M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Passover

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said, ² “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at the time given for it. ³ Keep it at its given time, in the evening of the fourteenth day of this month. Keep it by obeying all its Laws.” ⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel to keep the Passover. ⁵ And they kept the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, in the Sinai desert. The people of Israel did all that the Lord had told Moses. ⁶ But there were some men who were unclean because they had touched a dead person. So they could not keep the Passover on that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day ⁷ and said to Moses, “We are unclean because we touched a dead person. But why are we kept from giving the Lord’s gift at its given time among the people of Israel?” ⁸ Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will tell me to do with you.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone of you or your children touch a dead person and become unclean, or if you are traveling far away, even so, he may still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ They will keep it in the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. They will eat it with bread without yeast and with bitter tasting plants. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning. And they must not break a bone of the lamb. They must obey all of the Law of the Passover. ¹³ But if a man is clean and is not away traveling, yet does not keep the Passover, he must be cut off from his people. For he did not give the Lord’s gift at the time he was to do so. That man will be guilty of his sin. ¹⁴ If a stranger staying with you wants to keep the Passover to the Lord and obey the Law of the Passover, he may do so. You will have one law, both for the stranger and for the one who was born in the land.’”

The Cloud of Fire

¹⁵ On the day that the meeting tent was set up, the cloud covered the meeting tent, the tent of the law. In the evening it was over the meeting tent. It looked like fire until morning. ¹⁶ It was like this always. The cloud would cover it during the day. What looked like fire would cover it during the night. ¹⁷ When the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent, the people of Israel would move on. Where the cloud rested, there the people of Israel would set up their tents. ¹⁸ The people of Israel would move on as the Lord told them. And they would set up their tents as the Lord told them. They stayed in one place as long as the cloud rested over the meeting tent. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud rested over the meeting tent for many days, the people of Israel would obey the Lord and not leave. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud stayed a few days over the meeting tent. But they obeyed the Lord and stayed in that place. Then they would leave when the Lord told them. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted in the morning, they would leave. If the cloud stayed during the day and the night, when it was lifted, they would leave that place. ²² Even when the cloud stayed over the meeting tent for two days, or a month, or a year the people of Israel would stay in that place and not leave. They would leave when it was lifted. ²³ They set up their tents as the Lord told them. And they moved on as the Lord told them. They obeyed what the Lord had told them to do through Moses.

The King’s Wedding Song

45 My heart flows over with good words. I sing my songs to the King. My tongue writes the words of a good writer. ² You are more beautiful than the children of men. Loving-favor is poured upon Your lips. So God has honored You forever.

³ Put Your sword on at Your side, O Powerful One, in Your greatness and power that can be seen. ⁴ And in Your great power, move on to win the fight for truth and for not having pride and for what is right and good. Let Your right hand teach You to do great things. ⁵ Your arrows are sharp. The people fall under You. Your arrows are in the heart of those who hate the King.

⁶ O God, Your throne is forever and ever. You rule Your holy nation by what is right. ⁷ You have loved what is right and good. You have hated what is wrong. That is why God, Your God, has chosen You. He has poured over You the oil of joy more than over anyone else. ⁸ All Your clothes smell of fine perfumes. Out of ivory palaces music of strings have made You glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among Your women of honor. At Your right hand stands the queen, wearing gold from Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter, hear my words and think about them. Forget your people and your father’s house. ¹¹ Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. ¹² And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich people will ask for your favor.

¹³ The daughter of the King is beautiful within. Her clothes are made with gold. ¹⁴ She will be led to the King in clothes sewed for beauty. The young women who have never had men are her friends. They follow her and will be brought to You. ¹⁵ They will be led in with joy and happiness, because they will come into the King’s palace.

¹⁶ Instead of Your fathers, it will be Your sons whom You will make rulers over all the earth. ¹⁷ I will make Your name to be remembered to all the children-to-come. So that the nations will honor You forever and ever.

King Solomon

7 “How beautiful are your feet in their shoes, O daughter! Your legs are like stones of much worth, the work of an able workman. ² Your navel is like a beautiful glass full of wine. Your stomach is like gathered grain with lilies around it. ³ Your two breasts are like two young deer, the two young ones of a gazelle. ⁴ Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus. ⁵ Your head crowns you like Carmel. Your flowing hair is like strings of purple. The king is held by the beauty of your hair. ⁶ How beautiful and how pleasing you are, my love! How happy you make me! ⁷ You stand like a palm tree. And your breasts are like its fruit. ⁸ I said, ‘I will go to the top of the palm tree. I will take hold of its branches.’ O, may your breasts be like the fruit of the vine, and the sweet smell of your breath like pleasing fruit. ⁹ And may your mouth be like the best wine.”

The Woman

“For my love, it is smooth going down, flowing through the lips while sleeping.

¹⁰ “I am my love’s, and he wants me. ¹¹ Come, my love, let us go to the country. Let us spend the night in the villages. ¹² Let us get up early and go to the grape-fields. Let us see if the buds are on the vines, and if its flowers have opened. Let us see if the pomegranates have flowers. There I will give you my love. ¹³ The mandrakes have given out their sweet smell. And over our doors are all the best fruits, both new and old, which I have saved for you, my love.

Melchizedek—Like Christ

7 Melchizedek was king of Salem. He was a religious leader for God. When Abraham was coming back from the war where many kings were killed, Melchizedek met Abraham and showed respect to him. ² Abraham gave Melchizedek one-tenth part of all he had. Melchizedek’s name means king of what is right. Salem means peace. So he is king of peace. ³ Melchizedek was without a father or mother or any family. He had no beginning of life or end of life. He is a religious leader forever like the Son of God.

⁴ We can see how great Melchizedek was. Abraham gave him one-tenth part of all he had taken in the war. ⁵ The Law made the family of Levi the Jewish religious leaders. The Law said that the religious leaders were to take one-tenth part of everything from their own people. ⁶ Melchizedek was not even from the family group of Levi but Abraham paid him. Melchizedek showed respect to Abraham who was the one who had received God’s promises. ⁷ The one who shows respect is always greater than the one who receives it. ⁸ Jewish religious leaders receive one-tenth part. They are men and they all die. But here Melchizedek received one-tenth part and is alive. ⁹ We might say that Levi, who receives one-tenth part, paid one-tenth part through Abraham. ¹⁰ Levi was not yet born. He was still inside Abraham’s body when Abraham paid Melchizedek.

¹¹ The Law was given during the time when Levi and his sons were the religious leaders. If the work of those religious leaders had been perfect in taking away the sins of the people, there would have been no need for another religious leader. But one like Melchizedek was needed and not one from the family group of Aaron. ¹² For when the family group of religious leaders changed, the Law had to be changed also. ¹³ These things speak of Christ Who is from another family group. That family group never had a religious leader who killed animals and gave gifts at the altar for the sins of the people. ¹⁴ Our Lord came from the family group of Judah. Moses did not write anything about religious leaders coming from that family group.

A Different Religious Leader Has Come

¹⁵ We can see that a different Religious Leader has come. This One is like Melchizedek. ¹⁶ Christ did not become a Religious Leader by coming from the family group of Levi as the Law said had to be. He became the Religious Leader by the power of a life that never ends. ¹⁷ The Holy Writings say this about Christ, “You are a Religious Leader forever like Melchizedek.” ^(A)

¹⁸ God put the Law of Moses aside. It was weak and could not be used. ¹⁹ For the Law of Moses could not make men right with God. Now there is a better hope through which we can come near to God.

²⁰ God made a promise when Christ became the Religious Leader Who made the way for man to go to God. ²¹ God did not make such a promise when Levi’s family group became religious leaders. But when Christ became a Religious Leader, this is the promise God made, “The Lord has made a promise. He will never change His mind. You will be a Religious Leader forever.” ^{(B) 22} Christ makes this New Way of Worship sure for us because of God’s promise. ²³ There had to be many religious leaders during the time of the Old Way of Worship. They died and others had to keep on in their work. ²⁴ But Jesus lives forever. He is the Religious Leader forever. It will never change. ²⁵ And so Jesus is able, now and forever, to save from the punishment of sin all who come to God through Him because He lives forever to pray for them.

²⁶ We need such a Religious Leader Who made the way for man to go to God. Jesus is holy and has no guilt. He has never sinned and is different from sinful men. He has the place of honor above the heavens. ²⁷ Christ is not like other religious leaders. They had to give gifts every day on the altar in worship for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. Christ did not have to do that. He gave one gift on the altar and that gift was Himself. It was done once and it was for all time. ²⁸ The Law makes religious leaders of men. These men are not perfect. After the Law was given, God spoke with a promise. He made His Son a perfect Religious Leader forever.