M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 24
Marriage Laws.[a] 1 If a man marries a woman, and after they are married she becomes displeasing to him because he has discovered something indecent about her, and he writes a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand, and he sends her forth from his house, 2 then after she has left his house, she can become the wife of another man. 3 If this second husband is displeased with her and writes her a bill of divorce and he puts it in her hand and he sends her forth from his house, or if the second man who took her to be his wife should die, 4 then her first husband who had sent her away cannot take her back to be his wife again, for she has been defiled. This would be an abomination to the Lord. You shall not cause the sin to come upon the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you as an inheritance.
5 If a man has recently been married, he is not to go off to battle nor have any other duty laid on him. He will be free to stay at home for one year so that he can bring happiness to the wife whom he has married.
Additional Laws. 6 Do not take a lower or upper millstone as a pledge against a debt, for that would mean that you were taking the man’s livelihood as a pledge.[b]
7 If anyone kidnaps one of his fellow Israelites, mistreating him and selling him, then that kidnapper is to be put to death, and you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8 During an outbreak of leprosy, take heed to observe and carefully fulfill all that the priests, the Levites, tell you to do. Observe what they command of you and do it. 9 Remember what the Lord, your God, did to Miriam on the way after you came up out of Egypt.
10 Be willing to lend your brother anything, and do not go to his house to obtain his pledge against the loan. 11 Stand outside his house, and the man to whom you made the loan will bring the pledge out to you. 12 If a man is poor, you are not to keep his pledge overnight. 13 You are to return his pledge to him when the sun goes down so that he can sleep in his own garment and bless you. This is righteous to the Lord, your God.
14 You shall not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he be one of your brethren or a foreigner who lives on the land within your town gates. 15 You are to give him his wages on the same day before the sun goes down, for he is poor and he has his heart set on it. Otherwise he might cry out against you to the Lord and it would be your sin.
16 Fathers are not to be put to death in the place of their sons, nor are sons to be put to death in place of their fathers. Each man is to be put to death for his own sin.
17 You are not to pervert justice toward a foreigner or an orphan, nor are you to take a widow’s garment as a pledge against a loan. 18 Remember that you were once a slave in Egypt and the Lord, your God, redeemed you from there. This is why I command you to do this.
19 When you reap a harvest in the field and you miss a sheaf of grain, do not turn around to take it. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Then you will be blessed by the Lord, your God, in all of your undertakings. 20 When you beat your olive trees, do not go back over the branches a second time. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. 21 When you harvest grapes in your vineyard, do not go back over it a second time. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. 22 Remember that you were once a slave in the land of Egypt. This is why I command you to do this.
Psalm 114[a]
The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus
1 [b]When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary
and Israel his domain.
3 [c]The sea fled at the sight;
the Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs of the flock.
5 [d]What causes you to flee, O sea?
Why, O Jordan, do you turn back?
6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
and like lambs of the flock, O hills?
7 [e]Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
and flint into a flowing spring.
Psalm 115[f]
Hymn to the Lord, the One God
1 [g]Not to us,[h] O Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory
because of your kindness and faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”[i]
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever he pleases.[j]
4 Their idols are merely silver and gold,
the work of human hands.[k]
5 They have mouths but they cannot speak;
they have eyes but they cannot see.
6 They have ears but they cannot hear;
they have noses but they cannot smell.
7 They have hands but they cannot feel;
they have feet but they cannot walk;
their throats can emit no sound.
8 Those who make them end up like them,
as do all who place their trust in them.
9 [l]The house of Israel trusts in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
10 The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
11 Those who fear the Lord trust in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
12 [m]The Lord will be mindful of us and bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the Lord,
the small no less than the great.[n]
14 [o]May the Lord cause you to increase,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 [p]The heavens belong to the Lord,
but he has given the earth to humanity.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who sink into silence.[q]
18 It is we who bless the Lord
from this time forward and forevermore.[r]
Alleluia.
Chapter 51
Exhortation To Trust in the Lord[a]
1 Listen to me, you who pursue justice,
you who seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah who gave birth to you.
When I called him, he was but one,
but I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will comfort Zion
and have pity on all her ruins.
He will make her deserts like Eden
and her wastelands into the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will resound in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
4 Listen attentively to me, my people,
and pay heed to me, my nation.
For the law will issue forth from me,
and my justice will serve as a light to the nations.
5 My justice will issue forth swiftly,
my salvation will appear,
and I will judge the nations with my arm.
The coastlands and the islands
will place their hope in me
and trust in my protection.
6 Raise your eyes to the heavens
and gaze down on the earth below.
For the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment
as its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will be everlasting
and my justice will never cease.
7 Listen to me,
you who truly comprehend the meaning of justice
and who have my teaching in your hearts.
Do not fear the reproach of others
or allow their reviling to dismay you.
8 For they will be like a garment eaten away by moths,
like wool devoured by grubs.
But my saving justice will be everlasting
and my deliverance for all generations.
9 Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord!
Clothe yourself in strength.
Awake as in the days of old,
in ages long past.
Was it not you who hacked Rahab[b] to pieces
and pierced the dragon through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
and turned the depths of the sea into a path
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 Therefore, those whom the Lord has redeemed will return
and enter Zion singing,
their heads crowned with everlasting joy.
They shall experience joy and gladness,
while sorrow and mourning will disappear.
12 I, I alone, am the one who comforts you.
Why then do you fear mortal men who must die,
human beings who must perish like grass?
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
You are in constant fear every moment of the day,
dreading the fury of the oppressor
who is bent on your destruction.
But where now is the oppressor’s fury?
14 The oppressed will soon be set free;
they will not die in the dungeon,
nor will they be without food.
15 For I am the Lord, your God
who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar;
the Lord of hosts is my name.
16 I have put my words into your mouth
and sheltered you in the shadow of my hand,
I who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion,
You are my people.
The Cup of Salvation
17 Awake, awake!
Rise up, O Jerusalem!
You have drunk from the Lord’s hand
the cup of his wrath;
and have drained to the dregs
the goblet that causes men to become inebriated.
18 Of all the sons you have brought forth,
there is no one to guide you;
of all the sons you have reared,
there is no one to take you by the hand.
19 Who is there to grieve with you
about the twofold disaster you have suffered?
Devastation and destruction, famine and sword:
who can comfort you?
20 Your children are lying helpless
at the corner of every street
like antelopes trapped in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord,
with the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore, hear this, you who are afflicted,
you who are drunk although not with wine.
22 Thus says your sovereign Lord,
your God who defends his people:
I have taken from your hand
the cup of inebriation;
you will never again drink
from the bowl of my wrath.
23 I will hand it over to your tormentors,
those who said to you,
“Lie on the ground
so that we may walk over you.”
And you flattened your back
like ground beneath their feet,
like a road for them to walk on.[c]
The New Jerusalem A New World and a New People[a]
Chapter 21
The New Heaven and the New Earth. 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.[b] 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride adorned and ready for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice proclaim from the throne:
“Behold, God’s dwelling is with mankind;
he will dwell with them.
They will be his people,
and he will be their God,
God-with-them.[c]
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there will no longer be death.
Neither will there be any mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order has passed away.”
5 The one seated on the throne then said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.[d] To those who are thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of life-giving water.
7 “The one who is victorious will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.[e] 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the depraved, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and liars of every kind, their place is the fiery lake of burning sulfur, which is the second death.”[f]
The New Jerusalem. 9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven final plagues came forward and said to me, “Come, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 Then he carried me away in the spirit[g] to the top of a very high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It possessed the glory of God and had the radiance of some priceless jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.
12 Its wall was of a great height, with twelve gates,[h] and at the gates there were twelve angels. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates to the east, three to the north, three to the south, and three to the west. 14 The city wall had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The angel who was speaking to me was carrying a gold measuring rod to measure the city,[i] its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was laid out like a square, with its length and its width identical. He measured the city with his measuring rod: it was fifteen hundred miles[j] in length and width, and equal in height.
17 Then he measured its wall, and it was one hundred and forty-four cubits[k] high by human measurements, which the angel employed. 18 [l]The wall was built of jasper, while the city itself was of pure gold, as bright as clear glass.
19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with precious stones of every kind. The first of the foundation stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third turquoise, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates fashioned from a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see any temple there, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city had no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, for it was lit by the glory of God, and its lamp was the Lamb. 24 [m]The nations will walk by its light, and to it the kings of the earth will bring their treasures.
25 The gates of the city will never be shut during the day—and there will be no night there. 26 The nations will come into it bringing their treasures and wealth. 27 However, nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does abominable or deceitful things, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.[n]
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