M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 18
Elijah and Ahab. 1 Now after quite some time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 2 Elijah went and showed himself to Ahab. There was a severe famine in Samaria.
3 Ahab summoned Obadiah, the major-domo of his household. (Now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord. 4 When Jezebel cut down the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took one hundred of the prophets and he hid them by fifties in a cave, and he provided them with bread and water.) 5 Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land where there are springs of water and through all the wadis. Perhaps you will find some green grass for the horses and donkeys so that we might not lose all of the animals.”
6 They divided the land between them, and they went through it. Ahab went in one direction, and Obadiah went in the other direction by himself. 7 As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord, Elijah?” 8 He said to him, “It is I. Go and tell your lord: ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”
9 But he answered, “How have I sinned that you would hand your servant over to Ahab so that he will kill me? 10 As the Lord, your God, lives, there is no land or kingdom into which my lord has not sent to search for you. When they said, ‘he is not here,’ he made the kingdom and the nation swear an oath that they could not find you. 11 And now you are telling me, ‘Go tell your lord: “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ 12 When I have left you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to some unknown place. When I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill your servant who has feared the Lord from my youth. 13 Has it not been reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and provided them with bread and water? 14 But now you are telling me, ‘Go, tell your lord: “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ He will kill me.”
15 Elijah answered, “As the Lord of hosts before whom I stand lives, I will surely show myself to him today.”
16 So Obadiah went to Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” 18 He answered, “It is not I who have troubled Israel. It is you and your father’s household who have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and have followed after Baal. 19 Now send word, and gather together all of Israel for me on Mount Carmel, along with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of Asherah, those who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 Elijah Destroys the Evil Prophets. So Ahab sent word to all of the Israelites, and he gathered together the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah approached all of the people and said, “How long will you be stuck between two points of view? If the Lord is God, then follow him, but if it is Baal, then follow him.” But the people did not say a single thing to him.[a]
22 Elijah then said to the people, “I am the only prophet of the Lord left, but there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. 23 Now give us two oxen. They can choose which ox is theirs. Let them cut it up and lay it on the wood, but do not set it on fire. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, but I will not set it on fire. 24 Call on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers with fire, that is God.” All of the people answered, “You have spoken well.”
25 So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You can be the first to choose one of the oxen for yourselves and prepare it because you are more numerous. Call upon the name of your gods, but do not set it on fire.”
26 They took the ox that had been given them, and they prepared it. They called upon the name of Baal from the morning until noontime. They said, “Hear us, O Baal.” But there was no voice, and no one answered. They then leapt around on the altar they had built. 27 At noon, Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry out loud, for he is a god. He might be meditating, or maybe he has gone aside. Perhaps he is on a journey, or maybe he is asleep and needs to be woken up.”
28 So they cried out loud, and they slashed themselves with knives and swords as was their custom until blood gushed out from their bodies. 29 In the afternoon they prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no answer, no one listened.
30 Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here to me.” So all the people went over to him. He repaired the altar of God that had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came saying, “Your name will be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar to the name of the Lord. He dug a trench around the altar deep enough to hold two measures of seed. 33 He piled up the wood, and cut up the ox into pieces. He laid them on the wood and said, “Fill four barrels with water and pour them on the burnt sacrifice and the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar, and the water filled the trench.
36 [b]At the hour for the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet drew near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are the God of Israel, and that I am your servant, and I have done all of these things by your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me so that this people might know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 The fire of the Lord fell down and consumed the burnt offering as well as the wood, the stones, the soil, and even the water that it licked up from the trench. 39 When all of the people saw this, they fell down upon their faces and said, “The Lord is God; the Lord is God!”
40 Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Wadi Kishon and killed them there.
41 Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat, and drink, for I hear the sound of heavy rain.” 42 Ahab went to eat and drink, and Elijah climbed up to the top of Carmel. He cast himself down to the ground and placed his face between his knees.
43 He said to his servant, “Go, now, and look out toward the sea.” He went and looked and said, “There is nothing.” Seven times he told him, “Go again.” 44 The seventh time he said, “Behold, there is a small cloud like the shape of a man’s hand rising from out of the sea.” He said, “Go tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
45 Meanwhile, the skies grew dark with clouds, the wind rose up, and it poured. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. 46 The hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins[c] and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Salutation
Chapter 1
Address and Greeting. 1 Paul, Silvanus,[a] and Timothy to the Church of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.
Evangelization Is the Work of the Spirit[b]
A Model for All Believers.[c] 2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers. 3 We constantly remember before our God and Father your work of faith and your labor of love and your perseverance in hope[d] in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Brethren, beloved by God, we know that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel[e] came to you not merely in words alone but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with profound conviction. And you are fully aware what sort of people we proved to be when we were among you for your sake.
6 And you in turn became imitators[f] of us and of the Lord, for despite great suffering you received the word with joy in the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.[g]
8 Not only has the word of the Lord rung forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but also your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not have the need to speak about it. 9 For the people themselves report what kind of reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and await his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who will deliver us from the wrath that is to come.
Chapter 48
1 What follows is the list of the tribes:
At the northernmost border, Dan will have one portion, in the direction of Hethlon, through Lebo of Hamath to Hazar-enon, on the border of Damascus to the north, next to Hamath, his portion extending from the eastern to the western boundary.
2 Asher will have one portion, bordering Dan, from the eastern to the western boundary.
3 Naphtali will have one portion, bordering Asher, from the eastern to the western boundary.
4 Manasseh will have one portion, bordering Naphtali, from the eastern to the western boundary.
5 Ephraim will have one portion, bordering Manasseh, from the eastern to the western boundary.
6 Reuben will have one portion, bordering Ephraim, from the eastern to the western boundary.
7 Judah will have one portion, bordering Reuben, from the eastern to the western boundary.
The Sacred Allotment. 8 Adjoining the territory of Judah from the eastern to the western boundary shall be the portion that you are to set apart—twenty-five thousand cubits wide, and its length the same as each of the other tribal portions from the eastern to the western boundary. The sanctuary of the Lord shall be located in the center of it.
9 The portion that you set aside for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide. 10 This will be the sacred portion for the priests. It will measure twenty-five thousand cubits on the north, ten thousand cubits on the east, ten thousand cubits on the west, and twenty-five thousand cubits on the south. The sanctuary of the Lord will be placed in the center of it.
11 This will be for the consecrated priests, the descendants of the tribe of Zadok, who remained faithful in their service to me and did not follow the Israelites in going astray, as the Levites did, 12 it will belong to them as a special gift set aside from the sacred portion of the land, adjoining the territory of the Levites.
13 The territory of the Levites shall correspond to that of the priests, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide. Its total length will be twenty-five thousand cubits, and its total width will be ten thousand cubits. 14 They will not be allowed to sell or exchange any part of it. This is the choice portion of the land, and it cannot be transferred, because it is holy to the Lord.
15 The remaining area, five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand cubits in length, shall be used at the discretion of the city for dwellings and pasture lands. The city shall be located in the middle of it, 16 and these shall be its dimensions: on the north side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the south side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the east side, four thousand five hundred cubits; on the west side, four thousand five hundred cubits.
17 The pasture land of the city will be two hundred and fifty cubits to the north, two hundred and fifty cubits to the south, two hundred and fifty cubits to the east, and two hundred and fifty cubits to the west. 18 The remainder of the area, along the sacred tract, will be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand cubits to the west. Its produce will provide food for the workers of the city.
19 The workers of the city who farm this land will come from all the tribes of Israel. 20 The entire tract that you set apart will be a square, twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand cubits. As a sacred gift, you must set apart the sacred tract together with the property of the city.
21 What remains on both sides of the sacred portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince. Extending eastward along the twenty-five thousand cubits to the eastern border, and extending westward along the twenty-five thousand cubits to the western border, parallel to the tribal portions, it will belong to the prince. The sacred portion and the sanctuary of the temple will be in the center. 22 Therefore, aside from the property of the Levites and the property of the city, which lie in the midst of the prince’s property, everything between the borders of Judah and the borders of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
23 The Southern Allotment. These are the remaining tribes:
Benjamin will have one portion, from the eastern boundary to the western boundary.
24 Simeon will have one portion, bordering the territory of Benjamin from east to west.
25 Issachar will have one portion, bordering the territory of Simeon from east to west.
26 Zebulun will have one portion, bordering the territory of Issachar from east to west.
27 Gad will have one portion, bordering the territory of Zebulun from east to west.
28 The southern boundary of Gad will extend from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and from there along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea.
29 This is the land that you are to allot as inheritances among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says the Lord God.
30 The City Gates. These are the exits from the city, the gates of which are named after the tribes of Israel.
On the north side, which will measure four thousand five hundred cubits in length, 31 there will be three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi.
32 On the east side, which will measure four thousand five hundred cubits in length, there will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan.
33 On the south side, which will measure four thousand five hundred cubits in length, there will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.
34 On the west side, which will measure four thousand five hundred cubits in length, there will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali.
35 The perimeter of the city will measure eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city from that time on will be: “The Lord Is There.”
Psalm 104[a]
Praise of God the Creator
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord, my God, you are indeed very great.
You are clothed in majesty and splendor,
2 wrapped in light[b] as in a robe.
You have stretched out the heavens like a tent;
3 you have established your palace[c] upon the waters.
You make the clouds serve as your chariot;
you ride forth on the wings of the wind.
4 You have appointed the winds as your messengers
and flames of fire[d] as your ministers.
5 You established the earth on its foundations
so that it will remain unshaken forever.[e]
6 You covered it with the deep like a cloak;
the waters rose above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke[f] the waters took to flight;
at the sound of your thunder they fled in terror.
8 They rose up to the mountains
and flowed down to the valleys,[g]
to the place that you had designated for them.
9 You established a boundary that they were not to cross
so that they would never again cover the earth.
10 [h]You made springs gush forth in the valleys
and flow between the mountains.
11 They supply water to every beast of the field,
and from them the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 On the banks the birds of the air build nests
and sing among the branches.
13 [i]From your dwelling you water the mountains,
enriching the earth with the fruit of your labor.
14 You provide grass for the cattle,
and the plants for man to cultivate.
You bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart[j] of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen his body.
16 The trees of the Lord have fruit in abundance,
the cedars of Lebanon[k] that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
in the fir trees the stork makes its home.
18 The high mountains are inhabited by the wild goats;
in the rocky crags the badgers[l] find refuge.
19 You created the moon that marks the seasons
and the sun that knows its time for setting.[m]
20 You bring on darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forests go on the prowl.
21 The young lions[n] roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and return to their lairs to rest.
23 People go forth to their work
and to their labor until darkness descends.
24 [o]How countless are your works, O Lord;
by your wisdom you have made them all;
the earth abounds with your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and broad,
filled with numberless species,
living creatures both great and small.
26 There the ships sail forth,
and the Leviathan[p] that you formed to play therein.
27 [q]All of them look to you
to give them their food at the appropriate time.[r]
28 [s]When you provide it for them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are filled with good things.
29 When you turn away your face,[t]
they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit,[u]
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
31 [v]May the glory of the Lord abide forever,
and may the Lord rejoice in his works.[w]
32 When he looks at the earth, it quakes;
when he touches the mountains, they smoke.[x]
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;[y]
I will sing praise to my God while I have life.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I find my joy in the Lord.
35 May sinners be banished from the earth,
and may the wicked no longer exist.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.[z]
Alleluia.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.