehites ran from Asher to Micmethath east of Shechem. The boundary then ran south from there, so it included the people living at En-tappuah. 8 (Manasseh had received the land around Tappuah, which lay on the boundary with Manasseh, but Tappuah itself belonged to the Ephraimites.) 9 The boundary then continued on south to the Wadi Kanah. There were some towns that belonged to Ephraim among the towns of Manasseh, but Manasseh’s boundary ran along the north side of the river, ending at the sea. 10 To the north, the land belonged to Ephraim, while to the south the land belonged to Manasseh. Its boundary ended at the sea, bordering Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.
11 Within Asher and Issachar, Manasseh also possessed Beth-shan and the towns that were dependent upon it, Ibleam and the towns dependent upon it, the inhabitants of Dor and the towns dependent upon it, the inhabitants of Endor and the towns dependent upon it, the inhabitants of Taanach and the towns dependent upon it, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and the towns dependent upon it. (These are three mountainous areas.)
12 Yet, the Manassehites were not able to occupy these cities, for the Canaanites were determined to continue to live in that land. 13 When the Israelites grew stronger, they did subject the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely. 14 [c]The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment, one portion as our inheritance. We are quite numerous, for the Lord has blessed us.” 15 But Joshua answered them, “If you are too numerous for the hill country of Ephraim, then go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.” 16 The descendants of Joseph replied, “The hill country is too small for us, and the Canaanites who live in the plains have iron chariots, both the ones living in Beth-shean and the towns dependent upon it and those living in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 Joshua said to the descendants of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous and very powerful people. You will have more than one allotment. 18 The forested hill country will also be yours. Cut it down, and it will be yours right to its fringes. The Canaanites might have iron chariots and be strong, but you can drive them out.”
Psalm 148[a]
Song of the Universe
1 [b]Alleluia.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
offer praise to him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
offer praise to him, all his hosts![c]
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
offer praise to him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,[d]
and you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name[e] of the Lord,
for it was at his command that they were created.
6 He established them in place forever and ever;
he issued a law that will never pass away.[f]
7 [g]Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds,
storm winds that carry out his word,[h]
9 all mountains and hills,
all fruit trees and cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
creeping creatures and flying birds,[i]
11 kings of the earth and all nations,
princes and all rulers on the earth,
12 young men and women,
the elderly, as well as children.[j]
13 [k]Let them all praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above the earth and the heavens.[l]
14 He has raised high a horn[m] for his people,
to the glory of all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Alleluia.
Chapter 8
1 At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of its priests and prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be exhumed from their graves. 2 They will be spread out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up and buried but will be left upon the ground like dung. 3 And death will be preferred to life by the survivors of the wicked race in any of the places to which I have banished them, says the Lord of hosts.
Israel’s Infidelity
4 [a]Then you are to say to them,
Thus says the Lord:
When someone falls, does he not stand up again?
If people go astray, do they not turn back?
5 Why then do these people continue to rebel
and persist in their obstinate infidelity?
Why do they continue in their treachery
and refuse to turn back?
6 I have listened to them attentively
but they never utter a truthful word.
Not a single one repents of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
All of them continue to follow the same course
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows its appointed seasons;
turtledoves, swallows, and cranes
are aware when it is time to migrate.
But my people do not know
the ordinances of the Lord.
8 How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when that law has been falsified
by the lying pen of the scribes?
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and caught in errors.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
of what value is their wisdom?
Unrepentant for Their Sins
10 Therefore, I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
everyone is greedy for ill-gotten gain.
All of them practice fraud,
including prophets and priests.
11 They bandage the wound of my people
as though it were a minor injury.
“Peace! Peace!” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 They should be embarrassed at their loathsome deeds,
yet they are not the least bit ashamed;
they do not even know how to blush.
Therefore, they will join the others who have fallen;
when the day of punishment arrives,
they will be thrown down, says the Lord.
A Prophet’s Lament
13 I will gather them all in,
the Lord has promised;
there will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig trees.
Even the leaves will be withered;
what I have given them
will be taken away from them.
14 Why are we just sitting idly here?
It is time to mobilize.
Let us march into the fortified cities
and perish there.
For the Lord, our God, has doomed us for destruction
and given us poisoned water to drink
because we have sinned against him.
15 We are praying for peace, but to no avail;
for a time of healing,
only to be confronted with terror.
16 The snorting of horses is heard from Dan;
the neighing of his stallions
causes the entire land to quake.
The enemy is advancing to devour the land
and all that it contains,
the city and those who dwell there.
17 Behold, I will send against you
venomous snakes that cannot be charmed,
and they will bite you, says the Lord.
18 There is no cure for my grief,
and my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of distress
from my people in a distant land.
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her king no longer in their midst?”
(Why do they provoke me with their idols
and with their foreign gods?)
20 “The time of harvest is past,
the summer is at an end,
and we are not saved.”
21 The suffering of my people causes me to suffer too.
I mourn, overcome with terror.
22 Is there no more balm in Gilead?[b]
Can no physician be found there?
Why has there not been any progress
to restore the health of my people?
Chapter 22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet.[a] 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent forth his servants to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. 4 Then he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, my banquet has been prepared, my oxen and my fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” ’
5 “But they ignored his invitation. One went off to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
7 “The king was enraged, and he sent forth his troops who destroyed those murderers and burned their city to the ground. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy of that honor. 9 Go forth, therefore, to the main roads and invite everyone you can find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 The servants went forth into the streets and gathered together everyone they could find, good and bad alike. And so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 [b]“But when the king came in to greet the guests, he noticed one man who was not properly dressed for a wedding. 12 ‘My friend,’ he said to him, ‘how did you gain entrance here without a wedding garment?’ The man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet and cast him outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”[c]
15 God or Caesar.[d] Then the Pharisees went off and made plans to trap him in what he said. 16 They sent some of their disciples to him, along with the Herodians,[e] and said, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Nor are you concerned with anyone’s opinion for you do not care about people’s opinions. 17 Tell us then what you think about this: Is it lawful or not for us to pay taxes to Caesar?”
18 Jesus was aware of their malicious intent, and he said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin that is used for paying the tax.” When they brought him a denarius,[f] 20 he asked them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” 21 They replied, “Caesar’s.” On hearing this, he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due to God.”[g] 22 Stunned on hearing this reply, they went away and left him alone.
23 Marriage and the Resurrection.[h] On that same day, the Sadducees, who assert that there is no resurrection, approached him and posed this question, 24 “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies without having children, his brother[i] is to marry his brother’s wife and raise up children for his brother. 25 Now there were seven brothers who belonged to our group. The first one married and died without issue, and therefore left his wife to his brother. 26 The same result occurred with the second brother and the third, right down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman herself died. 28 Now at the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, inasmuch as all of them had her?”
29 Jesus answered them, “You are in error, for you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They are like the angels in heaven.
31 “And in regard to the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God himself said to you: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
34 The Greatest Commandment.[j] When the Pharisees learned that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and, to test him, one of them, a lawyer, asked this question, 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 Everything in the Law and the Prophets depends on these two commandments.”
41 Jesus Is Lord.[k] While the Pharisees were assembled together, Jesus asked them this question, 42 “What is your opinion about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of David.” 43 He responded, “How is it then that David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45 If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, and from that day onward no one dared to ask him any further questions.
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