M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Cities for the Levites
35 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasturelands surrounding the towns.(A) 3 The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. 4 The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outward a thousand cubits all around. 5 You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pastureland for their towns.
6 “The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.(B) 7 The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands. 8 And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains, shall give of its towns to the Levites.”(C)
Cities of Refuge
9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there.(D) 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.(E)
13 “The cities that you designate shall be six cities of refuge for you: 14 you shall designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them, so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.(F)
Concerning Murder and Blood Revenge
16 “But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.(G) 17 Or anyone who strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or anyone who strikes another with a weapon of wood in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is the one who shall put the murderer to death; when they meet, the avenger of blood shall execute the sentence.(H) 20 Likewise, if someone pushes another from hatred or hurls something at another, lying in wait, and death ensues, 21 or in enmity strikes another with the hand, and death ensues, then the one who struck the blow shall be put to death; that person is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.
22 “But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity or hurls any object without lying in wait,(I) 23 or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally[a] drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies and no harm was intended, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances,(J) 25 and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge 27 and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of the city of refuge and is killed by the avenger, no bloodguilt shall be incurred. 28 For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return to his property.
29 “These things shall be a statute and ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.
30 “If anyone kills another, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.(K) 31 Moreover you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is subject to the death penalty; a murderer must be put to death. 32 Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.(L) 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites.”(M)
Psalm 79
Plea for Mercy for Jerusalem
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.(A)
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the air for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.(B)
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(C)
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.(D)
5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?(E)
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.(F)
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.(G)
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.(H)
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.(I)
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die.(J)
12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors
the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!(K)
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.(L)
Israel’s Redemption
27 On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.(A)
2 On that day:
A pleasant vineyard—sing about it!(B)
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
so that no one can harm it;(C)
4 I have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
I will march to battle against it.
I will burn it up.(D)
5 Or else let it cling to me for protection;
let it make peace with me;
let it make peace with me.(E)
6 In days to come[a] Jacob shall take root;
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
and fill the whole world with fruit.(F)
7 Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?
Or have they been killed as their killers[b] were killed?(G)
8 By expulsion,[c] by exile you struggled against them;
with his fierce blast he removed them in the day of the east wind.(H)
9 Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces;
no sacred poles[d] or incense altars will remain standing.(I)
10 For the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
the calves graze there;
there they lie down and strip its branches.(J)
11 When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without understanding;
therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
he who formed them will show them no favor.(K)
12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel.(L) 13 And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.(M)
Faith Conquers the World
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ[a] has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.(A) 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,(B) 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.(C) 5 Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D)
Testimony concerning the Son of God
6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.(E) 7 There are three that testify:[b](F) 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.(G) 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God[c] have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.(H) 11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.(I)
Epilogue
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.[d](J)
14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. 16 If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a deadly sin, you will ask, and God[e] will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly; I do not say that you should pray about that.(K) 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.[f](L) 19 We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.(M) 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;[g] and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.(N)
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.[h]
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.