M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
8 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand.’”
3 Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lamp stand, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 4 This was the workmanship of the lamp stand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work. He made the lamp stand according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses.
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7 You shall do this to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a young bull and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering. 9 You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel. 10 You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.
12 “The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh. 14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15 “After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering. 16 For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me. 17 For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. 18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel. 19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary.”
20 Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. 21 The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This is what is assigned to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting; 25 and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from doing the work, and shall serve no more, 26 but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”
For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.
44 We have heard with our ears, God;
our fathers have told us what work you did in their days,
in the days of old.
2 You drove out the nations with your hand,
but you planted them.
You afflicted the peoples,
but you spread them abroad.
3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword,
neither did their own arm save them;
but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,
because you were favorable to them.
4 God, you are my King.
Command victories for Jacob!
5 Through you, we will push down our adversaries.
Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
neither will my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our adversaries,
and have shamed those who hate us.
8 In God we have made our boast all day long.
We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.
9 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,
and don’t go out with our armies.
10 You make us turn back from the adversary.
Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
11 You have made us like sheep for food,
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sell your people for nothing,
and have gained nothing from their sale.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All day long my dishonor is before me,
and shame covers my face,
16 at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,
because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come on us,
yet we haven’t forgotten you.
We haven’t been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
neither have our steps strayed from your path,
19 though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals,
and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
or spread out our hands to a strange god,
21 won’t God search this out?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Wake up!
Why do you sleep, Lord?[a]
Arise!
Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face,
and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust.
Our body clings to the earth.
26 Rise up to help us.
Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.
Friends
6 Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
Beloved
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
Lover
4 You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they have overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
that lie along the side of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,
which have come up from the washing,
of which every one has twins;
not one is bereaved among them.
7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,
and virgins without number.
9 My dove, my perfect one, is unique.
She is her mother’s only daughter.
She is the favorite one of her who bore her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed.
The queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.
10 Who is she who looks out as the morning,
beautiful as the moon,
clear as the sun,
and awesome as an army with banners?
11 I went down into the nut tree grove,
to see the green plants of the valley,
to see whether the vine budded,
and the pomegranates were in flower.
12 Without realizing it,
my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.
Friends
13 Return, return, Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.
Lover
Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite,
as at the dance of Mahanaim?
6 Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let’s press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God, 2 of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 This will we do, if God permits. 4 For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. 7 For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. 10 For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. 11 We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, 12 that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”(A) 15 Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil, 20 where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
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