M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel’s Inheritance in Canaan

14 The Israelites received these portions that the priest Eleazar,^(A) Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes gave them in the land of Canaan.^{(B) 2} Their inheritance was by lot^(C) as the Lord commanded through Moses for the nine and a half tribes, ³ because Moses had given the inheritance to the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan. But he gave no inheritance among them to the Levites. ⁴ The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. No portion of the land was given to the Levites except cities to live in, along with pasturelands for their cattle and livestock. ⁵ So the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses,^(D) and they divided the land.

Caleb’s Inheritance

⁶ The descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord promised Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.^{(E) 7} I was forty years old when Moses the Lord’s servant sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land, and I brought back an honest report.^{(F) 8} My brothers who went with me caused the people to lose heart, but I followed the Lord my God completely.^{(G) 9} On that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land where you have set foot will be an inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed the Lord my God completely.’^(H)

¹⁰ “As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years as he promised,^(I) since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, eighty-five years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks^[a] is now as it was then.^{(J) 12} Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there,^(K) as well as large fortified cities.^(L) Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised.”

¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as an inheritance.^{(M) 14} Therefore, Hebron still belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance today^(N) because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, completely. ¹⁵ Hebron’s name used to be Kiriath-arba; Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.^(O) After this, the land had rest from war.^(P)

Judah’s Inheritance

15 Now the allotment for the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans^(Q) was in the southernmost region, south to the Wilderness of Zin and over to the border of Edom.

² Their southern border began at the tip of the Dead Sea on the south bay^{[b] 3} and went south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceeded to Zin, ascended to the south of Kadesh-barnea, passed Hezron, ascended to Addar, and turned to Karka. ⁴ It proceeded to Azmon and to the Brook of Egypt^(R) and so the border ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This is your^[c] southern border.

⁵ Now the eastern border was along the Dead Sea to the mouth of the Jordan.

The border on the north side was from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶ It ascended to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and ascended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. ⁷ Then the border ascended to Debir from the Valley of Achor, turning north to the Gilgal that is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, which is south of the ravine. The border proceeded to the Waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel. ⁸ From there the border ascended Ben Hinnom Valley to the southern Jebusite slope (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces Hinnom Valley on the west, at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. ⁹ From the top of the hill the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, went to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then curved to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim^(S)). ¹⁰ The border turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, went to the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), descended to Beth-shemesh, and proceeded to Timnah.^{(T) 11} Then the border reached to the slope north of Ekron, curved to Shikkeron, proceeded to Mount Baalah, went to Jabneel, and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

¹² Now the western border was the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

This was the boundary of the descendants of Judah around their clans.

Caleb and Othniel

¹³ He gave Caleb son of Jephunneh the following portion among the descendants of Judah based on the Lord’s instruction to Joshua: Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴ Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, descendants of Anak.^{(U) 15} From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir, which used to be called Kiriath-sepher,^{(V) 16} and Caleb said, “Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.” ¹⁷ So Othniel^(W) son of Caleb’s brother, Kenaz, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as a wife.^{(X) 18} When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” ¹⁹ She replied, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me the springs also.” So he gave her the upper and lower springs.

Judah’s Cities

²⁰ This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans.

²¹ These were the outermost cities of the tribe of the descendants of Judah toward the border of Edom in the Negev: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,^{(Y) 22} Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³ Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴ Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵ Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶ Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷ Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, ²⁸ Hazar-shual, Beer-sheba, Biziothiah,^{(Z) 29} Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰ Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, ³¹ Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,^{(AA) 32} Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities in all, with their settlements.

³³ In the Judean foothills:^[d] Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴ Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah,^[e] Enam, ³⁵ Jarmuth, Adullam,^(AB) Socoh,^[f] Azekah, ³⁶ Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim—fourteen cities, with their settlements; ³⁷ Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, ³⁸ Dilan, Mizpeh, Jokthe-el, ³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰ Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish, ⁴¹ Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah—sixteen cities, with their settlements; ⁴² Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³ Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴ Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, with their settlements; ⁴⁵ Ekron, with its surrounding villages and settlements; ⁴⁶ from Ekron to the sea, all the cities near Ashdod, with their settlements; ⁴⁷ Ashdod, with its surrounding villages and settlements; Gaza, with its surrounding villages and settlements, to the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸ In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹ Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰ Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹ Goshen, Holon, and Giloh—eleven cities, with their settlements; ⁵² Arab, Dumah,^[g] Eshan, ⁵³ Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴ Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior—nine cities, with their settlements; ⁵⁵ Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶ Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷ Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah—ten cities, with their settlements; ⁵⁸ Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹ Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon—six cities, with their settlements;^{[h] 60} Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah—two cities, with their settlements.

⁶¹ In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶² Nibshan, the City of Salt,^[i] and En-gedi—six cities, with their settlements.

⁶³ But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem.^(AC) So the Jebusites still live in Jerusalem among the descendants of Judah today.^(AD)

Psalm 146

The God of Compassion

Psalm 147

God Restores Jerusalem

False Trust in the Temple

7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord^(A) and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

³ “‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions,^(B) and I will allow you to live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” ⁵ Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,^{[a](C) 6} if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow^(D) and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, ⁷ I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors^(E) long ago and forever. ⁸ But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

⁹ “‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?^{(F) 10} Then do you come and stand before me in this house^(G) that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers^(H) in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.^(I)

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Shiloh as a Warning

¹² “‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first.^(J) See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. ¹³ Now, because you have done all these things—this is the Lord’s declaration—and because I have spoken to you time and time again^[b] but you wouldn’t listen,^(K) and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,^{(L) 14} what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name,^(M) the house in which you trust, the place that I gave you and your ancestors. ¹⁵ I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’^(N)

Do Not Pray for Judah

¹⁶ “As for you, do not pray for these people.^(O) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me,^(P) for I will not listen to you.^{(Q) 17} Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,^[c](R) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. ¹⁹ But are they really provoking me?” ^(S) This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”

²⁰ Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, my anger—my burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place,^(T) on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”^(U)

Obedience over Sacrifice

²¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,^{(V) 22} for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them^(W) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. ²³ However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’^{(X) 24} Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention^(Y) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.^{(Z) 25} Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets^(AA) to you time and time again.^{[d](AB) 26} However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;^(AC) they did more evil than their ancestors.^(AD)

A Lament for Disobedient Judah

²⁷ “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. ²⁸ Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth^[e] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. ²⁹ Cut off the hair of your sacred vow^[f](AE) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,^(AF) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’^(AG)

³⁰ “For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things^(AH) in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.^{(AI) 31} They have built the high places of Topheth^[g](AJ) in Ben Hinnom Valley^[h](AK) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,^(AL) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

³² “Therefore, look, the days are coming”^(AM)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.^(AN) Topheth will become a cemetery,^[i] because there will be no other burial place. ³³ The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.^{(AO) 34} I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,^(AP) for the land will become a desolate waste.^(AQ)

The Triumphal Entry

21 When they approached Jerusalem^(A) and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives,^(B) Jesus then sent two disciples, ² telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

⁴ This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹ Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted:

¹⁰ When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus^(E) from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Cleansing the Temple

¹² Jesus went into the temple^[c](F) and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.^{(G) 13} He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer,^[d] but you are making it a den of thieves!”^(H)[e]

Children Praise Jesus

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant ¹⁶ and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read:

¹⁷ Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany,^(J) and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

¹⁸ Early in the morning,^(K) as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.^{(L) 22} And if you believe, you will receive^(M) whatever you ask for in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²³ When he entered the temple,^(N) the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” ^(O)

²⁴ Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ^{(P) 26} But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd,^(Q) because everyone considers John to be a prophet.”^{(R) 27} So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’^(S)

²⁹ “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. ³¹ Which of the two did his father’s will?”

They said, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness,^(T) and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

³³ “Listen^(U) to another parable:^(V) There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.^(W) He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.^{(X) 34} When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. ³⁵ The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(Y) 36} Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’^{(Z) 39} So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

⁴¹ “He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”^(AA)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; ^(AC) but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”^[j]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,^(AD) they knew he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.^(AE)