M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 35
The Levites’ Share. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the plain of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to give cities to the Levites from the inheritance that they will possess. Also give the Levites pastures around the cities. 3 They are to have cities in which they can dwell as well as pastures for their cattle, their flocks, and all their other animals. 4 The pastures that you will give the Levites around the cities will extend one thousand cubits[a] from the city wall.
5 “Outside of the city, measure two thousand cubits on the east side, two thousand cubits on the south side, two thousand cubits on the west side, and two thousand cubits on the north side, with the city in the middle. This will be the pastures for the city.
6 “Six of the cities that you give to the Levites will be established as cities of refuge to which a person who has killed another can flee. In addition, there are to be another forty-two cities. 7 In all you will give the Levites forty-eight cities along with their pastures. 8 The cities that you will give the Levites from the possession of Israel will be given according to the inheritance that they have inherited. Those who have more will give more and those who have less will give less.”
Cities of Refuge. 9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 choose cities that will be your cities of refuge to which a person who has accidentally killed another person can flee. 12 These will be cities of refuge from the kinsman avenger[b] so that the killer will not die until he has received judgment before the assembly. 13 These six cities that you give will be your cities of refuge. 14 Give three cities across the Jordan and give three cities in the land of Canaan to be your cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will be a refuge for the people of Israel, for foreigners, and for foreigners dwelling among them, to which a person who has killed accidentally can flee.
16 Treatment of Murderers.“ ‘If someone strikes another with an iron object to kill him, then he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death. 17 If someone strikes another with a stone in his hand to kill him, then he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death. 18 If someone strikes another with a wooden object in his hand to kill him, then he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death. 19 The kinsman avenger of blood will kill him. When he meets the murderer, he will put him to death. 20 If anyone pushes another person out of hatred or lays in wait and throws something at him in order to kill him, 21 or if with bitterness he strikes someone with his hand in order to kill him, then that person will be put to death, for he is a murderer. The kinsman avenger of blood will kill the murderer when he meets him.
22 “ ‘But if someone without bitterness pushes another person or throws something at him without his lying in wait, 23 or he has a deadly stone object and he does not see the other, but drops it on him causing him to die, and he was not an enemy nor was he seeking to harm the other person, 24 then the assembly will judge between the killer and the kinsman avenger of blood according to these ordinances: 25 the assembly will save the killer from the hands of the kinsman avenger of blood. The assembly will send him back to the city of refuge to which he fled. He will live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil.
26 “ ‘But if the killer at any time crosses over the boundary of the city of refuge to which he has fled, 27 and the kinsman avenger of blood finds him outside of the boundary of the city of refuge, and the kinsman avenger of blood kills the killer, he will not be considered to have blood guilt. 28 He should have remained in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the killer can return to the land of his possession. 29 These things will be a statute and an ordinance for you for all of your generations and in all of your dwellings.
30 “ ‘If a person kills another, the murderer will be put to death upon the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of a single witness. 31 You are not to accept a ransom for the murderer who is guilty of death; he is to be put to death. 32 You are not to take a ransom from someone who has fled to his city of refuge who wants to return to live in the land before the death of the priest.
33 “ ‘You are not to pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed upon it except through the blood of the person who shed it. 34 You are not to pollute the land in which you dwell, for I dwell in it; I, the Lord, dwell among the people of Israel.’ ”
Psalm 79[a]
Prayer for Restoration
1 A psalm of Asaph.[b]
[c]O God, the nations have invaded your heritage;
they have profaned your holy temple
and turned Jerusalem into a heap of ruins.
2 They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of your saints
to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and no one is left to bury them.[d]
4 We have become the scorn of our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.[e]
5 [f]How long, O Lord?[g] Will you be angry forever?
How long will your rage continue to blaze like a fire?
6 [h]Pour out your wrath on the nations
that refuse to acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms
that fail to call on your name.[i]
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and ravaged his homeland.
8 Do not hold against us the sins of our ancestors;
let your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate straits.[j]
9 [k]Help us, O God, our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and wipe away our sins
for your name’s sake.[l]
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes make it clearly known among those nations
that you avenge[m] the blood of your servants.
11 Let the groans of the captives come before you;
through your great power
save those who have been sentenced to death.[n]
12 Repay our neighbors sevenfold[o] in their breasts, O Lord,
for the insults with which they taunted you.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will offer thanks to you[p] forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.
Chapter 27
1 On that day,
the Lord will use his sword
that is cruel and great and strong
to punish Leviathan[a] the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the writhing serpent,
and he will slay that dragon
that resides in the sea.
2 [b]On that day,
sing of the pleasant vineyard.
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper,
and I water it frequently
lest any harm come to it;
I guard it night and day.
4 I do not quickly succumb to anger,
but if I were to find briars and thorns,
I would march against them in battle
and consume them in fire.
5 However, if they decide to ask for my protection,
let them make their peace with me;
otherwise I cannot protect them.
6 In days to come,
Jacob will take root,
Israel will bud and blossom,
and the entire world will be covered with fruit.
7 Has the Lord struck them down
as he struck down those who struck him?
Has he slaughtered them
as their attackers were slaughtered?
8 By expelling and exiling them
he has taken action against them,
removing them with a breath
as fierce as the east wind.
9 In this way will the guilt of Jacob be expiated
and the full fruit of renouncing his sin will occur,
when he crushes all the altar stones to pieces
like lumps of chalk,
and no sacred poles and incense altars
will remain standing.
10 For the fortified city will be abandoned,
a deserted pasture, a forsaken wilderness;
the calves will graze and lie down there,
destroying its branches.
11 When its boughs grow dry and snap off,
women will come and use them for firewood.
For this is a people that lacks understanding;
therefore their Maker will not have compassion for them;
he who formed them will not show mercy toward them.
12 On that day,
the Lord will thresh the grain
from the streams of the Euphrates
to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you will be gathered one by one,
O people of Egypt.
13 On that day,
a great trumpet will be sounded,
and those who were lost in the land of Assyria
and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt
will come to worship the Lord
on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Chapter 5
Believe in the Son of God[a]
Faith Conquers the World
1 Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God,
and everyone who loves the parent
loves the one begotten of him as well.
2 This is how we know
that we love the children of God:
by loving God and obeying his commandments.
3 For the love of God is this:
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
4 for everyone born of God
conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world
is our faith.
5 Who indeed conquers the world
except the one who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is the one
who came by water and blood,
Jesus Christ—
not by water alone,
but by water and blood.
And to this the Spirit bears witness,
for the Spirit is truth.[b]
7 Thus, there are three[c] witnesses,
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood,
and these three are as one.[d]
9 If we accept human testimony,
the testimony of God is greater.
For it is the testimony of God,
the testimony that he has given about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God
has this testimony in himself,
but those who do not believe in God
have made him out to be a liar
by refusing to believe the testimony
that God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever possesses the Son
possesses life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God
does not possess life.
Epilogue[e]
So That You May Know[f]
13 I write these things to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God
so that you may know
that you have eternal life.
Prayer for Sinners[g]
14 And thus we can have confidence in him
that if we ask anything
that is in accordance with his will,
he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us
in regard to whatever we ask him,
we may be sure
that all we ask of him will be ours.
16 If anyone sees a brother commit a sin
that does not lead to death,
he should intercede for him,
and God will grant him life—
provided that the sin is not deadly.
There is a sin that leads to death,
and I do not say
that you should pray about it.[h]
17 All wrongdoing is sinful,
but not all sins are deadly.
The Great Certitudes[i]
18 We know that one born of God does not continue to sin,
because he who is born of God protects him,
and the evil one has no power over him.
19 We know
that we are from God
and that the entire world
lies under the power of the evil one.
20 We also know
that the Son of God has come
and given us understanding
so that we can know the one who is true.
And we are in the one who is true,
since we are in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children,
keep away from idols.
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