M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 Now Korah, who was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, joined with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and with On, the son of Peleth. These three were descendants of Reuben. They gathered 2 two hundred fifty well-known Israelites, tribal chiefs of the community, appointed representatives who served on the council, and they rose up against Moses. 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For the entire community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the Lord’s assembly?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 He said to Korah and to all his followers, “In the morning the Lord will reveal which of you are his and which of you are holy, and he will have that person come near to him. The man he chooses, he will have that man come near to him. 6 Do this, Korah, you and all your followers. Take censers, 7 put fire in them, and place incense on them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be set aside as holy. You have gone too far, you Levites!”
8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community and brought you near to himself to do the work of the Lord’s Dwelling and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near, along with all your fellow Levites who are with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your followers have gathered together against the Lord! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
12 Moses sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness? Must you also make yourself a ruler over us? 14 Besides this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not pay attention to their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”
16 Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your followers are to appear before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron. 17 Every one of them is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each man will present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers. You and Aaron also, each one of you, will present his censer.”
18 They each took their own censers, put fire in them, placed incense on them, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Korah assembled the entire community opposite Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I may put an end to them instantly!”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will you be angry against the entire community?”
23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Tell the assembly, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26 He told the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!” 27 So from every side, they moved away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.
28 Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that all this was not just my idea.[a] 29 If these men die a death like everyone else and if they suffer the same fate that everyone does, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something unheard of and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave,[b] you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah, along with their households and all their possessions. 33 So they and everything that belonged to them went down alive into the grave. The earth closed up over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly. 34 Hearing their screams, all the Israelites who were around them fled, because they said, “The earth will swallow us up too!” 35 Fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
36 The Lord spoke to Moses:[c] 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the burning debris and scatter the fire far away, for the censers are holy. 38 Make the censers belonging to those who sinned at the cost of their own lives into hammered sheets for plating the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, and the censers are holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which had been presented by those who had been burned up by fire. They hammered them into plating for the altar 40 as a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, who is not from the descendants of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord said to him through Moses.
41 But on the next day the entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the people of the Lord!”
42 When the community assembled together against Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, the cloud covered it, and the Glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Moses and Aaron went in front of the Tent of Meeting. 44 The Lord spoke to Moses: 45 “Get away from this community so that I may put an end to them instantly!” Moses and Aaron fell facedown to the ground.
46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, place incense on it, go quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord! The plague has begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put the incense on his censer and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died by the plague totaled 14,700, besides those who died because of the offense of Korah. 50 Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Psalm 52
Your Tongue Is a Razor
Heading
For the choir director. A maskil[a] by David.
When Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul
and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”[b]
Doeg’s Sin
1 Why do you boast about evil, you hero?
The mercy of God endures all day long.
2 Your tongue plans destruction.
It is like a sharpened razor, you scheming liar.
3 You love evil rather than good. Interlude
You love lying rather than speaking what is right.
4 You lying tongue, you love every word that devours!
Doeg’s Judgment
5 But God will tear you down forever.
He will grab you and pull you out of your tent. Interlude
He will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 Then the righteous will see and fear.
Then they will laugh at him:
7 “Look, here is the man who did not make God his stronghold,
but trusted in the greatness of his wealth.
He grew strong by his destructive deeds!”
David’s Delivery
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever because you have done this.
I will hope in your name in the presence of your favored ones
because it is good.
Psalm 53
The Fool
(Psalm 14)
Heading
For the choir director. According to mahalath.[c] A maskil by David.
A Description of the Fool
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt. They commit horrible evil.
There is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on all the children of Adam
to see if there is anyone who understands,
anyone who seeks God.
3 Every single one has turned back.
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 they know, all those evildoers,
who devour my people as if they were eating bread?
They do not call on God.
5 There they are, terrified, where there was nothing to fear.
For God scattered the bones of those who camped against you.
You put them to shame, because God despised them.
Closing Prayer
6 Who will provide salvation for Israel from Zion?[d]
When God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Psalm 54
Ruthless Men Seek My Life
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
A maskil by David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself with us?”[e]
The Plea
1 God, save me by your name.
By your power judge me justly.
2 God, hear my prayer.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
The Problem
3 For strangers have risen up against me.
Ruthless men seek my life. Interlude
They pay no attention to God.
The Solution
4 Indeed, God is my helper.
The Lord is the one who preserves my life.
5 Let evil return on those who oppress me.
In your faithfulness destroy them.
The Outcome
6 I will sacrifice willingly to you.
I will praise your name, O Lord, because it is good.
7 Surely, from all my distress he has delivered me.
My eyes have looked down on my enemies.
Isaiah’s Call and Mission
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. 3 One called to another and said,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “I am doomed![a] I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said:
Go! You are to tell this people,
“Keep listening, but you will never understand.
Keep looking, but you will never get it.”
10 Make the heart of this people calloused.[b]
Make their ears deaf[c] and blind their eyes,
so that they do not see with their eyes,
or hear with their ears,
or understand with their hearts,
and turn again and be healed.
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
He answered:
Until the cities are a wasteland without a single inhabitant,
until the houses are totally deserted,
and the farmland is completely devastated,
12 until the Lord has removed the people far away,
and the abandoned places within the land are many.
13 If there is only a tenth left in it, that too will be burned in its turn.
Like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains when it is cut down,
so the holy seed is its stump.[d]
Live to Please God
13 Continue to show brotherly love. 2 Do not fail to show love to strangers, for by doing this some have welcomed angels without realizing it. 3 Remember those in prison, as if you were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated, as if you yourselves were also suffering bodily.
4 Marriage is to be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed is to be kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. 5 Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For God has said:
I will never leave you,
and I will never forsake you.[a]
6 So then we say with confidence:
The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Carefully consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. For it is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which are of no help to those who make them a way of life.
10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the high priest brings the blood of the animals sacrificed for sins into the Most Holy Place, and then their bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 Jesus suffered outside the gate for this reason: to sanctify people by his own blood. 13 So then let us go to him, outside of the camp, bearing his disgrace. 14 For we do not have a permanent city here, but we are looking for the city that is coming. 15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us constantly offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as men who will give an account. Obey them, so that they may do this with joy and not with groaning,[c] for that would be of no benefit to you.
18 Pray for us, because we are sure that we have a good conscience, and because in everything we want to conduct ourselves in an honorable way. 19 I urge you to do this even more, so that I may be restored to you quickly.
Conclusion
20 Now may the God of peace—who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, in connection with his blood, which established the eternal testament[d]— 21 may he equip you with every good thing[e] to do his will, as he works in us[f] what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Now I urge you, brothers, to bear with this word of encouragement, for I have written you only a brief letter. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives very soon, he and I will see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. 25 Grace be with you all. Amen.[g]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.