M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 25
Restricted Punishment. 1 If there is a dispute between men and they take it to court for the judges to decide, let them proclaim as innocent the righteous and as guilty the wrongdoer. 2 If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, then the judge will have him lay down and beaten in front of him, giving him the number of lashes that his crime deserves. 3 He can be given up to forty lashes, but no more than that, for if he is given more than that, your brother might be shamed in your sight.
4 Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.[a]
Family Marriage.[b] 5 If brothers are living together, and one of them dies without having a son, then the widow of the deceased is not to marry outside of the family. Her husband’s brother will take her as his wife and thus perform the duty of her husband’s brother. 6 The first son will bear the name of the deceased brother, so his name not be extinguished in Israel. 7 However, if the man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, let the brother’s wife go to the elders of the town at the gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to ensure the continuance of his brother in Israel. He will not perform the duty expected of a husband’s brother.” 8 Then the elders of the town will summon him and speak to him. If he continues to say, “I will not marry her,” 9 then the brother’s widow will come up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his shoes from his feet, and spit in his face saying, “This is what a man deserves who will not build a house for his brother.” 10 His family will be known as “the family of the unsandaled one” in Israel.
11 Incidental Rules. If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them comes forward to try to rescue her husband from the man who is beating him, and she reaches out and grabs him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. You are to show her no pity.
13 You are not to have two different weights in your sack, one heavy and the other one light.
14 You are not to have two different measures in your house, one large and the other one small.
15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live a long time in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you, 16 for anyone who does these things, who deals with others dishonestly, is an abomination to the Lord, your God.
17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you as you were on your way when you came forth from the land of Egypt.[c] 18 They met you along the way and waylaid those who were lagging when you were weary and worn out. They had no fear of God. 19 When the Lord, your God, gives you rest from all of the enemies who surround you in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of the Amalekites from under the heavens. Do not forget!
Psalm 116[a]
Thanksgiving to God for Help Received
1 I love the Lord because he has heard my voice
and listened to my cry for mercy,[b]
2 because he has inclined his ear to me
on the day when I called out to him.[c]
3 The bonds of death[d] encompassed me;
the snares of the netherworld held me tightly.
I was seized by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I cried out in the name[e] of the Lord:
“O Lord, I entreat you to preserve my life.”
5 Gracious is the Lord and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord watches over his little ones;[f]
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Be at peace once again, O my soul,
for the Lord has shown mercy to you.
8 He has delivered my soul[g] from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.[h]
10 I believed; therefore, I said,[i]
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 In my dismay I cried out,
“All men are liars.”[j]
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the good he has done for me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation[k]
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows[l] to the Lord
in the presence of his people.
15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death[m] of his faithful ones.
16 O Lord, I am your servant.
I am your servant, the child of your handmaid;[n]
you have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia.[o]
Chapter 52
The Joy of Zion
1 Awake, awake!
Clothe yourself in strength, O Zion.
Put on your glorious garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
will no longer enter you.
2 Shake off the dust from yourself and rise up
O captive Jerusalem.
Remove the chains from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord:
You were sold for nothing
and you will be redeemed without money.
4 Then the Lord God continues:
Long ago my people went down to Egypt
and settled there as aliens;
the Assyrians also oppressed them without cause.
5 Therefore, says the Lord,
what should now be done?
My people have been carried off without cause;
their rulers boast triumphantly,
and my name is constantly reviled
throughout the day, declares the Lord.
6 Therefore, on that day,
my people will know my name
and understand that it is I who say:
Here I am!
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who bears good news and proclaims glad tidings,
announcing salvation and saying to Zion,
“Your God is king.”
8 Listen! Your watchmen raise a cry
and together they shout for joy,
for with their own eyes they clearly behold
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Burst forth together with songs of joy,
you ruins of Jerusalem.
For the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart! Leave that place behind!
Touch nothing that is unclean.
Go forth from its midst and purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.[a]
12 But you need not rush forth in haste,
nor should you take flight like fugitives.
For the Lord will go before you,
and your rear guard will be the God of Israel.
Humiliation and Triumph of the Lord’s Servant[b]
13 Behold, my servant will prosper;
he will be exalted and raised to great heights.
14 Just as many people recoiled at the sight of him—
he was so disfigured
that he no longer appeared to be human—
15 so will he startle many nations,
and kings will be speechless before him.
For they will see what they had not been told,
and they will contemplate
what they had not previously heard.
Chapter 22
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb[a] 2 down the middle of the street. On either side of the river was the tree of life[b] with its twelve crops of fruit, yielding fruit each month. The leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.
3 Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face,[c] and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night. They will have no need for light from a lamp or from the sun, for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign[d] forever and ever.
Epilogue: My Return Is Near[e]
Worship God Alone. The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent his angel to show his servants what soon must take place.7 “ ‘Behold, I am coming soon!’[f] Blessed is the one who observes the words of prophecy contained in this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me to worship him. 9 However, he said to me, “You must not do that. I am a fellow servant of you and of your brethren the prophets and of those who observe the words of this book. Worship God!”
10 The Great Separation.[g] Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy that are in this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the wicked persist in acting wickedly, and let the vile continue in their vileness, but let the righteous persevere in righteousness, and let the holy continue to be holy.”
12 “ ‘Behold, I am coming soon, and I will bring with me my reward to repay everyone as his deeds deserve. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.’
14 “Blessed[h] are those who wash their robes clean so that they will be free to eat from the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Others must remain outside: the dogs,[i] the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices deceit.
16 “Come, Lord Jesus!”[j]“ ‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David,[k] the bright Morning Star.’ ”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let each listener say, “Come!” Let everyone who thirsts come forward, and let the one who desires it receive the gift of life-giving water.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written about in this book; 19 if anyone takes away from the words in this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are written about in this book.
20 The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus![l]
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.
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