M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Oil for the Lamps

24 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the light to keep a lamp burning all the time. ³ Outside the curtain of the Law in the meeting tent, Aaron will keep it burning from evening to morning before the Lord always. It will be a Law forever for all your people. ⁴ He will take care of the lamps on the pure gold lamp-stand before the Lord all the time.

The Bread Gift

⁵ “Then take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread. Use two jars of flour for each loaf. ⁶ Set them side by side in two rows, six in each row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷ Put pure, sweet-smelling spices on each row to go with the bread as something to be remembered. It is a gift by fire to the Lord. ⁸ Every Day of Rest he will set it before the Lord all the time. It is a Law forever for the people of Israel. ⁹ The bread is for Aaron and his sons who will eat it in a holy place. It is a most holy part for him out of the gifts by fire to the Lord. It is his share forever.”

Punishment for a Person Who Spoke against God

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought with each other among the tents. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman swore against the name of the Lord. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the family of Dan.) ¹² And they kept him shut up until the will of the Lord might be made known to them.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁴ “Take the one who has sworn against Me away from the tents. Let all who heard him lay their hands on his head. Then let all the people kill him by throwing stones. ¹⁵ Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone swears against his God, he will suffer for his own sin. ¹⁶ The one who speaks against the name of the Lord will be put to death for sure. All the people will kill him with stones. Both the stranger and those born in the land will be put to death when he speaks against the name of the Lord.

¹⁷ ‘If a man takes the life of any human being, he will be put to death for sure. ¹⁸ The one who takes the life of an animal will pay for it, a life for a life. ¹⁹ If a man hurts his neighbor, it will be done to him just as he has done, ²⁰ broken bone for broken bone, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he has hurt a man, so he will be hurt. ²¹ So the one who kills an animal will pay for it with an animal. But the one who kills a man will be put to death. ²² You will have the same Law for the stranger and for the one born among you. For I am the Lord your God.’”

²³ Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And they took the one who swore against God and brought him away from the tents and killed him with stones. So the people of Israel did as the Lord told Moses.

Prayer of Trust in God

31 O Lord, in You I have found a safe place. Let me never be ashamed. Set me free, because You do what is right and good. ² Turn Your ear to me, and be quick to save me. Be my rock of strength, a strong place to keep me safe. ³ For You are my rock and my safe place. For the honor of Your name, lead me and show me the way. ⁴ You will free me from the net that they have hidden for me. For You are my strength. ⁵ I give my spirit into Your hands. You have made me free, O Lord, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who worship false gods. But I trust in the Lord. ⁷ I will be glad and full of joy in Your loving-kindness. For You have seen my suffering. You have known the troubles of my soul. ⁸ You have not given me into the hand of those who hate me. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Show me loving-kindness, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My eyes, my soul and my body are becoming weak from being sad. ¹⁰ For my life gets weaker with sorrow, and my years with crying inside myself. My strength has left me because of my sin. And my bones waste away. ¹¹ Because of all those who hate me, I have become a shame to my neighbors. Even my friends do not want to be with me. Those who see me on the street run from me. ¹² I am forgotten like a dead man and they do not think about me. I am like a broken pot. ¹³ For I have heard many say things to hurt me. Fear is on every side. They planned together against me. They thought of ways to take away my life.

¹⁴ But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord. I say, “You are my God.” ¹⁵ My times are in Your hands. Free me from the hands of those who hate me, and from those who try to hurt me. ¹⁶ Make Your face shine upon Your servant. Save me in Your loving-kindness. ¹⁷ Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord. For I call to You. Let the sinful be put to shame. Let them be quiet in the grave. ¹⁸ Let the lying lips be quiet. For they speak with pride and hate those who do right and good.

¹⁹ How great is Your loving-kindness! You have stored it up for those who fear You. You show it to those who trust in You in front of the sons of men. ²⁰ You will hide them with You in secret from the sinful plans of men. You keep them in Your tent in secret from those who fight with tongues. ²¹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord. For He has shown His great loving-favor to me when I was in a city with armies all around. ²² In my fear I said, “You have closed Your eyes to me!” But You heard my cry for loving-kindness when I called to You.

²³ Love the Lord, all you who belong to Him! The Lord keeps the faithful safe. But He gives the proud their pay in full. ²⁴ Be strong. Be strong in heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Wisdom Is Worth a Lot

7 A good name is better than oil of much worth. And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. ² It is better to go to a house of sorrow than to go to a house of much eating. For this is the end of all men, and the living takes it to heart. ³ To have sorrow is better than to laugh because when a face is sad, the heart may become strong. ⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of sorrow, while the heart of fools is in the house where there is fun. ⁵ It is better to listen to the sharp words of a wise man than to listen to the song of fools. ⁶ For the laughing of a fool is like the sound of a thorn bush burning under a pot. This also is for nothing. ⁷ For sure a bad power makes the wise man angry. And to get paid in secret for wrong-doing destroys the heart. ⁸ The end of something is better than its beginning. Not giving up in spirit is better than being proud in spirit. ⁹ Do not be quick in spirit to be angry. For anger is in the heart of fools. ¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the days of the past better than these?” For it is not wise to ask this. ¹¹ Wisdom with a gift passed down from father to son is good and a help to those who see the sun. ¹² For wisdom keeps one from danger just as money keeps one from danger. But the good thing about much learning is that wisdom keeps alive those who have it. ¹³ Think of the work of God, for who is able to make straight what He has not made straight? ¹⁴ In the day of well-being be happy. But in the day of trouble, think about this: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man can never know what is going to happen.

¹⁵ In the days of my life I have seen everything, but my life has been worth nothing. There is a right and good man who is destroyed while he is right and good. And there is a sinful man who lives long in his wrong-doing. ¹⁶ Do not be too right and good, and do not be too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Do not be too sinful, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you take hold of one thing, and do not let go of the other. For the one who fears God will have both of them.

¹⁹ Wisdom gives more strength to a wise man than ten rulers have in a city. ²⁰ For sure there is not a right and good man on earth who always does good and never sins. ²¹ Do not listen to all the things that are said, or you might hear your servant cursing you. ²² For you know in your heart that many times you have cursed others.

²³ I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. ²⁴ Wisdom has been far away and hidden. Who can find it? ²⁵ I turned my mind to know, to find out, and to look for wisdom and the reason of things, and to know how sinful it is to be foolish, and that being mad is foolish. ²⁶ And I found that the woman whose heart is traps and nets, and whose hands are chains is more bitter than death. He who pleases God will get away from her. But the sinner will be taken in by her.

²⁷ “See, I have found this out,” says the Preacher. “I have added one thing to another to find the reason, ²⁸ which I am still looking for but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. ²⁹ See, I have found only this, that God made men right, but they have found many sinful ways.”

Things That Will Happen in the Last Days

3 You must understand that in the last days there will come times of much trouble. ² People will love themselves and money. They will have pride and tell of all the things they have done. They will speak against God. Children and young people will not obey their parents. People will not be thankful and they will not be holy. ³ They will not love each other. No one can get along with them. They will tell lies about others. They will not be able to keep from doing things they know they should not do. They will be wild and want to beat and hurt those who are good. ⁴ They will not stay true to their friends. They will act without thinking. They will think too much of themselves. They will love fun instead of loving God. ⁵ They will do things to make it look as if they are Christians. But they will not receive the power that is for a Christian. Keep away from such people.

⁶ These are the kind of people who go from house to house. They talk to foolish women who are loaded down with sins and all kinds of sinful desires. ⁷ Such women are always listening to new teaching. But they are never able to understand the truth. ⁸ Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. So do these teachers fight against the truth today. Their minds think only of sinful things. They have turned against the Christian teaching. ⁹ They will not get very far. Their foolish teaching will be seen by everyone. That was the way it was with the two who worked against Moses.

Teach the Truth

¹⁰ But you know what I teach and how I live. You know what I want to do. You know about my faith and my love. You know how long I am willing to wait for something. You know how I keep on working for God even when it is hard for me. ¹¹ You know about all the troubles and hard times I have had. You have seen how I suffered in the cities of Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. Yet the Lord brought me out of all those troubles. ¹² Yes! All who want to live a God-like life who belong to Christ Jesus will suffer from others. ¹³ Sinful men and false teachers will go from bad to worse. They will lead others the wrong way and will be led the wrong way themselves.

¹⁴ But as for you, hold on to what you have learned and know to be true. Remember where you learned them. ¹⁵ You have known the Holy Writings since you were a child. They are able to give you wisdom that leads to being saved from the punishment of sin by putting your trust in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All the Holy Writings are God-given and are made alive by Him. Man is helped when he is taught God’s Word. It shows what is wrong. It changes the way of a man’s life. It shows him how to be right with God. ¹⁷ It gives the man who belongs to God everything he needs to work well for Him.