M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Duties of the Descendants of Kohath
4 The Lord told Moses and Aaron, 2 “Take a census[a] of the descendants of Kohath from among the descendants of Levi according to their tribes and ancestral houses 3 from 30 years and older through the age of 50 years, from everyone who can enter the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting.
4 “Here’s what the descendants of Kohath are to do regarding the Tent of Meeting and what’s inside the Most Holy Place: 5 When the camp is about to travel, Aaron and his sons are to come and take down the veil of the curtain and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it. 6 They are to set a leather-dyed[b] skin covering over it, cover it with a pure blue cloth, and then insert its poles.
7 “They are to spread a blue cloth over the table of the Presence and on top of it the dishes, pans, bowls, pitchers for drink offerings,[c] and the bread of presence are to be on it continually. 8 They are to spread over them a scarlet cloth and a leather-dyed[d] skin covering and then insert its poles.
9 “They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lamp stand for the light with its lamp, lamp-snuffers, censer, and all the utensils for its oil with which they minister. 10 Then they are to put them with all the other[e] utensils on the leather-dyed[f] skin covering and set them on the beams for transport.[g]
11 “On the golden altar, they are to spread a blue cloth, cover it with a leather-dyed[h] skin covering, and then insert its poles. 12 Then they are to take all the utensils for service with which they minister at the sanctuary, set them on the blue cloth, cover them with the leather-dyed[i] skin covering, and then set them on the beams for transport. 13 They are also to remove the ashes on the altar and spread a purple cloth over it. 14 Then they are to put all the instruments with which they minister there—trays, forks, shovels, bowls, and all the utensils of the altar. They are to spread over it a leather-dyed[j] skin covering and then insert its poles.
15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the utensils of the sanctuary, and the camp is about to travel, then the descendants of Kohath are to come and carry them, but they are not to touch the most sacred objects, so they won’t die. These are the duties of the descendants of Kohath at the Tent of Meeting.”
16 “Now the duty of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest is to maintain the oil for the light, the spiced incense, the daily offerings, andthe oil for anointing, to carry out all the duties of the tent and the sanctuary, and to maintain[k] its utensils.”
Protecting the Descendants of Kohath
17 Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron, 18 “You are not to eliminate the tribe of the families of the descendants of Kohath from the descendants of Levi. 19 But do this for them so that they may live and not die when they approach the Most Holy Place: Aaron and his sons are to go in and set specific responsibilities for each of them to carry out.[l] 20 But they are not to go in to see the sanctuary as it is being covered,[m] so they won’t die.”
Eleazar’s Duties
21 Then the Lord told Moses, 22 “Take a census[n] of the descendants of Gershon according to their ancestral house and tribes. 23 Count their number from between 30 to 50 years old, including everyone who can enter the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting.”
Gershonite Responsibilities
24 “These are the responsibilities that the descendants of Gershon are to have: 25 They are to carry the curtain of the tent, the covering of the Tent of Meeting, the dyed leather covering that goes over it, the curtain for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, 26 the hangings for the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance to the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the tent, the altar, the ropes, all the service utensils, and everything made for them. This is to be their service area. 27 The descendants of Gershon are to carry out the instructions of Aaron and his sons. You are to assign them their responsibilities to carry out. 28 This is the work of the tribes of Gershon at the Tent of Meeting—their duties under the supervision of[o] Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.
Merarite Responsibilities
29 “For the descendants of Merari, number them according to their tribes and ancestral houses 30 from 30 to 50 years old as you count them, including everyone who can enter service and perform work at the Tent of Meeting. 31 This is to be their area of responsibility to carry out with respect to their service at the Tent of Meeting: the board of the tent, its bars, its crossbars, its sockets, 32 the pillars around the courtyard, their sockets, their pegs, their ropes, and all the utensils for all their services. Assign the utensils by name to each person whose responsibility it will be to carry them. 33 This is the work of the tribes of the descendants of Merari with reference to their service at the Tent of Meeting under the supervision of Aaron the priest’s son Ithamar.”
Responsibilities are Assigned
34 Moses, Aaron, and the congregational leaders numbered the descendants of Kohath according to their tribes and ancestral houses 35 from 30 to 50 years old—that is, everyone who entered the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting. 36 The total according to their tribe numbered 2,750 37 from the tribe of the descendants of Kohath, everyone who would be serving at the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to what the Lord had said, under the supervision of Moses.
38 The tribes and the ancestral houses of the descendants of Gershon were numbered 39 from 30 to 50 years old; that is, everyone who entered the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting. 40 The total according to their tribes and ancestral house numbered 2,630 41 from the tribes of the descendants of Gershon, everyone who would be serving at the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to what the Lord had said.
42 The tribes and ancestral house of Merari were numbered 43 from 30 to 50 years old; that is, everyone who entered the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting. 44 The total according to their tribes numbered 3,200 45 from the tribes of the descendants of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to what the Lord had said, under the supervision of Moses.
46 The total of those who were numbered from the descendants of Levi by Moses and Aaron; that is, from the leaders of Israel counted according to their tribes and ancestral houses 47 from 30 to 50 years old, who entered the service for work at the Tent of Meeting 48 was 8,580. 49 They were numbered under the supervision of Moses according to what the Lord had said. Each person was assigned a responsibility to carry out, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
A Davidic Psalm: As a Reminder.
The Outcast Cries Out
38 Lord! Do not rebuke me in your anger;
do not correct me in your wrath,
2 because your arrows have sunk deep into me,
and your hand has come down hard on me.
3 My body is unhealthy due to your anger,
and my bones have no rest due to my sin.
4 My iniquities loom over my head;
like a cumbersome burden, they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds have putrefied and festered
because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent over and walk about greatly bowed down;
all day long I go around mourning.
7 My insides[a] are burning
and my body is unhealthy.
8 I am weak and utterly crushed;
I cry out in distress because of my heart’s anguish.
9 Lord, all my longings are before you,
and my groaning is not hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds,
my strength fails me,
even the gleam in my eye is gone.
11 As for my friends and my neighbors,
they stand aloof from my distress;
even my close relatives stand at a distance.
12 Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
those who seek to do me harm brag all day long about their wicked planning.
13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
and like the mute, who cannot open his mouth.
14 Indeed, I have become like a man who hears nothing,
and in whose mouth there is no rebuke.
15 Because I have placed my hope in you, Lord,
you will answer, Lord, my God.
16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat over me,
as they congratulate themselves when my foot slips.”
17 Indeed, I am being set up for a fall,
and I am continuously reminded of my pain.
18 I confess my iniquity,
and my sin troubles me.
19 But my enemies are alive and well;[b]
those who hate me[c] for no reason are numerous.[d]
20 They[e] reward my good with evil,
opposing me because I seek to do good.[f]
21 Don’t forsake me, Lord.
My God, do not be so distant from me.
22 Come quickly and help me,
Lord, my deliverer.
2 I’m a flower[a] from Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
The Lover
2 Like a lily among thorns,
so is my darling among the young women.
The Loved One
3 Like an apple[b] tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I take delight and sit down,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.[c]
4 He has brought me to the banquet hall,
and his banner over me is love.
5 Sustain me with raisin cakes,
refresh me with apples,[d]
for I’m weak with love.
6 I wish that his left hand were under my head,
and that his right hand were embracing me!
7 Swear to me, young women of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or by the does of the field,
that you won’t awaken or arouse love
before its proper time![e]
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look! He’s coming,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, there he stands behind our wall,
looking through the windows,
gazing through the lattice.
The Lover
10 My beloved spoke to me:
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
11 Look! Winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
12 Blossoms have appeared in the land.
The season of songbirds[f] has arrived,
and cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree has produced its fruit,[g]
the grapevines have blossomed and exude their fragrance.
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
14 My dove, in the hidden places of the rocks,
in the secret places of the cliffs,
show me your form, and let me hear your voice.
For your voice is pleasant,
and your shape is lovely.
15 Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes that destroy the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.”
The Loved One
We Must Not Neglect Our Salvation
2 For this reason we must pay closer attention to the things we have heard, or we may drift away, 2 because if the message spoken by angels was reliable, and every violation and act of disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 4 while God added his testimony through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Jesus is the Source of Our Salvation
5 For he did not put the coming world we are talking about under the control of angels. 6 Instead, someone has declared somewhere,
“What is man that you should remember him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
yet you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.”[a]
Now when God[b] put everything under him, he left nothing outside his control. However, at the present time we do not yet see everything put under him. 9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of[c] God he might experience[d] death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering as part of his plan to glorify many children, 11 because both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have the same Father.[e] That is why Jesus[f] is not ashamed to call them brothers 12 when he says, “I will announce your name to my brothers. I will praise you within the congregation.”[g] 13 And again, “I will trust him.”[h] And again, “I am here with the children God has given me.”[i]
14 Therefore, since the children have flesh and blood, he himself also shared the same things, so that by his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the Devil) 15 and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels. No, he came to help Abraham’s descendants, 17 thereby becoming like his brothers in every way, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and could atone for the people’s sins. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
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