M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

People with a Bad Skin Disease

5 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to send away from the tents every person with a bad skin disease, every one with a flow that is unclean, and every one who is unclean because of a dead person. ³ Send away both male and female. Send them away from the tents so they will not make the place sinful where I live among them.” ⁴ The people of Israel did so. They sent them away from the tents. The people of Israel did just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Paying Back for Wrongs Done

⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ⁶ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When a man or woman sins the way that man sins by not acting in faith toward the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ then he must tell about the sins he has done. He must pay in full for his wrong-doing, and add one-fifth part to it, and give it to the one he has sinned against. ⁸ But if the man has no brother to whom pay for the wrong can be made, then it must go to the Lord for the religious leader. He must also give a ram to pay for his sins. And his sins will be forgiven. ⁹ Every gift of all the holy things of the Israelites which they bring to the religious leader will become his. ¹⁰ So every man’s holy gifts will be his. Whatever any man gives to the religious leader will be his.’”

Wives Who Are Not Faithful

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “Say to the people of Israel, ‘If a man’s wife turns away and is not faithful to him, ¹³ and another man has sex with her and it is hidden from her husband’s eyes, even if it is hidden, she will be unclean. And even if no one speaks against her, because she has not been caught in the act, ¹⁴ but a spirit of jealousy comes over her husband, he will be jealous of his wife when she has made herself unclean. Or if he becomes jealous of his wife when she has done nothing to make herself unclean, ¹⁵ then the man must bring his wife to the religious leader. He must bring one-tenth part of a basket of barley as the gift needed for her. He must not pour oil on it. He must not put special perfume on it. For it is a grain gift of jealousy. It is a grain gift to make the sin remembered.

¹⁶ ‘Then the religious leader will bring her near and have her stand before the Lord. ¹⁷ The religious leader will take holy water in a clay pot. He will take some of the dust on the floor of the meeting tent and put it into the water. ¹⁸ Then the religious leader will have the woman stand before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head hang loose. He will put the grain gift of remembering into her hands. It is the grain gift of jealousy. In the religious leader’s hand will be the bitter water that can bring a curse to the woman. ¹⁹ Then the religious leader will have her make a promise. He will say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not turned away into sin, while under the power of your husband, this bitter water that brings punishment will not hurt you. ²⁰ If you have turned away, while under the power of your husband, and have made yourself unclean by having another man who is not your husband,” ²¹ then the religious leader will have the woman make a promise so she will be punished if she has sinned. He will say to the woman, “May the Lord make you a curse among your people. May the Lord make your leg waste away and your stomach grow bigger. ²² This water that brings a curse will go into your stomach and make it grow bigger and your leg to waste away.” And the woman will say, “Let it be so. Let it be so.”

²³ ‘Then the religious leader will write these curses in a book. And he will wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴ He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse. The water that brings a curse will go into her and give her pain. ²⁵ The religious leader will take the grain gift of jealousy from the woman’s hand. He will wave the grain gift before the Lord and bring it to the altar. ²⁶ The religious leader will fill his hand with the grain gift, as the part to be remembered. And he will burn it on the altar. Then he will make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ If she has not been faithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will go into her and give her pain. Her stomach will get larger and her leg will become as dead. A curse will come upon the woman among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not sinned and is clean, she will be free and able to have children.

²⁹ ‘This is the law of jealousy. If a wife who is under the power of her husband turns away and makes herself unclean, ³⁰ and a spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, making him jealous of his wife, then he must make the woman stand before the Lord. And the religious leader will do to her all the rules of this Law. ³¹ The husband will be free from guilt. But the woman will carry her guilt.’”

Prayer of a Suffering Man

39 I said, “I will watch my ways so I may not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth shut as if it were tied with ropes, while the sinful are near me.” ² I stayed quiet, not even saying anything good. And my sorrow grew worse. ³ My heart was hot within me. As I thought about things, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue, ⁴ “O Lord, let me know my end and how many days I have to live. Let me know that I do not have long to stay here. ⁵ You have made each of my days as long as a hand is wide. My whole life is nothing in Your eyes. Every man at his best is only a breath. ⁶ Every man walks here and there like a shadow. He makes a noise about nothing. He stores up riches, not knowing who will gather them.

⁷ And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. ⁸ Save me from all my sins. Do not let me be put to shame by the foolish. ⁹ I cannot speak. I do not open my mouth because it is You Who has done it. ¹⁰ Do not punish me any more. I am growing weak by the beatings of Your hand. ¹¹ With sharp words You punish a man for sin. You destroy like a moth what is of worth to him. For sure, every man is only a breath.

¹² O Lord, hear my prayer, and listen to my cry. Do not be quiet when You see my tears. For I am a stranger with You, a visitor like all my fathers. ¹³ Look away from me, so I may have joy again before I go and am no more.”

The Woman

3 “On my bed night after night I looked for him whom my soul loves. I looked for him but did not find him. ² ‘I must get up now and go about the city, in the streets and in the open places. I must look for him whom my soul loves.’ I looked for him but did not find him. ³ The men who watch over the city found me, and I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’ ⁴ I had just passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held on to him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to my mother’s house, and into the room of her who gave birth to me.”

King Solomon

⁵ “I tell you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the deer of the field, you must not wake up my love until it is pleasing to her.”

The Third Song

The Woman

⁶ “What is this coming up from the desert like smoke? It has the smell of special perfumes, with all the perfumes of the traders. ⁷ See, it is the traveling wagon of Solomon. Sixty of the strong men of Israel are around it. ⁸ All of them use the sword and are very able in war. Each man has his sword at his side, keeping watch against trouble in the night. ⁹ King Solomon has made for himself a beautiful wagon from the wood of Lebanon. ¹⁰ He made its long pieces of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple cloth. The inside of it was made beautiful by the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹ Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon as he wears the crown his mother put on his head on the day of his wedding, on the day his heart was glad.”

Jesus Was Greater Than Moses

3 Christian brothers, you have been chosen and set apart by God. So let us think about Jesus. He is the One God sent and He is the Religious Leader of our Christian faith. ² Jesus was faithful in God’s house just as Moses was faithful in all of God’s house. ³ The man who builds a house gets more honor than the house. That is why Jesus gets more honor than Moses. ⁴ Every house is built by someone. And God is the One Who has built everything. ⁵ Moses was a faithful servant owned by God in God’s house. He spoke of the things that would be told about later on. ⁶ But Christ was faithful as a Son Who is Head of God’s house. We are of God’s house if we keep our trust in the Lord until the end. This is our hope. ⁷ The Holy Spirit says, “If you hear His voice today, ⁸ do not let your hearts become hard as your early fathers did when they turned against Me. It was at that time in the desert when they put Me to the test. ⁹ Your early fathers tempted Me and tried Me. They saw the work I did for forty years. ¹⁰ For this reason, I was angry with the people of this day. And I said to them, ‘They always think wrong thoughts. They have never understood what I have tried to do for them.’ ¹¹ I was angry with them and said to Myself, ‘They will never go into My rest.’” ^(A)

¹² Christian brothers, be careful that not one of you has a heart so bad that it will not believe and will turn away from the living God. ¹³ Help each other. Speak day after day to each other while it is still today so your heart will not become hard by being fooled by sin. ¹⁴ For we belong to Christ if we keep on trusting Him to the end just as we trusted Him at first. ¹⁵ The Holy Writings say, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard as your early fathers did when they turned against Me.” ^(B)

¹⁶ Who heard God’s voice and turned against Him? Did not all those who were led out of the country of Egypt by Moses? ¹⁷ Who made God angry for forty years? Was it not those people who had sinned in the desert? Was it not those who died and were buried there? ¹⁸ Who did He say could never go into His rest? Was it not those who did not obey Him? ¹⁹ So we can see that they were not able to go into His rest because they did not put their trust in Him.