M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 31
Israel Battles the Midianites.[a] 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Take vengeance upon the Midianites for the people of Israel. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your men for war so that they might go out against the Midianites to execute the Lord’s vengeance upon Midian. 4 Send a thousand men to war from each of the tribes of Israel.”
5 So they set aside a thousand from each tribe of Israel, twelve thousand armed for battle. 6 Moses sent them out to battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Eleazar the priest. He took the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hands. 7 They battled against the Midianites, as the Lord had commanded Moses, killing all of the males. 8 They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, along with the others they killed. They also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword.
9 The people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods. 10 They also burned down all the cities in which they dwelt and all their fortresses. 11 They took all the booty and all the spoils, both of man and beast 12 and brought the captives, the spoils, and the booty to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the assembly of the people of Israel at the camp on the plain of Moab which is near the Jordan, across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the assembly met them outside of the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of the thousands and the captains of the hundreds, who had returned from battle. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women? 16 These are the ones who caused the people of Israel to follow the advice of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the affair of Peor, causing a plague among the assembly of the Lord. 17 Now kill every boy and kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save the girls for yourselves who have not yet slept with a man.
19 Purification after Battle.[b]“Any of you who has killed a person and anyone who has touched any of those who have been killed must stay outside of the camp for seven days. You are to purify yourself and your captives on the third and the seventh days. 20 Purify all of your clothes as well as all of your leather goods and everything made from goat hair and everything made from wood.”
21 Then Eleazar said to the men of war who had gone into battle: “This is a statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, lead, 23 and anything else that can withstand fire will be pure if you pass it through fire. However, it must also be purified with the water of purification. Whatever cannot withstand fire must pass through water. 24 You will wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be pure, and you can then enter the camp.”
25 Dividing the Spoils. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 [c]“You, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the fathers’ households are to count the booty, both of man and of beast. 27 Divide the booty into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all of the assembly. 28 Establish a share for the Lord from the men of war who went out into battle: one out of five hundred, of the people, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep.
29 “Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.
30 “From the half share that belongs to the people of Israel, take one out of every fifty, of people, of the cattle, of the donkeys, of the sheep, and of all the animals. Give them to the Levites who have responsibility over the sanctuary of the Lord.”
31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 32 The booty remaining from the spoils that the men of war captured was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 seventy-two thousand cattle, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand girls who had never slept with a man.
36 The half share for those who went out to fight was three hundred thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep, 37 of which the share for the Lord was six hundred seventy-five; 38 thirty-six thousand cattle, of which the share for the Lord was seventy-two; 39 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which the share for the Lord was sixty-one; 40 and sixteen thousand people, of which the share for the Lord was thirty-two.
41 Moses gave the share that was the Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 The half share of the people of Israel, which Moses had divided from that which belonged to the men who had gone to war, 43 that is, the assembly’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep; 44 thirty-six thousand cattle; 45 thirty thousand, five hundred donkeys; 46 and sixteen thousand people. 47 From the Israelite half share, Moses took one part for every fifty from man and beast and gave it to the Levites who were responsible for the sanctuary, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 The officers of the army, the captains of the thousands, and the captains of the hundreds, came to Moses. 49 They said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our care, not missing one of them. 50 We have therefore brought an offering to the Lord from what each man has taken from the gold jewelry, the chains, the bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”
51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all crafted jewelry. 52 The entire gold offering that the captains of the thousands and the captains of the hundreds offered to the Lord was sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels. 53 (Each of the men of war had taken booty for himself.) 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of the thousands and the captains of the hundreds and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.
Psalm 75[a]
God Is Judge of the World
1 For the director.[b] According to “Do not destroy!” A psalm of Asaph. A song.
2 We give thanks[c] to you, O God,
we give thanks to you.
For your wondrous deeds
declare that your name is near.
3 [d]You say, “When I receive the assembly,
I will judge with equity.
4 When the earth quakes, with all its inhabitants,
it is I who will hold its pillars firm.[e] Selah
5 [f]“I say to the arrogant,[g] ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
6 Do not rebel against heaven
or speak with arrogance against the Rock.’ ”[h]
7 [i]For judgment does not come from east or west,
nor from the wilderness or the mountains.[j]
8 Rather, it is God who judges rightly,
humbling one and exalting another.[k]
9 The Lord holds in his hand a cup
filled with foaming wine and richly spiced.
When he pours it out,
all the wicked[l] of the earth must drink;
they will drain it down to the dregs.
10 As for me, I will proclaim this forever;
I will sing praises[m] to the God of Jacob.
11 “I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous[n] will be exalted.”
Psalm 76[o]
God, Defender of Zion
1 For the director.[p] With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.
2 [q]God is renowned in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.
3 His tent has been established in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
4 There he shattered the flashing arrows,
shields and swords and weapons of war. Selah
5 [r]You are awesome and resplendent,
more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
6 The bold warriors lie plundered
and sleeping their last sleep.[s]
And not one of the men of war
can lift up his hands.
7 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both chariots and horses lie prostrate.
8 You indeed are awesome;
who can stand in your presence when your anger is aroused?
9 You thundered your verdicts from the heavens;
the earth in its terror was silent
10 when you arose, O God, to judge,
to rescue all the afflicted of the land.[t] Selah
11 Human wrath only serves to praise you;[u]
those who survive your anger will cling to you.
12 [v]Make vows to the Lord, your God, and keep them;
let all the lands nearby
bring gifts to the Awesome One,
13 who breaks the spirit of rulers
and inspires fear in the kings of the earth.
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon[a]
1 An oracle concerning Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
the news has reached them.
2 Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
3 to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
provided your revenue;
you were the merchant for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
or brought up young women.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in anguish
upon hearing the fate of Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
7 Is this your vibrant city
founded in the days of old,
and whose feet have led her away
to settle in distant lands?
8 Who has devised this plan
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes
and whose traders were held in the highest esteem
throughout the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has devised this plan
to deflate the glory of the proud
and to humiliate the honored men of the earth.
10 Cross over to your own land,
you ships of Tarshish,
for your harbors no longer exist.[b]
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
and brought kingdoms to their knees;
he has commanded the destruction
of the fortresses of Canaan.
12 He has said:
You will exult no more,
O greatly oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise and cross over to Cyprus,
but even there you will find no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
it was this people, not Assyria,
who erected siege-towers,
tore down its palaces,
and left it in ruins.
14 Cry out in anguish, O ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress has been destroyed.
15 From that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of one king’s life. At the end of those seventy years, the plight of Tyre will be identical to that of the prostitute in the song:
16 Take your harp
and walk throughout the city,
you long-forgotten prostitute.
Pluck your strings sweetly
and sing many songs
so that they may remember you.
17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord will visit Tyre. She will once again ply her trade and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 But her merchandise and her profits will be dedicated to the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded, but they will provide abundant food and clothing to those who live in the presence of the Lord.
Chapter 1
Prologue[a]
An Authentic Communion of Life
1 This is what we proclaim to you:
what existed from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our own eyes,
what we have looked at
and touched with our hands—
we are speaking of the Word of life.[b]
2 That life was made visible;
we have seen it and bear witness,
proclaiming to you the eternal life[c]
that was with the Father
and was revealed to us.
3 What we have seen and heard
we declare to you
so that you may have fellowship[d] with us.
For our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing this
so that our joy may be complete.
Walk in the Light
God Is Light[e]
5 This is the message
that we have heard from him
and that we declare to you:
God is light,
and there is no darkness[f] at all in him.
6 If we claim that we have fellowship with him
while we continue to live in darkness,
we are lying and do not live in the truth.
7 However, if we live in the light
as he himself is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son
purifies us from all sin.
Deliverance from Sin[g]
8 If we claim that we are sinless,
we are only deceiving ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
9 However, if we confess our sins,
he who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we say that we have never sinned,
we make him out to be a liar,
and his word is not in us.
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