M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Altar for Incense
30 You shall make an altar on which to burn incense. Make it of acacia wood. 2 It is to be eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide. It is to be square, and three feet high. Its horns are to be one piece with it. 3 Overlay it with pure gold—its top, all its sides, and its horns. Make a gold border[a] around it. 4 Make two gold rings to place under its border. Make them for each of its two opposite sides. They will serve as holders for poles with which to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6 Put the altar in front of the veil that hides the Ark of the Testimony, in front of the atonement seat that is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron shall burn incense made of fragrant spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn the incense. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it as the regular incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall offer no other incense on it, no burnt offering, and no grain offering, and you shall pour no drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering for atonement, once a year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.
The Redemption Price
11 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 12 “When you count[b] the men of Israel to register them, each man shall give to the Lord a redemption price[c] for his life as you register him, so that there is no plague among them as you register them. 13 Each one shall give this redemption as he passes over to the group which has already been registered—half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs),[d] half a shekel for an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who passes over to the group that has already been registered, those twenty years old and older, shall give the special elevated offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the elevated offering for the Lord to redeem your lives. 16 You shall take the redemption money from the people of Israel, and you shall designate it for the work of the Tent of Meeting so that it may be a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord, to redeem your lives.”
The Bronze Basin
17 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 18 “You shall also make a large bronze basin in which to wash. Its pedestal shall also be bronze. Put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they must wash with water so that they will not die. They shall wash whenever they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. This shall be a permanent regulation for them, for Aaron and for his descendants throughout their generations.”
Spices and Incense
22 The Lord spoke to Moses again. He said, 23 “Take fine spices: twelve and a half pounds[e] of liquid myrrh, half as much (six and a quarter pounds) of fragrant cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of fragrant cane, 24 twelve and a half pounds of cassia (weighed by the shekel of the sanctuary), and one gallon[f] of olive oil. 25 Make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixed with the skill of a perfume maker. It will be a holy anointing oil. 26 Use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar for incense, 28 the altar for burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its pedestal. 29 You shall consecrate them so that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will be holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and set them apart, so that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. 31 Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil for me throughout your generations. 32 Do not pour it on the flesh of anyone who is not a priest. Do not make any other perfume like it with the same ingredients. It is holy. It shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever mixes any perfume like it or whoever puts any of it on anyone who is not a priest shall be cut off from his people.’”
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices, gum resin, shechelet, and helbanum,[g] fragrant spices with pure frankincense. Use an equal weight of each ingredient, 35 and make incense from it, a blend made with the skill of a perfume maker, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 Grind some of it very fine, and put some of it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting where I will make myself known to you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 When you make incense for yourselves, you shall not make any with this recipe. You shall regard it as holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any fragrance like that for himself shall be cut off from his people.”
A Blind Man Sees
9 As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. 4 I[a] must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”
6 After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before this as a beggar asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one!”
10 So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is he?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.
“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”
16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”
There was division among them, 17 so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”
20 “We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. 21 But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”
30 “That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. 32 From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”[b]
36 “Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
Eighth Address to a Son:
Wisdom Avoids Entanglements
6 My son, if you have guaranteed your neighbor’s debts,
if you have shaken hands for a stranger,
2 you are trapped by the promises from your mouth;
you are captured by the promises from your mouth.
3 Because you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands,
go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
4 Do not allow your eyes to sleep,
or your eyelids to slumber.
5 Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter,
or like a bird from the hand of a trapper.
Wisdom Warns Against Laziness
6 Go to the ant, you slacker![a]
Observe its ways and become wise.
7 Although it has no overseer, officer, or ruler,
8 it stores its food in summer.
It gathers its provisions at harvest time.
9 How long will you lie there, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of your hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
and scarcity will come on you like a warrior.
Dishonesty Leads to Disaster
12 A worthless, wicked scoundrel,
who goes around with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks with his eye, signals with his foot,
and gestures with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with a deceitful heart—
he always spreads conflict.
15 Therefore his disaster will come upon him suddenly.
All at once he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.
Things That Are Disgusting to the Lord
16 These are six things the Lord hates,
seven things that really disgust him:
17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that run quickly to do evil,
19 a false witness who breathes lies,
and a person who spreads conflict between brothers.
Ninth Address to a Son:
Avoid Sexual Immorality
20 My son, keep your father’s commands,
and do not forsake your mother’s teachings.
21 Fasten them permanently to your heart,
and tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk around, they will lead you.
When you lie down, they will stand guard over you.
When you wake up, they will converse with you,
23 because a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,
and the warnings given by discipline are a road to life.
24 They guard you from an evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of a woman who is not your wife.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart.
Do not let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 A prostitute costs you a loaf of bread,
but a married woman stalks your precious life.
27 Can a man place fire on his lap
without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So it is with the man who goes to his neighbor’s wife.
No one who touches her will be forgiven.
30 No one despises a thief when he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving,
31 but when he is caught, he will have to repay seven times as much.
He will have to give up all the wealth of his house.
32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks sense.
He who does it destroys himself.
33 He will find disease and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be wiped out,
34 because jealousy ignites a husband’s anger,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any amount as a payment.
He will not relent, even if you increase your offer.
Christ Set Us Free
5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. 2 Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.
5 Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters. 7 You were running well! Who cut in on you, so that you are no longer persuaded by the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast works through the whole batch. 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will have no other opinion than this. But the one who is trying to disturb you will pay the penalty, whoever he is.
11 Brothers,[a] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Then the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 If only those who are upsetting you would also cut themselves off![b]
13 After all, brothers, you were called to freedom. Only do not use your freedom as a starting point for your sinful flesh. Rather, serve one another through love. 14 In fact, the whole law is summed up in this one statement: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[c] 15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Flesh Opposes Spirit
16 What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit,[d] and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. 17 For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh. In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the control of the law.
19 Now the works of the sinful flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[e] drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these. I warn you, just as I also warned you before, that those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the spirit[f] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with it. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.