M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Purging Innocent Blood
21 “Suppose a slain person is found fallen in a field, on the land Adonai your God is giving you to possess—who struck him is unknown. 2 Then your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance to the towns that are around the slain one. 3 Now the town nearest to the slain one—the elders of that city are to take from the herd a heifer that has not been used for work or pulled a yoke. 4 Then the elders of that city are to bring the heifer down to a flowing wadi that has not been plowed or sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. 5 The kohanim, the sons of Levi, will come forward—for Adonai your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His Name, and by their mouth every dispute and assault is to be settled. 6 All the elders of that city nearest to the slain one will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi. 7 Then they will answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see. 8 Grant atonement for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Adonai, and do not put innocent blood on Your people Israel.’ Then atonement will be granted to them for the blood. 9 So you will purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in Adonai’s sight.
Parashat Ki Tetzei
When You Go Out
10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Adonai your God hands them over to you and you take them captive, 11 suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her and would take her as a wife for yourself. 12 Then you are to bring her into your house, and she must shave her head, trim her nails, 13 and remove her captive’s clothing, then sit in your house and weep for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may go to her and become her husband and she will be your wife. 14 Now if you are not pleased with her, then you may send her off wherever she wishes. But you must certainly not sell her for silver—you may not treat her as merchandise, since you have humiliated her.
15 “Suppose a man has two wives—the one loved and the other unloved—and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons. But it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife. 16 Now on the day he lets his sons inherit what he has, he must not treat the loved one’s son as firstborn, in place of the unloved one’s son, who is the firstborn. 17 Rather, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated one, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first of his vigor—the right of the firstborn is his.
18 “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or mother. They discipline him, but he does not listen to them. 19 Then his father and mother are to grab hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city—to the gate of his place. 20 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious—he does not listen to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones to death. So you will purge the evil from your midst—and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
Hung on a Tree
22 “Suppose a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree. 23 His body is not to remain all night on the tree—instead you must certainly bury him the same day, for anyone hanged is a curse of God.[a] You must not defile your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.
With God We Do Valiantly
Psalm 108
1 A song, a psalm of David.
2 My heart is steadfast, O God.
I will sing, sing praises with all my soul.
3 Awake, harp and lyre—
I will awaken the dawn!
4 I will give thanks to You, Adonai, among the peoples,
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
5 For Your love is higher than the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
let Your glory be above all the earth.
7 Let Your beloved ones be delivered.
Save with Your right hand, answer me!
8 God has spoken in His Sanctuary:
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,
and measure out the valley of Succot.
9 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine.
Also Ephraim is a helmet for My head,
Judah is my scepter.
10 Moab is My washbowl.
I throw my shoe on Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”
11 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
12 O God, have You not spurned us?
Will You go out no more with our armies?
13 Give us help against the adversary—
for useless is deliverance through man.
14 With God we will do valiantly—
and He will trample our foes.
Prayer Against an Accuser
Psalm 109
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
O God of my praise, be not silent.
2 For the wicked and the deceitful
have opened their mouth against me.
They spoke to me with a lying tongue,
3 with hateful words surrounded me,
and fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
but I am in prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
let an accuser[a] stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged,
let him be found guilty,
and may his prayer be as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
let another take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children wander and beg
and may they search in their ruins.
11 Let a creditor seize all he has,
and may strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let no one show him mercy,
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
and his name be blotted out in the next generation.
14 May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before Adonai,
the sin of his mother never blotted out.
15 Let their sins be before Adonai continually,
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he never remembered to show mercy.
But he persecuted a poor and needy man,
crushed in spirit, to put him to death.
17 How he loved cursing—
may it fall on him!
He had no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him!
18 He wore cursing like his robe,
until it filled his belly like water, and his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped around him,
like a belt tied around him always.
20 Let this be Adonai’s reward to my accusers,
and to those who speak evil against me.
21 But You, Adonai my Lord,
deal with me for Your Name’s sake.
Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me.
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow,
shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees totter from fasting,
and my flesh is lean, with no fat.
25 And I have become a taunt to them.
When they see me, they wag their head.
26 Help me, Adonai my God,
Save me through Your lovingkindness.
27 Let them know that it is Your hand—
that You, Adonai, have done it.
28 They may curse, but You bless.
When they arise, they will be ashamed,
but Your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be clothed in disgrace,
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 I will greatly thank Adonai with my mouth,
and in the midst of a throng will I praise Him.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save him from those who condemn his soul.
Who Foretold These Things?
48 Hear this, house of Jacob,
who are called by the Name of Israel,
who came from the wellspring of Judah,
who swear by the Name of Adonai
and confess the God of Israel—
but not in truth or righteousness.
2 For they call themselves by the holy city,
and lean on the God of Israel,
Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.
3 “I foretold the former things long ago.
They went forth from My mouth,
and I caused them to be heard.
Suddenly I acted, so they came about.
4 For I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is iron sinew,
and your forehead bronze.
5 So I foretold it to you long ago.
before it came about I made you hear,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
my carved image, yes,
my molded image commanded them.’
6 You have heard. See all of it.
So will you not admit it?
I proclaim to you new things from now on—
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago.
Before today you had not heard them.
So you will not say, ‘Sure, I knew them.’
8 You have not heard; you never knew;
even from long ago your ear has not been open.
For I knew that you are treacherous,
and from birth were called a rebel.
9 For My Name’s sake I defer My anger,
for My praise I will restrain it for you—
otherwise I would cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you,
though not as silver.
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.[a]
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I act.
For how should I be profaned?
I will not give My glory to another.
12 Listen to Me, Jacob,
Israel whom I called:
I am He;
I am the first; I am also the last.[b]
13 Surely My hand founded the earth,
My right hand spread out the heavens.
When I call to them, they stand together.
14 Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them foretold these things?
Adonai loves him.
He will do His will against Babylon—
His arm against the Chaldeans.
15 I, I have spoken, yes I called him.
I will bring him, so his ways will succeed.
16 Draw near to Me, hear this:
Since the beginning, I have not spoken in secret.
From the time it existed, I was there.
So now Adonai Elohim has sent Me,
and His Ruach.”[c]
17 Thus says Adonai, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
“I am Adonai your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had listened to My commandments!
then your peace would be like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your seed would have been like sand,
and your offspring like its grains.
Their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before Me.”
20 “Get out of Babylon,
flee from Chaldea!
With a shout of joy,
proclaim this,
send it out to the end of the earth, say:
‘Adonai has redeemed His servant Jacob!
21 They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.
He caused the water to flow out of the rock for them.
He split the rock also,
and the waters gushed out.’”
22 “There is no shalom,” says Adonai,
“for the wicked.”
Judgment of Babylon
18 After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory. 2 He cried out with a mighty voice, saying:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great![a]
She has become a den for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit
and for every unclean bird
and for every unclean and detestable beast.[b]
3 For all the nations have drunk
of the wine of the fury of her immorality.
The kings of the earth have committed
sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
grew rich off the power
of her self-indulgence.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,[c]
lest you participate in her sins
and receive her plagues!
5 For her sins have piled up to heaven,[d]
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Pay her back just as she has paid out,
and give her back double for her deeds![e]
In the cup she has mixed—
mix a double dose for her!
7 As she has exalted herself and indulged herself in luxury,
so give her the same measure of torment and grief!
For in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen—
I am no widow;
I shall never see grief.’[f]
8 For this reason her plagues will arrive in
a single day—
death and grief and famine—
and she shall be burned down with fire.[g]
For mighty is Adonai Elohim who judges her!”
9 Then the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and indulged in luxury with her shall weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning[h]— 10 standing far off because of the terror of her torment, saying:
“Alas, alas, O great city—
O Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour your judgment has come!”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her,[i] because no one buys their merchandise anymore— 12 shipments of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of citron wood; all kinds of ivory products; all kinds of products made of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; and slaves—that is, human souls.
14 The fruit of your soul’s desire has gone from you,
and all the expensive and beautiful things are lost to you
—never again will people find them.
15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, shall stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying,
“Alas, alas, O great city—
clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 For in a single hour so much wealth has been ruined!”
And every ship captain and passenger, sailors and all who make their living at sea, stood at a distance 18 and were crying out, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning,
“Alas, alas, O great city—
in her all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth!
For in a single hour has she been ruined!
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven,[j]
and you kedoshim, emissaries and prophets!
For God has judged her condemnation of you!”
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea,[k] saying:
“So shall Babylon, the great city,
be thrown down with violence,
never to be found again!
22 And the sound of harpists and musicians,
flautists and trumpeters,
shall never be heard in you again![l]
And the craftsman of any craft
shall never be found in you again!
And the sound of a mill
shall never be heard in you again!
23 And the light of a lamp
shall never shine in you again!
And the voice of the bridegroom and bride
shall never be heard in you again![m]
For your businessmen were the tycoons of the world,
for all the nations were deceived by your sorcery![n]
24 And in her was found the blood of the prophets and kedoshim
and all those slaughtered on the earth.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.