M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Moses Commands Obedience
4 “So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.(A) 2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.(B) 3 You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor, how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,(C) 4 while those of you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.
5 “See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6 You must observe them and perform them, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’(D) 7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him?(E) 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
9 “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children(F)— 10 how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth and may teach their children so’;(G) 11 you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds.(H) 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.(I) 13 He declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments,[a] and he wrote them on two stone tablets.(J) 14 And the Lord charged me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy.
15 “Since you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, watch yourselves closely, 16 so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,(K) 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven.(L) 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own possession, as you are now.(M)
21 “The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I should not cross the Jordan and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving for your possession.(N) 22 For I am going to die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to take possession of that good land.(O) 23 So be careful, lest you forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you and make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.(P) 24 For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.(Q)
25 “When you have had children and children’s children and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger,(R) 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it but will be utterly destroyed.(S) 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you.(T) 28 There you will serve gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.(U) 29 From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.(V) 30 In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the Lord your God and heed him. 31 Because the Lord your God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.(W)
32 “For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has its like ever been heard of?(X) 33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived?(Y) 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?(Z) 35 To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.(AA) 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire.(AB) 37 And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,(AC) 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today.(AD) 39 So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.(AE) 40 Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”(AF)
Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan
41 Then Moses set apart on the east side of the Jordan three cities(AG) 42 to which a homicide could flee, someone who unintentionally kills another person, the two not having been at enmity before; the homicide could flee to one of these cities and live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
Transition to the Second Address
44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. 45 These are the decrees and the statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites when they had come out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned at Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of Egypt.(AH) 47 They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites on the eastern side of the Jordan: 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion[b] (that is, Hermon),(AI) 49 together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Psalm 86
Supplication for Help against Enemies
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.(A)
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God;(B) 3 be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.(C)
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.(D)
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.(E)
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my cry of supplication.(F)
7 In the day of my trouble I call on you,
for you will answer me.(G)
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.(H)
9 All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.(I)
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.(J)
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.(K)
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.(L)
14 O God, the insolent rise up against me;
a band of ruffians seeks my life,
and they do not set you before them.(M)
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.(N)
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant;
save the child of your maidservant.(O)
17 Show me a sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.(P)
Psalm 87
The Joy of Living in Zion
Of the Korahites. A Psalm. A Song.
1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
2 the Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.(Q)
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God. Selah(R)
4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
Philistia, too, and Tyre, with Cush—
“This one was born there,” they say.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in it,”
for the Most High himself will establish it.(S)
6 The Lord records, as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah(T)
7 Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”(U)
Government with Justice Predicted
32 See, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes[a] will rule with justice.(A)
2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.(B)
3 Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed,
and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.(C)
4 The minds of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.(D)
5 A fool will no longer be called noble
nor a villain said to be honorable.(E)
6 For fools speak folly,
and their minds plot iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.(F)
7 The villainies of villains are evil;
they devise wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.(G)
8 But those who are noble plan noble things,
and by noble things they stand.(H)
Complacent Women Warned of Disaster
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.(I)
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent ones,
for the vintage will fail;
the fruit harvest will not come.(J)
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip and make yourselves bare,
and put sackcloth on your loins.(K)
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,[b]
for the fruitful vine,(L)
13 for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the jubilant city.(M)
14 For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
the joy of wild asses,
a pasture for flocks;(N)
15 until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.(O)
The Peace of God’s Reign
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.(P)
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.(Q)
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 The forest will disappear completely,[c]
and the city will be utterly laid low.(R)
20 Happy will you be who sow beside every stream,
who let the ox and the donkey range freely.(S)
The Message to Ephesus
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
2 “I know your works, your toil and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them to be false.(A) 3 I also know that you are enduring and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary.(B) 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember, then, from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.(C)
The Message to Smyrna
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life:(D)
9 “I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan.(E) 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.(F) 11 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.(G)
The Message to Pergamum
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:(H)
13 “I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me[a] even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and engage in sexual immorality.[b](I) 15 So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent, then. If not, I will come to you soon and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth.(J) 17 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.(K)
The Message to Thyatira
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze:(L)
19 “I know your works: your love, faith, service, and endurance. I know that your latest works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to engage in sexual immorality[c] and to eat food sacrificed to idols.(M) 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.[d](N) 22 Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.(O) 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden;(P) 25 only hold fast to what you have until I come. 26 To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations,(Q)
27 to rule[e] them with an iron scepter,
as when clay pots are shattered—(R)
28 “even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.(S) 29 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
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.