M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
As God has said, an entire rebellious generation must die off before anyone can enter the long-awaited and much-anticipated land of milk and honey.
27 Now Zelophehad’s five daughters came forward. Zelophehad came from the Manasseh family (he was a son of Joseph’s). Zelophehad’s father was Hepher, his grandfather was Gilead, and his great-grandfather was Machir. The girls’ names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 They approached the congregation tent and boldly stood in front of Moses, the priest Eleazar, the Israelite clan chiefs, and even before the whole congregation.
Zelophehad’s Daughters: 3 Our father died in the wilderness; he wasn’t part of Korah’s coup that tried to undermine the authority of the Eternal One. He just died having committed his own wickedness like everyone else in his generation, but he left no sons. 4 Why should his name disappear from his clan simply because no boys were born to him? We request that you give us land of our own, just as you are giving it to the descendants of our uncles.
Zelophehad didn’t have any sons, and their inheritance—claim to the land—will die with him and his place among the people for all generations.
5 Moses disappeared inside the tent to ask the Eternal One what should be done, 6 and He answered Moses.
Eternal One: 7 Zelophehad’s daughters make a good point. They’re right, so do as they ask. Give them an inheritance such as would be given to a son. They shall have land alongside their uncles’ families. 8 Moreover, tell the Israelites that in the future they should pass the inheritance to the daughter if there is no son. 9 If a man doesn’t have any daughters either, then after he dies, his property shall go to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, then it should go to his uncles. 11 If no uncles, then whoever is his closest relative, give the property to him. This is the system you should apply as a permanent law for the Israelites, coming from Me through Moses.
12 (later God called to Moses) Hike up here, to the top of this mountain amidst the Abarim peaks. When you get to the top, you’ll be able to see the land I’ve already given to the Israelites. 13 After you’ve had that glance, you will join your ancestors, as your brother Aaron did not so long ago. 14 You will not set foot in the promised land, even after all you’ve done for Me and this people because you didn’t follow My instructions back in the Zin Wilderness when the people argued and rebelled. You failed to treat me as holy at the waters before the eyes of the people. This happened at the water called Meribah, in Kadesh of the Zin Wilderness.
15 Then Moses addressed the Eternal One.
Moses: 16-17 Please, take care of these people. Eternal One, God of the spirit in all human beings, see to it that an able leader is appointed to guide and direct Your people by going out and coming in before them so that they are not like sheep without a shepherd.
Eternal One (to Moses): 18-19 Single out Joshua (Nun’s son). In him is the breath of My Spirit. Before the whole congregation, bring him to stand before the priest, Eleazar. Put your hand on him, and commission him into leadership. 20 You should make clear that you are investing him with some of your authority, so that every Israelite accepts his leadership. 21 Joshua shall consult with Eleazar the priest, who will ask of Me (by consulting the Urim and Thummim) to show how they should proceed. In other words, Eleazar will consult the oracle and indicate when the people should go forward and when they should pull back, both he and the congregation of Israel.
Attention now shifts to their future in the land. Just as God has used Moses and Aaron to lead the congregation up until now, a new leader must be trained and in place for Israel to move forward. Remember that Moses and Aaron must be replaced because they are part of that unfaithful generation God won’t allow into the land; they, too, acted against Him and are being punished in spite of their consistent favor with God. The preparation to enter the land needed only a couple of years for God to provide the law, the plans for the congregation tent, and an orderly structuring of the tribes. But the time in the wilderness has stretched on for another 38 years because it took a generation for God to purge the lack of belief on the part of the people.
22-23 Moses did with Joshua and Eleazar exactly what the Eternal One instructed; he laid his hands on Joshua to indicate this transfer of authority. Just as the Eternal One commanded, Moses did.
Psalm 70
For the worship leader. A song of David for remembering.
1 O God, hurry to save me;
Eternal One, hurry to my side.
2 For those who seek to kill me,
God, may they burn in disgrace and humiliation!
Repulse the attacks; ridicule the efforts
of those taking pleasure in my pain.
3 I hear their taunts: “Nah, nah, nah . . . .”
Let those hecklers fall back upon their brays—ashamed and confused—
4 But let those who pursue You
celebrate and have joy because of You.
And let the song of those who love Your saving grace
never cease: “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and in serious need,
so hurry to my side, God,
Because You are my helper, my liberator.
Eternal One, please don’t wait.
Psalm 71
1 I have found shelter in You, Eternal One;
I count on You to shield me always from humiliation and disgrace.
2 Rescue and save me in Your justice.
Turn Your ear to me, and hurry to deliver me from my enemies.
3 Be my rock of refuge where I can always hide.
You have given the order to keep me safe;
You are my solid ground—my rock and my fortress.
4 Save me from the power of sinful people, O my God,
from the grip of unjust and cruel men.
5 For You are my hope, Eternal One;
You, Lord, have been the source of my confidence since I was young.
6 I have leaned upon You since I came into this world;
I have relied on You since You took me safely from my mother’s body,
So I will ever praise You.
7 Many find me a mystery,
but You are my rock and my shelter—my soul’s asylum.
8 My mouth overflows with praise to You
and proclaims Your magnificence all day long.
9 Do not set me aside when I am old;
do not abandon me when I am worn out.
10 For my enemies often voice evil against me;
those who desire to kill me plot together in secret.
11 They say, “God has abandoned him;
let’s go after him right now and seize him.
There’s no one around to rescue him.”
12 God, stay close by me.
Come quick, O my God, and help me!
13 May my enemies be covered in shame and then die;
may those who seek to harm me
be overwhelmed with contempt and disgrace.
14 But I will keep hope alive,
and my praise to You will grow exponentially.
15 I will bear witness to Your merciful acts;
throughout the day I will speak of all the ways You deliver,
although, I admit, I do not know the entirety of either.
16 I will come with stories of Your great acts, my Lord, the Eternal.
I will remind them of Your justice, only Yours.
17 You have taught me since I was young, O God,
and I still proclaim the wonderful things You have done.
18 Now as I grow old and my hair turns gray,
I ask that You not abandon me, O God.
Allow me to share with the generation to come
about Your power;
Let me speak about Your strength and wonders
to all those yet to be born.
19 God, Your justice stretches to the heavens,
You who have done mighty things!
Who is like You, O God?
20 You have made me see hard times: I’ve experienced many miserable days,
but You will restore me again.
You will raise me up
from the deep pit.
21 You will greatly increase my status
and be my comfort once again.
22 I will praise You with music played on a harp
because You have been faithful, O my God.
I will sing praises to You with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 I will shout for joy
as I sing Your praises;
my soul will celebrate because You have rescued me.
24 All day long I will declare how Your justice saved me,
for those who have plotted to bring me harm
are now ashamed and humiliated.
17 A message about Damascus:
An ethnic group of Arameans control what will one day be the southern region of Syria; it is known as Aram. Damascus is its capital. Out of fear of Assyria and its brutal expansion west, Israel and Aram form an alliance and try to bully Judah and her king, Ahaz, into joining the futile confederation. But the prophet Isaiah holds a different opinion. He boldly instructs the king not to make any alliances or form any confederation as the Assyrian threat grows; instead, the prophet says, trust in God and God will protect you. But Israel and Aram attempt to force Judah into their alliance, unseating her king and replacing him with someone they can control. So Ahaz makes an alliance, not with Israel and Aram, but with their enemy, Assyria. When he asks for the empire’s help, they eagerly agree. Although Assyria assists Ahaz in warding off one threat, Assyria itself constitutes an even greater threat as Judah will soon experience.
Eternal One: So much for the “city of Damascus.”
It’s done for. Soon it will be just a pile of rubble.
2 The towns around it[a] will empty of people and be turned back to open land.
Imagine—sheep grazing and lying down where people used to live.
There won’t be a soul to scare them off.
3 The defenses of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, will fall—
Ephraim’s fortress walls will tumble down;
Damascus will no longer rule itself.
Aram—what is left of them—will resemble Israel’s fading glory.
That’s what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says.
4 Eternal One: Israel will be humbled then too;
our cousins, the children of Jacob, will lose their luster, their wealth and excess.
5 The land will resemble a field stripped until it is nearly bare,
like when the harvest has come and gone,
like the meager grain gleaned in the valley of Rephaim.
6 But some gleanings will remain
like when olive trees are beaten,
Where two or three olives remain at the top of a tree
and four or five hold on tight to its fruitful branches.
So says the Eternal One, Israel’s God.
7 Then, in that day, people will turn to the One who shaped them.
They’ll look on the Creator, the Holy One of Israel,
8 And disregard the things they’d made into gods.
They’ll turn away from worthless, handmade objects, sacred poles, and incense altars.
9 And then, in that day, their great cities will be abandoned
like defenseless outposts in a hilly forest,
Like those deserted when the Israelites took the land;
the scene will be eerily quiet and empty.
Israel’s devotion to things of their own making will come to nothing. If God is not the center of their work and striving, every gain is in fact a loss.
10 You have proven forgetful of God—how God pulls you clear of danger,
how God stands firm, like a great Rock where you can take shelter.
Because you have forgotten the one True God,
you planted pleasant gardens and set out tender vines of a strange god.
11 They sprouted so quickly the day you set them out;
they budded immediately the morning you planted them;
But you will never gather any sweet grapes from them.
What you reap will be illness and pain; that day will be filled with sadness.
12 Listen to the restless roar of the peoples!
They roar like a fitful sea.
Listen to the crashing thunder of the nations;
they thunder like a powerful surge of water.
13 But even if they thunder like a wall of water,
when God rebukes them, they will run far away;
With a word they’ll be driven like chaff in a mountain gust
or dust in a windstorm.
14 In the evening, look, their enemies terrorize them;
but by morning, they’re gone.
So it will be for those who attack and steal from us;
those who take, take, take will come to nothing and run away.
18 O land abuzz with the whirring of wings,
far away past the Ethiopian rivers,
2 With papyrus-reed boats shuttling ambassadors back and forth!
Go quickly, you messengers, to those impressive people,
Those fearsome and terrifying people so lank and smooth.
Theirs is a powerful nation divided by rivers.
3 All citizens of the world, every last inhabitant of the earth, pay attention!
When you see a signal raised on the mountains, look!
When the trumpets sound the alarm, listen!
4 Because the Eternal told me,
Eternal One: I am in control—calm and serene.
I am watching quietly from where I dwell
Just as surely as the heat shimmers in the blazing sun
and the dewy mists cool the warmth of a harvest day.
5 For even before the harvest begins, when the buds blossom
and the flowers make way for the ripening grapes,
God will cut back their shoots with pruning shears,
lop off and clear away the spreading branches.
6 He will leave the trimmings for the birds of prey
and the wild animals on the mountain.
The vultures will feed on their flesh during the summer,
and the wild animals will be nourished on their bones through the winter.
At times God watches “behind the scenes” quietly, calmly. But when it is the right time, God knows where and how to act. Throughout history nations rise and fall, but God is as constant as the summer heat and the cool fall breezes. Many nations such as Ethiopia look for diplomatic solutions and alliances in the face of the Assyrian threat. But Isaiah counsels them to stand back and watch, for he knows what God is about to do. Before the harvest, that is, before the armed rebellion against Assyria is set to begin, God moves in, pruning, lopping, clearing, and preparing the world for a better day.
7 Then those terrifying peoples—the lank and smooth from far away,
from the land divided by rivers, powerful and domineering—
Will honor the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, with gifts.
These proud people will bring them to Mount Zion,
Where the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has placed His special name.
5 Now for the elders of the church. I want to encourage you. As you know, I am an elder, too, like you. I have witnessed firsthand the sufferings of the Anointed One as well as shared in the glories which are soon to be revealed. 2 When you shepherd the flock God has given you, watch over them not because you have to but because you want to. For this is how God would want it not because you’re being compensated somehow but because you are eager to watch over them. 3 Don’t lead them as if you were a dictator, but lead your flock by example; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will be crowned with honor that will shine brightly forever. 5 You who are younger in the faith: do as your elders and leaders ask. All of you should treat each other with humility, for as it says in Proverbs,
God opposes the proud
but offers grace to the humble.[a]
6 So bow down under God’s strong hand; then when the time comes, God will lift you up. 7 Since God cares for you, let Him carry all your burdens and worries.
Humility is rarely a virtue that our culture values. We’re trained from an early age to show our strengths and hide our weaknesses. This type of thinking also spills over into our models of leadership, as we learn to dictate to others how they should perform. Peter, however, says that we should be humble in our relationships with one another and not lead as dictators. In fact, this humility before one another and God is actually the position of the greatest strength. Our enemy desires to consume us, but we find strength to resist him when we are dependent upon God for His strength.
8 Most importantly, be disciplined and stay on guard. Your enemy the devil is prowling around outside like a roaring lion, just waiting and hoping for the chance to devour someone. 9 Resist him and be strong in your faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are fellow sufferers with you. 10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace who has called you [to His everlasting presence][b] through Jesus the Anointed will restore you, support you, strengthen you, and ground you. 11 For all power belongs to God, now and forever. Amen.
12 Silvanus,[c] whom I consider a trustworthy and faithful brother, is carrying this brief letter to encourage you and to testify that here is the true grace of God. Hold on to it.
13 The church here in Babylon[d] chosen by God together with you, sends you greetings. So does my son in the faith Mark.
14 Greet each other with a kiss of love, and may peace come to all who follow Jesus the Anointed.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.