M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Light for the Dwelling
8 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.’”
3 So that is what Aaron did. He set up the lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 This was how the lampstand was made: It was a work of hammered gold. From its base to its blossoms, it was one hammered piece. So the lampstand was made according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses.
The Purification of the Levites
5 The Lord told Moses 6 to take the Levites from among the Israelites and to do the following to make them ceremonially clean:
7 This is what you are to do to them to make them ceremonially clean: Sprinkle the water of purification[a] on them. Have them shave their entire body with a razor, wash their clothes, and purify themselves. 8 Then they are to take a young bull from the herd with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil. You are to take another young bull from the herd for a sin offering. 9 You are to present the Levites in front of the Tent of Meeting. You are to assemble the entire Israelite community. 10 You are to present the Levites before the Lord. The Israelites will place their hands on the Levites. 11 Then Aaron will offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering on behalf of the Israelites. They are to do the work of the Lord.
12 The Levites are to place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. You then will offer the one young bull as a sin offering and the other young bull as a whole burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. 13 You will have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and you will offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 In this way you are to set apart the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.
15 After you have purified them and offered them as a wave offering, the Levites will go to work at the Tent of Meeting, 16 because only they are given to me as servants from among the Israelites. In place of every firstborn from the womb, the firstborn of every Israelite, I have taken the Levites for myself. 17 For all the firstborn among the Israelites are mine, both human and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set the firstborn of the Israelites apart for myself. 18 But I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites. 19 From among the Israelites I have given only the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do the work of the people of Israel at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel so that there will not be any plague among the Israelites when the Israelites approach the sanctuary.
20 Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the people of Israel did for the Levites just as they had been told. The Israelites did for them everything that the Lord commanded Moses in regard to the Levites. 21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing. Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. 22 After that, the Levites went to do their work at the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses about the Levites, that is exactly what they did for them.
23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “This applies to the Levites: From twenty-five years of age and up, they are to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. 25 But when they are fifty years old, they are to retire from the service and no longer work. 26 They may assist their brothers at the Tent of Meeting in performing their duties, but they are not to do the work. This is exactly what you are to do in regard to the Levites and their duties.”
Psalm 44
Past Victory—Present Defeat
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
Past Victory
1 God, our ears have heard.
Our fathers have told us the work you performed
in their days, in days long ago.
2 By your hand you drove out the nations,
but you planted your people.
You crushed the peoples,
but you sent your people forward.
3 For it was not by their sword
that they took possession of the land.
It was not their arm that saved them.
It was your right hand and your arm,
and the light from your face,
because you took pleasure in them.
Present Trust
4 You are the one who is my King, O God.
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we drive back our foes.
Through your name we trample our adversaries.
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not save me.
7 But you save us from our foes,
and you put those who hate us to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day,
and we will praise your name forever. Interlude
Present Defeat
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us,
and you do not go out with our armies.
10 You made us turn back before the foe,
and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves.
11 You give us up for food like sheep,
and you have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for no great price,
and you have not profited from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
scorn and ridicule to those around us.
14 You have made us a laughingstock among the nations,
a reason for the peoples to shake their heads.
15 All day my disgrace is right in front of me,
and the shame on my face covers me,
16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this came on us, though we had not forgotten you.
We had not been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back.
Our steps had not slipped off your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a home for jackals,
and you covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered this,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are considered sheep to be slaughtered.
Present Plea
23 Get up! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up!
Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our misery and our oppression?
25 For our souls bow down to the dust.
Our bellies cling to the earth.
26 Stand up! Help us!
Redeem us because of your mercy.
The Friends
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Where did your lover turn?
We will look for him with you.
I Am His. He Is Mine.
The Woman
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens,
and to gather lilies.
3 I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
You Are Beautiful
The Man
4 You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,[a]
lovely as Jerusalem,
majestic as troops with banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
because they arouse me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
flowing down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin. Not one of them is alone.
7 Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There may be sixty queens,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number,
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is one of a kind.
She is the only daughter of her mother,
pure to the one who bore her.
The girls saw her and called her blessed.
The queens and concubines also praised her.
The Friends
10 Who is this woman that appears like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
A Puzzling Interlude
The Woman or The Man[b]
11 I went down to the grove of nut trees,
to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates had blossomed.
12 Before I realized it, my desire set me
among the chariots of my willing people.[c]
Beautiful From Bottom to Top
The Friends
13 Turn back, turn back, O Shulammite.
Turn back, turn back, so that we may look at you![d]
Moving On Toward Maturity
6 Therefore, leaving the beginning discussion of Christ, let us press on toward matters that require greater maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith in God, 2 of the teaching about baptisms,[a] of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And we will do this, if God permits.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who then fell away, to be restored to repentance because[b] they are crucifying the Son of God again, to their own harm, and exposing him to public ridicule.
7 For the land that drinks the rain that often falls on it and produces plants useful to those farming it, this land receives a blessing from God. 8 But the land that grows thorns and thistles is worthless and will soon be cursed—its end is to be burned.
9 But even if we speak this way, we are confident of better things for you, dear friends, things belonging to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love that you showed for his name’s sake, when you served the saints, and while you continue to serve them. 11 And we want each of you to continue to show the same eagerness, so that you may have the full assurance of your hope until the end. 12 Our goal is that you would not become lazy but imitators of those who inherited the promise through faith and patient endurance.
God’s Promise Is Sure
13 For God made a promise to Abraham, and since God had no one greater to swear by, “He swore by himself.”[c] 14 He said, “I will most certainly bless you and make you increase in number.”[d] 15 And so in this way, after Abraham had waited patiently, he received the promise.
16 To be sure, people swear by someone who is greater, and the oath serves as a confirmation for them that ends all disputes. 17 Because God wanted to show the heirs of the promise with even greater certainty that his plan was unchangeable, he guaranteed his promise with an oath. 18 He did this so that, through two unchangeable things (in which it is impossible that God would lie), we, who have fled for refuge by taking hold of this hope that is held out to us, might have strong encouragement.
19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul. It is sure and firm, and it goes behind the inner curtain, 20 where Jesus entered ahead of us on our behalf, because he became a high priest forever like Melchizedek.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.