M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Holiness of the Community
19 The Lord told Moses 2 to speak to the whole community of the Israelites and tell them these things:
You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 Each of you must respect your mother and father and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4 You shall not[a] turn to gods that really are not gods.[b] You must not make for yourselves gods cast out of metal.[c] I am the Lord your God.
5 When you offer a sacrifice that is a fellowship offering to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you will be accepted. 6 It is to be eaten on the day that you offer it or on the next day, but whatever is left over on the third day is to be burned in fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it will be regarded as rotten meat. It is not acceptable. 8 Whoever eats it will bear his guilt, because he has desecrated[d] what is holy to the Lord. Any such person will be cut off from his people.
9 When you reap the harvest from your land, you are not to finish reaping all the way to the edge of the field. Do not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not strip your vineyard clean, and do not pick up the fallen grapes from your vineyard, but leave them for the poor and the alien who live with you. I am the Lord your God.
11 You shall not steal. You shall not swindle. You shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear falsely by my name so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not rob him. You shall not keep the wages of a day laborer with you overnight until morning.
14 You shall not curse a deaf person, nor shall you put an obstacle in front of a blind person, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.
15 You shall not act unjustly in court cases. Do not show favoritism to a poor person, and do not show undue honor to an important person. You must judge your fellow citizens with justice.
16 You shall not go around spreading slander among your people. You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor in a capital case.[e] I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate a fellow Israelite[f] in your heart. You must openly rebuke your fellow citizen so that you do not become responsible for his sin. 18 You must not take revenge. You must not bear a grudge against the members of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 You shall keep my regulations. You must not cause two different kinds of livestock to mate together. You must not sow your field with two kinds of seed. You must not wear any clothing made with two kinds of material.
20 If a man lies down with a woman and has an emission of semen, if she is a female slave who has already been designated for another man, but she has not yet been fully ransomed or received her freedom, a hearing shall be held concerning financial compensation, but they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21 But he must bring his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting—a ram for restitution. 22 The priest shall perform atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram for the restitution offering for his sin that he has committed, so that he may be forgiven for his sin that he has committed.
23 Also when you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, you must cut off its budding fruit as if it were a foreskin. For three years you shall regard the tree and its fruit as uncircumcised. Its fruit shall not be eaten.[g] 24 In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be set aside as a holy offering of praise to the Lord. 25 You may eat its fruit in the fifth year, so that its yield may be increased for you. I am the Lord your God.
26 You shall not eat meat with the blood in it.
You shall not interpret omens, nor shall you perform divination.
27 You shall not round off the hair on the side of your heads, nor shall you disfigure the edge of your beard. 28 You shall not make a gash in your flesh for the dead, nor shall you put tattoos on yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
29 You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not be subjected to prostitution and filled with depravity.
30 You must keep my Sabbaths, and you must revere my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 You must not turn to mediums or to spiritists[h] and so become unclean through them. I am the Lord your God.
32 You must rise in the presence of gray hair and show respect in the presence of an elder, so that you fear your God. I am the Lord.
33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you must not mistreat him. 34 You shall treat the alien who resides with you as a fellow citizen. You shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 You shall not use dishonest measurements of weight or volume. 36 Instead you must use an honest scale, honest weights, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure.[i]
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; 37 therefore, you shall keep all my requirements and my ordinances and carry them out. I am the Lord.
Psalm 23
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Heading
A psalm by David.
The Shepherd Provides for His People
1 The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
2 He causes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
The Shepherd Protects His People
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
The Royal Host Provides for His People
5 You set a table for me in the presence of my foes.
You drench my head with oil.[a]
My cup is overflowing.
6 Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.[b]
Psalm 24
The King of Glory
Heading
By David. A psalm.
The King of Glory Owns the Whole World
1 The earth is the Lord’s
and everything that fills it,
the world and all who live in it,
2 because he founded it on the seas,
and he established it on the rivers.[c]
The King of Glory Is Served by a Holy People
3 Who may go up to the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
whose soul is not set on what is false,
who does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves him.
6 Such are the people of Jacob who look for the Lord,
who seek your face.[d] Interlude
The King of Glory Comes
7 Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift yourselves up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
8 Who is this King of Glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, you gates.
Lift up, you ancient doors,
and the King of Glory will come in.
10 Who is he, this King of Glory?
The Lord of Armies—he is the King of Glory. Interlude[e]
2 I thought in my heart, “Go ahead, test yourself with[a] pleasure to see what is good.”[b] But, oh, that too is vapor.
2 About laughter, I said, “Madness!” About pleasure, “What good is it?”
3 As my heart kept guiding me with wisdom, I put it to work researching how to relax my body[c] with wine and how to grasp why people do stupid things.[d] My goal was to see what was good for people to do under the sky, during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I made reservoirs of water for myself to irrigate a forest of sprouting trees. 7 I acquired male and female servants. I also had slaves that were born in my own house. Livestock too! I had more herds and flocks than anyone before me in Jerusalem. 8 I piled up silver and gold for myself, as well as treasures from kings and provinces. I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives great pleasure to men—one concubine after another.[e]
9 So I became great, and I surpassed all who were in Jerusalem before me. Nevertheless, my wisdom still stayed with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not withhold from them. I did not hold my heart back from any pleasure. My heart even took pleasure in all my hard work. This was what I got from all my hard work.
11 But when I turned my attention to everything that my hands had done and to how hard I had worked for it—note this—it was all vapor, all chasing the wind. There was no benefit under the sun.
12 I turned my attention to consider wisdom, madness, and stupidity—for what will the man do who will succeed the king? Only what has already been done. 13 I saw wisdom is better than stupidity, as light is better than darkness. 14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate meets[f] them all. 15 So I said in my heart, “The same fate that meets the fool will also meet me. So why then have I been overly wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is just vapor.”
16 No one will remember the wise man or the fool for long. In days to come, all of them will already be forgotten. How does the wise man die? Just like the fool. 17 So I hated life, because the work done under the sun was so frustrating for me, because everything is vapor and chasing the wind. 18 I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.
20 So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. 21 Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! 22 For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart, as he works so hard under the sun?
23 Pain fills all his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.
The Best We Can Hope For
24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. 25 For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?[g] 26 Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.
Some Will Fall Away
4 The Spirit clearly says that, in later times, some will fall away from the faith, because they devote themselves to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons, 2 in connection with the hypocrisy of liars, whose own consciences have been seared. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 In fact, everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
A Good Servant of Christ Jesus
6 If you point out these things to the brothers,[a] you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good doctrine, which you have followed faithfully. 7 Pay no attention to worldly and absurd myths, but train yourself for godliness. 8 For bodily training is beneficial to an extent, but godliness is beneficial in all things, because it holds promise both for life now and for the life to come. 9 This saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance. 10 Indeed, it is for this reason that we work hard and are insulted:[b] because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 Insist on these things and continue teaching them. 12 Let no one look down on your youth. Instead, be an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the reading[c] of Scripture, to encouraging, and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy when the elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things. Constantly be involved in them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to the doctrine. Persevere in them, because by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.