M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 30
Vows to the Lord and Others.1 [a]Then Moses spoke to the leaders of the ancestral tribes of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a person makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself to some commitment, he is not to break his promise. He will do everything just as he said he would.
3 [b]“When a young woman who is still in her father’s house makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind herself to some commitment, 4 and her father hears about her vow and her commitment made by oath and he says nothing to her, then all her vows and all the oaths by which she bound herself will be valid. 5 But if her father forbids it on the day that he hears about it, then none of her vows and the oaths with which she bound herself will be valid. The Lord will release her because her father has forbidden her to do it.
6 “If she marries after she has made a vow or a rash statement from her mouth by which she has bound herself 7 and her husband hears about it, and he says nothing to her on the day that he hears about it, then her vows and the oaths with which she bound herself will be valid. 8 But if her husband forbids it on the day that he hears about it, then he makes void the vows she has made and the rash statements from her mouth by which she has bound herself. The Lord will release her.
9 “Any vow or obligation made by a widow or a divorced woman by which she bound herself will be binding. 10 If she made the vow while she was in her husband’s house or swore an oath to bind herself to some commitment 11 and her husband heard about it and said nothing to her and did not forbid it, then all her vows and all the oaths with which she bound herself will be valid. 12 But if her husband forbids it on the day that he hears about it, then whatever proceeded out of her mouth concerning her vows or the oaths by which she bound herself will not be valid. Her husband makes them void and the Lord will release her. 13 Her husband can let stand or make void any vow or oath by which she bound herself to humble herself. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows and all her oaths. He has confirmed them because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard about it. 15 But if he makes them void after he has heard about them, then he will bear her guilt.”
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living in her father’s house.
Psalm 74[a]
Prayer in Time of Calamity
1 A maskil[b] of Asaph.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why[c] does your anger blaze forth
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed as your own possession,[d]
and Mount Zion that you chose as your dwelling.
3 Direct now your steps[e] to the endless ruins,
toward the sanctuary destroyed by the enemy.
4 Your foes exulted triumphantly in the place of your assembly
and set up their memorial emblems.
5 They set upon it with their axes
as if it were a thicket of trees.
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they bludgeoned all the carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary ablaze;
they razed and defiled the dwelling place of your name.[f]
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly crush them,”
and they burned every shrine of God in the land.[g]
9 Now we see no signs,
there are no longer any prophets,
and none of us knows how long this will last.[h]
10 How long, O God, will the foe mock you?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?[i]
11 Why do you hold back your right hand?
Take it out from your robe and destroy them.[j]
12 Yet you, O God, are my King from of old,
working deeds of salvation throughout the earth.
13 [k]By your power you split the sea in two
and shattered the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food for the wild beasts.
15 You opened up springs and torrents
and turned flowing rivers into dry land.[l]
16 [m]Yours is the day, and yours also is the night,
for you set in place both sun and moon.
17 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth
and created both summer and winter.
18 [n]Remember, O Lord, how the enemy has mocked you,
how a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
19 Do not surrender the soul of your dove[o] to wild beasts;
do not forget forever the life of your poor.
20 Have regard for your covenant!
For the land is filled with darkness,
and the pastures are haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy[p] bless your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.
23 Do not ignore the outbursts of your enemies,
the unceasing tumult of your foes.
Chapter 22
Jerusalem[a]
1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision:[b]
What possible reason can there be
for all of you to have gone up on the housetops,
2 dwellers in a city full of commotion,
a city exultant and filled with tumult?
Your slain did not fall by the sword,
nor did they perish in battle.
3 All your leaders fled away together,
only to be captured
without a weapon to defend themselves.
All of them who were found were captured
even though they had fled in all directions.
4 That is the reason why I said:
Turn your eyes away from me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
about the destruction of my people.
5 For this is a day ordained by the Lord of hosts,
a day of rout, tumult, and confusion
in the Valley of Vision,
a day on which walls will be battered down
and cries for help echo through the mountains.
6 Elam has taken up his quiver,
the chariots of Aram have their horses prepared,
and Kir has bared his shield.
7 Your fairest valleys are filled with chariots,
and the cavalry stands ready at the gates;
8 the Lord has removed his sheltering hand from Judah.
On that day you checked out the supply of weapons in the House of the Forest.[c] 9 You observed that there were many breaches in the City of David, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem, and you tore down some to strengthen the wall. 11 Between the two walls you constructed a reservoir for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the city’s Maker or give a thought to him who built it long ago.
12 On that day the Lord,
the Lord of hosts,
called on you to eat and mourn,
to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
13 But instead you indulged in joy and merriment,
the killing of oxen and the slaughtering of sheep,
the eating of meat and the drinking of wine,
saying, “Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 Then the Lord of hosts revealed this to me:
This wickedness will not be forgiven you
until you die,
says the Lord God of hosts.
Shebna and Eliakim
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts:
Go forth and find that official,
Shebna, the master of the palace, and say:
16 What are you doing here,
and who gave you permission
to hew a tomb for yourself here?
By what right have you hewn your grave on a height
and chiseled out your tomb in the rock?
17 The Lord is about to hurl you away violently;
he will grasp you firmly
18 and roll you up and throw you like a ball
into a vast expanse.
There you will die,
and there your splendid chariots will lie;
you are a disgrace to your master’s household.
19 I will remove you from your office,
and you will be pulled down from your post.
20 On that day I will summon
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
21 I will clothe him with your robe
and place your sash around his waist,
and I will bestow upon him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 I will place on his shoulder
the key of the house of David.
When he opens,
no one will close;
when he closes,
no one will open.[d]
23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place,
and he will become a throne of honor for his family.
24 Upon him will depend all the glory of his family,
his descendants, and his offspring,
and even the smallest vessels, from cups to pitchers.
25 On that day, says the Lord of hosts,
the peg that was securely fastened
will give way, break loose, and fall,
and whatever had been hanging on it will be lost.
For the Lord has spoken.
Chapter 3
The Fact of Christ’s Return
The Day of the Lord Will Come.[a] 1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I have written to you. In both of them I have tried to stir up your memories for a clear understanding 2 so that you might remember the words spoken in the past by the holy Prophets and by the apostles at the command of our Lord and Savior.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will appear who have led lives of indulgence. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ that was promised? Ever since our ancestors[b] died, everything has remained just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
5 [c]These people deliberately ignore the fact that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and that the earth stands out of water and in water. 6 Furthermore, by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of sinners.
8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved: with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay in keeping his promise, as some think in terms of delay, but he is patient with you. It is not his wish that any should perish but rather that all should be brought to repentance.
10 However, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a mighty roar,[d] and the elements will be dissolved in flames, and the earth and all that it contains will be disclosed.
11 Wait for and Speed the Day of God.[e] Since everything is to be destroyed in this way, consider what sort of people you ought to be, living holy and saintly lives. 12 Wait for and speed the coming of the Day of God,[f] on which the heavens will be set ablaze and all the elements will melt because of the intense heat. 13 We eagerly await the promised new heavens and a new earth[g] in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, in expectation of all this, do everything possible to lead blameless lives that are above reproach so that he will find you at peace. 15 Think of our Lord’s patience as your opportunity to be saved;[h] our beloved brother Paul told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that was given to him, 16 speaking of it[i] in all his letters. In them, there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and the unstable distort in the same way that they distort the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Conclusion
17 Guard against Error and Grow in Grace. Therefore, beloved, you have been forewarned about this. Take care that you are not led astray by the errors of unprincipled people and thus lose your secure position. 18 Rather, grow in the grace and the knowledge[j] of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Doxology. To him be glory both now and for all eternity. Amen.
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