M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Fire From the Lord
11 The people were complaining about their hardships so that the Lord heard it. When the Lord heard it, his anger burned. So the Lord’s fire burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord. So the fire died down. 3 They named that place Taberah,[a] because the Lord’s fire burned among them.
Complaints About the Food
4 The foreign rabble who were among the Israelites were overcome by their craving. The Israelites also wept once again and said, “Who is going to give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our lives are wasting away.[b] We have nothing at all to look at except this manna.”
7 The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like resin.[c] 8 The people went around and gathered it up. They would grind it in hand mills or crush it in a mortar. They would boil it in pots or make it into loaves. It tasted like a cake made with oil. 9 When dew fell on the camp during the night, the manna fell along with it.
10 Moses heard people from all the clans weeping, each one at the entrance to his own tent. At the same time, the Lord’s anger burned fiercely, and Moses was displeased.[d] 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your eyes? Why do you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people by myself? Am I the one who gave birth to them so that you tell me to carry them in my arms to the land which you swore to their fathers, just as a woman who is nursing carries a baby? 13 Where is there meat for me to give to all these people? Listen, they are weeping to me and saying, ‘Give us meat so that we can eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all these people by myself, because that is too much for me. 15 If you are going to treat me this way, please kill me right now. If I have found favor in your eyes, do not let me see my own ruin.”
Elders Appointed to Assist Moses
16 So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather seventy men from the elders of Israel for me, men whom you know to be elders and officers for the people. Take them to the Tent of Meeting and make them stand there with you. 17 I will come down and talk with you there. I will take from the Spirit that is on you and will put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it by yourself.
18 “Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves to be ready for tomorrow. You will eat meat because you have wept and the Lord has heard you say, “Who will give us meat to eat? Yes, things were good for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will eat not just for one day, for two days, for five days, for ten days, not even just for twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until meat comes out of your nostrils, and you begin to loathe it. This will happen because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and you have wept in his presence, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
21 Moses said, “I am in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and now you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a whole month.’ 22 If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would that be enough for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would that be enough for them?”
23 The Lord said to Moses, “Is the arm of the Lord too short? Now you will see whether what I have said to you will happen or not.”
24 Moses went out and told the people the Lord’s words. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand all around the tent. 25 The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took from the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do it again.[e]
26 Two men, however, remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the tent. The Spirit rested on them, and they prophesied back in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported this to Moses. He said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
28 Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide from his youth, answered, “My lord Moses, stop them!”
29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all of the Lord’s people were prophets so that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.
Quail and a Plague From the Lord
31 A wind sent out from the Lord brought quail in from the sea. The wind scattered them throughout the camp (and about a day’s journey in any direction around the camp) about three feet deep[f] on the ground. 32 All that day, all that night, and all the next day, the people got up and gathered the quail. No one gathered fewer than sixty bushels.[g] They spread them out around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague. 34 They named that place Kibroth Hatta’avah,[h] because there they buried the people who were overcome by their craving.
35 From Kibroth Hatta’avah the people traveled to Hazeroth, and they stayed at Hazeroth.
Psalm 48
The Security of the King’s Holy City
Heading
A song. A psalm by the Sons of Korah.
Call to Praise
1 The Lord is great. He deserves to be praised
in the city of our God, on his holy mountain.
2 His mountain is lofty and beautiful, the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion, the northern mountain, is the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels.
He is famous as her fortress.
Defeat of the Enemies
4 Look! See! The kings came together.
They advanced together.
5 They saw. Yes, they were amazed.
They were terrified. They were put to flight.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pain like a woman giving birth.
7 You shattered them with an east wind, like ships of Tarshish.
Thanksgiving
8 What we have heard, we now have also seen:
In the city of the Lord of Armies,
in the city of our God, Interlude
God establishes her forever.
9 Inside your temple, O God, we meditate on your mercy.
10 Your praise, O God, reaches to the ends of the earth,
just as your fame does.
Righteousness fills your right hand.
11 Mount Zion rejoices.
The daughters of Judah[a] celebrate because of your judgments.
12 Go around Zion. Yes, go all the way around her.
Count her towers. 13 Consider her rampart.[b]
View her citadels, so that you may tell the next generation about them.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us beyond death.[c]
The Caption
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Warning to a Sinful Nation
2 Hear this, O heavens,
and listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.
I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey knows its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know.
My people do not understand.
4 How terrible it will be for that sinful nation,
for a people loaded with guilt,
offspring[a] who act wickedly,
children who are corrupt!
They have forsaken the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
They have deserted him and turned back.
5 Why do you keep earning more beatings?
Why do you continue to rebel?
Your whole head is wounded.
Your whole heart is weak.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is nothing healthy,
but only wounds, welts, and open sores.
Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your farmland right in front of your eyes,
and it is desolate, overthrown by foreigners.
8 The daughter of Zion[b] is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a melon[c] field,
like a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of Armies[d] had left us a small surviving remnant,
we would have been like Sodom;
we would have become just like Gomorrah.
The Lord’s Proclamation
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 What do your many sacrifices mean to me? says the Lord.
I have more than enough rams as burnt offerings
and enough fat from well-fed animals.
I am not pleased with the blood of bulls
or the blood of lambs and male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked for this from your hands:
this trampling on my courts?
13 Stop bringing worthless[e] offerings!
Your incense is an abomination to me.
I cannot stand your sinful assemblies
on the new moons, Sabbaths, and holy days.
14 Deep in my soul I hate your new moons and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to me.
I am tired of putting up with them.
15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Indeed, even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves. Purify yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
Stop doing evil. 17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed.[f]
Seek justice for the fatherless. Plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.
Though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat good things
from the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.
Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 Look how the faithful city has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice. Righteousness once lived in her,
but now murderers live there.
22 Your silver has become slag.[g]
Your drinks are mixed with water.
23 Your officials are rebellious.
They are partners with thieves.
Everyone loves bribes and chases payoffs.
They do not obtain justice for the fatherless,
and they do not take up the cause of the widow.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says:
I must certainly get relief from my adversaries.
I will avenge myself on my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you.
I will smelt away all your slag.
I will take away all your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges as they were at first,
and your advisors as they were in the beginning.
Afterward you will be called a righteous city, a faithful town.
27 Zion will be redeemed with justice,
and those who return to her will be redeemed with righteousness.
28 But the rebels and sinners will be destroyed all together,
and those who forsake the Lord will come to an end.
29 For you[h] will be ashamed of the oaks that you have desired,
and you will be embarrassed by the groves[i] that you have chosen.
30 For you will be like an oak whose leaves wilt,
and like a grove that has no water.
31 The strong will be like tinder,
and their work will be like a spark.
Both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
The Earthly Tent
9 The first covenant had regulations for worship and for an earthly sanctuary. 2 The first room of the tent was furnished with the lampstand, the table, and the Bread of the Presence.[a] This room was called the Holy Place. 3 And behind the second curtain was the room of the tent called the Most Holy Place. 4 It had the golden censer for incense[b] and the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered entirely with gold. Inside the Ark was the golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that had sprouted buds, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark, the glorious cherubim overshadowed the atonement seat. We are not going to talk about these things in detail now.
6 After these things had been furnished in this way, the priests would always enter the first room of the tent to perform their ministries. 7 But only the high priest would enter the second section of the tent, once each year, and not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that, while the first room of the tent existed, a way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.
9 This tent is a picture pointing to the present time. Since it is only a picture, the gifts and sacrifices that are brought there are not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. 10 They are only bodily regulations about foods, drinks, and various washings, which were in force until the time of the new order.
Jesus’ Blood
11 But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that were coming,[c] he went through the greater and more complete tent, which was not made by human hands (that is, it is not part of this creation). 12 He entered once into the Most Holy Place and obtained eternal redemption, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. 13 Now if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who were unclean, sanctifies them so that their flesh is clean, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our[d] consciences from dead works, so that we worship the living God?
15 For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance. 16 For where a will[e] exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will. 17 For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.
18 For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood. 19 Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,[f] with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”[g] 21 In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship. 22 And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law. And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
One Perfect Sacrifice
23 Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven be cleansed by these sacrifices, but it was necessary that the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with sacrifices better than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise he would have needed to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages, in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered only once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.