M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Special Festivals
23 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites: You will announce the Lord’s chosen festivals as holy meetings. These are my special festivals.
Sabbath
3 “Work for six days, but the seventh day, the Sabbath, will be a special day of rest, a holy meeting. You must not do any work. It is a day of rest to honor the Lord in all your homes.
Passover
4 “These are the Lord’s chosen festivals. You will announce the holy meetings at the times chosen for them. 5 The Lord’s Passover is on the 14th day of the first month[a] just before dark.
Festival of Unleavened Bread
6 “The Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th day of the same month. You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7 On the first day of this festival, you will have a special meeting. You must not do any work on that day. 8 For seven days, you will bring sacrifices offered as gifts to the Lord. Then there will be another special meeting on the seventh day. You must not do any work on that day.”
Festival of the First Harvests
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelites: You will enter the land that I will give you and reap its harvest. At that time you must bring in the first sheaf[b] of your harvest to the priest. 11 The priest will lift the sheaf to show it was offered before the Lord. Then you will be accepted. The priest will present the sheaf on Sunday morning.[c]
12 “On the day when you present the sheaf, you will offer a one-year-old male lamb. There must be nothing wrong with that lamb. That lamb will be a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 You must also offer a grain offering of 16 cups[d] of fine flour mixed with olive oil. You must also offer 1 quart[e] of wine. The smell of that offering will please the Lord. 14 You must not eat any of the new grain, or fruit, or bread made from the new grain until you bring that offering to your God. This law will always continue through your generations, wherever you live.
Festival of Harvest
15 “From that Sunday morning (the day you bring the sheaf to be presented to God), count seven weeks. 16 On the Sunday following the seventh week (that is, 50 days later), you will bring a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 On that day bring two loaves of bread from your homes. That bread will be lifted up to show it was offered to God. Use yeast and 16 cups of flour to make those loaves of bread. That will be your gift to the Lord from your first harvest.
18 “With these grain offerings bring one bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs for burnt offerings to the Lord. There must be nothing wrong with these animals. Offer them together with the grain offerings and the drink offerings. The smell of these offerings made by fire will be pleasing to the Lord. 19 You will also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering.
20 “The priest will lift them up with the bread from the first harvest to show they were offered with the two lambs before the Lord. They are holy to the Lord. They will belong to the priest. 21 On that same day you will call a holy meeting. You must not do any work. This law continues forever in all your homes.
22 “Also, when you harvest the crops on your land, don’t cut all the way to the corners of your field. Don’t pick up the grain that falls on the ground. Leave it for poor people and for foreigners traveling through your country. I am the Lord your God.”
Festival of Trumpets
23 Again the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month, you must have a special day of rest. Blow the trumpet to remind the people that this is a holy meeting. 25 You must not do any work. You must bring an offering as a gift to the Lord.”
Day of Atonement
26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 “The Day of Atonement will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. There will be a holy meeting. You must not eat food,[f] and you must bring an offering as a gift to the Lord. 28 You must not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement. On that day the priests will go before the Lord and perform the ceremony that makes you pure.
29 “Anyone who refuses to fast on this day must be separated from their people. 30 If anyone does any work on this day, I will destroy that person from among the people. 31 You must not do any work at all. This is a law that continues forever for you, wherever you live. 32 It will be a special day of rest for you. You must not eat food. You will start this special day of rest on the evening following the ninth day of the month.[g] This special day of rest continues from that evening until the next evening.”
Festival of Shelters
33 Again the Lord said to Moses, 34 “Tell the Israelites: On the 15th day of the seventh month is the Festival of Shelters. This festival to the Lord will continue for seven days. 35 There will be a holy meeting on the first day. You must not do any work. 36 You will bring offerings as gifts to the Lord for seven days. On the eighth day, you will have another holy meeting. You must not do any work. You will bring an offering as a gift to the Lord.
37 “These are the Lord’s special festivals. There will be holy meetings during these festivals. You will bring offerings as gifts to the Lord—burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings. You will bring these gifts at the right time. 38 You will celebrate these festivals in addition to remembering the Lord’s Sabbath days. You will offer these gifts in addition to your other gifts and any offerings you give as payment for your special promises. They will be in addition to any special offerings you want to give to the Lord.
39 “On the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you will celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first day will be a special day of rest, and then the eighth day will also be a special day of rest. 40 On the first day you will take good fruit from fruit trees. And you will take branches from palm trees, poplar trees, and willow trees by the brook. You will celebrate before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You will celebrate this festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This law will continue forever. You will celebrate this festival in the seventh month. 42 You will live in temporary shelters for seven days. All the people born in Israel will live in them. 43 Why? So all your descendants will know that I made the Israelites live in temporary shelters during the time I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
44 So Moses told the Israelites about all the special meetings to honor the Lord.
A song of David for the dedication of the Temple.[a]
30 Lord, you lifted me out of my troubles.
You did not give my enemies a reason to laugh,
so I will praise you.
2 Lord my God, I prayed to you,
and you healed me.
3 Lord, you lifted me out of the grave.
I was falling into the place of death, but you saved my life.
4 Praise the Lord, you who are loyal to him!
Praise his holy name[b]!
5 His anger lasts for a little while,
but then his kindness brings life.
The night may be filled with tears,
but in the morning we can sing for joy!
6 When I was safe and secure,
I thought nothing could hurt me.
7 Yes, Lord, while you were kind to me,
I felt that nothing could defeat me.[c]
But when you turned away from me,
I was filled with fear.
8 So, Lord, I turned and prayed to you.
I asked you, Lord, to show me mercy.
9 I said, “What good is it if I die
and go down to the grave?
The dead just lie in the dirt.
They cannot praise you.
They cannot tell anyone how faithful you are.
10 Lord, hear my prayer, and be kind to me.
Lord, help me!”
11 You have changed my sorrow into dancing.
You have taken away my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy.
12 You wanted me to praise you and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever!
Wealth Does Not Bring Happiness
6 I have seen another thing in this life that is not fair and is very hard to understand. 2 God gives some people great wealth, riches, and honor. They have everything they need and everything they could ever want. But then God does not let them enjoy those things. Some stranger comes and takes everything. This is a very bad and senseless thing.
3 A man might live a long time and have 100 children. But if he is not satisfied with those good things, and if no one remembers him after his death, I say that a baby who dies at birth is better off than that man. 4 It is senseless when a baby is born dead. The baby is quickly buried in a dark grave, without even a name. 5 The baby never saw the sun and never knew anything. But the baby finds more rest than the man who never enjoyed what God gave him. 6 He might live 2000 years. But if he does not enjoy life, then the baby who was born dead has found the easiest way to the same end.[a]
7 People work and work to feed themselves, but they are never satisfied. 8 In the same way a wise person is no better than a fool is. It is better to be a poor person who knows how to accept life as it is. 9 It is better to be happy with what you have than to always want more and more. Always wanting more and more is useless. It is like trying to catch the wind.[b]
10-11 You are only what you were created to be—a human, and it is useless to argue about it. People cannot argue with God about this because he is more powerful than they are, and a long argument will not change that fact.
12 Who knows what is best for people during their short life on earth? Their life passes like a shadow. No one can tell them what will happen later.
A Loyal Soldier of Christ Jesus
2 Timothy, you are a son to me. Be strong in the grace that we have because we belong to Christ Jesus. 2 What you have heard me teach publicly you should teach to others. Share these teachings with people you can trust. Then they will be able to teach others these same things. 3 As a good soldier of Christ Jesus, accept your share of the troubles we have. 4 A soldier wants to please his commanding officer, so he does not spend any time on activities that are not a part of his duty. 5 Athletes in a race must obey all the rules to win. 6 The farmer who works hard deserves the first part of the harvest. 7 Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you understand it all.
8 Remember Jesus Christ. He is from the family of David. After Jesus died, he was raised from death. This is the Good News that I tell people. 9 And because I tell that message, I am suffering. I am even bound with chains like someone who has really done wrong. But God’s message is not bound. 10 So I patiently accept all these troubles. I do this to help the people God has chosen so that they can have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. With this salvation comes glory that never ends.
11 Here is a true statement:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him.
12 If we remain faithful even in suffering,
we will also rule with him.
If we refuse to say we know him,
he will refuse to say he knows us.
13 If we are not faithful,
he will still be faithful,
because he cannot be false to himself.
A Worker Who Pleases God
14 Keep on telling everyone these truths. And warn them before God not to argue about words. Such arguments don’t help anyone, and they ruin those who listen to them. 15 Do your best to be the kind of person God will accept, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work, one who applies the true teaching in the right way.
16 Stay away from people who talk about useless things that are not from God. That kind of talk will lead a person more and more against God. 17 Their evil teaching will spread like a sickness inside the body. Hymenaeus and Philetus are men like that. 18 They have left the true teaching. They say that the day when people will be raised from death has already come and gone. And they are destroying the faith of some people.
19 But God’s strong foundation never moves, and these words are written on it: “The Lord knows those who belong to him.”[a] Also, these words are written there: “Everyone who says they believe in the Lord must stop doing wrong.”
20 In a large house there are things made of gold and silver. But there are also things made of wood and clay. Some of these are used for special purposes, others for ordinary jobs. 21 The Lord wants to use you for special purposes, so make yourself clean from all evil. Then you will be holy, and the Master can use you. You will be ready for any good work.
22 Stay away from the evil things a young person like you typically wants to do. Do your best to live right and to have faith, love, and peace, together with others who trust in the Lord with pure hearts. 23 Stay away from foolish and stupid arguments. You know that these arguments grow into bigger arguments. 24 As a servant of the Lord, you must not argue. You must be kind to everyone. You must be a good teacher, and you must be patient. 25 You must gently teach those who don’t agree with you. Maybe God will let them change their hearts so that they can accept the truth. 26 The devil has trapped them and now makes them do what he wants. But maybe they can wake up to see what is happening and free themselves from the devil’s trap.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International