M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Holy Oil
24 The Lord spoke to Moses:
2 Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil from beaten[a] olives for the Light so the lamps will be kept burning continually.[b] 3 Aaron shall set the Light before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is in front of the Testimony, every night from the evening to the morning. It is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. 4 He shall set the lamps regularly on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord.
The Holy Bread
5 You shall take fine flour and bake twelve round loaves from it. Each loaf shall be made with four quarts of flour. 6 You shall put them in two stacks, six to each stack, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 Upon the stacks you shall place clear frankincense as a memorial portion for the bread. It is a gift of food[c] to the Lord. 8 On every Sabbath day he shall arrange it before the Lord regularly. It is a permanent covenant on behalf of the Israelites. 9 The bread shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who shall eat it in a holy place, for it belongs to him as a most holy thing from the gifts of food to the Lord, a perpetual allotment.
Blasphemy Against the Holy Name
10 A man who was the son of an Israelite woman and of an Egyptian man came along with the Israelites. This son of the Israelite woman fought with another Israelite in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name[d] and cursed, so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, belonging to the tribe of Dan.) 12 They put him in custody to wait for a decision from the mouth of the Lord.
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 14 “Take the man who cursed outside the camp, and all those who heard it shall lay their hands on his head, and the whole community shall stone him. 15 Then speak to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he shall bear his sin, 16 but if anyone blasphemes the name of the Lord, he must certainly be put to death; the whole community must stone him. Whether he is an alien or a citizen, when he has blasphemed the Name, he must be put to death.”
17 “If anyone hits someone and kills him, he must certainly be put to death. 18 But one who strikes and kills an animal must make restitution for it, a life for a life. 19 If anyone injures his fellow citizen, he shall have the same thing done to him as he has done: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he injured that other person, the same is to be done to him. 21 One who strikes an animal so that it dies shall make restitution for it, but one who strikes a human being and kills him shall be put to death. 22 You shall have the same standard of justice for the alien who lives with you and for the citizen, for I am the Lord your God.”
23 After Moses had spoken this to the Israelites, the man who had cursed was taken outside the camp and stoned to death. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Psalm 31
Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
A Declaration of Confidence
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge.
Petition
Let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me.
2 Turn your ear toward me.
Hurry! Rescue me!
Be a rock where I take refuge,
a fortified place that saves me.
The Basis for Confidence
3 Yes, you are my rocky cliff and my stronghold.
For the sake of your name you will lead me and guide me.
4 You will pull me out of the net that they hid for me,
because you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.
6 I hate those who keep worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy,
because you saw my affliction.
You knew the distress of my soul.
8 You have not left me in the hand of the enemy.
You have made my feet stand in a wide-open space.
The Prayer for Delivery
9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress.
My eye grows weak with sorrow—
my soul and my body too.
10 Yes, my life is consumed by grief,
and my years by groaning.
My strength fails because of my guilt,
and my bones grow weak.
11 Because of all my foes,
I am a disgrace, especially to my neighbors.
I am dreaded by those who know me.
Those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I have been forgotten like a dead man, gone from memory.[a]
I have become like a broken pot.
13 Yes, I hear the slander of many.
There is terror on every side.
When they conspire together against me,
they plot to take my life.
Confident Petition
14 But I—I trust in you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies
and from those who pursue me.
16 Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your mercy.
17 Do not allow me to be put to shame, O Lord,
because I have cried out to you.
But let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them be silent in the grave.[b]
18 Let lying lips be silenced,
those who speak against the righteous
impudently with pride and contempt.
Closing Praise
19 How great is your goodness,
which you store up for those who fear you,
which you deliver for those who take refuge in you
in the presence of the people.
20 You hide them in your presence from the schemes of man.
You conceal them in your shelter from accusing tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
because he made his mercy wonderful for me
when I was in a besieged city.
22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from before your eyes!”
But you heard the sound of my cry for mercy
when I cried out to you.
23 Love the Lord, all his favored ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but he pays back in full the one who acts proudly.
24 Be strong, and let your heart be firm,
all you who wait confidently for the Lord.
What Is Better?
7 A good reputation is better than the best perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of his birth. 2 Better to go to a funeral than to a feast,[a] since death is the final destination for all mankind. The living must take this to heart! 3 Grief is better than laughter, because a sad face does a heart good.
4 The hearts of the wise think about the funeral, but the hearts of fools think about the feast. 5 It is better to hear a rebuke from a wise man than to listen to a happy song from fools, 6 for the fool’s laughter sounds like thorns crackling under a cooking pot. This too is vapor.
7 To be sure, oppressing others[b] turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts his heart.
8 It is better to finish something than to begin something. A patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.
9 Do not be quick to lose your temper, for outrage is embraced by fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” Wisdom would not lead you to ask such a question.
11 Wisdom along with an inheritance[c] is good. It is an advantage for those who see the sun, 12 because wisdom gives shade as money gives shade, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its owner alive.
Keep Your Balance
13 Look at the work of God. Indeed, who can straighten what he has bent?
14 On a good day, enjoy the good, but on a bad day, consider carefully. God has made the one as well as the other, so no man can find out about anything that will come later.
15 During my days that vanish like vapor, I have seen it all. For instance, a righteous man perishes despite being righteous, while an evil man lives for a long time in spite of his evil.
16 Do not be overly righteous. Do not trust too much in wisdom. Why ruin yourself? 17 Do not be overly wicked, either, and do not be a fool. Why die before your time? 18 It is good that you hang on to one alternative, but do not let go of the other, for one who fears God will avoid both extremes.[d]
19 Wisdom makes one wise man stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.
20 There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.
21 Furthermore, do not take to heart all the words people say, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you. 22 Yes, you know in your heart that many times you too have cursed others.
23 All this I tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was out of reach for me. 24 What has already happened is out of reach, and deeper than deep. Who can find it?
25 I turned my heart to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, and to find out how things fit together,[e] and to know that wickedness is foolishness and stupidity is madness.
26 I kept finding out that a woman whose heart is a trap is more bitter than death. Her heart is a hunter’s net. Her hands are chains. The man whom God recognizes as good will escape from her, but the sinner gets trapped by her.
27 “Look,” says Ecclesiastes, “this is what I found by adding one thing to another in my attempts to find how things fit together— 28 this is something my soul keeps seeking but has not found. One man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.[f]
29 “Look, I have found only this: I have found that God made mankind[g] upright, but they have gone off looking for many schemes.”
The Last Days
3 But know this: In the last days there will be terrible times. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, 4 treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such people. 6 For some of them are people who worm their way into households and gain control over vulnerable women who are overwhelmed with sins, led astray by various evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these people oppose the truth. They are people of depraved minds, disqualified in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, because their foolishness will be quite clear to everyone, just as it was in the case of Jannes and Jambres.
10 But you have faithfully followed my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfast endurance, 11 my persecutions, my sufferings—the kind that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the kind of persecutions I endured—and the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 As for you, continue in the things you have learned and about which you have become convinced. You know from whom[a] you learned them 15 and that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God breathed[b] and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.