M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
3 Early the next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel left Acacia and arrived that evening at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped for a few days before crossing.
2-4 On the third day officers went through the camp giving these instructions: “When you see the priests carrying the Ark of God,[a] follow them. You have never before been where we are going now, so they will guide you. However, stay about a half mile behind, with a clear space between you and the Ark; be sure that you don’t get any closer.”
5 Then Joshua told the people to purify themselves. “For tomorrow,” he said, “the Lord will do a great miracle.”
6 In the morning Joshua ordered the priests, “Take up the Ark and lead us across the river!” And so they started out.
7 “Today,” the Lord told Joshua, “I will give you great honor, so that all Israel will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. 8 Instruct the priests who are carrying the Ark to stop at the edge of the river.”
9 Then Joshua summoned all the people and told them, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God has said. 10 Today you are going to know for sure that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites—all the people who now live in the land you will soon occupy. 11 Think of it! The Ark of God, who is Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the river!
12 “Now select twelve men, one from each tribe, for a special task.[b] 13-14 When the priests who are carrying the Ark touch the water with their feet, the river will stop flowing as though held back by a dam, and will pile up as though against an invisible wall!” Now it was the harvest season and the Jordan was overflowing all its banks; but as the people set out to cross the river and as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, 15-16 suddenly, far up the river at the city of Adam, near Zarethan, the water began piling up as though against a dam! And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was empty. Then all the people crossed at a spot where the river was close to the city of Jericho, 17 and the priests who were carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan and waited as all the people passed by.
126 When Jehovah brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! 2 How we laughed and sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
3 Yes, glorious things! What wonder! What joy! 4 May we be refreshed[a] as by streams in the desert.
5 Those who sow tears shall reap joy. 6 Yes, they go out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, and return singing, carrying their sheaves.
127 Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders’ work is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good. 2 It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest.
3 Children are a gift from God; they are his reward. 4 Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows to defend him.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. That man shall have the help he needs when arguing with his enemies.[b]
128 Blessings on all who reverence and trust the Lord—on all who obey him!
2 Their reward shall be prosperity and happiness. 3 Your wife shall be contented in your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around the dinner table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. 4 That is God’s reward to those who reverence and trust him.
5 May the Lord continually bless you with heaven’s blessings[c] as well as with human joys. 6 May you live to enjoy your grandchildren! And may God bless Israel!
63 Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his magnificent garments of crimson? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation; I, the Lord, the one who is mighty to save!”
2 “Why are your clothes so red, as from treading out the grapes?”
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone. No one was there to help me. In my wrath I have trodden my enemies like grapes. In my fury I trampled my foes. It is their blood you see upon my clothes. 4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to redeem them from the hands of their oppressors. 5 I looked but no one came to help them; I was amazed and appalled. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I meted out judgment. 6 I crushed the heathen nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground.”
7 I will tell of the loving-kindnesses of God. I will praise him for all he has done; I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted in accordance with his mercy and love. 8 He said, “They are my very own; surely they will not be false again.” And he became their Savior. 9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and he personally saved them.[a] In his love and pity he redeemed them and lifted them up and carried them through all the years.
10 But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. That is why he became their enemy and personally fought against them. 11 Then they remembered those days of old when Moses, God’s servant, led his people out of Egypt, and they cried out, “Where is the One who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the God who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people? 12 Where is he whose mighty power divided the sea before them when Moses lifted up his hand, and established his reputation forever? 13 Who led them through the bottom of the sea? Like fine stallions racing through the desert, they never stumbled. 14 Like cattle grazing in the valleys, so the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. Thus he gave himself a magnificent reputation.”
15 O Lord, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home; where is the love for us you used to show—your power, your mercy, and your compassion? Where are they now? 16 Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, still you would be our Father, our Redeemer from ages past. 17 O Lord, why have you hardened our hearts and made us sin and turn against you? Return and help us, for we who belong to you need you so.[b] 18 How briefly we possessed Jerusalem! And now our enemies have destroyed her. 19 O God, why do you treat us as though we weren’t your people, as though we were a heathen nation that never called you “Lord”?
11 When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he went off preaching in the cities where they were scheduled to go.[a]
2 John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the miracles the Messiah was doing, so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 “Are you really the one we are waiting for, or shall we keep on looking?”
4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him about the miracles you’ve seen me do— 5 the blind people I’ve healed, and the lame people now walking without help, and the cured lepers, and the deaf who hear, and the dead raised to life; and tell him about my preaching the Good News to the poor. 6 Then give him this message, ‘Blessed are those who don’t doubt me.’”
7 When John’s disciples had gone, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “When you went out into the barren wilderness to see John, what did you expect him to be like? Grass blowing in the wind? 8 Or were you expecting to see a man dressed as a prince in a palace? 9 Or a prophet of God? Yes, and he is more than just a prophet. 10 For John is the man mentioned in the Scriptures—a messenger to precede me, to announce my coming, and prepare people to receive me.[b]
11 “Truly, of all men ever born, none shines more brightly than John the Baptist. And yet, even the lesser lights in the Kingdom of Heaven will be greater than he is! 12 And from the time John the Baptist began preaching and baptizing until now, ardent multitudes have been crowding toward the Kingdom of Heaven,[c] 13 for all the laws and prophets looked forward to the Messiah.[d] Then John appeared, 14 and if you are willing to understand what I mean, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come at the time the Kingdom begins.[e] 15 If ever you were willing to listen, listen now!
16 “What shall I say about this nation? These people are like children playing, who say to their little friends, 17 ‘We played wedding and you weren’t happy, so we played funeral but you weren’t sad.’ 18 For John the Baptist doesn’t even drink wine and often goes without food, and you say, ‘He’s crazy.’[f] 19 And I, the Messiah,[g] feast and drink, and you complain that I am ‘a glutton and a drinking man, and hang around with the worst sort of sinners!’ But brilliant men like you can justify your every inconsistency!”
20 Then he began to pour out his denunciations against the cities where he had done most of his miracles, because they hadn’t turned to God.
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin, and woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in your streets had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon,[h] their people would have repented long ago in shame and humility. 22 Truly, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on the Judgment Day than you! 23 And Capernaum, though highly honored,[i] shall go down to hell! For if the marvelous miracles I did in you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today. 24 Truly, Sodom will be better off at the Judgment Day than you.”
25 And Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise, and for revealing it to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for it pleased you to do it this way! . . .
27 “Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. Only the Father knows the Son, and the Father is known only by the Son and by those to whom the Son reveals him. 28 Come to me and I will give you rest—all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. 29-30 Wear my yoke—for it fits perfectly—and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.