M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

18 At that time there was no king in Isra’el, and it was also at that time that the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to claim ownership of and settle in, since they had not yet been given any land of their own among the tribes of Isra’el. ² The people of Dan sent five leading men from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, representing their whole tribe, to spy out and explore the land. They instructed them, “Go, and explore the land.” They came to the hills of Efrayim, to the house of Mikhah, and stayed there. ³ While they were at Mikhah’s house they recognized the accent of the young man, the Levi, so they approached him and said, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is there for you here?” ⁴ He answered, “Here’s the arrangement Mikhah has made with me: he pays me a wage, and I serve as his cohen.” ⁵ They said to him, “Please ask God whether our journey will be successful.” ⁶ The cohen replied, “Don’t worry. Adonai is with you on this journey.”

⁷ The five men left, came to Layish and saw the people there living securely according to the customs of the Tzidonim, quietly and securely; since no one in the land was exercising authority that might shame them in any respect; moreover, they were far away from the Tzidonim and had no dealings with other peoples. ⁸ When they returned to their kinsmen in Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, they asked them what they had to report. ⁹ They said, “Let’s go up and attack them. We’ve seen the land, and it’s excellent. Don’t delay; start moving! Go in, and take the land! ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a people who feel safe. There’s plenty of land, the place lacks nothing, it has everything there is on earth, and God has given it to you.”

¹¹ So from the tribe of Dan 600 men equipped for war set out from there, from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiryat-Ye‘arim, in Y’hudah, which is why that place is called Machaneh-Dan [the camp of Dan] to this day (actually, it’s behind Kiryat-Ye‘arim). ¹³ From there they passed on into the hills of Efrayim and came to Mikhah’s house. ¹⁴ The men who had gone to spy out the land of Layish then said to their kinsmen, “Are you aware that in these buildings there is a ritual vest, household gods and a carved image overlaid with silver? Decide what you ought to do.” ¹⁵ They turned off the road and went to the house of the young Levi, that is, to Mikhah’s house, and asked how he was doing. ¹⁶ The 600 soldiers from Dan stayed at the gate, ¹⁷ while the five who had spied out the land went in and took the idol overlaid with silver, the vest and the household gods. The cohen had stayed with the 600 soldiers by the gate. ¹⁸ But when they went into Mikhah’s house and took the silver-covered image, the vest and the household gods, the cohen asked them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They replied, “Be quiet, keep your mouth shut, and come with us. Be a father and a cohen for us. Which is better? To be a cohen in the house of one man or to be cohen to a whole tribe and family in Isra’el?” ²⁰ This made the cohen feel very good; so he took the ritual vest, the household gods and the image and went off with the people. ²¹ So they turned and left, with their children, cattle and belongings going ahead of them.

²² When they were a good distance from Mikhah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near his got together [with him], overtook the people from Dan ²³ and began shouting at them. The people from Dan turned and said to Mikhah, “What’s wrong with you, that you’ve gathered such a crowd?” ²⁴ He answered, “You’ve taken away my god, which I made, and gone off with the cohen! What more have I got? How can you ask me, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” ²⁵ The men from Dan replied, “You had best say no more to us, because some of us might get angry and attack you. You could lose your life, and so might the others in your household.” ²⁶ Then the people from Dan went their way; and when Mikhah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. ²⁷ So they took what Mikhah had made and his cohen.

They came to Layish, to a quiet and trusting people. They attacked, killed them and burned down the city. ²⁸ No one came to rescue them, because it was far from Tzidon, and they had no dealings with other peoples. This was in the valley near Beit-Rechov.

Then the people of Dan rebuilt the city and settled there. ²⁹ They named the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, who was born to Isra’el; although the city had previously been called Layish. ³⁰ The people of Dan set up the image for themselves. Y’honatan the son of Gershom, the son of M’nasheh, and his sons were cohanim for the tribe of the people of Dan until the day of the exile from the land. ³¹ Thus they erected for themselves Mikhah’s idol which he had made, and it remained there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

22 “Brothers and fathers! Listen to me as I make my defense before you now!” ² When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they settled down more; so he continued: ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli’el in every detail of the Torah of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted to death the followers of this Way, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. ⁵ The cohen hagadol and the whole Sanhedrin can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Dammesek, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city too and bring them back to Yerushalayim for punishment.

⁶ “As I was traveling and approaching Dammesek, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me! ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?’ ⁸ I answered, ‘Sir, who are you?’ ‘I am Yeshua from Natzeret,’ he said to me, ‘and you are persecuting me!’ ⁹ Those who were with me did see the light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ I said ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, and go into Dammesek, and there you will be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.’ ¹¹ I had been blinded by the brightness of the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Dammesek.

¹² “A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the Torah who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there, ¹³ came to me, stood by me and said, ‘Brother Sha’ul, see again!’ And at that very moment, I recovered my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ He said, ‘The God of our fathers^[a] determined in advance that you should know his will, see the Tzaddik and hear his voice; ¹⁵ because you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, immerse yourself and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.’

¹⁷ “After I had returned to Yerushalayim, it happened that as I was praying in the Temple, I went into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Yeshua. ‘Hurry!’ he said to me, ‘Get out of Yerushalayim immediately, because they will not accept what you have to say about me.’ ¹⁹ I said, ‘Lord, they know themselves that in every synagogue I used to imprison and flog those who trusted in you; ²⁰ also that when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there too, in full agreement; I was even looking after the clothes of the ones who were killing him!’ ²¹ But he said, ‘Get going! For I am going to send you far away — to the Goyim!’”

²² They had been listening to him up to this point; but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Rid the earth of such a man! He’s not fit to live!” ²³ They were screaming, waving their clothes and throwing dust into the air; ²⁴ so the commander ordered him brought into the barracks and directed that he be interrogated and whipped, in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this.

²⁵ But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha’ul said to the captain standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn’t even had a trial?” ²⁶ When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, “Do you realize what you’re doing? This man is a Roman citizen!” ²⁷ The commander came and said to Sha’ul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. ²⁸ The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money.” “But I was born to it,” Sha’ul said. ²⁹ At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.

³⁰ However, the next day, since he wanted to know the specific charge the Judeans were bringing against him, he released him and ordered the head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Sha’ul down and put him in front of them.

32 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, which was the eighteenth year of N’vukhadretzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Bavel was besieging Yerushalayim; and Yirmeyahu the prophet was imprisoned in the guards’ quarters attached to the king of Y’hudah’s palace, ³ where Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah had imprisoned him after demanding, “How dare you prophesy that Adonai says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will capture it; ⁴ Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah will not escape from the Kasdim but will certainly be handed over to the king of Bavel, who will address him face to face, with their eyes meeting; ⁵ and he will lead Tzidkiyahu to Bavel, where he will stay until I remember him,’ says Adonai, ‘and even if you fight the Kasdim, you will fail’?”

⁶ Yirmeyahu said, “This word of Adonai came to me: ⁷ ‘Hanam’el, the son of your uncle Shalum, will approach you and say, “Buy my field at ‘Anatot; you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it; so buy it.”’” ⁸ As Adonai had said, my cousin Hanam’el came to me in the guards’ quarters and said, “Please buy my field at ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin; because you will inherit it, and you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it, so buy it for yourself.” Then I was certain that this was Adonai’s word.

⁹ So I bought the field at ‘Anatot which belonged to my cousin Hanam’el and weighed out the money for him, seven ounces of silver shekels. ¹⁰ I signed on the purchase contract, sealed it, called witnesses and weighed out the money for him on a balance scale. ¹¹ I took the purchase contract, both the sealed copy with the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy, ¹² and gave the purchase contract to Barukh the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, in the presence of my cousin Hanam’el, the witnesses who had signed the purchase contract and the people from Y’hudah sitting by the guards’ quarters. ¹³ In their presence I instructed Barukh as follows: ¹⁴ “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Take these contracts, both the sealed and unsealed copies, and place them in a clay jar, so that they can be preserved for a long time.’ ¹⁵ For Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says that one day homes, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

¹⁶ After giving the purchase contract to Barukh son of Neriyah, I prayed to Adonai: ¹⁷ “Adonai, God! You made heaven and earth by your great power and outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You display your grace to thousands but also repay the guilt of the fathers into the lap of their children who follow them. Great, powerful God, whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot, ¹⁹ great in counsel, mighty in deed! Your eyes are open to all the ways of human beings in order to repay each one according to his ways, according to the consequences of what he does. ²⁰ You gave signs and performed miracles in the land of Egypt which continue to this day, also in Isra’el and among other people; thus you made yourself the reputation you have today. ²¹ You brought your people of Isra’el out of the land of Egypt with signs and miracles, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. ²² Then you gave them this land, which you had sworn to their ancestors that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They entered and took possession of it; but they did not pay attention to your voice, did not live according to your Torah, and did nothing of all you ordered them to do. Therefore you made this complete disaster befall them — ²⁴ the siege-works are already there; they have come to the city to capture it; and the city, by means of sword, famine and plague, is being handed over to the Kasdim fighting against it. What you foretold is being fulfilled; here, you see it, yourself. ²⁵ Yet you, Adonai, God, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; even as the city is being turned over to the Kasdim!’”

²⁶ Then this word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu: ²⁷ “Look, I am Adonai, the God of every living creature; is there anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, here is what Adonai says: ‘I will hand this city over to the Kasdim and to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel; and he will capture it. ²⁹ The Kasdim who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire; they will burn it down, including its houses, on whose roofs they offered to Ba‘al and poured out drink offerings to other gods, in order to make me angry. ³⁰ For from their youth, the people of Isra’el and the people of Y’hudah have done only what is evil from my perspective; the people of Isra’el have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands make,’ says Adonai. ³¹ ‘This city has so provoked my anger and fury from the day they built it to this day that I ought to remove it from my presence, ³² because of all the evil that the people of Isra’el and the people of Y’hudah have done in order to make me angry — they, their kings, their leaders, their cohanim, their prophets, the men of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. ³³ They have turned their backs on me, not their faces; and although I taught them, taught them frequently, they have not listened so as to receive instruction. ³⁴ Instead they put their detestable idols in the house that bears my name, to defile it; ³⁵ and they built the high places for Ba‘al which are in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn alive their sons and daughters to Molekh — something I did not order them to do, it never even entered my mind that they would do such an abominable thing — and thus they caused Y’hudah to sin.’

³⁶ “Therefore, thus says Adonai the God of Isra’el concerning this city, of which you say that it is handed over to the king of Bavel by sword, famine and plague: ³⁷ ‘I will gather them out of all the countries where I drove them in my anger, fury and great wrath; and I will bring them back to this place and have them live here in safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear me forever — this will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me. ⁴¹ I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with my whole heart and being.’ ⁴² For here is what Adonai says: ‘Just as I have brought this complete disaster on this people, so likewise I will bring on them all the good I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land, even though you say about it that it is desolate, devoid of human beings or animals, and given over to the Kasdim. ⁴⁴ Yes, people will buy fields for money, sign the purchase contracts, seal them and call witnesses, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim, in the cities of Y’hudah, in the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh’felah and in the cities of the Negev. For I will cause their exiles to return,’ says Adonai.”

Book I: Psalms 1–41