M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
16 “Always remember to celebrate the Passover during the month of April,[a] for that was when Jehovah your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Your Passover sacrifice shall be either a lamb or an ox, sacrificed to the Lord your God at his sanctuary. 3 Eat the sacrifice with unleavened bread. Eat unleavened bread for seven days as a reminder of the bread you ate as you escaped from Egypt. This is to remind you that you left Egypt in such a hurry that there was no time for the bread to rise.[b] Remember that day all the rest of your lives! 4 For seven days no trace of yeast shall be in your homes, and none of the Passover lamb shall be left until the next morning.
5 “The Passover is not to be eaten in your homes. 6 It must be eaten at the place the Lord shall choose as his sanctuary. Sacrifice it there on the anniversary evening just as the sun goes down. 7 Roast the lamb and eat it, then start back to your homes the next morning. 8 For the following six days you shall eat no bread made with yeast. On the seventh day there shall be a quiet gathering of the people of each city before the Lord your God. Don’t do any work that day.
9 “Seven weeks after the harvest begins, 10 there shall be another festival before the Lord your God called the Festival of Weeks. At that time bring to him a freewill offering proportionate in size to his blessing upon you as judged by the amount of your harvest. 11 It is a time to rejoice before the Lord with your family and household. And don’t forget to include the local Levites, foreigners, widows, and orphans. Invite them to accompany you to the celebration at the sanctuary. 12 Remember! You were a slave in Egypt, so be sure to carry out this command.
13 “Another celebration, the Festival of Shelters, must be observed for seven days at the end of the harvest season, after the grain is threshed and the grapes have been pressed. 14 This will be a happy time of rejoicing together with your family and servants. And don’t forget to include the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows of your town.
15 “This feast will be held at the sanctuary, which will be located at the place the Lord will designate. It is a time of deep thanksgiving to the Lord for blessing you with a good harvest and in so many other ways; it shall be a time of great joy.
16 “Every man in Israel shall appear before the Lord your God three times a year at the sanctuary for these festivals:
The Festival of Unleavened Bread,
The Festival of Weeks,
The Festival of Shelters.
“On each of these occasions bring a gift to the Lord. 17 Give as you are able, according as the Lord has blessed you.
18 “Appoint judges and administrative officials for all the cities the Lord your God is giving you. They will administer justice in every part of the land. 19 Never twist justice to benefit a rich man, and never accept bribes. For bribes blind the eyes of the wisest and corrupt their decisions. 20 Justice must prevail.
“That is the only way you will be successful in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
21 “Never, under any circumstances, are you to erect shameful images beside the altar of the Lord your God. 22 And never set up stone pillars to worship them, for the Lord hates them!
103 I bless the holy name of God with all my heart. 2 Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins. He heals me. 4 He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. 5 He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! 6 He gives justice to all who are treated unfairly. 7 He revealed his will and nature to Moses and the people of Israel.
8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. 9 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. 10 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, 11 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. 14 For he knows we are but dust 15 and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, 16 blown by the wind and gone forever.
17-18 But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence him; his salvation is to children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant and remember to obey him!
19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything there is. 20 Bless the Lord, you mighty angels of his who carry out his orders, listening for each of his commands. 21 Yes, bless the Lord, you armies of his angels who serve him constantly.
22 Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And how I bless him too!
43 But now the Lord who created you, O Israel, says: Don’t be afraid, for I have ransomed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up—the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, your Savior, the Holy One of Israel. I gave Egypt and Ethiopia and Seba to Cyrus[a] in exchange for your freedom, as your ransom. 4 Others died that you might live; I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me and honored, and I love you.
5 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you from east and west, 6 from north and south. I will bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the farthest corners of the earth. 7 All who claim me as their God will come, for I have made them for my glory; I created them. 8 Bring them back to me—blind as they are and deaf when I call (although they see and hear!).
9 Gather the nations together! Which of all their idols ever has foretold such things? Which can predict a single day ahead? Where are the witnesses of anything they said? If there are no witnesses, then they must confess that only God can prophesy.
10 But I have witnesses, O Israel, says the Lord! You are my witnesses and my servants, chosen to know and to believe me and to understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never was and never will be. 11 I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. 12 Whenever you have thrown away your idols, I have shown you my power. With one word I have saved you. You have seen me do it; you are my witnesses that it is true. 13 From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do.
14 The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: For your sakes I will send an invading army against Babylon that will walk in, almost unscathed. The boasts of the Babylonians will turn to cries of fear. 15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. 16 I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a path right through the sea. 17 I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses, to lie beneath the waves, dead, their lives snuffed out like candlewicks.
18 But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I’m going to do! 19 For I’m going to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Don’t you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert! 20 The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and ostriches too, for giving them water in the wilderness, yes, springs in the desert, so that my people, my chosen ones, can be refreshed. 21 I have made Israel for myself, and these my people will some day honor me before the world.
22 But O my people, you won’t ask my help; you have grown tired of me! 23 You have not brought me the lambs for burnt offerings; you have not honored me with sacrifices. Yet my requests for offerings and incense have been very few! I have not treated you as slaves. 24 You have brought me no sweet-smelling incense nor pleased me with the sacrificial fat. No, you have presented me only with sins and wearied me with all your faults.
25 I, yes, I alone am he who blots away your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. 26 Oh, remind me of this promise of forgiveness, for we must talk about your sins. Plead your case for my forgiving you. 27 From the very first your ancestors sinned against me—all your forebears transgressed my law. 28 That is why I have deposed your priests and destroyed Israel, leaving her to shame.
13 And now, in my vision, I saw a strange Creature rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon its horns. And written on each head were blasphemous names, each one defying and insulting God. 2 This Creature looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth! And the Dragon gave him his own power and throne and great authority.
3 I saw that one of his heads seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! All the world marveled at this miracle and followed the Creature in awe. 4 They worshiped the Dragon for giving him such power, and they worshiped the strange Creature. “Where is there anyone as great as he?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
5 Then the Dragon encouraged the Creature to speak great blasphemies against the Lord; and gave him authority to control the earth for forty-two months. 6 All that time he blasphemed God’s Name and his temple and all those living in heaven. 7 The Dragon gave him power to fight against God’s people[a] and to overcome them, and to rule over all nations and language groups throughout the world. 8 And all mankind—whose names were not written down before the founding of the world in the slain Lamb’s Book of Life[b]—worshiped the evil Creature.
9 Anyone who can hear, listen carefully: 10 The people of God who are destined for prison will be arrested and taken away; those destined for death will be killed.[c] But do not be dismayed, for here is your opportunity for endurance and confidence.
11 Then I saw another strange animal, this one coming up out of the earth, with two little horns like those of a lamb but a fearsome voice like the Dragon’s. 12 He exercised all the authority of the Creature whose death-wound had been healed, whom he required all the world to worship. 13 He did unbelievable miracles such as making fire flame down to earth from the skies while everyone was watching. 14 By doing these miracles, he was deceiving people everywhere. He could do these marvelous things whenever the first Creature was there to watch him. And he ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first Creature, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 15 He was permitted to give breath to this statue and even make it speak! Then the statue ordered that anyone refusing to worship it must die!
16 He required everyone—great and small, rich and poor, slave and free—to be tattooed with a certain mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could get a job or even buy in any store without the permit of that mark, which was either the name of the Creature or the code number of his name. 18 Here is a puzzle that calls for careful thought to solve it. Let those who are able, interpret this code: the numerical values of the letters in his name add to 666![d]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.