M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

7 But the people of Isra’el misappropriated some of the goods set aside to be destroyed; for ‘Akhan, the son of Karmi, the son of Zavdi, the son of Zerach, of the tribe of Y’hudah, took some of the things reserved for destruction. In consequence, the anger of Adonai blazed up against the people of Isra’el.

² Y’hoshua sent men from Yericho to ‘Ai, which is next to Beit-Aven, east of Beit-El, telling them to go up and spy out the land. So the men went up, reconnoitered ‘Ai, ³ returned to Y’hoshua and told him, “Don’t have all the people go up; but let perhaps two or three thousand men go up and attack ‘Ai. There’s no point in making all the people exert themselves to get there, because there are only a few of them.” ⁴ So from the people about three thousand men went up there, but they were routed by the men of ‘Ai. ⁵ The men of ‘Ai killed some thirty-six of them and chased them from before their gate all the way to Sh’varim, attacking them on the descent. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.

⁶ Y’hoshua tore his clothes and fell to his face on the ground before the ark of Adonai until evening, he and the leaders of Isra’el, and they put dust on their heads. ⁷ Y’hoshua said, “Oh, Adonai Elohim! Why did you take the trouble to bring this people across the Yarden if you meant to hand us over to the Emori and have us perish? We should have been satisfied to live on the other side of the Yarden! ⁸ Oh, Adonai! What can I say, after Isra’el has turned their backs and retreated before their enemies? ⁹ For when the Kena‘ani and the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe us off the face of the earth. What will you do then to save the honor of your great name?”

¹⁰ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Stand up! Why are you lying there face down? ¹¹ Isra’el has sinned. Yes, they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them. They have taken some of what was to have been set aside for destruction. They have stolen it, lied about it and put it with their own things. ¹² This is why the people of Isra’el cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs on their enemies, because they have come under a curse. I won’t be with you any more unless you destroy the things meant for destruction that you have with you. ¹³ So get up, consecrate the people, and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: “Isra’el, you have things under the curse of destruction among you; and you will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove the things that were to have been destroyed from among you.” ¹⁴ Therefore, tomorrow morning you are to come forward, one tribe at a time; the tribe Adonai takes is to come forward, one family at a time; the family Adonai takes is to come forward, one household at a time; and the household Adonai takes is to come forward, one person at a time. ¹⁵ The person who is caught with things in his possession that were reserved for destruction is to be burned to ashes, he and everything he has, because he has violated the covenant of Adonai and has committed a shameful deed in Isra’el.’”

¹⁶ So Y’hoshua got up early in the morning and had Isra’el come forward, one tribe at a time; and the tribe of Y’hudah was taken. ¹⁷ He had the families of Y’hudah come forward and took the family of the Zarchi. He had the Zarchi family come forward by household leaders, and Zavdi was taken. ¹⁸ He had his household come forward, one person at a time; and ‘Akhan the son of Karmi, the son of Zavdi, the son of Zerach, of the tribe of Y’hudah, was taken.

¹⁹ Y’hoshua said to ‘Akhan, “My son, swear to Adonai, the God of Isra’el, that you will tell the truth and confess to him. Tell me, now, what did you do? Don’t hide anything from me.” ²⁰ ‘Akhan answered Y’hoshua, “It is true: I have sinned against Adonai, the God of Isra’el. Here is exactly what I did: ²¹ when I saw there with the spoil a beautiful robe from Shin‘ar, five pounds of silver shekels and a one-and-a-quarter-pound wedge of gold, I really wanted them. So I took them. You will find them hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” ²² Y’hoshua sent messengers, who ran to the tent. It was all there, hidden in his tent, including the silver underneath. ²³ They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Y’hoshua and all the people of Isra’el, and put them down before Adonai.

²⁴ Y’hoshua, together with all Isra’el, took ‘Akhan, the son of Zerach, with the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything he had, and brought them up to the Akhor Valley. ²⁵ Y’hoshua said, “Why have you brought trouble on us? Today Adonai will bring trouble on you!” Then all Isra’el stoned him to death; they burned them to ashes and stoned them. ²⁶ Over him they piled a great mound of stones, which is there to this day. Finally Adonai turned away from his fierce anger. And this is why that place is called the Valley of Akhor [trouble] to this day.

1 These are the words of Yirmeyahu the son of Hilkiyahu, one of the cohanim living in ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin. ² The word of Adonai came to him during the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It also came during the days of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, continuing until the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, right up until the time Yerushalayim was carried away captive, in the fifth month.

⁴ Here is the word of Adonai that came to me:

⁶ I said, “Oh, Adonai Elohim, I don’t even know how to speak! I’m just a child!” ⁷ But Adonai said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a child.’

⁹ Then Adonai put out his hand and touched my mouth, and Adonai said to me,

¹¹ The word of Adonai came to me, asking, “Yirmeyahu, what do you see?” I answered, “I see a branch from an almond tree ^[a]. ¹² Then Adonai said to me, “You have seen well, because I am watching ^[b] to fulfill my word.”

¹³ A second time the word of Adonai came to me, asking, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a caldron tilted away from the north, over a fire fanned by the wind.” ¹⁴ Then Adonai said to me, “From the north calamity will boil over onto everyone living in the land, ¹⁵ because I will summon all the families in the kingdoms of the north,” says Adonai,

15 Then some P’rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him, ² “Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don’t do n’tilat-yadayim before they eat!” ³ He answered, “Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[a] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[b] 5} But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “I have promised to give to God what I might have used to help you,” ⁶ then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.’ Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of God! ⁷ You hypocrites! Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you,

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand this! ¹¹ What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!”

¹² The talmidim came to him and said, “Do you know that the P’rushim were offended by what you said?” ¹³ He replied, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Let them be. They are blind guides. When a blind man guides another blind man, both will fall in a pit.”

¹⁵ Kefa said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ So he said, “Don’t you understand even now? ¹⁷ Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? ¹⁸ But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders. . . . ²⁰ These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n’tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean.”

²¹ Yeshua left that place and went off to the region of Tzor and Tzidon. ²² A woman from Kena‘an who was living there came to him, pleading, “Sir, have pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly held under the power of demons!” ²³ But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his talmidim came to him and urged him, “Send her away, because she is following us and keeps pestering us with her crying.” ²⁴ He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.” ²⁵ But she came, fell at his feet and said, “Sir, help me!” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “That is true, sir, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸ Then Yeshua answered her, “Lady, you are a person of great trust. Let your desire be granted.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

²⁹ Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; ³⁰ and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.

³² Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” ³³ The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” ³⁴ Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” ³⁵ After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. ³⁷ Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. ³⁸ Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. ³⁹ After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.