M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
A Curse Turns to Blessings
23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering. I will go and perhaps Adonai will meet me. Whatever message He shows me, I will tell you. Then he went to a barren height.
4 God met with Balaam and he said to Him, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I offered a bull and a ram.”
5 Adonai put a message into Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak this.”
6 Balaam went back to him. Behold, he was standing beside his offering with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then he uttered his oracle and said,
“From Aram, Balak brought me,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the east:
‘Come! Curse Jacob for me!
‘Come! Denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse one
whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce one
whom Adonai has not denounced?
9 From the rocky peaks I see him.
From the heights I behold him.
Look, he lives as a nation apart,
and does not consider himself
as being like the other nations.
10 Who can count Jacob’s dust?
Who can number a fourth of Israel?
Let my soul die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you’ve actually blessed them!”
12 But in response he said, “Mustn’t I speak whatever Adonai puts into my mouth?”
13 Then Balak said to him, “Come now with me to another place where you can see a part of them only, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”
14 He took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 “Stay here beside your offering,” he said to Balak, “while I am meeting over there.”
16 Adonai met Balaam there and put a message into his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” 17 So he went to him, and behold, he and the princes of Moab were standing beside his offering.
Balak asked him, “What did Adonai say?”
18 So he uttered his oracle and said:
“Rise, Balak! Hear me, son of Zippor!
19 God is not a man who lies,[a]
or a son of man who changes his mind!
Does He speak and then not do it,
or promise and not fulfill it?
20 Look, I received a command to bless.
He has blessed—I cannot change it!
21 No misfortune is to be seen in Jacob,
and no misery in Israel!
Adonai their God is with them
—the King’s shout is among them!
22 God is bringing them from Egypt
with the strong horns of the wild ox!
23 There is no sorcery effective
against Jacob,
nor any divination against Israel!
Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘See what God has done!’
24 The people rise like a lioness,
like a lion who does not rest
until he eats his prey
and drinks his victim’s blood!”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them or bless them at all!”
26 Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Haven’t I told you, ‘All that Adonai says, I must do?’
27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come with me to another place. Perhaps it will be pleasing to God and you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
30 Balak did just as Balaam said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Protect Me from Conspiracies
Psalm 64
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint.
Protect my life from terror of the enemy.
3 Hide me from the conspiracy of evildoers,
from the tumult of workers of iniquity,
4 who sharpened their tongue like a sword,
and aimed their arrow—bitter words,
5 to shoot from hiding at the innocent,
shooting suddenly at him, with no fear.
6 They are firming up their evil plan.
They talk about setting secret traps.
They asked, “Who would see them?”
7 They are plotting injustices:
“We have completed a perfect plot!”
A man’s inward part and heart are deep.
8 But God will shoot them with an arrow—
suddenly their wounds will appear.
9 So their tongue will be their downfall.
All who see them will flee away.
10 Then all men will fear.
So they will declare the work of God,
and ponder what He has done.
11 The righteous will be glad in Adonai and take refuge in Him.
Let all the upright in heart give glory!
Praise is Awaitng You in Zion
Psalm 65
1 For the music director, a psalm, a song of David.
2 Praise is awaiting You in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be fulfilled.
3 O You who hear prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
4 Records of sins overwhelm me—
You will atone for our transgressions.
5 Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your House—Your holy Temple.
6 You respond to us in righteousness with awe-inspiring works
—O God of our salvation—
hope of all ends of the earth and farthest seas,
7 who establishes mountains by His power,
being girded with might,
8 who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the tumult of the peoples.
9 Those dwelling in the uttermost parts stand in awe of Your signs.
You make morning and evening shout for joy.
10 You visit the land and make it abundant,
greatly enriching it—
the stream of God is full of water.
You prepare their grain,
for so You have prepared the earth.
11 You drench her furrows,
leveling the ridges.
You soften her with showers,
blessing her growth.
12 You crown the year with Your goodness.
Your wagon tracks drip with abundance.
13 Pastures of the wilderness overflow
and hills are robed with joy.
14 Meadows are clothed with flocks
and valleys are covered with grain—
they shout for joy, yes, they sing!
End of Babylon and the World
13 The burden[a] of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
2 Lift up a banner on a bare mountain,
raise a voice to them, wave a hand,
so that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,
yes, I have called My mighty ones,
My proud exulting ones, for My fury.
4 A sound of tumult in the mountains
like that of many people!
A sound of uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathered!
Adonai-Tzva’ot is mustering
the army for battle.
5 They are coming from a far country—
from the end of the heavens—
Adonai and the weapons of His wrath,
to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the day of Adonai is near!
it will come as destruction from Shaddai.
7 Therefore all hands will fall limp,
and every man’s heart will melt.
8 They will be terrified;
pain and anguish will take hold of them;
they will writhe as a woman in labor;
they will look aghast at one another—
their faces aflame!
9 Behold, the day of Adonai comes,
cruel, full of wrath and fierce fury,
to make the earth a desolation,
and destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
will not give their light.
The rising sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light.[b]
11 I will punish the world for evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
and abase the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make people scarcer than gold,
even than the pure gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make heaven tremble,
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the day of His fierce fury.
14 It will be like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with no one gathering.
Each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his own country.
15 Everyone found will be thrust through.
Everyone caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their babes will be dashed in pieces before their eyes.
Their houses will be plundered,
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who will not value silver
and will take no delight in gold.
18 Their bows will cut down the young men,
with no pity on the fruit of the womb,
nor will their eye spare children.
19 So Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of Chaldean pride,
will be just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will never be inhabited,
nor will it be dwelt in
from generation to generation,
nor will an Arab pitch a tent there,
nor will shepherds let flocks lie there.
21 But desert creatures will lie there.
Their houses will be full of owls.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and goat-demons will dance[c] there.
22 Hyenas will howl in their citadels
and jackals in their pleasant palaces.
Her time is near to come—
her days will not drag on long.
Greetings
1 Peter, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua,
To the sojourners of the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia—chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, set apart by the Ruach for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood[a] of Yeshua the Messiah:
May grace and shalom be multiplied to you.
A Message of Living Hope
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! In His great mercy He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead. 4 An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you. 5 By trusting, you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. 7 These trials are so that the true metal[b] of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. 8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don’t see Him now, you trust Him and are filled with a joy that is glorious beyond words, 9 receiving the outcome of your faith—the salvation of your souls. 10 The prophets, who spoke about the grace that was to be yours, searched for this salvation and investigated carefully. 11 They were trying to find out the time and circumstances the Ruach of Messiah within them was indicating, when predicting the sufferings in store for Messiah[c] and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were providing these messages not to themselves but to you. These messages have now been announced to you through those who proclaimed the Good News to you by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, sent from heaven. Even angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.
A Call to Be Holy
13 So brace your minds for action. Keep your balance. And set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah. 14 Like obedient children, do not be shaped by the cravings you had formerly in your ignorance. 15 Instead, just like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in everything you do. 16 For it is written,
“Kedoshim you shall be, for I am kadosh.”[d]
17 If you call on Him as Father—the One who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds—then live out the time of sojourning in reverent fear.
18 You know that you were redeemed from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors—not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with precious blood like that of a lamb without defect or spot, the blood of Messiah. 20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through Him you are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your trust and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth,[e] leading to sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from a pure heart. 23 You have been born again—not from perishable seed but imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All humanity is like grass,
And all its glory like a wildflower.
The grass withers, and the flower falls off,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”[f]
And this is the word that was proclaimed as Good News to you.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.