M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Laws on Immoral Relations
18 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3 After the practices of the land of Egypt, from where you lived, you shall not follow, and after the practices of the land of Canaan, to where I will bring you, you shall not follow; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. 4 You shall follow My decrees and keep My ordinances to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does them, then he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
6 None of you shall approach any of his near relatives to have relations: I am the Lord.
7 You shall not have relations with your father or have relations with your mother. She is your mother. You shall not have relations with her.
8 You shall not have relations with your father’s wife, for this exposes your father’s nakedness.
9 You shall not have relations with your sister, whether your father’s or mother’s daughter, whether raised in the family or another home.
10 You shall not have relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for this exposes your own nakedness.
11 You shall not have relations with your father’s wife’s daughter who is raised in your father’s family, for she is your sister.
12 You shall not have relations with your father’s sister, for she is your father’s relative.
13 You shall not have relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative.
14 You shall not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife for relations; she is your aunt.
15 You shall not have relations with your daughter-in-law, for she is your son’s wife—you shall not have relations with her.
16 You shall not have relations with your brother’s wife, for this exposes your brother’s nakedness.
17 You shall not have relations with a woman and her daughter, nor shall you have her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, for this exposes the woman’s nakedness. They are all near relatives. It is depravity.
18 And you shall not have a woman as a rival wife, who is the sister of your other wife, for this is to expose her nakedness while her sister, your other wife, is still alive.
19 Also you shall not approach a woman to have relations as long as she is in her menstrual uncleanness.
20 Moreover, you shall not have relations with your neighbor’s wife to defile yourself with her.
21 You shall not let any of your children be offered through the fire to Molek, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
22 You shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman. It is an abomination.
23 You shall not lie with an animal to defile yourself, nor shall any woman lie with an animal. It is a perversion.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves. 25 And the land has become defiled; therefore I have punished its iniquity, and the land has vomited out her inhabitants. 26 But you shall therefore keep My statutes and My decrees, and you shall not commit any of these abominations, either the native citizen or any foreigner who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled), 28 lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
29 For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, those persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 Therefore you shall keep My ordinances, that you do not commit any one of these abominable customs which were committed before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.
Psalm 22
For the Music Director. To the melody of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from delivering me,
and from my roaring words of distress?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer;
and at night, but I have no rest.
3 But You are holy,
O You who inhabits the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You did deliver them.
5 They cried to You and were delivered;
they trusted in You and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and not a man;
a reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me laugh me to scorn;
they sneer with the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “Trust in the Lord,
let Him deliver him;
let Him rescue him,
seeing He delights in him.”
9 But You are He who took me out of the womb;
You caused me to trust
while I was on my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast on You from birth;
You are my God from my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me
for trouble is near,
for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13 They open their mouths against me,
as a preying and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted inside my body.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
and You have set me toward the dust of death.
16 For dogs have encompassed me;
the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me;
like a lion they pin my hands and my feet;
17 I can count all my bones;
they look and stare on me.
18 They part my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothes.
19 But do not be far from me, O Lord;
O my Help, hasten to my aid.
20 Rescue my soul from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,
and from the horns of the wild ox, answer me!
22 I will declare Your name to my community;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him;
all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
nor has He hid His face from him;
but when he cried to Him, He heard.
25 From You my praise will be in the great congregation;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
26 The meek will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever.
27 All the ends of the world
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will worship before You.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and He rules among the nations.
29 All the prosperous ones of the earth will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
even he who cannot keep his own soul alive.
30 Posterity will serve Him;
it will be told to generations about the Lord;
31 they will come and declare His righteousness
to a people yet to be born,
that He has acted.
All Is Vanity
1 These are the words of the Preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem.
2 “Vanity[a] of vanities,”
says the Preacher;
“vanity of vanities,
all is vanity.”
3 What benefit is there to a man in all his labors
that he toils under the sun?
4 A generation comes, and a generation goes,
but the earth continually remains.
5 The sun comes up, and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
6 It moves to the south,
and then moves around to the north;
the wind continually travels around,
and it keeps turning on its circuit.
7 All the streams flow into the sea,
and the sea is never filled up.
And to the place where the streams flow,
there they continually return to flow.
8 All matters are wearisome;
a man is not able to speak to them.
The eye is not satisfied with what it sees,
and the ear is not content with what it hears.
9 What has been is the same as what will be,
and what has been done is the same as what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a matter where it is said,
“See, this is truly new”?
Long ago in the past
every matter has already been in our midst.
11 There is not a memory for the former things,
and moreover, there will not be
a memory for the things coming after,
even those things that are yet to come.
The Burden of Wisdom
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I set my heart to seek and to investigate with wisdom everything that is done under heaven. It is a burdensome task that God has given to the sons of men, by which they may be occupied. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and indeed, all is vanity and like chasing the wind.
15 What is bent cannot be straightened,
and what is missing cannot be counted.
16 I spoke in my heart, saying, “I have been great and increased in wisdom more than anyone else who has been before me in Jerusalem, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know the folly of ideas and to know foolish behavior, and I know that this as well is like chasing the wind.
18 For in an abundance of wisdom is an abundance of frustration,
and he who increases in knowledge also increases in sorrow.
Qualifications of Overseers
3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work. 2 An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money, but patient, not argumentative, not covetous; 4 and one who manages his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. 5 For if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? 6 He must not be newly converted, so that he does not become prideful and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good reputation among those who are outsiders, so that he does not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Qualifications of Deacons
8 Likewise deacons must be serious, not insincere, not given to much wine, not greedy, 9 keeping the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 And let them first be tested; then, being found blameless, let them serve as deacons.
11 Likewise, their wives must be serious, not slanderers, sober, and faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own houses well. 13 For those who have served well in the office of deacon purchase for themselves good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
The Mystery of Our Religion
14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you shortly, 15 but if I am delayed, you might know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 16 Without question, great is the mystery of godliness:
God was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit,
seen by angels,
preached to the Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
taken up into glory.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.