M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

23 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis cut off, he shall not enter the sanctuary. ² A bastard may not enter the sanctuary, nor any of his descendants for ten generations.

³ “No Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the sanctuary, even after the tenth generation. ⁴ The reason for this law is that these nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt; they even tried to hire Balaam, the son of Beor from Pethor, Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ But the Lord wouldn’t listen to Balaam; instead, he turned the intended curse into a blessing for you because the Lord loves you. ⁶ You must never, as long as you live, try to help the Ammonites or the Moabites in any way. ⁷ But don’t look down on the Edomites and the Egyptians; the Edomites are your brothers and you lived among the Egyptians. ⁸ The grandchildren of the Egyptians who came with you from Egypt may enter the sanctuary of the Lord.

^9-10 “When you are at war, the men in the camps must stay away from all evil. Any man who becomes ceremonially defiled because of a seminal emission during the night must leave the camp ¹¹ and stay outside until the evening; then he shall bathe himself and return at sunset. ¹² The toilet area shall be outside the camp. ¹³ Each man must have a spade as part of his equipment; after every bowel movement he must dig a hole with the spade and cover the excrement. ¹⁴ The camp must be holy, for the Lord walks among you to protect you and to cause your enemies to fall before you; and the Lord does not want to see anything indecent lest he turn away from you.

^15-16 “If a slave escapes from his master, you must not force him to return; let him live among you in whatever town he shall choose, and do not oppress him.

^17-18 “No prostitutes are permitted in Israel, either men or women; you must not bring to the Lord any offering from the earnings of a prostitute or a homosexual, for both are detestable to the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “Don’t demand interest on loans you make to a brother Israelite, whether it is in the form of money, food, or anything else. ²⁰ You may take interest from a foreigner, but not from an Israeli. For if you take interest from a brother, an Israeli, the Lord your God won’t bless you when you arrive in the Promised Land.

²¹ “When you make a vow to the Lord, be prompt in doing whatever it is you promised him, for the Lord demands that you promptly fulfill your vows; it is a sin if you don’t. ²² (But it is not a sin if you refrain from vowing!) ²³ Once you make the vow, you must be careful to do as you have said, for it was your own choice, and you have vowed to the Lord your God.

²⁴ “You may eat your fill of the grapes from another man’s vineyard, but do not take any away in a container. ²⁵ It is the same with someone else’s grain—you may eat a few handfuls of it, but don’t use a sickle.

112 Praise the Lord! For all who fear God and trust in him are blessed beyond expression. Yes, happy is the man who delights in doing his commands.

² His children shall be honored everywhere, for good men’s sons have a special heritage. ³ He himself shall be wealthy, and his good deeds will never be forgotten. ⁴ When darkness overtakes him, light will come bursting in. He is kind and merciful— ⁵ and all goes well for the generous man who conducts his business fairly.

⁶ Such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. God’s constant care of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. ⁷ He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him. ⁸ That is why he is not afraid but can calmly face his foes. ⁹ He gives generously to those in need. His deeds will never be forgotten.^[a] He shall have influence and honor.

¹⁰ Evil-minded men will be infuriated when they see all this; they will gnash their teeth in anger and slink away, their hopes thwarted.

113 Hallelujah! O servants of Jehovah, praise his name. ² Blessed is his name forever and forever. ³ Praise him from sunrise to sunset! ⁴ For he is high above the nations; his glory is far greater than the heavens.

⁵ Who can be compared with God enthroned on high? ⁶ Far below him are the heavens and the earth; he stoops to look, ⁷ and lifts the poor from the dirt and the hungry from the garbage dump, ⁸ and sets them among princes! ⁹ He gives children to the childless wife, so that she becomes a happy mother.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.

50 The Lord asks, Did I sell you to my creditors? Is that why you aren’t here? Is your mother gone because I divorced her and sent her away? No, you went away as captives because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken in payment for your sins. ² Was I too weak to save you? Is that why the house is silent and empty when I come home? Have I no longer power to deliver? No, that is not the reason! For I can rebuke the sea and make it dry! I can turn the rivers into deserts, covered with dying fish. ³ I am the one who sends the darkness out across the skies.

⁴ The Lord God has given me his words of wisdom so that I may know what I should say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. ⁵ The Lord God has spoken to me, and I have listened; I do not rebel nor turn away. ⁶ I give my back to the whip, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I do not hide from shame—they spit in my face.

⁷ Because the Lord God helps me, I will not be dismayed; therefore, I have set my face like flint to do his will, and I know that I will triumph. ⁸ He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to fight against me now? Where are my enemies? Let them appear! ⁹ See, the Lord God is for me! Who shall declare me guilty? All my enemies shall be destroyed like old clothes eaten up by moths!

¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his Servant? If such men walk in darkness, without one ray of light, let them trust the Lord, let them rely upon their God. ¹¹ But see here, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves from your own fires and not from God’s; you will live among sorrows.

20 Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. ² He seized the Dragon—that old Serpent, the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years, ³ and threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so that he could not fool the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterwards he would be released again for a little while.

⁴ Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those who had been given the right to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the Creature or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They had come to life again and now they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵ This is the First Resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the First Resurrection. For them the Second Death holds no terrors, for they will be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

⁷ When the thousand years end, Satan will be let out of his prison. ⁸ He will go out to deceive the nations of the world and gather them together, with Gog and Magog, for battle—a mighty host, numberless as sand along the shore. ⁹ They will go up across the broad plain of the earth and surround God’s people and the beloved city of Jerusalem^[a] on every side. But fire from God in heaven will flash down on the attacking armies and consume them.

¹⁰ Then the devil who had betrayed them will again^[b] be thrown into the Lake of Fire burning with sulphur where the Creature and False Prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne and the one who sat upon it, from whose face the earth and sky fled away, but they found no place to hide.^{[c] 12} I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God; and The Books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in The Books, each according to the deeds he had done. ¹³ The oceans surrendered the bodies buried in them; and the earth and the underworld gave up the dead in them. Each was judged according to his deeds. ¹⁴ And Death and Hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the Second Death—the Lake of Fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found recorded in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.