M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Instructions About Clean and Unclean Meat
11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them 2 to tell the Israelites these things.
These are the animals that you may eat:
Of all the mammals on land, 3 you may eat any that have hoofs with splits in the hoofs and that rechew their food.[a] 4 But you are not to eat the following, which only rechew their food or only have hoofs: The camel, although it rechews its food, has no hoofs. It is unclean for you. 5 Do not eat the rock badger, for although it rechews its food, it has no hoofs. It is unclean for you. 6 Do not eat the hare, for although it rechews its food, it has no hoofs. It is unclean for you. 7 Do not eat the pig, for although it has hoofs with splits in the hoofs, it does not rechew its food. It is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat any of their meat or touch their carcasses. They are unclean for you.[b]
9 These are the creatures that you may eat from all those that live in water: You may eat anything from the water that has fins and scales, whether from the seas or the streams. 10 But everything else in the seas or in the streams that does not have fins and scales, every swarming creature in the water and every other living creature in the water, is detestable to you 11 and shall remain detestable to you. You shall not eat any of their meat, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12 Every creature in the water that does not have fins or scales is detestable to you.
13 You shall detest the following among the birds. They shall not be eaten. These are detestable: the eagle, the black vulture, the bearded vulture, 14 the red kite and black kites of every kind, 15 ravens and crows of every kind, 16 the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, all species of hawks, 17 the tawny owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl, 18 the white owl, and the scops owl, the osprey, 19 the stork and all species of herons, the hoopoe, and the bat.[c]
20 All winged swarming insects that walk on all fours[d] are detestable for you. 21 But among all the winged swarming insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which they leap off the ground. 22 Of them you may eat the following: all species of locusts, all species of bald locusts, all species of crickets, and all species of grasshoppers. 23 But all other winged swarming insects that have four feet are detestable for you.
24 By any of the following you will make yourselves unclean (anyone who touches their carcasses will remain unclean until sunset,[e] 25 and anyone who picks up any part of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and remain unclean until sunset):
26 All animals that have hoofs without splits between the hoofs or that do not rechew their food are unclean for you. Anyone who touches them will become unclean.
27 All animals that walk on their paws and go on all fours are unclean for you. Anyone who touches their carcasses will remain unclean until sunset, 28 and whoever picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and remain unclean until sunset. They are unclean for you.
29 These are the most unclean for you of the creatures that swarm on the ground: the rat, the mouse, and all species of large lizards, 30 the gecko, the spotted lizard, the lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.[f] 31 These are the most unclean for you of the creatures that swarm. Whoever touches any of these when they are dead will remain unclean until sunset.
Transferred Uncleanness
32 Any article made of wood or fabric or leather or sackcloth on which any of these fall when they are dead will become unclean. Any article that may be used for any task is to be put in water and remain unclean until sunset. Then it will be clean. 33 You must smash any clay pot into which any of them falls. Everything in it will become unclean. 34 If any water from the pot touches any food that may be eaten, the food will become unclean, and if any drink that may be drunk is in any clay pot which the unclean thing touches, it will become unclean. 35 Anything else on which the carcass of any of them falls will become unclean. An oven or stove must be broken up. They are unclean and will remain unclean for you. 36 But a spring or a cistern with a reservoir of water will remain clean, even though anyone who touches the carcass will become unclean. 37 If the carcass of any of them falls upon any seed grain that is about to be sown, the seed is clean, 38 but if water has been added to the seed and the carcass of any of them falls on it, it will become unclean for you.
39 If an animal that you may eat has died, anyone who touches its carcass will remain unclean until sunset. 40 Anyone who eats any part of its carcass must wash his clothes and remain unclean until sunset. Anyone who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and remain unclean until sunset. 41 Any swarming creature that swarms on the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten. 42 You shall not eat any swarming creature that swarms on the ground, anything that goes on its belly, and anything that goes on all fours, or anything that has many legs, because these creatures are detestable. 43 You shall not make yourself detestable[g] with any creature that swarms, nor shall you make yourself unclean with them, so that you become unclean by them, 44 for I am the Lord your God. Set yourselves apart, therefore, so that you may be holy, for I am holy. You shall not make yourself unclean with any swarming creature that crawls on the ground, 45 for I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. You therefore shall be holy, for I am holy.
46 This is the law concerning land animals, flying creatures, all living things that move in the water, and all living things that swarm on the ground, 47 so that you can distinguish between what is unclean and what is clean, as well as between animals that may be eaten and animals that may not be eaten.
Impurity From Childbirth
12 The Lord spoke to Moses and told him 2 to tell the Israelites these things:
When a woman produces offspring[h] and gives birth to a male, she will become unclean for seven days just as she is unclean during the time of her monthly period. 3 On the eighth day, the foreskin of his flesh[i] shall be circumcised. 4 She will remain in the process of being purified from her flow of blood for thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing nor enter the sanctuary until her period of purification is complete.
5 If she gives birth to a female, she will become unclean for two weeks as she does during her monthly period. She shall remain in the process of being purified from her flow of blood for sixty-six days.
6 At the completion of her time of purification for either a son or a daughter, she shall bring a lamb in its first year as a whole burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 He shall present it before the Lord and make atonement for her, so that she may be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for a woman who gives birth to a male or female.
8 If, however, she cannot afford a sheep or a goat, she may bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, one as a whole burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, so that she will be clean.
Psalm 13
How Long, O Lord?
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
Anguished Questions
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I experience worries in my soul,
sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy tower over me?
An Urgent Prayer
3 Look at me. Answer me, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes
so I do not sleep in death,
4 so my enemy does not say, “I have overcome him,”
so my foes do not rejoice when I fall.
A Solid Answer
5 But I trust in your mercy.
My heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has accomplished his purpose for me.
Psalm 14
The Fool
(Psalm 53)
Heading
For the choir director. By David.
A Description of the Fool
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt. They do disgusting things.
There is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all the children of Adam
to see if there is anyone who understands, anyone who seeks God.
3 Every one of them has turned away.
Altogether they have become rotten.
There is no one who does good.
There is not even one.
The Final Fate of the Fool
4 Don’t any of these evildoers understand,
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread?
They do not call on the Lord.
5 There they are! They are terrified
because God is present in the circle of the righteous.
6 You try to put the plans of the poor to shame,
but the Lord is their refuge.
Closing Prayer
7 Who will provide salvation for Israel from Zion?[a]
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Assorted Fools
26 Like snow during summer and rain during the harvest,
so honor is not appropriate for a fool.
2 Like a migrating bird or a flying swallow,
so an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
3 A whip is for horses, a bridle for donkeys,
and a rod for the backs of fools.
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly.
If you do, you yourself will become like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly.
If you do not, he will consider himself wise.
6 It is like cutting off your own feet or drinking violence[a]
when a person sends messages in the hand of a fool.
7 The legs of a lame person dangle.
So does a proverb in the mouth of fools.
8 Giving honor to a fool is
like tying a stone in a slingshot.
9 A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a thorn in a drunkard’s hand.
10 One who hires a fool or someone just passing by
is like an archer who wounds at random.[b]
11 As a dog returns to his vomit,
so a fool repeats his stupidity.
12 Have you seen a person who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13 A lazy person says, “There’s a ferocious lion in the street.
There’s a lion in the public square!”
14 A door turns on its hinges,
and a lazy person turns on his bed.
15 A lazy person buries his hand in a dish,
but he is too tired to return it to his mouth.
16 A lazy person considers himself wiser
than seven people who answer sensibly.
17 A passerby who meddles in a quarrel that is not his
is like a person who grabs a dog by the ears.
18 A person who deceives his neighbor and then says, “I was only joking,”
19 is like a madman who shoots firebrands and deadly arrows.[c]
20 When there is no more wood, a fire goes out,
and without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
21 As charcoal is to hot embers and as wood is to fire,
so a quarrelsome person is to igniting a fight.
22 Words of a gossip are like food that is easy to swallow.
They go down to the depths of one’s heart.[d]
23 Fervent[e] lips and an evil heart
are like a glaze[f] covering a clay pot.
24 With his lips a person hides his hatred,
but he hides deceit inside.
25 When his voice sounds gracious, do not believe him,
because seven abominations are in his heart.
26 His hatred covers itself with deceit,
but his evil will be revealed in the assembly.
27 The person who digs a pit will fall into it.
The person who rolls away a stone—it will roll back over him.
28 A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
and a smooth mouth causes ruin.
Instruction Concerning the Signs of the End Times
5 Concerning the times and dates, brothers, there is no need to write to you, 2 for you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will suddenly come on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will certainly not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in the dark so that this day takes you by surprise like a thief, 5 for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep like everyone else, but rather let us remain alert and sober.
7 To be sure, those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 You see, God did not appoint us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are also doing.
Final Exhortations and Greetings
12 Brothers, we ask you to take note of those who work hard among you, who exercise leadership over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love, on account of their work. Live at peace with each other.
14 We also encourage you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle. Encourage those who are discouraged, help those who are weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil with evil, but instead, always strive to do good to each other and to everyone else.
16 Rejoice always. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not extinguish the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 But[a] test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Keep away from every kind[b] of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath to the Lord to read this letter to all the holy[c] brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.