M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16
Rebellion of Korah. 1 [a]Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth,[b] son of Reuben took 2 two hundred and fifty Israelites who were leaders in the community, members of the council and men of note, and confronted Moses. 3 Holding an assembly against Moses and Aaron, they said,(A) “You go too far! The whole community, all of them, are holy; the Lord is in their midst. Why then should you set yourselves over the Lord’s assembly?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell prostrate. 5 Then he said to Korah and to all his faction, “May the Lord make known tomorrow morning who belongs to him and who is the holy one and whom he will have draw near to him! The one whom he chooses, he will have draw near to him. 6 Do this: take your censers, Korah and all his faction, 7 and put fire in them and place incense in them before the Lord tomorrow. He whom the Lord then chooses is the holy one. You Levites go too far!”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Hear, now, you Levites! 9 (B)Are you not satisfied that the God of Israel has singled you out from the community of Israel, to have you draw near him to maintain the Lord’s tabernacle, and to attend upon the community and to serve them? 10 He has allowed you and your Levite kinsmen with you to approach him, and yet you seek the priesthood too. 11 It is therefore against the Lord that you and all your faction are conspiring. As for Aaron, what has he done that you should grumble against him?”
Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram. 12 Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, but they answered, “We will not go.[c] 13 Are you not satisfied that you have brought us here from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us perish in the wilderness, that now you must also lord it over us? 14 Far from bringing us to a land flowing with milk and honey, or giving us fields and vineyards for our inheritance, will you gouge out our eyes?[d] No, we will not go.”
15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Pay no attention to their offering. I have never taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”(C)
Korah. 16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your faction shall appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron too. 17 Then each of you take his own censer, put incense in it, and present it before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers; and you and Aaron, each with his own censer, do the same.” 18 So each of them took their censers, and laying incense on the fire they had put in them, they took their stand by the entrance of the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then, when Korah had assembled all the community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire community, 20 and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 21 Stand apart from this community, that I may consume them at once. 22 But they fell prostrate and exclaimed, “O God, God of the spirits of all living creatures, if one man sins will you be angry with the whole community?” 23 The Lord answered Moses: 24 Speak to the community and tell them: Withdraw from the area around the tent[e] of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Punishment of Dathan and Abiram. 25 Moses, followed by the elders of Israel, arose and went to Dathan and Abiram.[f] 26 Then he spoke to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that is theirs: otherwise you too will be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they withdrew from the area around the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. When Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents with their wives, their children, and their little ones, 28 Moses said, “This is how you shall know that the Lord sent me to do all I have done, and that it was not of my own devising: 29 if these die an ordinary death, merely suffering the fate common to all humanity, the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord makes a chasm, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with all belonging to them, and they go down alive to Sheol,[g] then you will know that these men have spurned the Lord.” 31 (D)No sooner had he finished saying all this than the ground beneath them split open, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families and all of Korah’s people[h] with all their possessions. 33 They went down alive to Sheol with all belonging to them; the earth closed over them, and they disappeared from the assembly. 34 But all the Israelites near them fled at their shrieks, saying, “The earth might swallow us too!”
Punishment of Korah. 35 And fire from the Lord came forth which consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.
Psalm 52[a]
The Deceitful Tongue
1 For the leader. A maskil of David, 2 when Doeg the Edomite entered and reported to Saul, saying to him: “David has entered the house of Ahimelech.”(A)
I
3 Why do you glory in what is evil, you who are mighty by the mercy of God?
All day long
4 you are thinking up intrigues;
your tongue is like a sharpened razor,
you worker of deceit.(B)
5 You love evil more than good,
lying rather than saying what is right.(C)
Selah
6 You love all the words that create confusion,
you deceitful tongue.(D)
II
7 God too will strike you down forever,
he will lay hold of you and pluck you from your tent,
uproot you from the land of the living.(E)
Selah
8 The righteous will see and they will fear;
but they will laugh at him:(F)
9 “Behold the man! He did not take God as his refuge,
but he trusted in the abundance of his wealth,
and grew powerful through his wickedness.”(G)
III
10 But I, like an olive tree[b] flourishing in the house of God,(H)
I trust in God’s mercy forever and ever.
11 I will thank you forever
for what you have done.
I will put my hope in your name—for it is good,(I)
—in the presence of those devoted to you.
Psalm 53[c]
A Lament over Widespread Corruption
1 For the leader; according to Mahalath. A maskil of David.
I
2 The fool says in his heart,(J)
“There is no God.”(K)
They act corruptly and practice injustice;
there is none that does good.
3 God looks out from the heavens
upon the children of Adam,(L)
To see if there is a discerning person(M)
who is seeking God.
4 All have gone astray;
each one is altogether perverse.
There is not one who does what is good, not even one.(N)
II
5 (O)Do they not know better, those who do evil,
who feed upon my people as they feed upon bread?(P)
Have they not called upon God?
6 They are going to fear his name with great fear,
though they had not feared it before.
For God will scatter the bones
of those encamped against you.
They will surely be put to shame,
for God has rejected them.
III
7 Who will bring forth from Zion
the salvation of Israel?
When God reverses the captivity of his people
Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.(Q)
Psalm 54[d]
Confident Prayer in Great Peril
1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David, 2 when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “David is hiding among us.”(R)
I
3 O God, by your name[e] save me.
By your strength defend my cause.
4 O God, hear my prayer.
Listen to the words of my mouth.
5 Strangers have risen against me;
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not keep God before them.(S)
Selah
II
6 God is present as my helper;(T)
the Lord sustains my life.
7 Turn back the evil upon my foes;
in your faithfulness, destroy them.(U)
8 Then I will offer you generous sacrifice
and give thanks to your name, Lord, for it is good.
9 Because it has rescued me from every trouble,
and my eyes look down on my foes.(V)
B. The Book of Emmanuel
Chapter 6
The Sending of Isaiah. 1 In the year King Uzziah died,[a] I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,(A) with the train of his garment filling the temple. 2 Seraphim[b] were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they hovered.(B) 3 One cried out to the other:
“Holy, holy, holy[c] is the Lord of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4 At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.[d](C)
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed![e] For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips,(D) and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips,[f] your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”(E)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” 9 [g]And he replied: Go and say to this people:
Listen carefully, but do not understand!
Look intently, but do not perceive!(F)
10 Make the heart of this people sluggish,
dull their ears and close their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and their heart understand,
and they turn and be healed.(G)
11 “How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:
[h] Until the cities are desolate,
without inhabitants,
Houses, without people,
and the land is a desolate waste.
12 Until the Lord sends the people far away,
and great is the desolation in the midst of the land.
13 If there remain a tenth part in it,
then this in turn shall be laid waste;
As with a terebinth or an oak
whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen.[i](H)
Holy offspring is the trunk.
VI. Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings
Chapter 13
1 [a]Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.(A) 3 Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.(B) 4 Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.(C) 5 Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.”(D) 6 Thus we may say with confidence:
“The Lord is my helper,
[and] I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”(E)
7 Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.(F)
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.[b] It is good to have our hearts strengthened by grace and not by foods, which do not benefit those who live by them.(G) 10 We have an altar[c] from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 The bodies of the animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as a sin offering are burned outside the camp.(H) 12 Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood.(I) 13 Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach that he bore. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come.(J) 15 Through him [then] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.(K) 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.(L)
17 [d]Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18 Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a clear conscience, wishing to act rightly in every respect. 19 I especially ask for your prayers that I may be restored to you very soon.
20 [e]May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord,(M) 21 furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever [and ever]. Amen.
22 Brothers, I ask you to bear with this message of encouragement, for I have written to you rather briefly. 23 I must let you know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, I shall see you together with him.(N) 24 Greetings to all your leaders and to all the holy ones. Those from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.(O)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.