M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Confidence in Battle
20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horse and chariot—a people more numerous than you—do not be afraid of them. For Adonai your God, the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 When you draw near to the battle, the kohen will come forward and speak to the people. 3 He will say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near today to the battle against your enemies. Don’t be fainthearted! Don’t fear or panic or tremble because of them. 4 For Adonai your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you.’
5 “The officers are to speak to the troops saying, ‘What man has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. 6 What man has planted a vineyard but has not put it to use? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use it. 7 What man has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’ 8 The officers will speak further to the troops and say, ‘What man is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house—so he does not weaken his brothers’ heart like his own.’ 9 Then when the officers have finished speaking to the troops, they should appoint army commanders at the head of the troops.
10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, call out shalom to it. 11 Now if it answers you shalom and opens up to you, then all the people found in it will serve you as forced laborers. 12 If it does not make peace with you but makes war against you, then lay siege against that city. 13 When Adonai your God hands it over to you, you are to strike all its males with the sword. 14 Only the women, children, livestock and all that is in the city—all its spoil—may you take as plunder for yourself. So you may consume your enemies’ spoil, which Adonai your God has given you. 15 Thus you will do to all the cities that are very distant from you, which are not among the towns of these nations nearby. 16 However, only from the cities of these peoples, which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes live. 17 You must utterly destroy them—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as Adonai your God has commanded you. 18 You are to do this so they will not teach you to do all the abominations as they have done for their gods, and so you would sin against Adonai your God.
19 “When you lay siege to a city for a long time, making war against it to capture it, you are not to destroy its trees by swinging an axe at them. For from them you may eat, so you shall not chop them down. For is the tree of the field human, that it should enter the siege before you? 20 You may destroy and chop down only the trees that you know are not trees for food, so that you may build siege equipment against the city that is making war with you until its downfall.
His Chesed and His Wonders
Psalm 107
1 Praise Adonai, for He is good,
for His lovingkindness endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of Adonai say so—
whom He redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 whom He gathered out of the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the sea.
4 Some wandered in a desert, a wasteland.
They found no way to an inhabited city.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
their souls ebbed away.
6 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
7 Then He led them by a straight way
to go to a city where they could live.
8 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy
and His wonders for the children of men,
9 for He satisfies the thirsty soul
and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Some sat in darkness and deep gloom,
prisoners in misery and iron chains,
11 for they had defied God’s words,
and spurned the counsel of Elyon.
12 So He humbled their heart with trouble.
They stumbled, and no one was helping.
13 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
14 He brought them out of darkness
and deep gloom, breaking their chains.
15 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders for the children of men,
16 for He shattered bronze gates,
and broke into pieces iron bars.
17 Some became fools because of their rebellious ways,
and were afflicted due to their iniquities.
18 Their soul abhorred all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
19 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
and rescued them from their pits.
21 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders for the children of men.
22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of His works with joyful singing.
23 Some go out to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters.
24 They saw the works of Adonai,
and His wonders in the deep.
25 For He spoke and raised a stormy wind,
lifting up towering waves.
26 They mounted up to the sky
and plunged down to the depths.
In their peril their souls melted away.
27 They reeled and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill was bewildered.
28 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He brought them out of their troubles.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper—
the waves were hushed.[a]
30 They were glad when it became calm,
and He led them to their desired haven.
31 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders to the children of men.
32 Let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people,
and praise Him at the assembly of elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness
and springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
a dry land into springs of water.
36 There He brings the hungry to live,
and they establish a city for a dwelling.
37 So they sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, they multiply greatly,
and He does not let their herds diminish,
39 after they were few and crushed
by oppression, calamity and sorrow.
40 He pours contempt on princes,
making them wander in trackless waste.
41 But He lifts the needy high above affliction,
and makes their families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and are glad,
and all iniquity shuts its mouth.
43 Who is wise?
Let him observe these things,
and consider Adonai’s lovingkindness.
Catastrophe of Babylon
47 Come down and sit in the dust,
virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you will no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered,
and your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance,
and will spare no one.
4 Our Redeemer, Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name,
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit in silence, go into darkness,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you will no more be called
the mistress-queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with My people.
I profaned My heritage.
I gave them into your hand,
but you showed them no mercy.
You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.
7 You said, “Forever,
I will be the eternal mistress-queen!”
You did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now then, hear this, voluptuous one,
dwelling securely, saying in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me!
I will not sit as a widow,
or know the loss of children,”
9 These two things will come upon you
in a moment, in one day—
loss of children and widowhood—
they will come upon you in full measure
in spite of your many sorceries
and your many spells.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness,
You said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge
led you astray,
so you have said in your heart,
“I am—there is no one else beside me!”
11 But calamity will come upon you.
You won’t know how to charm it away.
Disaster will fall on you,
for which you cannot atone.
Catastrophe you cannot foresee
will suddenly come upon you.
12 Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
which you have toiled over since your youth.
Perhaps you will succeed?
Perhaps you will cause terror?
13 You are weary of your consultations.
So many!
So let the astrologers, star-gazers, predicting by new moons,
stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble.
Fire will consume them.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame!
It is not a coal for warming by
or a fire to sit before!
15 So much have they become to you,
with whom you have toiled,
trafficking with you from your youth,
each wandering about his own way.
No one will save you!
The Vile Prostitute and the Beast
17 Then one of the seven angels holding the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the sentencing of the great prostitute,[a] who sits on many waters. 2 The earth’s kings committed sexual immorality with her, and those who dwell on the earth got drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
3 So he carried me away in the Ruach into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. [b] 4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.[c] She was holding a golden cup[d] in her hand full of detestable things and the filth of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery:
“Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and the detestable things of the earth.”
6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the kedoshim and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua. When I saw her, I was totally astounded.
7 But the angel said to me, “Why are you astonished? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and yet is about to rise up from the abyss and head for destruction. Those who dwell on the earth—whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world—will be astonished when they see the beast, because he was and is not and is to come.
9 “This calls for a mind having wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings— 10 five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 The beast that was and is not—he himself is the eighth, and is one of the seven, and is heading for destruction. 12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These kings are of one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them—because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,[e] and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 Then he tells me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16 The ten horns that you saw, and the beast—these will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked,[f] and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to do His will, and to be of one mind, and to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is the great city exercising kingship over the kings of the earth.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.