M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 22
Helping Your Neighbor. 1 If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away, do not ignore it, but take it back to your neighbor. 2 If your neighbor does not live nearby or you do not know whose animal it is, take it to your own home and keep it there until your neighbor comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. 3 You are to do the same if you find his donkey or his cloak or anything that your neighbor loses. You are not to ignore it. 4 If you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fall on the road, do not ignore it. Help him to get it up again.
Incidental Rules. 5 A woman is not to wear a man’s clothing, nor is a man to wear a woman’s clothing. The Lord, your God, detests all who do such things.[a]
6 If you come across a bird’s nest with young ones or eggs along the way, either in a tree or lying on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting upon the young ones or the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You can take the young ones, but let the mother go, so that things may go well with you and you may live a long life.
8 When you build a new house, place a parapet around your roof so that you do not bring blood guilt upon your house if anyone should fall from it.
9 You should not plant two different types of seed in your vineyard. If you do, the fruit of the seed you planted and the fruit in your vineyard will both be defiled.
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 Do not wear clothing made of wool and linen woven together.
12 You are to make fringes on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.[b]
13 Rules for Sexual Relationships. If a man takes a woman and has sex with her, but then he grows to hate her 14 and he charges her with shameful deeds and publicly defames her name saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her I discovered that she was not a virgin,” 15 have the father and mother of the young woman give proof of the young woman’s virginity to the elders at the town gate.[c] 16 The young woman’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and he has grown to hate her. 17 Now he has slandered her saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ Here is proof of my daughter’s virginity.” They will then spread the cloth out before the elders. 18 The elders will take the man and punish him. 19 They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because this man defamed the name of one of the virgins of Israel. She will continue to be his wife, and he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. 20 If, however, the charge is true and there is no proof of the young woman’s virginity, 21 she is to be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of the town will stone her to death. She did a disgraceful thing in Israel, committing fornication in her father’s house. You must purge this evil from your midst.[d]
22 If a man is discovered sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with the woman and the woman must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a man encounters a young woman who is betrothed to another man and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the city gate and stone them to death, the young woman because she was inside of the city and did not cry out, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
25 But if a man encounters a young woman betrothed to another man in the countryside and he overcomes her and has sex with her, then only the man who has done this is to die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman, for she has not committed a sin deserving death. This matter is just like when a man attacks and murders his neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman in the countryside, and though the betrothed might have screamed out, there was no one there to rescue her.
28 If a man encounters a young woman who is a virgin but she is not betrothed, and he overcomes her and has sex with her and they are discovered, 29 he must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her, and he can never divorce her for as long as he lives.
Psalm 110[a]
The Messiah—King, Prophet, and Conqueror
1 A psalm of David.
The Lord says to my Lord:[b]
“Sit at my right hand
until I have made your enemies a footstool for you.”
2 The Lord will stretch forth from Zion
your scepter of power.[c]
The Lord says:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies![d]
3 Yours is royal dignity in the day of your birth;
in holy splendor, before the daystar,
like the dew, I have begotten you.”[e]
4 The Lord has sworn,
and he will not retract his oath:
“You are a priest forever[f]
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord stands forth at your right hand;[g]
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He[h] will judge the nations,
filling their land with corpses
and crushing rulers throughout the earth.
7 He will drink from the stream on his journey,
and then he will lift up his head in triumph.[i]
Psalm 111[j]
Praise of God for His Wondrous Works
1 Alleluia.
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart[k]
in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
2 Great are the works of the Lord;[l]
they are pondered by all who delight in them.
3 His deeds[m] show forth majesty and splendor,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has won renown for his wonders;[n]
gracious and compassionate is the Lord.
5 He provides food for those who fear him,[o]
and is forever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has manifested the power of his works to his people
by giving them the lands[p] of the nations.
7 The works of his hands[q] are faithful and right,
and all his commandments are trustworthy.
8 They are established forever and ever
to be observed in fidelity and truthfulness.
9 He has granted deliverance to his people
and established his covenant forever;
holy and awe-inspiring is his name.[r]
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;[s]
those who are guided by it will grow in understanding.
His praise will last forever.
Expiation of Sin, Redemption of Israel
Chapter 49
Message to Israel[a]
1 Listen to me, O coastlands.
Pay attention, you distant peoples.
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was still in my mother’s womb
he gave me my name.
2 He made my tongue like a sharp sword
and hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He formed me into a polished arrow,
and he concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I will manifest my glory.”
4 I formerly believed that I had labored in vain
and had exhausted my strength for nothing
and for no discernible purpose.
5 Yet now the Lord has spoken;
he formed me in the womb to be his servant
so that I could bring back Jacob to him
and enable Israel to be gathered to him.
For I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is the source of my strength.
6 It is not enough for you to be my servant, he says,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the survivors of Israel.
I will make you a light to the nations
so that my salvation may reach
to the ends of the earth.
7 Thus says the Lord,
the redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
to the one who is despised
and whom the people abhor,
the slave of tyrants:
Kings will rise up when they see you,
and princes will prostrate themselves in homage,
because of the Lord who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.
The Deliverance and Restoration of Zion
8 [b]Thus says the Lord:
In a time of my favor I have answered you;
on the day of salvation I have helped you.
I have formed you and have destined you
to be a covenant to the people,
to restore the land
and to allot the desolate heritages,
9 to say to the prisoners, “Come out,”
and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They will find sustenance along the way,
and any bare height will serve as their pasture.
10 They will not hunger or thirst,
and neither scorching wind nor sun will weaken them,
for he who pities them will lead them,
and he will guide them beside springs of water.
11 I will blaze a path through all my mountains,
and my roads will be level.
12 Behold, some will come from far away,
others from the north and the west,
and still others from the land of Syene.[c]
13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth;
break forth into song, O mountains.
For the Lord has comforted his people,
and he will show mercy to his afflicted ones.
14 But Zion cried out, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget the infant at her breast;
or feel no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
16 Behold, I have inscribed your name
on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before my eyes.
17 Those who rebuild you do so far more swiftly
than those who destroyed you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around you;
they are all gathering to come to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you will put all of them on like jewels;
you will adorn yourself with them like a bride.
19 You had lived in a desolate wasteland,
amid devastated ruins.
Now the land is too tiny for its inhabitants,
while those who destroyed you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
will say in your hearing,
“This place is too cramped for me;
make room for me to live in.”
21 Then you will say to yourself,
“Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
I was exiled and repudiated;
who has reared them?
I was left all alone;
where then have these come from?”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
Behold, I will beckon to the nations
and raise my signal to the peoples.
Then they will bring your sons in their arms,
and they will carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your foster-fathers,
and their princesses will serve as your nursing mothers.
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground
and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
24 Can spoil be taken from a warrior,
or can the tyrant’s captives be set free?
25 Thus says the Lord:
Even a warrior’s captives can be rescued,
and booty can be retrieved from a tyrant.
I myself will contend with those who oppose you,
and I will deliver your children.
26 I will force your oppressors to eat their own flesh,
and they will become drunk on their own blood
as if with wine.
Then all mankind will know
that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Chapter 19
Song of Victory and Wedding Day of the Lamb.[a] 1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting:
“Alleluia![b]
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great harlot
who corrupted the earth with her harlotry.
And he has paid her back
for the blood of his servants.”
3 Once again they shouted:
“Alleluia!
Her smoke will rise
forever and ever.”
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, and they cried:
“Amen. Alleluia!”
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
and all who fear him,
small and great alike.”
6 And I heard what seemed to be the sound of a vast multitude, like the sound of a torrential stream or of great peals of thunder, crying out:
“Alleluia.
The reign of the Lord our God,
the Almighty, has begun.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory.
For the wedding day of the Lamb has come,
and the bride has made herself ready.
8 She has been permitted to wear
a bright and clean garment of fine linen.”
(The fine linen represents the righteous deeds of the saints.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed[c] are those who are invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb.’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
10 I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brethren who have given witness to Jesus.[d] Worship God! For the witness to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Recapitulative Visions of the History of Salvation[e]
11 The White Horse and the King of Kings.[f] Now I saw heaven opened, and a white horse appeared. Its rider was called “Faithful and True,” for with righteousness he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes were like fiery flames, and on his head were many crowns. The name inscribed on him was known to no one but himself.
13 He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and he was known by the name The Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Coming out of his mouth was a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, and he will tread the winepress[g] of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh[h] he had a name inscribed: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
17 The Great Booty.[i] Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he cried out to all the birds flying in midair, “Come here! Gather together for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of warriors, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.”
19 The Beast and the False Prophet.[j] Next I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the one upon the horse and against his army. 20 The beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had performed the signs by which he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped its image.
These two were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed by the sword that came forth from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
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