M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Laws about Sex

18 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord your God. ³ Do not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived. And do not do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. Do not follow their laws. ⁴ You are to do what I say and keep My Laws and live by them. I am the Lord your God. ⁵ So keep My Laws and do what I say. If a man obeys them, My Laws will be life for him. I am the Lord.

⁶ ‘You should not go near a person of your own family to have sex. I am the Lord. ⁷ Do not put your father to shame by taking the clothes off your mother. She is your mother. Do not take her clothes off. ⁸ Do not take the clothes off your father’s wife. Her body is for your father. ⁹ Do not take the clothes off your sister, the daughter of your father or of your mother, if she is born at home or away from home. ¹⁰ Do not take the clothes off your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter. For they are of your own family. ¹¹ Do not take the clothes off your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father. She is your sister. ¹² Do not take the clothes off your father’s sister. She is of your father’s own family. ¹³ Do not take the clothes off your mother’s sister. She is of your mother’s own family. ¹⁴ Do not put your father’s brother to shame. Do not go near to take the clothes off his wife. She is of your family. ¹⁵ Do not take the clothes off your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife. Do not take her clothes off. ¹⁶ Do not take the clothes off your brother’s wife. Her body is for your brother. ¹⁷ Do not take the clothes off a woman and her daughter. And do not take the clothes off her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter. They are of her own family. It is sin. ¹⁸ While your wife is still living do not marry her sister making her as important to you. Do not take off her sister’s clothes.

¹⁹ ‘And you are not to go near a woman to take off her clothes during the time when she has a flow of blood. ²⁰ Do not have sex with your neighbor’s wife. You would be unclean. ²¹ Do not give any of your children as a gift on an altar to the false god Molech. Do not put the name of your God to shame. I am the Lord. ²² Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. It is a sinful thing. ²³ Do not have sex with any animal, or you will be unclean. And no woman should give herself to an animal to lie with it. It is a sin.

²⁴ ‘Do not allow yourself to sin in any of these ways. For by doing all these things the nations that I am driving out in front of you became unclean. ²⁵ For the land is unclean. So I have punished its sin. The land has spit out its people. ²⁶ But as for you, you are to keep My Laws and do what I have decided. Do not do any of these sinful things, not you or the man who lives among you from another land. ²⁷ For the men who have lived in the land before you have done all of these sinful things. The land is unclean. ²⁸ Do none of these things or the land will spit you out when you make it sinful, as it has spit out the nation that was before you. ²⁹ Whoever does any of these sinful things will be cut off from his people. ³⁰ So do what I say. Do not do any of these sinful things that were done before you. Do not make yourselves sin by doing them. I am the Lord your God.’”

A Cry of Fear and a Song of Praise

22 My God, my God, why have You left me alone? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words I cry inside myself? ² O my God, I cry during the day, but You do not answer. I cry during the night, but I find no rest. ³ Yet You are holy. The praises Israel gives You are Your throne. ⁴ Our fathers trusted in You, and You saved them. ⁵ They cried to You and were set free. They trusted in You and were not ashamed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man. I am put to shame by men, and am hated by the people. ⁷ All who see me make fun of me. They open their mouths and shake their heads, and say, ⁸ “He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord help him. Let the Lord take him out of trouble, because he is happy in Him.”

⁹ But You brought me out when I was born. You made me trust when I drank my mother’s milk. ¹⁰ I was in Your care from birth. Since my mother gave birth to me, You have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me, for trouble is near. And there is no one to help. ¹² Many bulls have gathered all around me. Strong bulls of Bashan stand around me. ¹³ They open their mouths wide against me, like a loud, hungry lion. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water. And all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like a melted candle within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a piece of a broken clay pot. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. And You lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have gathered around me. A group of sinful men stand around me. They have cut through my hands and feet. ¹⁷ I can tell how many bones I have. The people look at me with wide eyes. ¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them by drawing names to see who would get them.

¹⁹ But You, O Lord, be not far from me! O my Strength, hurry to help me! ²⁰ Take me away from the sword. Save my life from the power of the dog. ²¹ Save me from the lion’s mouth, and from the horns of the wild bulls You answer me.

²² I will make Your name known to my brothers. In the center of the meeting of worship I will praise You. ²³ You who fear the Lord, give Him praise. All you children of Jacob, honor Him. Fear Him, all you children of Israel. ²⁴ For He has not turned away from the suffering of the one in pain or trouble. He has not hidden His face from him. But He has heard his cry for help.

²⁵ My praise will be from You in the big meeting of worship. I will keep my promises to Him in front of those who fear Him. ²⁶ Those who suffer will eat and have enough. Those who look for the Lord will praise Him. May your heart live forever! ²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before Him. ²⁸ For the holy nation is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the proud ones of the earth will eat and worship. All who go down to the dust will fall to their knees before Him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. ³⁰ Future children will serve Him. They will tell of the Lord to their children. ³¹ They will come and tell about His saving power to a people yet to be born. For He has done it.

Life Is of No Worth

1 These are the words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ² “It is of no use,” says the Preacher. “It is of no use! All is for nothing.”

³ What does a man get for all his work which he does under the sun? ⁴ People die and people are born, but the earth stays forever. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets, and travels in a hurry to the place where it rises. ⁶ The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north. It goes around and around, and returns again on its way. ⁷ All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. And they return again to the place from which the rivers flow. ⁸ All things are tiring. Man is not able to tell about them. The eye never has enough to see, and the ear is never filled with what it hears. ⁹ What has been is what will be. And what has been done is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰ Is there anything of which one might say, “See, this is new”? It has already been there since long before us. ¹¹ No one remembers the things that happened before. And no one will remember the things that will happen in the future among those who will come later.

Looking for Wisdom Is like Trying to Catch the Wind

¹² I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I set my mind to look for wisdom to learn about all that has been done under heaven. It is a hard work which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with. ¹⁴ I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun. And see, it is all for nothing. It is like trying to catch the wind. ¹⁵ What is not straight cannot be made straight. What is not there cannot be numbered. ¹⁶ I said to myself, “I have received more wisdom than all who were over Jerusalem before me. My mind has seen much wisdom and much learning.” ¹⁷ And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know what is crazy and foolish. I saw that this also is like trying to catch the wind. ¹⁸ Because in much wisdom there is much trouble. And he who gets much learning gets much sorrow.

What a Church Leader Must Be Like

3 It is true that if a man wants to be a church leader, he wants to do a good work. ² A church leader must be a good man. His life must be so no one can say anything against him. He must have only one wife and must be respected for his good living. He must be willing to take people into his home. He must be willing to learn and able to teach the Word of God. ³ He must not get drunk or want to fight. Instead, he must be gentle. He must not have a love for money. ⁴ He should be a good leader in his own home. His children must obey and respect him. ⁵ If a man cannot be a good leader in his own home, how can he lead the church? ⁶ A church leader must not be a new Christian. A new Christian might become proud and fall into sin which is brought on by the devil. ⁷ A church leader must be respected by people who are not Christians so nothing can be said against him. In that way, he will not be trapped by the devil.

What the Church Helpers Must Be Like

⁸ Church helpers must also be good men and act so people will respect them. They must speak the truth. They must not get drunk. They must not have a love for money. ⁹ They must have their faith in Christ and be His follower with a heart that says they are right. ¹⁰ They must first be tested to see if they are ready for the work as church helpers. Then if they do well, they may be chosen as church helpers. ¹¹ The wives of church helpers must be careful how they act. They must not carry stories from one person to another. They must be wise and faithful in all they do. ¹² Church helpers must have only one wife. They must lead their home well and their children must obey them. ¹³ Those who work well as church helpers will be respected by others and their own faith in Christ Jesus will grow.

Why Paul Writes to Timothy

¹⁴ I hope to come to you soon. I am writing these things ¹⁵ because it may be awhile before I get there. I wanted you to know how you should act among people in the church which is the house of the living God. The church holds up the truth. ¹⁶ It is important to know the secret of God-like living, which is: Christ came to earth as a Man. He was pure in His Spirit. He was seen by angels. The nations heard about Him. Men everywhere put their trust in Him. He was taken up into heaven.