M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rewards for Obeying God
26 “‘Don’t make idols for yourselves or set up ·statues [carved images] or ·memorials [pillars]. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God [19:4; Ex. 20:4–6; Deut. 5:8–10].
2 “‘·Remember [Keep; Guard] my Sabbaths, and ·respect [fear] my ·Holy Place [sanctuary; 19:3, 30; 23:3; Ex. 20:8–14; Deut. 5:12–15]. I am the Lord.
3 “‘If you ·remember [keep; guard] my ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and commands and obey them, 4 I will give you rains at the right season [Deut. 11:14]; the land will produce crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat and live ·safely [securely] in your land. 6 I will give peace to your country; you will lie down ·in peace, and no one will make you afraid [L and not be afraid]. I will keep ·harmful [dangerous] animals out of your country, and ·armies [L the sword] will not pass through it.
7 “‘You will ·chase [pursue] your enemies and ·defeat them, killing them with your [L they will fall before you by the] sword. 8 Five of you will ·chase [pursue] a hundred men; a hundred of you will ·chase [pursue] ten thousand men [Deut. 32:30; Josh. 23:10; Is. 30:17]. ·You will defeat your enemies and kill them with your [L They will fall before you by the] sword.
9 “‘Then I will ·show kindness to [L turn toward] you and ·let you have many children [L I will make you fruitful and multiply you]; I will ·keep my agreement [establish my covenant/treaty] with you. 10 You will ·have enough crops to last for more than a year [old grain long stored]. When you harvest the new crops, you will have to throw out the old ones to make room for them. 11 Also I will place my ·Holy Tent [sanctuary] among you, and I will not ·turn away from [L abhor] you. 12 I will walk with you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. I broke the ·heavy weights that were on your shoulders [bars of your yoke] and let you walk ·proudly [erect; standing tall] again.
Punishment for Not Obeying God
14 “‘But if you do not ·obey [keep; guard] me and ·keep [obey] all my commands, 15 and if you ·turn away from [disdain] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and ·hate [abhor] my ·laws [regulations], refusing to obey all my commands, you have broken our ·agreement [covenant; treaty]. 16 As a result, I will do this to you: I will ·cause terrible things to happen to [bring dread/terror on] you. I will cause you to have disease and fever that will destroy your eyes and slowly kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed, and your enemy will eat your crops. 17 I will ·be [L set my face] against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These people who hate you will ·rule [exercise dominion] over you, and you will run away even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] you.
18 “‘If after all this you still do not ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·punish [discipline] you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break your great pride, and I will make the sky like iron and the earth like bronze [C there would be no rain]. 20 ·You will work hard, but it will not help [L Your strength will be for no purpose]. Your land will not grow any crops, and your trees will not give their fruit.
21 “‘If you still turn against me and refuse to ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·beat [strike] you seven times harder. The more you sin, the more you will be punished. 22 I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will ·take your children away from you and destroy [L bereave you and cut off] your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.
23 “‘If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against me, 24 I will also turn against you. I will ·punish [strike] you seven more times for your sins. 25 You broke my agreement, and I will ·punish [L have my revenge against] you. I will bring ·armies [L the sword] against you, and if you go into your cities for safety, I will cause ·diseases [plagues] to spread among you so that ·your enemy will defeat you [L you will be given into the enemy’s hand]. 26 ·There will be very little bread to eat; [L When I break your staff of bread,] ten women will ·be able to cook all [bake] your bread in one oven. They will measure [L by weight] each piece of bread, and you will eat, but you will ·still be hungry [L not be satisfied].
27 “‘If you still refuse to ·listen to [obey] me and still turn against me, 28 I will ·show [L turn against you with] my great anger; I will ·punish [discipline] you seven more times for your sins. 29 You will eat the ·bodies [flesh] of your sons and [L the flesh of your] daughters [Deut. 28:53–57; Is. 49:26; Jer. 19:9; Ezek. 5:10]. 30 I will destroy your ·places where gods are worshiped [L high places] and cut down your incense altars. I will pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols [2 Kin. 23:14–16]. I will ·hate [abhor] you. 31 I will ·destroy your cities [make your cities a ruin] and make your holy places ·empty [desolate], and I will not smell the pleasing smell of your offerings. 32 I will make the land ·empty [desolate] so that your enemies who come to live in it will be shocked at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will pull out my sword and destroy you. Your land will become empty, your cities a ·waste [ruin]. 34 When you are taken to your enemy’s country, your land will finally get its ·rest [sabbath; 25:1–7]. It will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath] all the time it lies empty. 35 During the time the land is empty, it will have the ·rest [sabbath] you should have given it while you lived in it [2 Chr. 36:21].
36 “‘Those of you who are left alive will ·lose their courage [L place despondency in their hearts] in the land of their enemies. ·They will be frightened by the sound of a leaf being blown by the wind [L The sound of a driven leaf will make them flee]. They will ·run [flee] as if someone were chasing them with a sword, and they will fall even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. 37 They will fall over ·each other [L their brother/kinsman], as if ·someone were chasing them with [L before] a sword, even though no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies. 38 You will ·die [perish] among other nations and ·disappear in your enemies’ countries [L the land of your enemies will consume you]. 39 So those who are left alive will ·rot [or pine] away in their enemies’ countries because of their sins. They will also ·rot [or pine] away because of their ·ancestors’ [fathers’] sins.
There Is Always Hope
40 “‘But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ·ancestors [fathers]; maybe they will admit they turned against me and ·sinned [committed treachery] against me, 41 which made me turn against them and send them into the land of their enemies. If ·these disobedient people [L their uncircumcised hearts; Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4] are ·sorry for what they did [L humbled] and accept punishment for their sin, 42 I will remember my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Jacob [Gen. 35:9–15], my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Isaac [Gen. 26:24], and my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Abraham [Gen 12:1–3; 15; 17], and I will remember the land. 43 The land will be ·left empty by its people [L forsaken/abandoned of them], and it will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath; 25:1–7] as it lies ·bare [desolate] without them. Then those who are left alive will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they ·hated [disdained] my ·laws [regulations] and ·refused to obey [abhorred] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements]. 44 But even though this is true, I will not ·turn away from [disdain] them when they are in the land of their enemies. I will not ·hate [abhor] them so much that I completely destroy them and break my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with them, because I am the Lord their God. 45 For their good I will remember the ·agreement with their ancestors [L former covenant/treaty], whom I brought out of the land of Egypt [C the covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24] so I could become their God; the other nations saw these things. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements], ·rules [regulations], and ·teachings [laws; instructions] the Lord made between himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.
Praise God Who Creates and Saves
33 ·Sing [Shout for joy] to the Lord, you ·who do what is right [righteous ones];
·honest people should praise him [L praise is fitting from the upright/virtuous].
2 ·Praise [Give thanks to] the Lord on the harp;
make music for him on a ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing a new song [C celebrating victory; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Is. 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3] to him;
play well ·and joyfully [with a loud/a victory shout].
4 God’s word is ·true [upright; virtuous],
and everything he does is ·right [faithful].
5 He loves what is right and ·fair [just];
the Lord’s ·love [loyalty; covenant love] fills the earth.
6 The ·sky was [heavens were] made at the Lord’s ·command [word; Gen. 1:8].
By the breath from his mouth, he made all ·the stars [L its hosts; Gen. 1:16].
7 He gathered the water of the sea into ·a heap [or jars; bottles].
He ·made the great ocean stay in its place [L placed the deeps in a storehouse; Job 38:8–11].
8 All the earth should ·worship [fear; hold in awe] the Lord [Prov. 1:7];
·the whole [L all the inhabitants of the] world should ·fear him [hold him in awe].
9 He spoke, and it happened.
He commanded, and it ·appeared [L stood; Heb. 11:3].
10 The Lord ·upsets [frustrates] the ·plans [counsels] of nations;
he ·ruins [foils] ·all their plans [L the plans of the peoples].
11 But the Lord’s ·plans [counsels] will ·stand [endure] forever;
·his ideas [L the plans of his heart] will last from now on.
12 ·Happy [Blessed] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his ·very own [L inheritance; Ex. 19:5].
13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
all who live on earth.
15 He ·made [fashions all] their hearts
and understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his ·great [large] army.
No warrior ·escapes [is rescued/T delivered] by his great strength.
17 Horses ·can’t bring [are a vain hope for] victory;
they can’t save by their strength.
18 But the ·Lord looks after [L eye of the Lord is on] those who fear him,
those who ·put their hope [wait on him] in his ·love [loyalty; covenant love].
19 He ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·them [their soul] from death
and ·spares their lives in times of hunger [revives them in famine].
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 ·We [L Our hearts] rejoice in him,
because we ·trust [have confidence in] his holy name.
22 Lord, ·show your love to us [L let your loyalty/covenant love be on us]
as we ·put our hope in [wait for] you.
Is Death Fair?
9 I ·thought about [L gave my heart to] all this and ·tried to understand it [L examined all this]. ·I saw that God controls good people and wise people and what they do [L The righteous and the wise and their works are all in the hand of God], but no one knows if ·they will experience love or hate [L love or hate awaits them].
2 ·Good [Righteous] and ·bad [wicked] people ·end up the same [have the same fate]—
those who are good and those who are evil,
those who are clean [C in a ritual sense] and those who are unclean,
those who sacrifice and those who do not.
The same things happen to a good person
as happen to a sinner,
to a person who ·makes promises to God [swears; makes an oath]
and to one who ·does not [L is afraid to swear/make an oath].
3 This is ·something wrong [the evil] that happens ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3]: ·What happens to one happens to [L There is one fate for] all. So people’s ·minds [L hearts] are full of ·evil and foolish thoughts [madness] while they live. After that, they join the dead. 4 But anyone ·still alive [joined to the living] has hope; even a live dog [C considered contemptible] is better off than a dead lion [C a noble animal]!
5 The living know they will die,
but the dead know nothing.
Dead people have no more reward,
and ·people forget them [L the memory of them is forgotten].
6 ·After people are dead,
they can no longer love or hate or envy [L Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have already perished].
They will ·never again share [L have no portion]
in what happens ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3].
Enjoy Life While You Can
7 So go eat your food ·and enjoy it [L with gladness];
drink your wine ·and be happy [L with a glad heart],
because ·that is what God wants you to do [L God has already approved your deeds].
8 Put on ·nice [L white; C festive] clothes
and ·make yourself look good [L do not spare oil on your head; Ps. 23:5; 45:7; Prov. 27:9; Is. 61:3].
9 Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy all the useless [1:2] days of this useless [1:2] life God has given you ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3], because it is ·all you have [L your lot/reward/portion in life]. So enjoy the ·work [toil] you do ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3]. 10 Whatever ·work you [L your hand finds to] do, do ·your best [L with all your strength], because you are going to ·the grave [L Sheol], where there is no ·working [or action], no ·planning [or thought], no knowledge, and no wisdom [2:24–26; 3:12–14, 22; 5:18–20; 8:15; C such activities and pleasures are distractions from the meaninglessness of life].
Time and Chance
11 I also ·saw [L turned and observed] something else ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3]:
The fastest runner does not always win the race,
the strongest soldier does not always win the battle,
the wisest does not always have food,
the smartest does not always become wealthy,
and the ·talented [intelligent] one does not always receive ·praise [favor].
Time and chance happen to everyone.
12 No one knows ·what will happen next [L his time].
Like a fish caught in a cruel net,
or a bird caught in a trap,
people are trapped ·by evil [or in an evil time]
when it suddenly falls on them.
Wisdom Does Not Always Win
13 I also saw something wise ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3] that impressed me. 14 There was a small town with only a few people in it. A great king ·fought against [invaded] it and ·put his armies all around it [L built great siegeworks against it]. 15 Now there was a poor but wise man in the town who used his wisdom to ·save [rescue] his town. But later on, ·everyone forgot about him [L no one remembered that poor wise man]. 16 I ·still think [L said that] wisdom is better than strength. But ·those people forgot about the poor man’s wisdom [L the wisdom of the poor wise man was despised], and they stopped listening to what he said.
17 The quiet words of a wise person are better
than the shouts of a foolish ruler.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much good.
1 From Paul, a ·servant [slave; bondservant] of God and an ·apostle [messenger] of Jesus Christ. I was sent ·to help [or in the service of; or to bring about] the faith of God’s ·chosen people [elect] and to help them know the truth that ·shows people how to serve God [or leads to godliness/piety]. 2 That faith and that knowledge ·come from [or lead to] the ·hope for [confidence/certainty of] ·life forever [eternal life], which God, who never lies, promised to us before ·time began [L eternal times]. 3 At ·the right [the appointed; his own] time God ·let the world know about that life [L revealed/manifested his word/message] through preaching. He ·trusted [entrusted] me with that work by the command of God our Savior.
4 To Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; 7:6; 8:16; Gal. 2:1–3], my ·true [genuine] child in the faith we share:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete [C an island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece] so you could ·finish doing [organize; straighten out] the things that still needed to be done and so you could appoint elders in every ·town [city], as I directed you. 6 An elder [1 Tim. 3:1–7] must ·not be guilty of doing wrong [be blameless], must ·have only one wife [or be faithful to his wife], and must have ·believing [or faithful] children. They must not be ·known as children who are [accused of being] ·wild [reckless] and ·do not cooperate [unruly; undisciplined; rebellious]. 7 As God’s ·managers [stewards], overseers [C probably the same church office as elder; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 7; 5:17] must be ·innocent of wrongdoing [blameless], ·unselfish [not arrogant/self-willed], not ·quick-tempered [easily angered]. They must not ·drink too much wine [be a drunkard], ·like to fight [be violent/a brawler], or ·try to get rich by cheating others [be greedy for gain/dishonest in business]. 8 Overseers must be ·ready to welcome guests [hospitable], love what is good, be ·wise [self-controlled; sensible], ·live right [upright; just], and be ·holy [devout] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]. 9 By holding ·on [firmly] to the ·trustworthy [faithful] ·word [message] just as it was taught to them, overseers can ·encourage [exhort] people with ·true [sound; healthy] teaching, and they can ·correct [reprove; refute] those who are against it.
10 There are many ·people who refuse to cooperate [unruly/rebellious people], who talk about ·worthless [empty; useless] things and ·lead others into the wrong way [deceive others]—·mainly [especially] those ·who insist on circumcision to be saved [or among the Jewish Christians; L of the circumcision]. 11 These people must be ·stopped [L silenced], because they are ·upsetting [misleading; ruining; overthrowing] whole families by teaching things they should not teach, which they do ·to get rich by cheating people [for dishonest gain]. 12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil ·animals [beasts], and lazy ·people who do nothing but eat [gluttons; C a quote from Epimenides, a poet from Crete (sixth century bc)].” 13 ·The words that prophet said are [L This testimony is] true. So ·firmly [severely; sharply] ·tell those people they are wrong [rebuke/admonish them] so they may become ·strong [sound; healthy] in the faith, 14 not ·accepting [paying attention to; wasting time with] Jewish ·false stories [myths; 1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4] and the commands of people who ·reject [turn their backs on] the truth. 15 To those who are pure, all things are pure, but to those who are ·full of sin [defiled; polluted (with sin)] and ·do not believe [unfaithful], nothing is pure. Both their minds and their consciences have been ·ruined [defiled; polluted]. 16 They ·say [claim; confess] they know God, but their actions show they ·do not accept [deny] him. They are ·hateful people [detestable; abominable], they refuse to obey, and they are ·useless [unfit; disqualified] for doing anything good.
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