M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
4 Moses: So now, Israel, pay close attention to the laws and judgments I’m going to teach you. If you follow them, you’ll enter and live in the land the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You’ll conquer it, and it will become your territory. 2 Don’t add anything to what I command you, and don’t take away anything from it; just follow the commands of the Eternal your God that I’m giving you now.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Eternal did about your immorality at Baal-peor, the mountain-god. When some of you followed after the Baal god, the Eternal your God killed them right in front of you—not one of them survived![a] 4 But all of you who remained loyal to the Eternal your God are still alive today. 5 So pay attention—I’m teaching you the rules and judgments the Eternal my God has given me for you. You’re to follow them when you enter the land and settle there. 6 If you obey them carefully, all the nations around you will marvel at your wisdom and understanding. They’ll hear about these rules and say, “This is a great nation—its people are so wise and understanding!” 7 Indeed, what other nation is so great that it has a god that compares to the Eternal our God as He is near to us whenever we call on Him? 8 What other nation is so great that it has rules and judgments as just as the ones contained in this whole law I’m presenting to you today?
The Lord chooses Israel from among all the nations to be His own people; but that choice, paradoxically, is for the sake of all the other nations too. Israel is supposed to create a model society, following His laws, and this is supposed to attract other nations to true faith in Him. Most of the Old Testament describes how the Lord is at work in close relationship with one nation. But it also provides continual glimpses, like this one, of the way that relationship is designed to be a vehicle to reach all nations. The “law” is a complex legal code designed to build a new society out of former desert wanderers.
Moses: 9 So watch what you do! Be careful with your very life! Don’t forget the things you saw with your own eyes, and don’t let them fade from your memory. Remember them your whole life; teach them to your children and your grandchildren. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Eternal, your True God, at Horeb when He called you to come close. He told me, “Bring all the people to Me. I want them to hear My words, so that they will learn to fear Me as long as they live on this earth and will teach their children to do the same.” 11 You all came and stood at the foot of the mountain. It blazed with fire all the way up into the sky while dark clouds and mist obscured your view. 12 Then the Eternal spoke to you from inside that fire. You heard His voice, you heard His words, but you didn’t see His shape—you only heard a voice. 13 He told you what to do to keep the covenant He made with you. He gave you the Ten Directives and engraved two copies of them on two stone tablets. 14 The Eternal commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and judgments that make up the law He wants you to follow in the land where you’re going to live when you cross the Jordan.
15 So be very careful! Your souls are at stake! You didn’t see any shape when the Eternal spoke to you at Horeb from inside that fire, 16 so don’t ever become so corrupt that you carve an idol representing Him for yourselves in any shape, whether in the form of a man or a woman, 17 or in the form of an animal that lives on the land, or a bird with wings that flies through the sky, 18 or anything that crawls on the ground, or a fish that swims in the sea. 19 And don’t ever become so corrupt that you look up into the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—as if each of them were a god—and be led astray to bow down to them and worship them, which the Eternal your God has given to all the people on earth. 20 But the Eternal has done something unique for you: He chose you and delivered you from slavery in Egypt where you were purified as if in an iron furnace, and He made you His very own people, which you are today. 21 The Eternal was angry with me because of you, and He swore I would not cross the Jordan River and enter the good land the Eternal your God is giving you to live in. 22 I’m not going to cross the Jordan. I’m going to die over on this side, but you will cross the river and take ownership of that good land. 23 So be very careful! Don’t forget the covenant the Eternal your God made with you; don’t make yourselves an idol in the shape of anything. The Eternal your God has commanded you not to! 24 The Eternal your God burns with jealousy when you’re not completely loyal to Him.
25 It would be disastrous if, after you’ve lived in the land for a long time and had children and grandchildren, you made an idol in any form. You know the Eternal your God considers this an evil thing to do, and it would make Him furious. 26 I call the heaven and the land as witnesses against you today, that if you do this, even though you’re going to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land, you won’t last long on it. You will die quickly—you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Eternal will scatter what’s left of you among all the other nations. Only a few of you will be left in each of the nations He takes you to. 28 And there you will worship useless items made of wood and stone carved by human beings, so-called “gods” that can’t see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But when you’re there, you’ll look for the Eternal your God. If every part of you is invested in the search, heart and soul, then you’ll find Him. 30 When you’re in trouble in those days yet to come because of all these things, you’ll come back to the Eternal your God, and you’ll listen to His voice. 31 He is a compassionate God. He won’t abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant He made with your ancestors—He swore to them that He’d keep it!
32 Ask anyone who’s ever lived: has anything this great ever happened before? Has anyone even heard of anything like it? Not since the day God first created humanity, not anywhere in the cosmos, from one end to the other. 33 You heard the voice of God speaking from inside the fire at Mount Horeb, and you survived! No other nation has ever done anything like that. 34 You saw with your own eyes what the Eternal, your True God, did for you in Egypt: He claimed you as His own nation, and He took you right out of another nation that was holding you captive. He rescued you by testing them with plagues, by warning them with signs and omens, by fighting against them with overwhelming strength, and by totally terrifying them! No other god has ever tried to do anything like that. 35 You saw all this so you would know the Eternal is the only God who truly exists. There is no other. 36 You heard His voice from heaven as He admonished you; He showed you His blazing fire on the earth, and you heard His words from inside that fire—all at His will. 37 Because He loved your ancestors, He’s also committed to their descendants who came after them, and that’s why He personally brought you out of Egypt by His own great power. 38 He defeated nations that are greater and stronger than you, and He let you live on their land. It will belong to you! 39 You just need to know with every fiber of your being that the Eternal, and no one else, is God up in heaven and down here on the earth. 40 If you remember His rules and keep His commands, which I’m teaching you today, things will go well for you and for your children after you. You’ll live a long time on the ground the Eternal your God is giving you. He wants you to have it forever.
41 Then Moses designated three cities east of the Jordan 42 as places where a person could flee if he or she unintentionally killed someone when there was no grudge between them. By fleeing to one of these cities, a person could be safe from revenge and stay alive. 43 These were the cities: Bezer on the plateau in the wilderness for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Establishing these cities of refuge for those who will be living on the east side of the Jordan is the last thing Moses needs to do before sending the people across the river to conquer the rest of the promised land. But they will keep living in that land only if they remain faithful to their covenant with the Lord. So as Moses continues to represent Him, he now describes the people’s obligations to the Eternal, beginning with exclusive loyalty and obedience to the one True God.
44 This is the law Moses gave to the children of Israel; 45 these are the precedents, rules, and decrees Moses taught the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt. 46 They were east of the Jordan, in the valley across from Beth-peor, in the land of Amorite King Sihon who ruled in Heshbon. Moses and the children of Israel crushed him when they came out of Egypt. 47 Sihon and Og, the Amorite king of Bashan, ruled the territory east of the Jordan. The Israelites took over their land, 48 from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sion[b] (that is, Mount Hermon), 49 including the arid valley[c] east of the Jordan River, down to the Dead Sea,[d] at the foot of Mount Pisgah.
Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 O Eternal One, lend an ear to my prayer and answer me,
for I am weak and wanting.
2 Safeguard my soul, for I remain loyal to You.
Save me, Your servant, who trusts in You, my God.
3 O Lord, please be merciful to me,
as all day long I cry out to You.
4 Bring joy into the life of Your servant,
for it’s only to You, O Lord, that I offer my soul.
5 O Lord, You are good and ready to forgive;
Your loyal love flows generously over all who cry out to You.
6 O Eternal One, lend an ear and hear my prayer;
listen to my pleading voice.
7 When times of trouble come, I will call to You
because I know You will respond to me.
8 O Lord, You stand alone among the other gods;
nothing they have done compares to Your wonderful works.
9 O Lord, all the peoples of earth—every nation You established—
will come to You, bowing low to worship,
and rightly honor Your great name.
10 For You are great, and Your works are wondrous;
You are the one True God.
11 O Eternal One, guide me along Your path
so that I will live in Your truth.
Unite my divided heart so that I will fear Your great name.
12 O Lord, my God! I praise You with all that I am.
I will rightly honor Your great name forever.
13 For Your loyal love for me is so great it is beyond comparison.
You have rescued my soul from the depths of the grave.
14 O True God, arrogant people are after me.
A violent gang wants to kill me;
they have no interest in You or Your ways.
15 But Lord, You are a God full of compassion, generous in grace,
slow to anger, and boundless in loyal love and truth.
16 Look at me, and grant me Your favor.
Invest Your strength in me, Your servant,
and rescue me, Your handmaiden’s child.
17 Give me a sign so I may know Your goodness rests on me
and so those who hate me will be red with shame at the sight of it.
For You, O Eternal One, have come to my aid and offered me relief.
Psalm 87
A song of the sons of Korah.
1 He laid His foundation on the sacred mountains.
2 The Eternal loves Zion’s gates;
He prefers it over any other place where Jacob’s descendants make their homes.
3 Spectacular things are said about you,
O Jerusalem, city of the True God.
[pause][a]
4 God says, “I tell of some who know Me in Egypt[b] and Babylon;
behold, My people are in Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia[c] too:
‘This person was born there.’”
5 It is said of Zion,
“This person and that person were born in her.”
The Most High God has established that city and makes her strong.
6 When keeping track of His people, the Eternal surely notices,
“This one was born in Zion.”
[pause]
7 Those who sing and those who dance will say together,
“All my fountains of joy are in You.”
32 Look, a good king, right with God,
along with princes, too, will rule with justice.
2 For the people they’ll be like cover from the storm, a wall against the wind.
They’ll be like streams of water in a dry place
and the cool shade of a giant boulder in the burning sun.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will see indeed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Careless and impulsive minds will take time to really understand,
and clear speech will return to the shy stutterer.
5 Fools will no longer be called noble-minded,
nor will criminals be respected.
6 For fools utter nonsense, and their minds are preoccupied with evil;
they regularly misrepresent the Eternal in what they say and do,
Leaving true seekers frustrated and confused,
the hungry with empty stomachs and the thirsty with parched mouths.
7 As for the criminals—their schemes are vile and evil;
they are constantly looking for ways to hurt the innocent,
To ruin the poor with their lies, and to twist a justified complaint.
8 By contrast, those who are noble have noble intentions,
and they stand confidently by their honorable words and actions.
Isaiah looks down the corridors of history to see the arrival of a good king who will do what is right, repair what is broken, and restore justice to the oppressed. More than any other prophet, Isaiah speaks of this coming king, God’s anointed ruler. When the Messiah comes, He will shelter His people from harm and deal finally, decisively with evil. No longer will wrong be called right, folly be celebrated, evil triumph, and complacency and apathy rule the day. When this good king arrives, the world—with all of its problems—will be set right.
9 Get up, you women who lie around in your life of ease;
hear my voice, you careless daughters, and listen to what I have to say.
10 Soon—in a year and a few days—you will shudder and shake;
your mindless lounging will come to an end, careless daughters.
For the wine you so enjoyed will be gone, with none to replace it.
There will be no fruit, no grapes to mash and juice.
11 Be worried, women of ease;
be bothered and anxious, careless daughters.
Strip off your fine clothes and replace them
with sackcloth; dress for mourning.
12 Beat your breasts over the loss of those lush vineyards,
over the vines, heavy with fruit.
13 Mourn over my people’s land, verdant and lush,
now the habitat of thorns and briars—
Yes, for all the happy homes and vibrant cities.
14 Palaces and bustling cities will be abandoned;
hilltop posts and watchtowers will serve as caves for animals;
wild donkeys and flocks will enjoy the wide open spaces.
15 So it will be until God pours out the Spirit from up above,
and the land comes alive again—desert to fertile field, fertile field to forest.
16 Then justice and truth will settle in the desert places,
and righteousness will infuse the fertile land.
17 Then righteousness will yield peace, and the quiet and confidence
that attend righteousness will be present forever.
18 My people’s homes and hometowns will be filled with peace;
they’ll relax, safe and secure.
19 Before such reconciliation, there will be cold, hard hail,
raining down when the forests fall and the cities are razed to the ground.
20 And you, you who plant on streams’ edges
and let your oxen and donkeys range free,
You will be happy.
As the story unfolds, we’re told that the lampstands signify the churches. During harsh times of persecution, the faithful often wonder where their Master is. Is He even aware of what they are experiencing? John’s vision confirms what the gospel already teaches: Jesus is present with them even in their suffering, moving among those who dare to bear the light. Lampstands, of course, are not the light. They only carry the light. The true Light that has come into the world is none other than Jesus, the Son of Man (John 8:28).
Letter to Ephesus
2 The One: Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Ephesus. “These are the words of the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks and moves among the golden lampstands:
2 “I know your deeds, your tireless labor, and your patient endurance. I know you do not tolerate those who do evil. Furthermore, you have diligently tested those who claim to be emissaries,[a] and you have found that they are not true witnesses. You have correctly found them to be false. 3 I know you are patiently enduring and holding firm on behalf of My name. You have not become faint.
4 “However, I have this against you: you have abandoned your first love. 5 Do you remember what it was like before you fell? It’s time to rethink and change your ways;[b] go back to how you first acted. However, if you do not return,[c] I will come quickly[d] and personally remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you do have this to your credit: you despise the deeds of the Nicolaitans and how they concede to evil. I also hate what they do.
7 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches. I will allow the one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death to eat from the tree of life found in God’s lush paradise.”
Letter to Smyrna
8 Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Smyrna. “These are the words of the First and the Last, the One who was dead and returned to life:
9 “I know [your deeds and][e] the difficult ordeal you are enduring and your poverty, although you are actually rich. I am aware of the offensive accusations preached by those who call themselves ‘Jews.’ But these people are not the Jews they pretend to be; they are actually the congregation of Satan. 10 In the face of suffering, do not fear. Watch; the devil will throw some of you into prison shortly so that you might be tested, and you will endure great affliction for 10 days. Be faithful throughout your life, until the day you die, and I will give you the victor’s wreath of life.
11 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches. The one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death will escape the second death.”
Letter to Pergamum
12 Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Pergamum. “These are the words of the One with the sharp double-edged sword:
13 “I know [your deeds and][f] where you live. It is where Satan, the adversary, has established his throne. You have stayed true to My name, and you did not deny your trust in Me even in the eventful days of My faithful witness, Antipas. He was killed among you in that place where Satan dwells.
14 “However, I have a few matters against you: some who live among you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to set up a stumbling block before the people of Israel.[g] As a result, some among you are eating food prepared for idol worship and committing immoral sexual acts. 15 You have others who are holding firm to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore, change your ways and turn to Me.[h] If you do not, I will quickly come to where you live and will battle them with the sword of My mouth.
17 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches. To the one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death, I will feed you with hidden manna and give you a white stone. Upon this stone, a new name is engraved. No one knows this name except for its recipient.”
Letter to Thyatira
18 Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Thyatira. “These are the words of the Son of God, the One whose eyes blaze like flames of fire and whose feet gleam like brightly polished bronze:
19 “I know your deeds, love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your labors greatly increase in quality as you travel along this journey.
20 “However, I have this against you: you have tolerated that woman Jezebel, who is a self-anointed prophetess and who misleads My followers to commit immoral sexual acts and to eat food prepared for idol worship. 21 I have provided her enough time to turn away[i] from her indecency, but she refuses to turn from these immoral acts. 22 Watch; I will throw her back into her sickbed with those who committed adultery with her, and I will make them a bed of great affliction if they do not abandon her indiscretions and turn[j] to follow Me. 23 I will punish her by striking her children dead. Through this all the churches will know I am the One who relentlessly explores the mind and heart, and I will deal with each of you as you deserve according to your acts.
24 “I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, those who have not held to the teachings of Jezebel and who remain ignorant of the real meaning of what is called the deep things of Satan, I will not burden you with anything more. 25 Just keep on task, and keep the faith until I return.
26 “And as for those who conquer through faithfulness even unto death and continue to labor with Me until the close of the final curtain,
I will give them authority over the nations.
27 And they will rule the nations with an iron scepter,
as fragile clay jars are shattered to pieces.[k]
As I received this authority from My Father, 28 I will bestow the morning star to the victor.
29 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches.”
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.