M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
13 [a]“If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and show you omens or portents,(A) 2 and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them,’(B) 3 you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.(C) 4 The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.(D) 5 But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.(E)
6 “If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or[b] your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend—saying, ‘Let us go serve other gods,’ whom neither you nor your ancestors have known,(F) 7 any of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, 8 you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion, and do not shield them. 9 But you shall surely kill them; your own hand shall be first against them to execute them and afterward the hand of all the people.(G) 10 Stone them to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel shall hear and be afraid and never again do any such wickedness.(H)
12 “If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, 13 that scoundrels from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ whom you have not known,(I) 14 then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation. If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you, 15 you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it, even putting its livestock to the sword.(J) 16 All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square, then burn the town and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.(K) 17 Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion, and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors,(L) 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.(M)
Pagan Practices Forbidden
14 “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.(N) 2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.(O)
Clean and Unclean Foods
3 “You shall not eat any abhorrent thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,(P) 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cleft in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cleft you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.(Q)
9 “Of all that live in water you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.(R) 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 “You may eat any clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,(S) 13 the buzzard, the kite of any kind; 14 every raven of any kind; 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16 the little owl and the great owl, the water hen 17 and the desert owl,[c] the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.[d] 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.(T) 20 You may eat any clean winged creature.
21 “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to aliens residing in your towns for them to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.(U)
Regulations concerning Tithes
22 “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.(V) 23 In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.(W) 24 But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you,(X) 25 then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose; 26 spend the money for whatever you wish: oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.(Y) 27 As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.(Z)
28 “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year and store it within your towns;(AA) 29 the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.(AB)
Psalm 99
Praise to God for His Holiness
1 The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!(A)
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.(B)
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
4 Mighty King,[a] lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.(C)
5 Extol the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool.
Holy is he!(D)
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.(E)
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his decrees
and the statutes that he gave them.(F)
8 O Lord our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.(G)
9 Extol the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.(H)
Psalm 100
All Lands Summoned to Praise God
A Psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.(I)
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;[b]
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.(J)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him; bless his name.(K)
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever
and his faithfulness to all generations.(L)
Psalm 101
A Sovereign’s Pledge of Integrity and Justice
Of David. A Psalm.
1 I will sing of loyalty and of justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing.(M)
2 I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;(N)
3 I will not set before my eyes
anything that is base.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.(O)
4 Perverseness of heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.(P)
5 One who secretly slanders a neighbor
I will destroy.
A haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not tolerate.(Q)
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
so that they may live with me;
whoever walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.(R)
7 No one who practices deceit
shall remain in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue in my presence.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of the Lord.(S)
Israel Assured of God’s Help
41 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.(A)
2 Who has roused a victor from the east,
summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him
and tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.(B)
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
scarcely touching the path with his feet.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am first
and will be with the last.(C)
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.(D)
6 Each one helps the other,
saying to one another, “Take courage!”(E)
7 The artisan encourages the goldsmith,
and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good,”
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.(F)
8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;(G)
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant;
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;(H)
10 do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.(I)
11 All who are incensed against you
shall be ashamed and disgraced;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.(J)
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.(K)
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.”(L)
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you maggot[a] Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.(M)
15 I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.(N)
16 You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.(O)
17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.(P)
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
and the dry land springs of water.(Q)
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.(R)
The Futility of Idols
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.(S)
22 Let them bring them and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they were,
so that we may consider them
and that we may know their outcome
or declare to us the things to come.(T)
23 Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be afraid and terrified.(U)
24 You, indeed, are nothing,
and your work is nothing at all;
whoever chooses you is an abomination.(V)
25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun he was summoned by name.[b]
He shall trample[c] on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.(W)
26 Who declared it from the beginning, so that we might know,
and beforehand, so that we might say, “He is right”?
There was no one who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.(X)
27 I first have declared it to Zion,[d]
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.(Y)
28 But when I look there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.(Z)
29 No, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their images are empty wind.(AA)
The Two Witnesses
11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,(A) 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.(B) 3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”(C)
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.(D) 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner.(E) 6 They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.(F)
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will wage war on them and conquer them and kill them,(G) 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically[a] called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.(H) 9 For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.(I)
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath[b] of life from God entered the two witnesses,[c] and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified.(J) 12 Then they[d] heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them.(K) 13 At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.(L)
14 The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.(M)
The Seventh Trumpet
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Messiah,[e]
and he will reign forever and ever.”(N)
16 Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,(O) 17 singing,
“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.(P)
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for judging the dead,
for rewarding your servants, the prophets
and saints and all who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”(Q)
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple, and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.(R)
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.